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. 151.]

Legation of the United States, London, May 2, 1862.

Sir: Some days ago I received from Lord Russell the note, a copy of which I now transmit, making a representation to me concerning the capture of the steamer Labuan. As the case had been already placed before you by Lord Lyons, and as whatever evidence there was in relation to it must have been known by his lordship to be on the other side of the water, I confess this proceeding caused in me some little surprise. But as information had been long since furnished to me that this was one of the vessels sent from here by the friends of the insurgents with supplies, I postponed my answer for a few days, in the hope of being able to obtain more specific details as to her operations. In this hope, therefore, I have been disappointed for reasons which I fully understand; of the truth of the averment, however, I have no reason to doubt. Under these circumstances I have at last concluded to draw up a reply to his lordship’s note, embodying some general views drawn from the substance of my last conversation with him, which I deem this a good opportunity to put in writing. A copy of my note will accompany this despatch.

Nothing has been received touching my claim for the restoration of the Emily St. Pierre, excepting an acknowledgment of its reception and a promise to give it consideration. I transmit a copy of his lordship’s note on that subject. In the meantime the prize crew still remains at Liverpool under my directions awaiting a decision of the question.

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

CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS.

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

Earl Russell to Mr. Adams..

Foreign Office, April 19, 1862.

Sir: You are doubtless aware of the circumstances under which the British steamer Labuan was lately seized at Matamoras, Mexico, by the United States frigate Portsmouth and conveyed to New York as a prize.

That case has appeared to her Majesty’s government to present a very serious aspect, not only as regards the interests of the British owners of the Labuan and of a portion of her cargo, but as regards the principle involved in her seizure, and in the conduct and declarations of the captain of the Portsmouth. I have not failed to instruct her Majesty’s minister at Washington to make a fitting representation of the case to the United States government, and I learn from Lord Lyons that Mr. Seward has caused directions to be given that seizures under circumstances similar to those under which the Labuan was captured shall not be repeated. Mr. Seward, however, though not satisfied that the capture was a legal one, considers it preferable that nothing further should be done in the matter until the result of the judicial proceedings shall be arrived at; in other words, Mr. Seward, though he does not conceal his opinion that the capture of the Labuan was unjustifiable, and notwithstanding that the whole case has been confidentially put before him by Lord Lyons, declines to order her release, but insists upon the case being left to the distant and uncertain result of proceedings before a prize court.

It cannot be contended that this course, even if it should result in the award of heavy damages, can be otherwise than extremely hurtful and prejudicial to the parties interested, but the possible amount of damages cannot affect the international question of the validity of the capture; and unless the government of the United States is prepared to maintain, as their consul before the prize court must endeavor to do, that the capture was justifiable, that government has not internationally any sufficient justification for retaining wrongful possession of the ship and cargo, and sending them for adjudication before the prize court, after and notwithstanding the formal intervention of her Majesty’s government.

The course taken by the United States government in the case of the Labuan is all the more to be regretted, since it appears from papers which have been communicated to Congress that in the case of two neutral vessels, the one a Spanish, the other a Danish ship, which had been unjustifiably captured, the United States government has not only released such vessels without sending them before a prize court, but has also consented to pay compensation to those interested therein.

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

RUSSELL.

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

Mr. Adams to Earl Russell.

Legation of the United States, London, April 30, 1862.

My Lord: I have to ask pardon for delaying an acknowledgment of your note of the 19th instant, touching the case of the steamer Labuan lately seized by the United States frigate Portsmouth and conveyed to New York as a prize.

Not having received from the government of the United States any instructions on the subject, and knowing nothing from official sources of the precise facts attending the seizure of that vessel, I am in no situation to express more than my own opinion upon it. I shall do myself the honor to transmit your lordship’s note to the Department of State, where I am led to understand that the matter has already been brought to its attention by Lord Lyons. I do not entertain a doubt of the disposition of the President carefully to respect the just rights of every nation in amity with the United States, and to make the amplest reparation for any casual injury committed in the course of the present difficulties the moment that the justice of the claim shall have been established.

At the same time I deem it my duty to represent to your lordship the fact that the government of the United States finds itself involved in peculiar embarrassment in regard to its policy towards the vessels of Great Britain from the difficulty, to which I have repeatedly called your lordship’s attention, of distinguishing between the lawful and the unlawful trade carried on upon the coast of the United States in vessels bearing her Majesty’s flag. It comes presented to me in so many forms of evidence that I cannot avoid the painful conviction that a systematic plan, founded on the intent to annul her Majesty’s proclamation by steady efforts to violate the blockade through vessels either actually British, or else sailing under British colors, has been in operation in this island for many months, and becomes more rather than less extensive with the progress of time. If, therefore, it happens that a Spanish or a Danish ship when seized is more readily released than a British ship, the reason must be found, not in any disposition to be more partial to those nations, so much as in the fact that they have been incomparably less involved in the suspicion of attempting illegitimate methods of trade. The channels through which these enterprises serve so unfortunately to procrastinate the war, by encouraging the hopes of the insurgents, are too well known to admit of dispute. It is equally certain that her Majesty’s government, in reply to the representations and remonstrances heretofore made by me, under instructions from my government, have candidly admitted their inability to put any stop to them whatever. Hence, it must naturally occur to your lordship’s mind that, if in some cases the government, driven to the necessity of applying more stringent measures of prevention than it desires to this illicit commerce, should happen occasionally to involve an innocent party in the suspicion attached to so many guilty ones, it must seek its justification in the painful necessity consequent upon the inefficiency of the British law to give it that protection which, as a friendly nation, it would seem entitled to enjoy.

It may, then, be reasonably presumed, at first blush, that the mere fact of sending the steamer Labuan to be adjudicated upon by a prize court, will find its justification in the fact that that vessel had become involved in a suspicion not unfairly attaching itself to all vessels sailing under British colors in the neighborhood of the place where she was taken. But I regret to be compelled further to apprise your lordship that, in this particular instance, the intentions of the steamer Labuan, from the period of her first departure from Great Britain, have been understood to be such as justly to excite the strongest suspicion, and, taken in connexion with her appearance in the spot where she was seized, to constitute a fair question, at least, for the determination of a prize court. Disclaiming the right to enter into the merits of the case on this side of the Atlantic, where I am not in possession of the evidence, either of her innocence or her guilt, and disavowing all acquaintance with the views taken of the matter by the President, I have felt myself constrained, by the honor your lordship has done me in calling my attention to the subject, respectfully to submit my own views for your consideration.

Renewing to your lordship the assurances of my highest consideration, I have the honor to be, my lord, your most obedient servant,

CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS.

Right Hon. Earl Russell, &c., &c.

Earl Russell to Mr. Adams.

Foreign Office, April 24, 1862.

Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of this day’s date, applying for the restoration of the Emily St. Pierre, a vessel captured by one of the cruisers of the United States, on the charge of attempting to break the blockade, but which was subsequently retaken by the master and brought to Liverpool; and I have to state to you, in reply, that your representation shall be duly considered.

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

RUSSELL.

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