I trust that the information thus supplied will suffice to enable you to
come to a decision on the case, without incurring the delay which would
be occasioned by a reference to New Orleans.
I have also the honor to transmit to you a copy, taken from the New York
Times of the 29th November last, of the intercepted letter from
Commander Rolando to Captain Fox.
I beg you to be so good as to send back to me the copy of this
intercepted letter, as well as the copies of the depositions and decrees
of court.
I have the honor to be, with the highest consideration, sir, your most
obedient, humble servant,
Hon. William H. Seward, &c., &c., &c.
Mr. Rolando to Mr. Fox.
United Steamer Seminole,
Sabine Pass,
October 3, 1863.
My Dear Fox: I am sorry that I have been
ordered by the commodore to blockade off this place, as I felt I
could have been of more service at the Rio Grande, where I seized
the Sir William Peel, on the 11th of September.
I could understand the hocus-pocus of those Englishmen there; they
were in open daylight landing cargoes of contraband, with the
connivance of the Mexicans, and sending into Texas everything they
could which would aid the rebellion. I knew it, but could not detect
the act, and consequently had to keep quiet until I had sufficient
grounds for making the seizure I did.
The Sir William Peel is about three hundred and forty feet long on
deck, and has splendid engines, all below the water-line, and built
for a man-of-war, iron stanchions and knees fore-and-aft on her main
deck, and could be converted into a privateer on very short
notice.
I expected to find guns on board, but did not, with the exception of
two iron 18-pound guns. Of contraband articles I found about one
hundred and fifty axles for gun-carriages, and two casks of iron
rings for artillery harness.
The vessel is perfectly ventilated with air-ports, and would be
comfortable for a crew of four hundred men. She will make us a
splendid single-decked sloop with pivot-guns, razee the
spar-deck.
No one knows, who has not been to the Rio Grande, the immense value
that river is to the southern confederacy. Steamers are constantly
landing cargoes—contraband—which go to Texas in the small steamers
and barges which are towed up the river, and landed; on returning
bringing cargoes of confederate cotton, just as bad as contraband,
as it buys the arms and munitions of war.
When I took the Peel she had steam up, and I thought she was going to
run
[Page 541]
for it; so I took her
at anchor, which I would not have preferred, as I feared the
Englishman would cry out neutrality, as he did; but I informed him
that he was in error; that I had the advantage; he was on my side of
the line; he was quite near the line, but a little to the.
northward.
I did not take any bearings myself of the position, as my
instructions to the master are general, that “he should always take
bearings when we stopped near the land.” He did so while I was on
board the Peel, as I seized her myself, and the day after the
seizure I found that in the log was noted the bearing of the river
Rio Grande, west by south, at the time of the seizure, which puts us
a little in American waters. I am glad it was done by the master, as
I felt some delicacy about a point of so much interest,
personally.
It galled me to have a scoundrel of an Englishman crying out
neutrality, when he knew as well as I did that he had been
trafficking in the blood of my countrymen and making money out of
our misfortunes. That he had landed arms and contraband of every
kind before my arrival, (I was only ten days at the Rio Grande,) and
had started with the intention of being a privateer, and had so
boasted in Matamoras, is well known; but the miserable Mexicans who
are helping the trade, and yet will no doubt sustain a claim of
neutrality which they themselves are violating, for the Hawkins, the
Celt, Lebannon, and Peel had all discharged their cargoes, which
were contraband and forwarded to Texas by Mexican authorities in the
custom-house.
When it is so palpable to any one of our statesmen that Mexicans are
hourly, through the custom-house at the Rio Grande, violating their
neutrality by assisting and giving aid and comfort to the enemy, I
think it devilish hard that any plea for the observance of a
neutrality which they don’t observe themselves should be listened to
by our government; and I hope Mr. Seward will remind them of what
they are now doing and have done in the way of violating neutrality
by sending to Texas contraband cargoes through the Rio Grande; it is
so easy, as the river at the mouth is about three hundred yards
wide, with four feet water on the bar, and grows narrower as you go
up. I think the government should sustain my course without
listening to any plea of neutrality from either English or
Mexicans.
The ship will condemn herself, for you know her cargo from
information from abroad and what she must have landed. The Mexicans
are themselves violating neutrality, as it is the duty of a neutral
to show favor to neither side, but be an honest friend to both
belligerents.
I can take good care of my position, when the fight comes, on
neutrality, as the course I have taken is fully sustained by my
officers and the master who placed the ship, by bearings, in our own
waters; so you see my reckoning is all right and I can rebut the
English version. You saw from that English Captain Hood’s despatch
how the drift would be. The d—d puppy; I wonder if he recollected
how his consul, Mr. Bunch, and some of his brother officers, raised
the blockade off Charleston by an imaginary line of horizon. I
suppose the boundary* of Texas and Mexico is one of the same to him;
but I have one of Blunt’s compasses, which give a blunter line than
theirs.
I hope Mr. Seward will assume a higher law if the case comes before
him, as Mexico and England are violating neutrality themselves, and
what is meted out by them to us they should be made to feel in a
similar way.
There is not enough doing here to keep one alive; I have been here
about two weeks and have not seen anything but what is in Sabine
Pass, which the rebels are fortifying, and piling across the
channel.
I do not anticipate anything in the way of a fight here, unless the
Clifton, Sachem, and the cotton boats in the Pass come out and make
one. The Clifton is in working order. I can’t get near them, as
there is only seven feet water at the entrance of the Pass. The army
will attack, I suppose, from some other point than the Pass, as it
is stronger now than ever.
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I trust, my dear Fox, you will drop me a line and tell me how the
course I have pursued as regards the Peel is appreciated by the
department; for I am really quite anxious at the responsibility I
have assumed, particularly when I think of Hunter, who I have
understood was charged with violating neutrality. The Englishmen
will do any amount of swearing, and the Mexicans likewise, from
complicity. My consciousness of having acted to the best of my
ability for the interest of my country and its cause, the belief
that the vessel was in American waters, and the corroborating
testimony of the master and log-book, are the comforts I have in my
anxiety, and on which I rest my defence.
Drop me a line soon, and believe me your friend,
A true copy:
W. A. ALSTON, Captain, A. A. General.
