Mr. Seward to Mr. Adams.
Sir: Your despatch of May 9, No. 158, has been received. It communicates the decision of her Britannic Majesty’s government, declining to restore to us the Emily St. Pierre, which, after having been captured in the act of violating the blockade, and put into the care of a prize crew, was reconquered from them by the officers and crew of the vessel and conducted into a British port, and, as we now learn, was repossessed by her owners.
The despatch is accompanied by a note from Earl Russell explaining the grounds upon which the denial is placed.
I defer an examination of these reasons until I shall have received a copy of the reply to Earl Russell, which you expected to make by way of closing the correspondence upon the subject.
I think it proper, however, to observe, at present, that the reasons seem to be limited to a want of power vested in the government to restore, and do not bear at all upon the justice or the legality of the demand. Under such circumstances this government has in more than one instance admitted the claim, and appealed to legislative authority for the power to satisfy it, and it has been promptly conferred and exercised.
I am, sir, your obedient servant,
Charles Francis Adams, Esq., &c., &c., &c.