Laird Brothers to Captain Inglefield, H. M. S. Majestic.
Sir: We have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 28th instant, informing us that you have received from the lords commissioners of the admiralty a letter, of which the following is an extract:
“Desiring that full possession should be immediately taken of the two ironclads now under seizure at Birkenhead, that Messrs. Lairds’ workmen should be immediately removed from them, and that the vessels themselves should be removed into the Mersey and stationed where you may determine, with a sufficient guard placed on board of them;” and that you therefore request that we will deliver the vessels in question to your custody upon your sending an officer and party to take charge of them.
We beg formally to protest against the illegal and unconstitutional seizure of these ships.
We shall, of course, offer no obstruction to the physical force with which we are threatened by the government. At the same time we protest against the probable destruction of our property in having ships, one of which is a mere hulk, without masts, funnel, or steering gear, taken out of the docks, where they are now in a place of safety, and moored in the river Mersey at this inclement season of the year; and we trust that the government will reconsider orders they have given you on this point.
We are, sir, your obedient servants,
Captain Inglefield, R. N., H. M. S. Majestic.