Mr. Seward to Mr. Adams.
Sir: It is my duty to invite, through you, the serious attention of her Majesty’s government to the instances, which unfortunately seem to be multiplying, in which the British possessions in our neighborhood, both continental and insular, have been made bases for hostile proceedings of the insurgents against this country. The motives for such proceedings have undoubtedly been, not a conviction that material damage would result directly from the hostile acts of the insurgents, but a hope that a just sense of national dignity, and self-preservation on our part, might induce us to resent the toleration of the British authorities, and ultimately, perhaps,, lead that government to take part with the insurgents as an open and declared enemy of the United States. The insufficiency of the British neutrality act and of the warnings of the [Page 339] Queen’s proclamation to arrest the causes of complaint referred to were anticipated early in the existing struggle, and that government was asked to apply a remedy by passing an act more stringent in its character—such as ours of the 10th of March, 1838, which was occasioned by a similar condition of affairs. This request has not been complied with, though its reasonableness and necessity have been shown by subsequent events.
The seizure by insurgents of the steamer Chesapeake, on the high seas, bound from New York to Portland, is familiar to you. Though the vessel was ultimately released, the perpetrators of the deed escaped punishment. Braine, one of the leaders, has since found his way to Havana, and with other conspirators has recently seized, under similar circumstances, the steam packet Roanoke, which plies between that place and New York, and carried her to Bermuda, but not receiving the hospitality which was expected there, the vessel was taken outside the port and burned.
On Saturday, the 17th of September last, Lieutenant Colonel B. H. Hill, acting assistant provost marshal general of Michigan, was advised by a person from Canada that a party was to be sent from Windsor, on the Canadian side of the Detroit river, opposite Detroit, to a point within the jurisdiction of the United States, for hostile purposes.
On Sunday evening, the 18th of September, a man came on board the Philo Parsons, while she was lying at the dock in Detroit, and requested the clerk, Mr. Walter T. Ashley, who is part owner of the Parsons, to call at Sandwich, on the Canada shore, three miles below Detroit, to receive him and a party of friends, who wished to go to Kelly’s island, about eleven miles from Sandusky, alleging that one of them was lame and could not well cross the ferry. The Philo Parsons sailed the next morning, (Monday, the 19th of September, ) at 8 o’clock, with about forty passengers. The person referred to above, as having engaged a passage for himself and party, appeared immediately afterwards, and at his request the steamer called at Sandwich, where his friends, four in number, came on board. At Maiden, on the Canada side, where the steamer always stops, about twenty miles below Detroit and near the point where the Detroit river empties into the lake, about twenty more men came on board. The number not being unusual, excited no suspicion. The only baggage of the party was an old-fashioned trunk, tied with rope, and which was afterwards ascertained to contain revolvers and large hatches or hand-axes. The steamer continued on her course, and made her usual landings at North Bass, Middle Bass, and South Bass islands—the latter being better known as Put-in-Bay island. These islands are nearly north of Sandusky, and about twenty miles distant. They all belong to the United States, and are part of the State of Ohio. Captain Atwood, the captain of the steamer, left her at Middle Bass island, where his family reside. Having made these landings, the steamer went on her course to Kelly’s island, about seven miles further on, and made her usual landing there. Here four men got on board, all apparently belonging to the same party, and it has been ascertained that one, who was seen among them after the capture of the steamer, had been several days on the island, visiting the inhabitants and pretending, to be an agent for the sale of sewing machines.
Shortly after leaving Kelly’s island, about 4 o’clock in the afternoon and while she was directly on her course for Sandusky, the Philo Parsons was seized by the party who had got on board at Sandwich and balden, and was headed to the eastward for nearly an hour, when she was turned back to Middle Bass island for fuel, the leader of the party having ascertained from the mate and engineer that there was not enough to run many hours. Soon after the Philo Parsons reached Middle Bass island, and while she was taking in wood, the steamer Island Queen, which performs daily trips from the Bass islands to Sandusky and back, came alongside and was immediately seized. The engineer of the Island Queen, without giving any provocation, was shot in the face. The [Page 340] ball entered his cheek and passed out near the ear. One person was cut in the head with a hatchet, and bled profusely. Several other persons were knocked down, and a large number were struck with the but-ends of pistols and with hatchets, and some ten or a dozen shots were fired. The passengers on both boats were landed at Middle Bass, with a part of their baggage.
