Mr. Seward to Mr. Adams.
Sir: It is my painful duty to bring, through you, to the notice of the British government facts in relation to the port of Nassau, a possession of her Britannic Majesty near the southern extremity of the United States, which are believed to be unquestionable. From the commencement of the present rebellion in this country, and especially since the establishment of the blockade, that port has been used as a place of deposit by the insurgents for munitions of war sent thither for their use by their agents and sympathizers in England. Sometimes the vessels in which they were carried thither have attempted to evade the blockade, and in a few instances may have succeeded, The main object in the choice of the site, however, seems to have been the facility with which contraband of war, transhipped to small schooners and similar vessels with little draft of water, might, in darkness, run into inlets on the southern coast of the island too shallow to allow them to be pursued by such vessels-of-war as can safely be used in enforcing the blockade.
Recently, however, a gunboat called the Oreto, built in England for the service of the insurgents, with ports and bolts for twenty guns, and other equipments to correspond, arrived at Nassau. The facts in regard to her having come to the knowledge of the United States consul, he made a protest upon the subject, and she was seized by the authorities. She was, however, released immediately after the arrival at Nassau, on the 8th instant, of Captain Semmes, late commander of the pirate Sumter, and the consul informed this department that she was about to start on a privateering cruise. He has also represented that there were then in that port eleven large British steamers laden with contraband of war for the insurgents in this country.
The release by the authorities at Nassau of the Oreto, under the circumstances mentioned, seems to be particularly at variance with her Britannic Majesty’s proclamation of neutrality, and I am commanded by the President to protest against it, and to ask the consideration of her Majesty’s government upon the proceeding as one calculated to alarm the government and people of the United States. I am also directed to ask the like consideration of her Majesty’s government upon the manner in which the island [Page 120] Has been used as a deposit for arms and munitions of war intended for the insurgents in the United States.
You are charged with the duty of laying this subject before the British government. The legislative and executive authority of the United States having been exerted towards preventing similar proceedings by persons within our jurisdiction during the insurrection in Canada in 1837, we may claim on this ground at least a reciprocity from the British government.
I am, sir, your obedient servant,
Charles Francis Adams, Esq., &c., &c., &c.