Laird Brothers to her Majesty’s Treasury.
Sir: Referring to your letter of the 7th instant, in which you say that you understand the trial trip of the iron-clad steam vessel the El Tousson, now nearly completed, has been abandoned, we beg to inform you, that the trial trip was deferred, but not abandoned, as you will see by referring to our letter addressed to the Hon. H. Brand, on the 21st September, in which we informed him that we considered it desirable to defer the trial trip of the first of the iron-clads, the El Tousson, in consequence of the then incomplete state of the vessel and the then crowded state of the river Mersey, and also in order that her Majesty’s government might be able to obtain further information as to the project which they had reason to apprehend was in existence—for seizing the iron-clad steam vessel, by force, on her trial trip.
We now beg to inform you that the work at the El Tousson is now in such a state of progress as to make it desirable to have a trial trip to test the working of the machinery, and we, therefore, shall be glad to know whether, with the information her Majesty’s government have been able to obtain since the date of our former letter, they still consider that the precautions of having a force of seamen and marines on board are necessary to protect our property.
We propose that the trial trip shall take place about the end of next week, or the beginning of the week after—say some day between the 22d and 29th instant—and that it should not extend beyond what is considered the limits of the port, or within sight of the light-ship.
No circumstances have come to our knowledge to induce us to apprehend any attempt to take forcible possession of the vessel on her trial trip; and after the fullest inquiry we are satisfied that if any such project ever existed in the port of Liverpool, the real facts of the case would have been discovered before this, and the parties implicated placed under such surveillance as to render the execution of their design impossible.
Waiting your reply, we remain, sir, your obedient servants,
George A. Hamilton, Esq.