Lord Lyons to Mr. Seward.
Sir: Her Majesty’s government have received from the governor of the colony of Bermuda, and from her Majesty’s military and naval officers, reports of the proceedings of Rear-Admiral Wilkes, of the United States navy, during a visit which he made to that colony at the beginning of last month; and her Majesty’s government have, in consequence, directed me to make the following representation to the government of the United States.
It appears to her Majesty’s government to be clear, from the statements made in the reports referred to, not only that there is much ill-feeling towards British authorities on the part of Rear-Admiral Wilkes, but that he is resolved to try [Page 463] the patience of those authorities to the utmost, while keeping, as he conceives, within the limits to which he calculates their forbearance will extend.
The first ground of complaint, however, which her Majesty’s government are disposed to press upon the attention of the government of the United States, is—
1. That Rear-Admiral Wilkes ordered the vessels under his command to anchor in such a position as to control the movements of ships desiring to enter or to depart from the port of Bermuda, and maintained a system of cruising in the neutral waters of Bermuda, in excess of his rights as a belligerent, which are thus defined by Lord Stowell in the case of the Anna, (5 Rob., p. 385): “Captors must understand that they are not to station themselves at the mouth of a neutral river for the purpose of exercising the rights of war from that river, much less in the very river itself.” And again: “The captors appear by their own description to have been standing off and on, obtaining information at the Balize, overhauling vessels in their course down the river, and making the river as much subservient to the purposes of war, as if it had been a river of their own country. This is an inconvenience which the States of America are called upon to resist, and which this court is bound on every principle to discourage and correct.”
2. The second ground of complaint is, that Rear-Admiral Wilkes offensively and unlawfully placed sentinels on British territory.
3. The third ground is, that Rear-Admiral Wilkes contemptuously evaded the orders of her Majesty in regard to the supplies of coal which vessels of the belligerent parties might obtain in a British port. He also, in a letter to the governor of Bermuda, referring to the governor’s expression, “I have to instruct you that the vessel [the Tioga] cannot be permitted to return within these waters,” replied in these terms, “This I cannot permit; my government alone has the power of instructing me.” This appears like a defiance of the proper authority of the governor, who is bound to carry out the rule by which vessels, having coaled, cannot return again to the same port for three months. The government of the United States cannot have intended that the governor was to be obstructed in the performance of his duties, but the words of Rear-Admiral Wilkes seem to imply that he meant to attempt it.
On these several points I am ordered to address a strong remonstrance to the government of the United States; and I am directed to express the regret of her Majesty’s government that Rear-Admiral Wilkes, who treats with contempt the lawful orders issued by the duly instigated authorities of the British crown, should have been appointed to a command in which he could not fail to be brought into contact with those authorities.
I am further commanded to urge the government of the United States to issue such orders to Rear-Admiral Wilkes as shall restrain him from a repetition of the conduct of which her Majesty’s government complain.
I have the honor to be, with the highest consideration, sir, your most obedient, humble servant,
Hon. W. H. Seward, &c., &c.