Lord Lyons to Mr. Seward.
Sir: Her Majesty’s principal secretary of state for foreign affairs has transmitted to me a copy of a representation made to her Majesty’s government by Mr. John Mulholland, of Belfast. This gentleman states that in the year 1859 he advanced to the Southern Railroad Company, of Mississippi, various sums of money upon their sterling bonds, repayable in five years, with interest, payable in England, to the amount in all of fifty thousand pounds. He represents that this debt was secured by mortgage bonds, which, by an agreement with the Girard Bank, of Philadelphia, from which the road had been purchased by its present proprietors, were a first charge upon the property and earnings of the railroad.
It appears that in 1860, and the first half of 1861, the interest was duly paid, but that since the blockade began, in the latter year, the railroad company have found it impossible to make any remittance, and that they have, therefore, invested the three years’ arrears of interest in cotton for the account of Mr. Mulholland and his partners. A deed of sale of this cotton, certifying it to be British property, is stated to have been lodged, on the 13th July last, with her Majesty’s consul at Charleston.
It seems that the railway in question is that running across the State of Mississippi, from Meridian to Vicksburg, and that, since the capture of Vicksburg, the terminus there and a part of the line have been in the possession of the federal authorities.
Mr. Mulholland prays her Majesty’s government to procure the consent of the government of the United States to this cotton being shipped at a southern port, and allowed to pass through the blockade, or to its being sent through the federal lines in Mississippi to New Orleans, to be there shipped in the regular course of trade.
In case of its being found absolutely impossible to obtain permission to export the cotton, Mr. Mulholland expresses a hope that the United States government will be induced to register the fact of its British ownership, and to instruct their naval and military commanders to respect it, in case of the occupation of the territory in which it is lying, or to give compensation for it if it should be destroyed.
Her Majesty’s government are of opinion that the facts which appear to be established—namely, first, that the cotton represents the dividend of a railway due to a foreign and neutral creditor, the contract having been entered into while the territory occupied by the railway was under the authority of the United States; and, secondly, that a portion of the railway is now in the occupation of and used by the United States authorities—afford sufficient reasons [Page 579] for making the application as requested by Mr. Mulholland, and they consider that it may reasonably be hoped that one alternative of it, at least, may be granted, namely, the protection of the cotton in question from belligerent seizure or destruction.
Her Majesty’s government have accordingly instructed me to make this application to the government of the United States; not, however, urging it as a matter of right, but addressing it only to the equitable consideration of that government.
I have the honor to be, with the highest consideration, sir, your most obedient, humble servant,
Hon. William H. Seward, &c., &c., &c.