After getting a supply of fuel, the Philo Parsons ran out into the lake, towing the Island Queen. At the distance of about five miles according to one statement, and at a smaller distance according to others, the Island Queen was scuttled by cutting her supply-pipe and was sent adrift. Before filling she drifted on a shoal, and was gotten off a few days afterwards, having been plundered by the party who had seized her.
After the Island Queen had been scuttled, the Philo Parsons stood for Sandusky harbor, and was turned about and steered for Maiden, where she arrived between 4 and 5 o’clock on Tuesday morning, the 20th of September. A few miles above Maiden, a yawl boat load of plunder was sent ashore on the Canadian side of the Detroit river. At Fighting island, some six miles above, the crews of both steamers were landed.
The Philo Parsons arrived at Sandwich at about 8 o’clock the same morning, and a pianoforte belonging to her, a number of trucks, and the cabin furniture, were put ashore at the dock, where a custom-house officer almost immediately appeared. She was then scuttled, by cutting her injection-pipes, and cast off. She partially filled, but was taken possession of a few hours afterwards by the mate, who had come in a small steamer (the Pearl) from Ecuse, who had her towed to Detroit.
The facts thus set forth having been substantiated by the depositions of eyewitnesses of these occurrences, I addressed a note to J. Hume Burnley, esq., her Britannic Majesty’s charge d’affaires, on the 13th instant, requesting, through him, that her Majesty’s government would, upon the arrest and commitment of the parties who perpetrated these depredations, some of whom passed by the names, respectively, of Bell, Howit Bristow, Eobert Drake, Burley, and Thomas, (the names of others not being ascertained, ) issue the necessary warrants for their delivery to Joseph Dimmick and James Henry, or to any other person duly authorized by the authorities of the State of Ohio to receive the fugitives, in order that they might be brought back to the United States for trial. This request was made on the ground that they were guilty of the crimes of robbery and assault with intent to commit murder within the jurisdiction of the United States, and that, being fugitives from the justice of the United States, their extradition was provided for by the tenth article of the treaty of Washington. Mr. Burnley has since informed me that he referred the matter to her Majesty’s provincial authorities, as is usual in such cases.
The primary object in capturing these steamers was confessedly to release the insurgent officers confined on Johnson’s island. There is reason to believe that the conspiracy was organized and set in motion by prominent insurgents, who have for some time past been residing in Canada for such purposes. Indeed, this department has proof that Mr. Jacob Thompson has acknowledged that he was commissioned and provided with funds to carry them into effect, and had interviews with conspicuous members of the gang just before the steamers were captured.
It is obvious that at the time of the informal arrangement between the two governments of April, 1817, limiting their naval force on the lakes, a condition of things like the present could scarcely have been anticipated. The object of that arrangement was to prevent either party from keeping in commission the considerable naval force which they both had employed in that quarter during the war then recently closed. If peace was expected to continue, the force was an unnecessary burden to both parties; but, on the contrary, if war should suddenly be renewed, one or the other might, in anticipation of that event, have [Page 341] clandestinely or otherwise so augmented its force as to insure to it a dangerous advantage. Believing that these were the views entertained at the time the arrangement was entered into, and that neither the United States nor Great Britain expected to relinquish their right to self-defence in the event of a civil war in the territories of either, by the limitation referred to, the Secretary of the. Treasury, as you will see from the correspondence, a copy of which is enclosed, has chartered two propellers, one on Lake Erie, and the other on Lake Ontario, for the purpose of checking and suppressing depredations on our trade and territory in that region, similar to those above mentioned.
