Office of the Historian

Lord Lyons to Mr. Seward.

Washington, May 4, 1863.

Sir: It will be in your recollection that, on the 4th of February last, I did myself the honor, in pursuance of instructions from her Majesty’s government, to address to you a note respecting the mode in which the United States ship Tuscarora had exercised the belligerent right of search, off Madeira, in the case of the British merchant vessel Thistle.

In that note I stated to you that her Majesty’s government were of opinion that it was competent to the Tuscarora to stop and visit the Thistle upon the high seas, but that her Majesty’s government considered that it was not competent to the United States cruisers to make a belligerent use of the port of a neutral state, and that a more un-neutral use of a port could not be well conceived than lying in wait in it for the vessels of another neutral state, as they entered and left it, and, on their passing the limit of three miles, boarding and visiting them, and then returning to the port.

I further informed you, in the same note, that her Majesty’s government had directed me to point out to you, that a persistence by the cruisers of the United States in such a course as that pursued by the Tuscarora, at Madeira, would be a violation of the principles of international law, which would concern both the country in whose dominions the neutral port so used might be situated, and the country to which the vessels visited might belong.

In a note which you did me the honor to address to me on the 23d February, you informed me that, if the facts in the case of the Thistle had been correctly reported to the British government, the conduct of the commander of the Tuscarora was deemed censurable, and that the Navy Department had written to him to that effect, instructing him as to the error which he was supposed to have committed.

I have referred to this correspondence, in the hope of leading the government of the United States to consider, seriously, whether the recent proceedings of the United States cruisers at the Danish port of St. Thomas have been in accordance with the principles which it establishes. The circumstances under which the Peterhoff was captured, off that port, are well known to you. The enclosed extract from a report from Captain Barnard, of her Majesty’s ship Nile, to Vice-Admiral Sir Alexander Milne, gives the following account of the proceedings of the United States ship Wachusett at the same port. He states that the ship slipped her cable at midnight on the 24th-25th of March, and followed an English steamer, called the Dolphin, to sea, and that she returned to the port at 9 p.m. on the next day. A report to the Vice-Admiral, from Captain Tatham, of her Majesty’s ship Phaeton, (of which also an extract is enclosed,) shows that the Wachusett, having captured the British vessel which she followed, brought back sixteen of the crew to St. Thomas. A protest made by the master of the Dolphin at Havana, in which the particulars of the capture were stated, was transmitted to you with the note which I did myself the honor to write to you on the 29th ultimo.

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

LYONS.

Hon. William H. Seward, &c., &c., &c.

[Extract.]

“During our stay the Wachusett slipped her cable, at midnight of the 24th, and followed an English steamer, called the Dolphin, to sea, and returned to the port at 9 p.m. of the 25th. The Dolphin was on a voyage from England to Nassau, and, I was informed by the acting British consul, was regularly entered and cleared at the custom-house.”

[Extract.]

H. M. S. Phaeton, Barbadoes, April 7, 1863.

“I have to inform you that the paddle-wheel steamer Dolphin, of Liverpool, which left St. Thomas for Nassau at midnight of the 24th March, was captured by the Wachusett, twenty-five miles to the leeward of that island.

“The Wachusett returned to St. Thomas with the crew of the Dolphin, and these sixteen persons presented themselves at the British consulate on the 27th.”