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 a copy of a note this day received from Lord Russell, with a printed enclosure, being an extract from the London Gazette of the 15th of December, 1863. I annex a copy of my note in reply.
I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant,
Hon. William H. Seward, &c, &c, &c.
[Enclosures.]
1. Lord Russell to Mr. Adams, June 15, 1864.
2. Extract from London Gazette, December 15, 1863.
3. Mr. Adams to Lord Russell, June 16, 1864.
Lord Russell to Mr. Adams.
Sir: The regulations issued by her Majesty on the 31st of January, 1862, for the preservation of neutrality during the existing hostilities in North America, prescribe, as you are no doubt aware, that no ship-of-war or privateer belonging to either of the belligerents shall enter or remain in the port of Nassau, or any other port, roadstead, or waters of the Bahama islands, except by special leave of the lieutenant governor, or in case of stress of weather. It is, therefore, with regret that I have to state that it has been reported to her Majesty’s government that vessels-6f-war belonging to the United States are in the habit of resorting to the more distant and least populous of the Bahamas out-islands in disregard of those regulations.
I beg leave to instance the case of the United States gunboat Tioga, which is reported to her Majesty’s government to have anchored without permission in the roadstead of Bimini on the 12th of April last. On that occasion a boat rowing eight oars, and having several officers in her, proceeded for the shore, and when they were met by the police magistrate of Abaco, who represented to them that their presence there was contrary to the Queen’s regulations, they are stated to have expostulated, and to have asserted that they were permitted to remain there twenty-four hours.
This proceeding on the part of the United States gunboat Tioga could not, however, be excused on the ground of ignorance of the Queen’s regulations, for it appears that the commander’s attention had been called to these regulations a short time before, on the occasion of the Tioga’s having entered Little Harbor, Abaco; neither could it be justified on the score of stress of weather, as the weather at Bimini on the 12th of April last is stated to have been “delightfully fine.”
[Page 121]It has been further represented to her Majesty’s government that this particular gunboat has made frequent visits to the Bahama out-islands for the purpose of obtaining supplies; and even admitting that advantage has not been taken of these visits to commit acts inconsistent with her Majesty’s neutrality, these visits are not the less a violation of the Queen’s regulations, and as such are deserving of reprehension.
I must, therefore, request that you will have the goodness to call the attention of your government to this subject; and I have the honor to enclose copies of the regulations referred to, to which is appended an explanatory instruction, issued by the Secretary of State for the colonies on the 6th of October last.
I have the honor to be, with the highest consideration, sir, your most obedient, humble servant,
Charles Francis Adams, Esq., &c., &c., &c.
Extract from the London Gazette of the 15th December, 1863.
Copies of a letter from Earl Russell to the lords commissioners of the admiralty, and of a despatch from the Duke of Newcastle to the governor of the Bahamas:
Foreign Office, January 31, 1862.
My Lords: Her Majesty being fully determined to observe the duties of neutrality during the existing hostilities between the United States and the States calling themselves “the Confederate States of America,” and being, moreover, resolved to prevent, as far as possible, the use of her Majesty’s harbors, ports, and coasts, and the waters within her Majesty’s territorial jurisdiction, in aid of the warlike purposes of either belligerent, has commanded me to communicate to your lordships, for your guidance, the following rules, which are to be treated and enforced as her Majesty’s orders and directions:
Her Majesty is pleased further to command that these rules shall be put in force in the United Kingdom and in the Channel islands on and after Thursday, the 6th day of February next, and in her Majesty’s territories and possessions beyond the seas, six days after the day when the governor or other chief authority of each of such territories or possessions, respectively, shall have notified and published the same, stating in such notification that the said rules are to be obeyed by all persons within the same territories and possessions.
I. During the continuance of the present hostilities between the government of the United States of North America and the States calling themselves “the Confederate States of America,” or until her Majesty shall otherwise order, no ship-of-war or privateer belonging to either of the belligerents shall be permitted to enter or remain in the port of Nassau, or in any other port, roadstead, or waters of the Bahama islands, except by special leave of the lieutenant governor of the Bahama islands, or in case of stress of weather. If any such vessel should enter any such port, roadstead, or waters, by special leave, or under stress of weather, the authorities of the place shall require her to put to sea as soon as possible, without permitting her to take in any supplies beyond what may be necessary for her immediate use.
If, at the time when this order is first notified in the Bahama islands, there shall be any such vessel already within any port, roadstead, or waters of those islands, the lieutenant governor shall give notice to such vessel to depart, and shall require her to put to sea, within such time as he shall, under the circumstances, [Page 122] consider proper and reasonable. If there shall then be ships-of-war or privateers belonging to both the said belligerents within the territorial jurisdiction of her Majesty, in or near the same port, roadstead, or waters, the lieutenant governor shall fix the order of time in which such vessels shall depart. No such vessel of either belligerent shall be permitted to put to sea until after the expiration of at least twenty-four hours from the time when the last preceding vessel of the other belligerent (whether the same shall be a ship-of-war, or privateer, or merchant ship) which shall have left the same port, roadstead, or waters, or waters adjacent thereto, shall have passed beyond the territorial jurisdiction of her Majesty.
