I presume that Mr. Dudley keeps the government fully informed of the
change of the chrysalis 290 into the butterfly Alabama, on a piratical
cruise against American shipping. It turned out, as I expected, that she
did not go to Nassau. Her difficulty will be to keep supplied with
coals.
Hon. William H. Seward,
Secretary of State, Washington, D. C.
Earl Russell to Mr. Adams.
Foreign Office,
August 29, 1862.
Sir: With reference to the case of the
steamer Oreto, which you are probably aware has been seized at
Nassau and is to be tried before the admiralty court of the Bahamas
for a breach of the foreign enlistment act, I have the honor to
enclose for your information copies of a report and its enclosures
from the commissioners of customs with reference to a suggestion I
had made to the treasury, that a competent officer should be sent to
Nassau to give evidence as to what occurred at Liverpool in the case
of that vessel.
I have the honor to be, with the highest consideration, sir, your
most obedient, humble servant,
Charles Francis Adams, Esq., &c., &c., &c.
[Untitled]
No. 439.]
Custom-House,
August 25,
1862.
To the lords commissioners of her Majesty’s
treasury:
Your lords having, by Mr. Hamilton’s letters of 20th instant,
transmitted to us, with reference to previous correspondence on
the subject of the gunboat Oreto, which was fitted out at
Liverpool and has since been captured by her Majesty’s steamer
Greyhound at Nassau for an alleged violation of the foreign
enlistment act, copy of a letter from the foreign office and of
its enclosure on the subject of the proceeding to be adopted in
the matter, and requested that he would take the necessary steps
for sending to Nassau some gentleman connected with the
department competent to afford the information required in the
case, we beg to transmit, for the information of your lords,
copies of the report of our collector at Liverpool, with whom we
have been in communication on the subject, together with copies
of the statements of Mr. Morgan, the surveyor, and Mr. Lloyd,
the examining officer, who visited and kept watch on the Oreto
from the time that suspicions were first entertained of her
being fitted for the so called Confederate States until she
sailed from the port, together with copy of the statement on
oath of Mr. Parry, the pilot who had charge of the ship from the
time she left the Toxteth dock until she left the Mersey; and,
as from these papers the pilot would appear to be the most
fitting person to give evidence in the case, we beg to be
favored with your lords’ further instructions as to the person
who should be directed to proceed to Nassau.
[Untitled]
Report of
the collector at Liverpool,
August 23,
1862.
Honorable Sirs: It will be seen from
the annexed statement of Mr. Morgan, surveyor, that he will be
able to state the fact of the vessel being built by Messrs.
Miller & Sons, and of the absence of all warlike stores on
board when she left the docks, while the evidence of Mr. Lloyd,
the examining officer, fully supports the statement of the
pilot, Mr. Parry, which, from its importance, I have taken on
oath, as it appears to me he would be the most fitting person to
give evidence of the absence of all warlike stores on board the
vessel when she left this country.
[Page 187]
I am satisfied that she took no such stores on board, and indeed
it is stated, though I know not on what authority, that her
armament was conveyed in another vessel to Nassau. The board
will, therefore, perceive that the evidence to be obtained from
this port will all go to prove that she left Liverpool
altogether unarmed, and that while here she had in no way
violated the law.
Statement of Mr. Ed. Morgan, surveyor in her
Majesty’s custom-house at the port of Liverpool.
I am one of the surveyors of customs at this port. Pursuant to
instructions I received from the collector on the 21st of
February, in the present year, and at subsequent dates, I
visited the steamer Oreto, at various times, when she was being
fitted out in the dock close to the yard of Messrs. Miller &
Sons, the builders of the vessel. I continued this inspection,
from time to time, until she left the dock, and I am certain
that when she went into the river she had no warlike stores of
any kind whatever on board.
After she went into the river she was constantly watched by the
boarding officers, who were directed to report to me whenever
any goods were taken on board; but in reply to my frequent
inquiries they stated nothing was put in the ship but coal.
Statement of Mr. Henry Lloyd, examining
officer in her Majesty’s customs at the port of
Liverpool.
In consequence of instructions received from Mr. Morgan,
surveyor, I, in conjunction with the other three surveyors of
the river, kept watch on the proceedings of the vessel Oreto
from the time she left the Toxteth dock, on the 4th March last,
till the day she sailed, the 22d of the same month. On one
occasion I was alongside of her, and spoke to her, Parry, the
pilot, and the chief mate. Neither I nor any of the other river
surveyors saw at any time any arms or warlike ammunition of any
kind taken on board, and we are perfectly satisfied that none
such was taken on board during her stay in the river.
H. LLOYD, Examining
Officer.
Statement, on oath, of Mr. Wm. Parry, master
pilot in No. 10 boat in the port of
Liverpool, taken by the collector of customs.
I was the pilot in charge of the ship Oreto when she left the
Toxteth dock on the 4th of March, 1862. I continued on board to
the day of her sailing, which was the 22d of the same month, and
never left her save on Sunday, when all work was suspended. I
saw the ship before the coals and provisions were taken into
her. There were no munitions of war in her—that is to say, she
had no guns, carriages, shot, shell, or powder. Had there been
any on board I must have seen it. I piloted the ship out of the
Mersey to Point Lynas, off Anglesea, where I left her, and she
proceeded down channel, since when she has not returned. From
the time the vessel left the river until I left her she had no
communication with the shore or with any
[Page 188]
other vessel for the purpose of receiving
anything like a cargo on board. I frequently saw Mr. Lloyd, the
tide surveyor, alongside the ship while in the river.
Sworn before me at the custom-house,
Liverpool, this 23d day,
1862.
S. PRICE EDWARDS, Collector.
