Papers Relating to Foreign Affairs, Accompanying the Annual Message of the President to the Second Session Thirty-eighth Congress, Part II
Mr. Adams to Mr. Seward.
Sir: I have the honor to transmit copies of notes which have passed between Lord Russell and myself on the subject referred to in your despatch to me, No. 1024, of the 7th of July. You will perceive that his lordship proposes a question which I cannot answer without further information.
I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant,
Hon. William H. Seward, &c., &c., &c.
[Enclosures.]
1. Mr. Adams to Lord Russell, August 1, 1864.
2. Lord Russell to Mr. Adams, August 6, 1864.
3. Her Majesty’s consul at Bilbao to Lord Russell, July 21, 1864.
4. Mr. Adams to Lord Russell, August 18, 1864.
Mr. Adams to Earl Russell.
My Lord: I have the honor to transmit a copy of a letter addressed to the Department of State at Washington by Mr. Savage, vice consul general of the United States at the Havana, which I have been directed to communicate to your lordship for the information of her Majesty’s government.
Renewing the assurances of my highest consideration, I have the honor to be, my lord, your lordship’s most obedient servant,
Right Hon. Earl Russell, &c., &c., &c.
Earl Russell to Mr. Adams.
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 1st instant, communicating to me, by direction of your government, a copy of a despatch from the vice-consul general of the United States at the Havana, containing information respecting the movements of the notorious Spanish slave steamer Ciceron.
This information, for which I beg to tender you my best thanks, entirely coincides with that already received by her Majesty’s government, in so far, at least, as regards the movements of the Oiceron up to the time when she left Marseilles, on the 11th of April last.
You will see, however, from the accompanying copy of a despatch received, a few days since from her Majesty’s consul at Bilbao, that, since leaving Mar-seilles, the Oiceron is stated to have failed in several attempts to ship slaves from the African coast, and, according to reports from thence, a very fast steamer made attempts to ship slaves from the neighborhood of Aghwey, but was prevented by the vigilance of the British cruisers. That steamer was believed to be the Ci-ceron.
If, therefore, the report contained in the despatch from the. vice consul general of the United States to the effect that an expedition of from 1,200 to 1,500 Africans was recently landed from a steamer on the southeast coast of Cuba is correct, it would seem probable that some steamer other than the Oiceron is engaged in the Ouban slave traffic; and her Majesty’s government would be glad to receive any further information on this point which the United States agents in Cuba may be able to furnish.
I avail myself of this opportunity to request that you will be good enough to inform me whether it is the intention of the United States government to send any vessels to cruise against slavers.
I have the honor to be, with the highest consideration, sir, your most obedient, humble servant,
Charles Francis Adams, Esq., &c., &c., &c.
Mr. Young to Earl Russell.
My Lord: I have the honor to report to your lordship the following intelligence, some portion of which it is possible may not yet have been conveyed to her Majesty’s government, respecting the Spanish steamer Oiceron.
From a communication made to me, on which I can rely, it appears that the Oiceron, after leaving Marseilles about the 15th of April last, proceeded to the island of Mallorca, where she took in a large supply of coal, and thence to the African coast.
Arrived off the coast, and at the moment when she was preparing to embark slaves, the Oiceron was chased by two British steamers, from which vessels she escaped out to sea without difficulty, owing to her great speed, which it is stated enables her to steam 16½ knots an hour.
The following day the Oiceron came a second time to the coast, when her intention to embark slaves was again frustrated by three British steamers, but, although chased and fired into, she again got to sea with the greatest ease.
On the fourth day the Oiceron made a third attempt on the coast, which, on account of the presence of the British steamers, was equally unsuccessful with the [Page 277] previous ones; the captain therefore resplved to abandon the expedition, and steamed for St. Thomas, at which place he and the crew left the vessel, and returned to Europe, arriving a few days since.
I am informed that only one individual on board the Ciceron belonged to this neighborhood. I have forwarded a copy of this despatch to her Majesty’s minister at Madrid.
I have, &c., &c.,
Earl Russell, &c., &c., &c.
Mr. Adams to Earl Russell.
My Lord: I have the honor to acknowledge the reception of your note of the 6th instant, in reply to mine of the 1st instant, communicating information of the movements of the Spanish steamer Ciceron.
I now submit to your lordship a copy of an extract just received from another letter of the vice consul general of the United States at the Havana, dated on the 9th of July, confirming the fact of the landing of 1,200 negroes in the island of Cuba, although it gives no further light as to the agency of that particular steamer in the transaction.
In reply to the question addressed to me at the close of your lordship’s letter, as to the intention of my government to send vessels to cruise against slavers, I regret to say that I have received no later advices on the subject; but I shall do myself the honor at once to apply to the proper sources from which to obtain the desired information.
I pray your lordship to accept the assurances of the highest consideration with which I have the honor to be, my lord, your most obedient servant,
Right Hon. Earl Russell, &c., &c., &c.