Papers Relating to Foreign Affairs, Accompanying the Annual Message of the President to the Second Session Thirty-eighth Congress, Part I
Mr. Elliot to Mr. Hammond.—(Received December 24.)
Sir: I am directed by the Duke of Newcastle to transmit to you, for the consideration of Earl Russell, copies of two despatches from the governor of the Cape of Good Hope, with a copy of another from the governor of St. Helena, respecting the movements and proceedings of the United States sloop-of-war Vanderbilt.
By two of these despatches it will be seen that there is ground to apprehend that this sloop has seized a British vessel unlawfully. The next despatches from the Cape may be expected to bring fuller particulars and more direct evidence, but in the meanwhile the Duke of Newcastle loses no time in putting Earl Russell in possession of so much information as has yet been received on the subject.
I am, &c.,
Sir P. Wodehouse to the Duke of Newcastle.
My Lord Duke: I have the honor to report to your grace that the United States war-steamer Vanderbilt has again visited this colony.
On her arrival in Table bay, the commander landed and delivered to me a letter, in which he represented himself to be in want of coals and repairs. On my objecting, with regard to the former, that three months had not elapsed since he had taken in a supply at Simon’s bay, he urged, that under her Majesty’s instructions the governor of a colony possessed the power to grant “special permission,” as an exception to the general regulations on the subject, and he added, that it was within his own knowledge that the confederate steamer Georgia had called at Barbadoes twenty-seven days after coaling at the Bahamas; that the Florida had at Bermuda taken in coals sufficient for a month, when three days [Page 261] would have taken her to a confederate port, and that he himself had lately been allowed to coal at the Mauritius, although the governor was aware of his having coaled at Simon’s bay. I informed him that I would send an answer to his application on the following day, and accordingly, after duly considering all the circumstances of the case, I directed the colonial secretary to acquaint him that I did not feel at liberty, under all the circumstances of the case, to grant “special permission” for the shipment of the coals.
I enclose copies of the correspondence, and trust your grace will approve of the decision.
I have, &c.
Commander Baldwin, U. S. N., to Sir P. Wodehouse.
Sir: I have the honor to make known to your excellency the arrival here of this ship.
I have come to this harbor for the purpose of making some necessary repairs to my meahinery, and also to get a supply of fuel.
I therefore ask your excellency’s permission to lie here for the above-mentioned purposes the necessary time, say, from four to six working days.
I have, &c.,
The Colonial Secretary to Commander Baldwin, U. S. N.
Sir: I am directed by the governor to acquaint you that he has given his best consideration to the letter which he had the honor of receiving from you yesterday, as well as to the verbal representations you made to him relative to the issue of coals to American vessels-of-war by the “special permission” of the governors of other British colonies, as an exception to general directions of the British government on the subject.
Looking to the stringent nature of the instructions he has received, the governor entertains some doubt whether the authority to grant “special permission” be really vested in himself. But he considers that there are special circumstances affecting the ship under your command sufficient in themselves to guide him in dealing with your application.
It has been the unvarying desire of her Majesty’s government to abstain, as far as practicable, from affording to either of the parties engaged in the American civil war assistance in the prosecution of hostilities towards each other; and accordingly, in regulating the issue of coals at British ports to their ships-of-war, the object has manifestly been to restrict those issues to the supplies needed for carrying them to some defined destination in foreign parts, or from some foreign port to their own country, and not to facilitate their cruising for an indefinite period for purposes of the war.
Applying this principle to the case of the Vanderbilt, the governor finds that on her way from South America to the Cape she coaled at the British colony of St. Helena; that shortly after that she coaled again at Simon’s bay, and that after remaining in the neighborhood of our ports for a time, she proceeded to Mauritius, where she coaled again, and then returned to this colony.
[Page 262]It is also matter of notoriety that the object of her movements has been to intercept the confederate cruisers which have lately visited our shores. Under these circumstances, with the information now before him, the governor believes that he would be acting in opposition to the spirit of her Majesty’s instructions if he were to grant “special permission” for the issue of coals within the limited term of three months.
His excellency has no objection to offer to your remaining in port for the time required for the completion of indispensable repairs.
I have, &c,
Sir P. Wodehouse to the Duke of Newcastle.
My Lord Duke: With reference to my recent despatches respecting the federal and confederate war-steamers Vanderbilt and Alabama, I have the honor to forward communications received from the naval commander-in-chief of this station, from which your grace will learn that acts of very questionable legality have been committed by the federal steamer Vanderbilt.
As the crew of the captured vessel have not yet reached Cape Town, I am not in a position to supply your grace with more precise information by this mail.
I have, &c.,
Rear-Admiral Sir B. Walker to Sir P. Wodehouse.
Sir: I beg to forward, for your excellency’s information, the copy of a letter I have received from Captain Forsyth, of her Majesty’s ship Valorous, who has this morning returned to this anchorage from Ichaboe, reporting the capture of the colonial vessel Saxon, by the United States ship-of-war Vanderbilt, at Angra Pequena, on the 30th ultimo.
I have, &c.
For enclosure 6 in No. 2, Captain Forsyth to Rear-Admiral Sir B. Walker, November 15, 1863, see enclosure 2 in No. 1.
[Sir C. Elliot to the Duke of Newcastle.].
My Lord Duke: The United States sloop Vanderbilt called off this port on the 10th instant, but did not anchor. Commander Baldwin was so good as to send me a few newspapers, from which I collect that he had come on from the Cape of Good Hope, after having been as far to the eastward as the Mauritius. The Vanderbilt left this place, steering about west-northwest.
[Page 263]2. I learn from an officer who visited the Vanderbilt that it was said on board she had called at Angra Pequena bay, and captured there, or in that neigh borhood, the British bark Saxon, belonging, as I am informed, to a firm at Cape Town. It was said that this bark had on board part of the cargo of the American bark Sea Bride, taken a few months since by the Alabama and armed, as I am informed, from that vessel, either as a tender to the confederate ship, or under a commission, said to be issued by the Commander of the Alabama. It has also been stated here that the Vanderbilt found and appropriated a considerable quantity of coal at Angra Pequena, intended for the Alabama; whether water-borne or on shore I cannot say.
3. Your grace will probably have correct particulars of the case direct from the Cape, but I have thought it right to mention what has reached me upon the subject.
I have, &c.