Lord Lyons to Mr. Seward.
Sir: Her Majesty’s government have carefully considered the information which they have received respecting the recent seizures of the Sir William Peel, the Science, the Dashing Wave, and other British vessels, by the United States cruisers in the Rio Grande, and they have felt it to be their duty to direct me to address to you a remonstrance upon the subject.
With respect to the case of the Sir William Peel, the attention of her Majesty’s government has been directed to a letter from Commander Rolando, the captor, to the Assistant Secretary of the United States navy, dated the 3d of October last, which has been intercepted and published, with which you are of course Well acquainted. Her Majesty’s government are of opinion that it is scarcely possible to doubt, from the evidence of this letter, the genuineness of which her Majesty’s government consider themselves to be fully entitled to assume that the Sir William Peel was knowingly seized by the captor in neutral waters; that she was seized without preliminary examination, in violation of international law and of the orders of the United States government; and that she was seized partly on account of her homeward cargo being cotton, which the captain knew was not contraband, but which he chose to treat as contraband.
Indeed, the official report of Commander Rolando to the Secretary of the Navy, a copy of which you did me the honor to transmit to me with your note of the 11th of January last, avows as the reason for the seizure “that the Sir William Peel had been landing a portion of her cargo contraband of war, and was receiving confederate cotton from confederate agents at Brownsville.” That report appears, therefore, to her Majesty’s government to be in accordance with the intercepted letter, and to show that the captor relied upon the United States government supporting him in seizing neutral vessels with confederate cotton on board, on the plea that such cotton was contraband. It is true, that Commander Rolando adds in the report, that on searching the ship after taking possession of her, “he found sufficient contraband of war to justify the seizure.” But, in the first place, her Majesty’s government object that this officer considers what he terms “confederate cotton” to be contraband of war; and secondly, that the search which is to justify a seizure ought, by international [Page 537] law, to precede, and not to follow, the act of taking possession. It appears, therefore, to her Majesty’s government to be plain that Commodore Rolando, at the time of making this capture, disregarded the rules of international law; and considering this in connexion with the intercepted letter, and with the fact that the prize court at New Orleans has been unable to find any justification for the capture without further proofs, her Majesty’s government conceive that it is impossible to attach any weight to the pretext that contraband was found on board the vessel.
Adverting again to the intercepted letter, her Majesty’s government consider it necessary to take notice of the 5th paragraph, which runs as follows: “The vessel is perfectly ventilated with air-ports, and would be comfortable for a crew of 400 men. She will make us a splendid single-deck sloop with pivot guns, razee the spar deck.” To her Majesty’s government there appears to be only too much reason to infer from this paragraph that the captor was influenced in his unjust proceedings by the desire of employing the Sir William Peel in the service of the United States; and her Majesty’s government consider this circumstance is calculated to excite the alarm and vigilance of every neutral maritime power, and that it fully justifies the remonstrance which I addressed to you by their order last year, upon the subject of forcing vessels before condemnation into the naval service of the United States.
Her Majesty’s government have accordingly instructed me to make known to you the view they take of the seizure of the Sir William Peel, and to say that unless the authenticity of the intercepted letter is denied, they fully expect the United States government will direct the immediate restoration of the vessel, with proper indemnification to the owners, and will cause a proper rebuke to be administered to the captor. In the face of such positive avowals of a violation of international law as are disclosed in the intercepted letter, her Majesty’s government cannot admit that it is a sufficient answer from the government of the belligerent to that of the neutral to say that the case is before the prize court, and that certain statements as to the demeanor and subsequent conduct of the captors (comparatively immaterial and entirely unconnected with the question whether the captor was justifiable or not) are now denied. Her Majesty’s government are, on the contrary, of opinion that the intercepted letter shows that the seizure was made upon a wrong principle, on which the captor intentionally acted, and which seems also to have been acted upon in a similar manner by other United States cruisers in the Rio Grande, in open defiance of neutral rights.
With regard to the capture of the Science, her Majesty’s government observe that, even assuming that she was not seized in Mexican waters, she would nevertheless appear to have been most unjustifiably and illegally captured. According to the papers before her Majesty’s government, her imputed offence was having, or having had, contraband on board; but the obvious answer is, first, that cotton, of which her return cargo is stated to have been composed, is not contraband, and that the cargo with which she arrived at Matamoras (of whatsoever articles composed) is declared to have been, before her seizure, actually and bona fide delivered in Matamoras, a neutral port, to Mexican consignees; and, secondly, that if her trade was bona fide between Great Britain and Matamoras only, she would not be guilty of carrying contraband.
With respect to the Dashing Wave it has been represented to her Majesty’s government that she was seized without being searched. Her Majesty’s government hold that the Dashing Wave, like any other neutral vessel, ought not to have been seized before a search made by the captor had established that she had contraband of war on board, or that there was prima facie ground for capture; and this is a point of law, the practical breach of which by the officers of United States cruisers affords, in the opinion of her Majesty’s government, ground for grave remonstrance with the government of the United States.
[Page 538]Her Majesty’s government have accordingly commanded me to state to you that they regard these captures in a very serious light, but that her Majesty’s government cannot believe that the government of the United State will refuse the reparation for them which is justly due.
I have the honor to be, with the highest consideration, sir, your obedient, humble servant,
Hon. William H. Seward, &c., &c., &c.