Hon. W. H. Seward,
Secretary of State, &c.
[Enclosures.]
1. Mr. Adams to Earl Russell, reporting the Allar at Plymouth, April
11, 1863.
2. Extract from 2d edition of the Times of April 11, 1863, about the
Allar and Japan.
3. Lord Russell’s receipt of the above, April 11, 1863.
4. Mr. Adams to Lord Russell, with depositions of Thompson and Mahon,
and list of men shipped at Liverpool, as well as of those who
returned from the Japan.
Mr. Adams to Lord Russell.
Legation of the United
States, London,
April 11,
1863.
My Lord: I have the honor to enclose to
your lordship a slip, extracted from the London Times of to-day,
touching the case of the vessel now called the Japan, but named
at Greenock lately the Virginia. It is needless to add that the
statement therein made of the destination of the vessel is known
to me to be false. I have reason to believe that she has not
gone. The steamer Allar has already transferred to her one 56
gun and four smaller ones, and is expected to return to her.
I pray your lordship to accept, &c.,
Right Hon. Earl Russell, &c., &c.
[Untitled]
[From second edition of the
Times, April
11, 1863.]
Plymouth, Saturday morning.
The steamship Allar, Captain Back, of and from Newhaven, for St.
Malo, put in here this morning and landed seventeen men
belonging to the steamship Japan, Captain Jones, 600 tons, which
left Greenock on the 28th of March for a trading voyage in the
China seas. On arrival off the coast of France, she lay to for
three days, it is supposed, to take in more cargo. On the 4th of
April, at 11 a.m., one of the condensers of the steam-engines,
which are about 200 horsepower, exploded, and two firemen in the
stoke-hole were scalded, viz: Alexander McDuff, of Edinburgh,
and William Hamilton, of Down Patrick, seriously. They were
taken immediately into the captain’s cabin, transferred to the
Allar on the 9th, and are now in the Devon and Cornwall hospital
here. The other fifteen are seamen and firemen, who took
advantage of the proximity of the Allar, and are said to have
“backed out” of the voyage to China. They left by train this
morning for various parts. The Japan, which has a complement of
80 men, has proceeded. The Allar had to lie to in the channel on
Thursday and Friday in consequence of some trifling damages.
Lord Russell to Mr. Adams.
Foreign
Office, April 11,
1863.
Sir: The statement in the second
edition of the Times, respecting the Japan and the Allar, to
which you refer in your letter of this afternoon, had already
[Page 254]
attracted my
attention, and I had brought it, some hours before I received
your letter, to the notice of the secretary of state for the
home department and of the lords commissioners of her Majesty’s
treasury.
I have now forwarded to those departments a copy of your letter,
with a request that such steps may be taken as can legally be
taken to prevent any violation of the law.
I have the honor to be, &c., &c.,
Charles Francis Adams, Esq., &c., &c., &c.
Mr. Adams to Lord Russell.
Legation of the United
States, London,
April 15,
1863.
My Lord: I have the honor to transmit
copies of two depositions of British subjects, who appear to
have been solicited to engage in the unlawful expedition of the
Japan, alias the Virginia, against the
commerce of the United States. I append a list, marked A, of the
officers and men, subjects of Great Britain, shipped at the
sailors’ home in Liverpool, a large part of whom have been
induced to join the piratical expedition. Likewise a list,
marked B, of the men who refused to enlist, left the Virginia,
and returned to Liverpool.
It is not without great pain that I feel it my duty to point out
to your lordship these transactions at Liverpool, and the extent
to which, if not in some way prevented, they are calculated to
give rise to complaints in the United States of the violations
of neutrality deliberately committed by her Majesty’s subjects
in the port of Liverpool.
I pray your lordship to accept the assurances of the highest
consideration with which I have the honor to be, my lord, your
most obedient servant.
Right Hon. Earl Russell, &c., &c., &c.
[Enclosures.]
1. Deposition of Edward Thompson.
2. Deposition of Thomas Mahon.
3. List of men shipped at Liverpool.
4. List of men who returned from the Japan.
