Lord Lyons to Mr. Seward.
Sir: Her Majesty’s government have had under their consideration the note which you did me the honor to address to me on the 13th of May last, respecting the claim for reparation for the injuries caused by the imprisonment of Mr. Redgate and Mr. Elsworth, two of the passengers captured on board the Peterhoff, and her Majesty’s government have instructed me to inform you that they are not prepared to accept your proposition that this matter should be referred to the prize court.
Her Majesty’s government observe, in the first place, that this is certainly not a question which a prize court is ordinarily competent to entertain. The jurisdiction of the tribunal is in rem, and does not extend to awarding damages to individuals ill treated by the captor, apart from the adjudication upon the guilt or innocence of the vessel seized, while the claim of her Majesty’s government, on behalf of Mr. Redgate and Mr. Elsworth, is independent of that circumstance.
In the second place, her Majesty’s government regard the case as one in which (assuming the truth of the story) immediate redress should be granted by the executive government of the United States.
Her Majesty’s government consider that the captors had no right to treat Mr. Elsworth and Mr. Redgate, the subjects of a neutral state, on board a neutral vessel, as prisoners of war.
Her Majesty’s government consider that the captor’s right is confined to detaining, not as prisoners of war, but as necessary witnesses, such of the crew (usually the master and two of the seamen) as may be required to make depositions as to the circumstances of the case. But Mr. Redgate and Mr. Elsworth formed no part of the crew of the Peterhoff; and they do not appear to her Majesty’s government to have been detained as witnesses, but rather to have been treated as subjects of the belligerent at war with the United States.
I have the honor to be, with the highest consideration, sir, your most obedient, humble servant,
Hon. William H. Seward, Secretary of State.