Laird Brothers to her Majesty’s Treasury.
My Lords: We beg to call your lordships’ attention to the very serious position in which we are placed by the extraordinary steps taken by her Majesty’s government with the two iron-clad ships now being built by us.
It is a rule well recognized in all trading establishments, that an order, whilst under execution, is the property of the person giving it, and that a builder has no right to make public the orders or instructions of his employers. This is a rule of business which must be well known to her Majesty’s government.
On the 4th September, however, we were officially applied to by Mr. Layard for the information “on whose account, and with what destination, the vessels were being built.”
Owing, however, to certain vague rumors which were current in the newspapers, and to the repeated visits of Mr. Morgan, the surveyor of her Majesty’s customs, we had taken the precaution to obtain the owner’s sanction to disclose his name, and we were accordingly enabled, by return of post, to reply to Mr. Layard’s letter, and inform him that we were building the ships for Messrs. A. Bravay & Co., 6 Rue de Londres, Paris.
On the 9th September Mr. Hamilton, the secretary to the treasury, wrote us to say that the vessels would not be permitted to leave the Mersey until inquiries then being prosecuted had been brought to a conclusion.
In order to give her Majesty’s government ample time to make these inquiries, [Page 412] we wrote in reply to say that the first vessel would not be complete in less than a month. And about the same time we stated that the first vessel would be ready for a trial trip in a short time, and that we would engage that she should return to the Birkenhead float.
On the 17th September permission was given for the trial trip, and we were further requested to give our personal undertaking that the vessel should not leave the port without our giving a week’s notice to her Majesty’s government.
This undertaking we readily gave by return of post.
On the 19th September we received a letter from Mr. Brand, secretary of the treasury, to say that the government feared an attempt might be made to seize the vessel whilst on her trial trip, but without giving any reason for such apprehension, and tendering the services of a force of seamen and marines.
We accepted this offer of protection, though unable, ourselves, to discover any grounds for such apprehension.
On the 7th October we received a letter from Mr. Hamilton, secretary of the treasury, stating that, from further information, it had become necessary that a custom-house officer should be placed on board, and the captain of the Majestic was instructed to afford him protection.
As none of these movements of her Majesty’s government interfered with us in our completion of these ships, and as any plans to seize our ships, either by the northern or southern belligerents, would entail great pecuniary loss upon us, we, of course, made no objection to these means provided by the government for our protection, though we were then, and still are, unable to discover any grounds whatever for these precautionary measures, and we are satisfied that her Majesty’s government have lent too credulons an ear to the inventions of designing persons.
But when her Majesty’s government, without giving us any information to show us that they have any just grounds for doing so, proceed to seize our ships and turn off our workmen, and threaten to remove a helpless hulk from a place of safety into, the open roadstead of the Mersey, we feel it our duty to enter our indignant protest against proceedings so illegal and so unconstitutional.
We have dealt candidly and openly with her Majesty’s government. We have, with the owners’ permission, given the names of the owners, and we believe we have a perfect legal right to build ships for a French subject without requiring from him a disclosure of his object in having such vessels constructed. It forms no part of our duty to interfere in any way with his affairs, and we shall not do so.
We need hardly say that we hold the government responsible to us for the large pecuniary loss we shall sustain by these arbitrary proceedings.
We are, my lords, your lordships’ most obedient servants,
The Lords Commissioners of H. M. Treasury.