Papers Relating to Foreign Affairs, Accompanying the Annual Message of the President to the Second Session Thirty-eighth Congress, Part I
Mr. Seward to Mr. Adams.
Sir: Since the instruction to you of yesterday, No. 801, on the subject of the alleged enlistments for the Kearsarge at Queenstown was prepared, the letter of that date, a copy of which is enclosed, has been received from the Secretary of the Navy. The only two of the accompanying papers, transcripts of which were not already in your possession, are also herewith transmitted. It is presumed that you may now be enabled to present the case to the British government in a shape that may satisfy it that the men found on board the Kearsarge were not enlisted at Queenstown; that they secreted themselves in the vessel without the knowledge of Captain Winslow; and that they were returned to the place whence they came within a reasonable time after their presence was discovered.
I am, sir, your obedient servant,
Charles F. Adams, Esq. &c., &c., &c.
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Sir: On the 29th ultimo I had the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 23d ultimo, enclosing a despatch from Mr. Adams in reference to an alleged violation of the foreign enlistment act of Great Britain by the commander of the United States steamer Kearsarge, and to state that Captain Winslow had been called upon for a report on the subject, as nothing relative to it had been received from him. Since then a report from him, dated December [Page 70] 11, has reached the department, and I have the honor to transmit it and its enclosures, herewith, for your perusal, and for such use as you may think proper to make of their contents.
The return of the report, and the papers accompanying it, is requested.
Very respectfully,
Hon. William H. Seward Secretary of State.
P. S.—Any further report that may be received from Captain Winslow shall be communicated to you.
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Sir: I have the honor to inform you that, during the last cruise of the Kearsarge from this port, I took the opportunity of landing at Queenstown sixteen refugees who secreted themselves on board of this vessel prior to her departure from that port on the 5th ultimo.
The accompanying papers afford all information of the character of that act, with the correspondence which followed.
I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
Hon. Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy, Washington, D. C.
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Sir: A party of men, either by connivance of the crew or otherwise, were concealed on board this vessel on the night of her departure from Queenstown, the 5th ultimo.
These men, I learn, were in expectation of being enlisted in the service of the United States after the Kearsarge had proceeded to sea, but found their mistake. To have turned them ashore at Brest would have been to open to them the temptation to enlist on board the Florida. I therefore determined to leave them at Queenstown as soon as it was practicable.
You will please notify Admiral Jones that I informed him that no enlistments would be made at Queenstown. I have, therefore, sent on shore this party, that no charge of subterfuge may be alleged in the premises.
Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
E. G. Eastman, Esq., U. S. Consul, Queenstown.
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I certify that the United States steam-sloop Kearsarge arrived in Queenstown on the night of the 2d of November, 1863, and that on the following day I left the ship for Cork. On my return to Queenstown, accompanied by the American consul, I called upon the admiral in command, and in course of conversation reference was made to a paragraph in the papers that the Kearsarge had come for the purpose of enlisting men, when I informed the admiral that I [Page 71] had received notice from the executive officer of the Kearsarge that many persons had applied to be shipped, and in response I had directed him to notify all persons that no enlistments would be made, and instructions were given in accordance.
On the night of the 5th of November, while blowing heavy, and thick weather, we went to sea. On the following day report was made to me that several men had been discovered on board; investigation shows that they had concealed themselves in the ship during the thick and rainy weather of the day and night previous, and disguised in this way had come out in the ship in hopes of enlistment in the service of the United States after the ship got to sea. The Kearsarge was on important duty, watching the Florida at Brest, and it was therefore impracticable to return the men to Queenstown immediately. I directed the men to be held at Brest, in apprehension if they were turned ashore they would join the Florida, resolving as soon as the Kearsarge left Brest again to put them ashore at Cork. The Kearsarge left Brest again on the 5th of December, and, in accordance with my resolution, I have this day, the 7th of December, sent sixteen men ashore in the pilot-boat Petrel, with a list of their names as given to the American consul.
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Sir: I have the honor to inform you that I came to, off Queenstown, for the purpose of landing sixteen refugees who had concealed themselves on board this ship prior to her departure from Queenstown, on the 5th of November. I learn here that an attempt has been made to magnify this circumstance for purposes unfriendly to the United States. I have, therefore, given to the American consul my certificate, with a representation of the circumstances by the executive officer of this ship, and I have directed the consul to hand you a copy of the same.
Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
Rear-Admiral Sir Lewis T. Jones, Com’dg H. M. Naval Forces, Coast of Ireland.
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Sir: I beg leave to state, in accordance with your request, that on or about the 3d of November, 1863, several men from Queenstown came on board of this ship as applicants for enlistment in the naval service. In the absence of yourself and of any definite instructions in regard to such applications, I told the men that if they were physically qualified for enlistment they might remain on board until your return, when you would decide. Upon your return, your instructions were not to enlist them. These men were accordingly sent out of the ship. Many applications of a similar nature were made, but their enlistment was, in every case, refused, in accordance with your instructions. During the time we were at anchor the ship was surrounded by boats filled with men desiring to enlist. Orders were given and executed not to allow them alongside. On the evening of the 5th this was the case until after dark and until the ship was under way.
The ship went to sea on the 5th November. It was stormy and blowing hard. In accordance with the usual custom of the ship, and with the necessities [Page 72] of the case, (as I thought,) before tripping the anchor, all strangers were ordered out of the ship. The master-at-arms, with the ship’s corporal and others of the police force, executed the order, finding men stowed away in the hold, in the carpenter’s locker, and elsewhere. These men were put out of the ship, in some cases by force. As soon as the ship was reported cleared, the anchor was tripped and the ship went to sea.
On the next day several men were discovered who were strangers in the ship. These men, probably with the connivance of some of the crew, had been so secretly concealed as to elude the vigilance of the police force. Upon receiving this information you decided to land these men at Brest, whither you were bound.
These men were sent out of the ship at Brest in accordance with this determination, but pleading destitution, they returned and were permitted to remain on board until this morning, when they were returned at Queenstown by the pilot-boat Petrel.
I would add that the names of these men, upon their return to the ship while in Brest, were placed upon the ship’s books for the purpose of their support and comfort, they being otherwise entirely destitute.
Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
Captain Jno. A. Winslow, Commanding.
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Sir: Your letter, with enclosed memorandum, is at hand. I have just returned from a cruise of reconnoissance up the channel, and while off Cork landed sixteen men, who had secreted themselves on board the Kearsarge some time prior to her departure from Queenstown, the 3d ultimo.
I learned from the consul at Queenstown of the seizure of this act by secession agents to make capital of, and left with him originals of the enclosed letters, which will afford you all information in the premises.
I would beg leave to say, that so far as my action is concerned in this case, I was so particular as even to send ashore an American seaman (Boston born,) lest it might be said that I had not dealt faithfully.
I should be pleased to receive your views in consideration of this subject, with any information relating.
It is to be regretted that the daily papers could not publish the facts, and disclose the plot of secession agents to prejudice the public mind.
I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant.
Hon. Charles Francis Adams, Env. Ext. and Min. Plen. of the U. S., London, or John Bigelow, Esq., United States Consul, Paris.