Mr. Adams to Earl Russell.—(Received April 2.)
My Lord: I have had the honor to receive your note of the 31st of March, bringing to my notice an account taken from a newspaper of what passed at the trial before Mr. Justice Keogh of the British subjects indicted for taking service in the United States ship Kearsarge, at Queenstown, and further requesting me to inform you whether I have any explanation to offer on the subject.
I am very happy to seize the opportunity thus offered to me to state the facts connected with that case, so far as they have been submitted to my examination.
And first, it gives me great satisfaction to apprise your lordship that so long ago as the 26th of December last my government, on the receipt of the first intelligence of your note to me of the 30th of November, addressed to me instructions immediately to investigate the charges against both of the officers referred to in that note, and if I found it sustained against the consul, Mr. Eastman, to dismiss him at once without waiting for further directions; and with respect to the commander of the Kearsarge, in case he was found to have been guilty, I was directed to apprise your lordship that he would be promptly relieved of his command, and other satisfactory amends would be offered to her Majesty’s government.
I trust that this statement will serve to convince your lordship that, so far as my government is concerned, it has no disposition to tolerate any act of its officers which shall be shown to have been done in contravention of the laws of this kingdom.
The reason why I have not acted under these instructions has been that I have thus far seen no evidence to justify me in doubting the statement of the consul, Mr. Eastman, made to me, that he had no part whatever in the matter. The first intelligence he appeal’s to have had of the men being actually on board the vessel was by a letter from Captain Win slow, reference to which is made in the letter of Rear-Admiral Jones of the 7th of December. The only testimony affecting him is that of Patrick Kennedy, merely to the effect that he saw him on board the Kearsarge, in conversation with some of the officers. Mr. Eastman had early informed me that he did go on board to see the captain; that he found that he had gone ashore; that he did not go below, but stood conversing with the first lieutenant a little while on a subject having no relation whatever to enlistments, and that he soon returned to land. I trust your lordship [Page 768] will agree with me in the opinion that the mere fact of being on board the Kearsarge would not justify me in suspecting the consul of being privy to an unlawful act, in the face of his positive denial to the contrary.
With regard to his denial of the charge against Captain Winslow, it is obvious that he could have made it only upon such information as he then possessed, and his own personal belief at the time that it was correct. Even were it admitted that he had been mistaken in this averment, it does not at all follow that his affirmation respecting himself is in any way impeached.
Having thus no evidence whatever in my hands, coming either from the persons alleged to have been enlisted or from any other source, to prove Mr. Eastman’s knowledge or participation in the act charged, no case seemed to exist to justify me in pursuing any investigation. At the same time I feel it my duty to add that I have been directed to communicate to your lordship the desire of my government that I may be furnished with any such additional proofs as may be in your possession and may be deemed to be material, should it still be the wish of her Majesty’s government that the matter should be further pursued.
In regard to the action of the officers of the Kearsarge, who appear to be generally involved by the language of Mr. Justice Keogh in the suspicion of being parties to a violation of the enlistment act, the facts, so far as I have been able to ascertain them, are these: It appears that one James Haley, a native of Ireland, but now in the service of the United States as a petty officer on board the Kearsarge, on or about the 2d of November went ashore to visit his relations at Eingaskiddy. While at this place there is reason to believe that he suggested to several men whom he met the probability that they might get employment on board of the steamer. There is no evidence that he himself promised them any, nor that he had any authority whatever to do so if he did. In point of fact he could have had none. To the extent thus defined it would seem as if he might have made himself liable as having violated the spirit if not the letter of her Majesty’s law.
The announcement thus made and soon spread abroad produced an immediate effect among the population in the vicinity, the consequence of which was that a number of men, variously estimated at from 150 to 300, went out to the ship, eagerly seeking to be employed. A few of these, being the immediate townsmen of James Haley aforesaid, appear to have been presented to officer Thornton as applicants for enlistment, who, in the absence of the commander and of any definite instructions, gave them reason to suppose that they might be engaged. They were therefore subjected to the usual examination, subject to the approbation of the captain on his return. To the extent here specified officer Thornton appears to have made himself liable as having violated the spirit if not the letter of her Majesty’s law. It is proper in his case to add that he avers he was not aware at the time of the provisions of that law.
On the return of the captain to his vessel he was consulted in regard to what had been done, and immediately gave orders not only to forbid the enlistments, but to clear the ship of all the men who had come, and further, to forbid the numerous boats that were crowding around it from coming alongside. The orders were executed not without considerable difficulty, from the desire of the men to stay, and the vessel sailed.
On the next day, however, it was discovered that several men, principally the neighbors and townsmen of James Haley, of Ringaskiddy, had succeeded in escaping detection and were still on board. That these people had been concealed with the connivance of some person or persons belonging to the crew of the Kearsarge, and in the hope of ultimately retaining them, there can be little doubt. But there is no reason to suppose that the commander had any knowledge of or share in it. On learning the fact, his first decision was to put them ashore at Brest, the port to which he was going. This was actually done. But on a [Page 769] reconsideration of the destitute condition in which they would he left, and of the probability that they might be driven to have recourse to enlistment in the vessel formerly known to your lordship as the Oreto, and now the Florida, which has been notoriously fitted out from a British port and filled with British subjects, for months past carrying on war against the United States, he determined to take them on board once more, and to return to Queenstown for the purpose of restoring them in safety to their own homes. This was accordingly carried out.
The conclusion at which I arrived from an examination of the facts as they have been recited is, that no evidence is brought forward to show that Captain Winslow ever gave any authority to enlist one of these people in Queenstown or elsewhere. On the contrary, he forbade any such proceeding so soon as he knew it was contemplated, and when he found that his orders had been evaded, he took the only method in his power to repair the wrong by promptly restoring the individuals concerned to the condition from which they had been taken.
I am not, however, disposed to doubt that among some of those constituting the crew of the Kearsarge there may have been a desire to keep these men, with a hope that they might ultimately be suffered to retain their places on board. But I have no reason to suppose that this motive operated upon a single one of the principal officers of the ship. Presuming that it was not the purpose to pursue these investigations further than was necessary fully to sustain the majesty of the British law, I have rested quiet in the conviction that the clearly proved absence of all intention on the part of my government, or of any of its responsible agents, to commit an offence in the present instance, had most conclusively effected that object. If, however, it should turn out that additional measures would be agreeable to her Majesty’s government, I shall be happy to be informed of the fact by your lordship, as well as to receive any and all further proofs that may be in its possession, in order to enable me to arrive at a more complete and satisfactory result.
In the mean time I am instructed to inform your lordship that my government, in this as in any other case that may occur, will not fail to vindicate its respect for the laws of Great Britain and for the law of nations.
I pray, &c.,