Mr. Seward to Lord Lyons.
My Lord: I have carefully considered the communication relating to the case of John Sherwin, which, by direction of her Majesty’s government, you submitted to me on the 27th of May last. Her Majesty’s government claim a pecuniary indemnity for John Sherwin. The claim is based on the following assumptions, namely: that he is a British subject of good character and practice; that when he was commanding a merchant vessel, which he had purchased in the United States, and was thus lawfully employed, he was suddenly arrested on a charge of high treason, and detained several months in prison; that at the end of that period he was released, because, as is understood, the proper law [Page 663] officer of the United States advised the government that the said British subject could not at present be successfully prosecuted for high treason, although his conduct is believed to have been unwarrantable and injurious; and, at the time of his release, he was requested to sign a parol of honor.
It is not my purpose or expectation to show that the claim thus presented ought, without further examination, to be peremptorily and finally disallowed, but simply to show, while leaving it open for further examination, that the claim is not now so sustained as to justify the government of the United States in conceding it. I have to state, in the first place, that while it may be true that the said John Sherwin is a British subject, it is equally true, on the other hand, that, from all that is known of him, or proved concerning him, he may be a citizen of the United States. In recurring to the papers relating to him, on file in this department, it is observed that in the letter covering them, which was written to me by the honorable William Stuart in your absence, no proof is presented, nor even is there an allegation made, that Sherwin is a British subject. It was in your own letter of the 27th of May, 1863, assumed that Sherwin is a British subject, but proofs of the fact was not then given, nor any such account of him as would be calculated to enable me to ascertain whether he may have compromitted his rights as a British subject, by a departure from the neutrality which he owed to the United States while residing here and enjoying their protection.
He has not offered in evidence the clearances or other papers connected with the voyages of the Dixie and the Rowena, the American vessels which he had navigated, trading with American ports. As American ships can only be lawfully navigated by American citizens, this government, in the absence of this proof, is left to conclude that Captain John Sherwin either was, or had reported himself to be, a citizen of the United States. In this view of the evidence it will be seen that this government cannot admit that the claimant is a British subject of good character and practice. It will, however, cheerfully receive proofs on this subject.
The War Department of the United States has evidence that in the year 1862 John Sherwin clandestinely took on board the Dixie, at Reedy island, in the Delaware river, certain persons who were, and whom he had reasonable grounds for knowing to be, public enemies of the United States, for the purpose of enabling them to join confederated traitors in arms, in the actual field of the civil war. He left the port of Philadelphia without having obtained a license to carry passengers. He reported to the revenue cutter which overhauled his vessel, after leaving port, that he had no passengers on board, and after this time took on board, in a secret manner, five notoriously disloyal persons, who had held themselves in concealment several days, while waiting for Sherwin’s vessel, and carried them to a foreign port, with a view to enable them, by this illegal and forbidden voyage, to join an armed conspiracy in open rebellion, or, at least, to enable them to escape from the performance of military service due to the United States. The proceedings were in direct violation of the laws of the United States and of the lawful proclamation which had been issued by the President.
Having arrived at Nassau, in the West Indies, he then sold his aforesaid vessel, the Dixie, in order to avert a seizure and condemnation which he apprehended if he should return to the United States.
By this proceeding Captain Sherwin actually aided and abetted the insurrection. When he had returned to the United States and purchased another vessel, the Rowena, with a view to another voyage to Nassau, it was reasonably suspected that it was his purpose to continue in the same unlawful practice which he had instituted when in the command of the Dixie. He was therefore seasonably arrested and held in custody. If the United States government released him from his confinement because they were advised that the facts [Page 664] before stated would not be sufficient, technically, to sustain an impeachment of high treason, it does not prove that his previous proceedings were therefore lawful and innocent, or his arrest unlawful or unnecessary. The arrest and imprisonment stand upon the original ground, and are defensible upon every principle of right in a time of insurrection and civil war. The government released him because, in view of the actual condition of the civil war, his further detention was not deemed necessary for the public safety.
I have thus submitted to the consideration of your government the grounds on which, until further advised, the United States regard Captain Sherwin, not as a British subject of good character and practice, unlawfully arrested and imprisoned, but as an aider and abettor of the public enemies of the United States, and, therefore, rather indebted to their clemency than entitled to an indemnity for an imprisonment to which he was subjected as a means of public safety. If he has any explanations or refutations to offer, they will be considered with candor, and allowed their due weight.
I have the honor to be, with high consideration, your lordship’s obedient servant.
Right Hon. Lord Lyons.