I had just prepared the foregoing statement of the transaction on Lake Erie, when information of a new and equally desperate outrage on another part of the border reached this department. A band, said to consist of twenty-five desperate men, clandestinely armed, crossed the frontier and proceeded in several small parties, by stage-coach, to St. Albans, Vermont, in the customary way of travellers. At a concerted time they raised a scene of terror in that peaceful town, and broke into boarding-houses and other buildings and carried off large amounts of treasure, said to be two hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars, together with other valuable property. As soon as the people recovered from their surprise, they arose and hotly pursued the felons, who sought safety by returning on stolen horses across the frontier into Canada. The Canadian municipal agents seem to have co-operated with the pursuers from Vermont with alacrity and diligence. Twelve of the robbers were arrested, stripped of their plunder and taken into custody by the Canadian authorities. It is also understood that a considerable part of the recovered property was promptly restored to its owners. Here the imperfect accounts which I have received of this transaction end. I have requested of J. Hume Burnley, esq., her Majesty’s charge d’affaires here, that the felons may be detained, until, after having obtained the exact information which is essential, I shall have addressed to the British government a demand for the surrender of the offenders, in conformity with the provisions for extradition contained in the Ashburton treaty. The subject has been discussed in a friendly spirit between myself and Mr. Burnley, who has received telegraphic advices from Lord Lyons, who yet remains in New York. I give you a copy of a note which I addressed to Mr. Burnley on the 21st instant, and also a copy of a note I afterwards received from him in answer to my verbal request, that Lord Monck, the governor general, should be advised to detain the offenders for extradition. I wish you to bring this transaction also to the notice of Earl Russell, and say to him that, taken in connexion with events of the same character which have occurred on the Canadian frontier, it is regarded here as deserving prompt and decisive proceedings on the part of her Majesty’s government, in order to prevent the danger of ultimate conflict upon the Canadian borders. It is a pleasant circumstance that, in making this communication, we are not only able but are obliged to acknowledge that the Canadian executive authority has, in this instance, thus far co-operated with this government in faithful and diligent efforts to bring the disturbers of the public peace to due account. It is, however, impossible to resist the conviction that peace cannot be reliably maintained upon the border unless more effective measures shall be adopted to secure that end than those that have hitherto been used by both governments. We know well, although we have not judicial evidence, that all the movements of this character are set on foot by Jacob Thompson and other disloyal American citizens who are temporarily domiciled in Canada, and furnished with funds there for these iniquitous purposes through the banking institutions of Canada. It is now my duty to instruct you to give notice to Earl Russell, in conformity with the treaty reservation of that right, that, at the expiration of six months after you shall have made this communication, the United States will deem themselves at liberty to increase the naval armament upon the lakes, if, in their judgment, the condition of affairs in that [Page 342] quarter shall then require it. And you will be careful to advise us of the day on which this notice is given. You will assure the earl, however, that this proceeding is adopted only as a necessary measures of national defence, and not only with no purpose of hostility, but, on the other hand, with a desire no less earnest than heretofore to preserve the most friendly relations with Great Britain. Moreover, this government will in every case direct its best efforts to prevent invasion of British territory, whether by way of popular retaliation or otherwise. It is not for us to indicate the means her Majesty’s government should adopt to maintain neutrality on their side of the border. You will again suggest to her Majesty’s government that, in our opinion, a policy similar to that which was inaugurated by our enactment before mentioned might be followed with advantage by Great Britian in the American provinces during our present civil war. I should fail, however, to express a sincere conviction of this government if I should not repeat now what I have heretofore so often had occasion to say, that, practically, the policy of neutrality which her Majesty has proclaimed has failed as well in the British home ports as in the British colonies, and especially in the latter, and that it must continue to fail more conspicuously every day, so long as asylum is allowed there to active agents of the enemies of the United States, and they are in any way able, by evasion or otherwise, to use the British ports and British borders as a base for felonious depredations against the citizens of the United States. Nonceive of any remedy adequate to the present exigency, but the recognition by her Majesty’s government of the just and exclusive sovereignty of the United States in all the waters and territories legally subject to the jurisdiction of this government. I use the word exigency with a consciousness of its just effect. The welfare and prosperity of the British provinces on our borders are as sincerely desired by us as they by the British government. In a practical sense these provinces are sources of wealth and influence for the United States, although they are subject to a foreign jurisdiction. We have proved that this is a sincere conviction on our part by entering into relations of reciprocal free trade with the British provinces almost as intimate as the relations of free trade which, under our Constitution, prevail between the several States of the American Union. Thus far we have been content with these relations, and probably we should remain content whether the colonies adhere to their ties with Great Britian, or, with her consent, should assume the responsibilities of self-government, provided always that our friendship is reciprocated, while peace and harmony on the border are essential to the very existence of such friendship. On the other hand, we have a right to expect that the dwellers within those provinces will be content to fulfil toward us the obligations of good neighborhood, as we are expected to fulfil the same obligations on our part. Even if this government could be satisfied with less than what I have thus indicated, it must, nevertheless, be admitted that, from the very force of circumstances, peace could hardly be expected to prevail on a border which should afford to the communities which it divides no adequate protection against mutual aggression and reprisal.
Political agitation is as frequent in the British American provinces as it is here. It is not easy to foresee how soon revolutionary movements may appear there. Every provocation now given to Americans will be likely to be claimed as a precedent in that case for intrusion from this side of the lakes. Would it not be wise to establish a proper system of repression now, which would prove a rock of safety for both countries hereafter.
I am, sir, your obedient servant,
Charles Francis Adams, Esq., &c., &c. &c.