Mr. Seward to Mr. Adams.
Sir: I hasten to acknowledge the receipt of your despatch of the 18th of July, (No. 191.) It is accompanied by a note which was addressed to you by Earl Russell, of the following effect, namely:
It brings into view the 6th article of the new treaty for the suppression of the African slave trade, which provides that British or American merchant vessels may be lawfully detained, and sent or brought before the mixed courts of justice, if in their equipment there should be found any of the things specified in that article as usually forming part of the equipment of slave vessels.
Earl Russell then specifies several suspicious circumstances, which are mentioned in the treaty as being sufficient to warrant seizure, such as a quantity of water larger than is required by a merchant vessel, an extraordinary supply of provisions, a boiler or other cooking apparatus of an unusual size, or capable of being made larger than requisite for the use of merchantmen.
Earl Russell then calls attention to the 7th article of the same treaty, which provides that if any of the things specified in the said 6th article shall be found on board a vessel that may have been detained, or if any of these things shall be found to have been on board during the voyage on which she was captured, no compensation for losses or expenses consequent upon the detention of such vessel shall in any case be granted, even though she should not be condemned by the mixed court of justice.
Earl Russell then observes that some of the things specified in article 6, particularly unusual supplies of water and provisions and a large cooking apparatus, may be found on board of vessels legally employed on the African coast, and therefore, he remarks, it becomes important that such vessels should not be put to any unnecessary inconvenience or detention. In this view he supposes that an American vessel, engaged in carrying liberated Africans to Liberia or to any other port of Africa, may on her voyage to or from the African coast fall in with a British cruiser, and unless the commander of the British vessel were assured that the vessel was engaged on a legal voyage she might suffer detention. So, on the other hand, his lordship supposes that a British vessel, engaged in transporting or fitted for the conveyance of liberated Africans from Sierra Leone or from St. Helena to another British colony, might suffer detention at the hands of the commander of an American cruiser, unless the commander were assured of the legality of the voyage of the British ship.
His lordship, pursuing the subject, next states that, with a view to provide for the exemption from seizure or detention of vessels legally fitted for the conveyance of Africans to or from the African coast, it is the intention of her Majesty’s government to cause British vessels so employed to be provided with a passport or safe conduct, to be signed by one of her Majesty’s secretaries, or by the governor of the British colony from which such vessel [Page 159] may have sailed, and that such passport or safe conduct will state the name, tonnage, and description of the vessel, and the name of the commander, and the purpose of the voyage, and will be good only for the voyage on which the vessel will be chartered.
His lordship finally proposes that this government shall furnish to American vessels which may be legally employed on the African coast, and whose equipment may render them liable to seizure and detention under the terms of the treaty, a similar passport or safe conduct, signed by a competent United States authority, and Earl Russell, on the part of her Majesty’s government, guarantees that British cruisers shall not molest American vessels provided with such passports, and asks a similar guarantee to be given by this government to British vessels provided by their own government with passports in the manner before stated.
The propositions have been submitted to the President of the United States. You are authorized to inform Earl Russell that they are entirely and cheerfully accepted by this government. Passports or safe conducts in the cases specified will, until further notice, be signed only by the Secretary of State of the United States. Instructions proper for executing this new arrangement will be immediately given to the naval commanders concerned therein.
I am, sir, your obedient servant,
Charles Francis Adams, Esq., &c., &c., &c.