Papers Relating to Foreign Affairs, Accompanying the Annual Message of the President to the Third Session Thirty-seventh Congress

Mr. Adams to Mr. Seward.

No. 227.]

Legation of the United States, London, September 26,1862.

Sir: I have not been quite satisfied with the way in which my remonstrances respecting the outfit of the gunboat No 290 had been left. In consequence I seized the first opportunity in my power to remind Lord Russell that no written answer had been given to me. This has had the desired effect. I have the honor to transmit copies of the two notes which have passed between us. In former days it was a favorite object of Great Britain to obtain from the United States an admission of the validity of claims for damage done by vessels fitted out in their ports against her commerce. This was finally conceded to her in the seventh article of the treaty of 1794. The reasoning which led to that agreement may not be without its value at some future time, should the escape of the gunboat 290 and of her companion, the Oreto, prove to be of any serious injury to our commerce.

I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant,

CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS.

Hon. William H. Seward, Secretary of State, Washington, D. C.

Mr. Adams to Earl Russell.

Legation of the United States, London, September 4, 1862.

My Lord: I have the honor to transmit the copy of a letter received from the consul of the United States at Liverpool, together with a deposition, in addition to the others already submitted with my notes of the 22d and 24th of July, going to show the further prosecution of the illegal and hostile measures against the United States in connexion with the outfit of the gunboat No. 290 from the port of Liverpool. It now appears that supplies are in process of transmission from here to a vessel fitted out from England, and now sailing on the high seas, with the piratical intent to burn and destroy the property of the people of a country with which her Majesty is in alliance and friendship. I pray your lordship’s pardon if I call your attention to the fact that I have not yet received any reply in writing to the several notes and representations I have had the honor to submit to her Majesty’s government touching this flagrant case.

I beg to renew to your lordship the assurance of the highest consideration with which I have the honor to be, my lord, your most obedient servant,

CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS.

[Untitled]

Foreign Office, September 22, 1862.

Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 4th instant, enclosing a copy of a letter from the United States consul at Liverpool, together with the deposition of Henry Redden, respecting the supply of cannon and munitions of war to the gunboat No. 290. You also call attention to the fact that you have not yet received any reply to the representations you have addressed to her Majesty’s government upon the subject.

I had the honor, in acknowledging the receipt of your letter of the 22d of June, to state to you that the matter had been referred to the proper department of her Majesty’s government for investigation. Your subsequent letters were also at once forwarded to that department, but, as you were informed in my letter of the 28th of July, it was requisite, before any active steps could be taken in the matter, to consult the law officers of the crown. This could not be done until sufficient evidence had been collected, and, from the nature of the case, some time was necessarily spent in procuring it. The reports of the law officers was not received until the 29th of July, and, on the same day, a telegraphic message was forwarded to her Majesty’s government, stating that the vessel had sailed that morning. Instructions were then despatched to Ireland to detain the vessel should she put into Queenstown, and similar instructions have been sent to the governor of the Bahamas, in case of her visiting Nassau. It appears, however, that the vessel did not go to Queenstown, as had been expected, and nothing has been since heard of her movement.

The officers of customs will now be directed to report upon the further evidence forwarded by you. I shall not fail to inform you of the result of the inquiry.

I have the honor to be, with the highest consideration, sir, your most obedient humble servant,

RUSSELL.

Charles Francis Adams, Esq., &c., &c., &c.