II. During the continuance of the present hostilities between the government of the United States of North America and the States calling themselves “the Confederate States of America,” all ships-of-war and privateers of either bel ligerent are prohibited from making use of any port or roadstead in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, or in the Channel islands, or in any of her Majesty’s colonies or foreign possessions or dependencies, or of any waters subject to the territorial jurisdiction of the British crown, as a station or place of resort for any warlike purpose or for the purpose of obtaining any facilities of warlike equipment; and no ship-of-war or privateer of either belligerent shall hereafter be permitted to sail out of or leave any port, roadstead, or waters subject to British jurisdiction, from which any vessel of the other belligerent (whether the same shall be a ship-of-war, a privateer, or a merchant ship) shall have previously departed, until after the expiration of at least twenty-four hours from the departure of such last-mentioned vessel beyond the territorial jurisdiction of her Majesty.
III. If any ship-of-war or privateer of either belligerent shall, after the time when this order shall be first notified and put in force in the United Kingdom and in the Channel islands, and in the several colonies and foreign possessions and dependencies of her Majesty, respectively, enter any port, roadstead, or waters belonging to her Majesty, either in the United Kingdom or in the Channel islands, or in any of her Majesty’s colonies or foreign possessions or dependencies, such vessel shall be required to depart and to put to sea within twenty-four hours after her entrance into such port, roadstead, or waters, except in case of stress of weather, or of her requiring provisions or things necessary for the subsistence of her crew or repairs; in either of which cases the authorities of the port, or of the nearest port, (as the case may be,) shall require her to put to sea as soon as possible after the expiration of such period of twenty-four hours, without permitting her to take in supplies beyond what may be necessary for her immediate use; and no such vessel, which may have been allowed to remain within British waters for the purpose of repair, shall continue in any such port, roadstead, or waters for a 1onger period than twenty-four hours after her necessary repairs shall have been completed: Provided, nevertheless, that in all cases in which there shall be any vessels (whether ships-of-war, privateers, or merchant ships) of both the said belligerent parties in the same port, roadstead, or waters within the territorial jurisdiction of her Majesty, there shall be an interval of not less than twenty-four hours between the departure there from of any such vessel (whether a ship-of-war, a privateer, or a merchant ship) of the one belligerent, and the subsequent departure therefrom of any ship-of-war or privateer of the other belligerent; and the times, hereby limited, for the departure of such ships-of-war and privateers, respectively, shall always, in case of necessity, be extended, so far as may be requisite for giving effect to this proviso, but not further or otherwise.
IV. No ship-of-war or privateer of either belligerent shall hereafter be permitted, while in any port, roadstead, or waters subject to the territorial jurisdiction of her Majesty, to take in any supplies, except provisions and such other things as may be requisite for the subsistence of her crew; and except so much [Page 123] coal only as may be sufficient to carry such vessel to the nearest port of her own country, or to some nearer destination; and no coal shall be again supplied to any such ship-of-war or privateer, in the same or any other port, roadstead, or waters subject to the territorial jurisdiction of her Majesty, without special permission, until after the expiration of three months from the time when such coal may have been last supplied to her within British waters as aforesaid.
I have, &c,
Note.—A similar letter has been addressed to the secretaries of state for the home, colonial, war, and India departments, and to the lords commissioners of her Majesty’s treasury.
[Untitled]
Sir; Doubts having been expressed as to whether, under the regulations of the 31st January, 1862, which were embodied in a proclamation issued by you on the 11th March following, it is required that the commander of a belligerent ship-of-war or privateer should obtain the permission of the local authorities before entering the ports, roadsteads, or waters of the Bahamas out-islands, when the governor is not there present, I am to acquaint you that Earl Russell has taken her Majesty’s pleasure thereupon, and you are to understand that at the ports of the out-islands, as at Nassau, the special leave of the governor himself is required (unless in stress of weather) by any belligerent vessel desiring to enter, with this exception only, that in cases of grave emergency and real necessity and distress, such as a sailing vessel being dismasted, or accident happening to the machinery of a steam vessel, the vessel may enter the ports, roadsteads, or waters, on obtaining leave from a resident officer, to whom the governor shall have delegated his authority in that behalf.
With a view to give effect to her Majesty’s intentions, you will be pleased to convey to the officers in the out-islands to whom it may best be confided, the authority in question, taking care to communicate to them copies of the regulations of the 31st January, 1862, and calling their especial attention to the limits of the authority delegated, and to that clause of the regulations of 31st January, 1862, in which it is directed that vessels entering under stress of weather, or by special leave, shall be required to put to sea as soon as possible.
I have, &c.,
Governor Bayley, C. B., &c., &c., &c.
Mr. Adams to Earl Russell.
My Lord: I have the honor to acknowledge the reception of your note of the 15th instant, in relation to certain proceedings of the commander of the United States gunboat Tioga, at the Bahama islands, represented to be in violation of the regulations made by her Majesty’s government in regard to the reception at the ports in those islands of vessels engaged in the present war in America, two printed copies of which have been at the same time furnished me, with a request that I would call the attention of my government to the subject.
[Page 124]In accordance with your lordship’s desire, I shall seize the first opportunity to transmit this representation to my government, from whom I do not doubt that the subject will meet with the most prompt consideration.
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.