I have the honor to be, with high consideration, my lord, your obedient
servant,
Right Hon. Lord Lyons, &c., &c., &c.
Mr. Welles to Mr. Seward.
Navy Department, Washington,
April 23,1864.
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the
receipt of your letter of the 21st instant, enclosing a copy of a
note of the 18th instant from Lord Lyons, accom-panied by a
communication from the British consul at New York, and a list of the
twenty-eight prisoners (blockade runners) who claim to be British
subjects.
An examination of the prisoners in the county jail at New York was
made by Marshal Murray, and the result communicated to the
department. Of the fourteen persons captured in the Scotia and Don,
named in the list above referred to, only two, William H. Hall and
Bernard Harding, were, in the opinion of the marshal, bona fide British subjects. Those two have
doubtless ere this been discharged under the instructions of the
department, given on the 14th instant. Mr. Murray stated that he was
convinced the others were not foreigners, their general appearance
and dialect, coupled with certain information that had reached him
concerning them, tending to show them to be citizens of the United
States. The department therefore instructed him not to discharge
them until they should satisfactorily establish their alienage.
These same instructions apply to the case of William Patterson,
captured in the Gophir.
Adolphus Russell, captured in the Racer, was sent north by Acting
Rear-Admiral Bailey, with the remark that he was a citizen of Key
West, who was first captured in the schooner Anna, took the oath of
allegiance, and was again captured
[Page 602]
in the Racer, violating the blockade. Of the
seven prisoners of the Dee, and one of the Nutfield, confined in
Carroll prison, Washington, the department has no report concerning
them. I have to-day requested the Secretary of War to give
directions for their discharge, on their making oath that they have
never been in the military or naval service of the insurgents, and
have never in any manner exercised the privileges of a citizen of
the United States.
On the 19th ultimo I had the honor to inform you of the grounds for
detaining J. D. Coleman and W. H. Thompson, captured in the Rositer,
and John Ring, captured in the Paul. The explanation requested of
Acting Rear-Admiral Bailey with regard to the last-mentioned person
has not yet been received.
The department on the 5th instant sent instructions to the commandant
at Philadelphia for the release of Isaac Fisher (colored) and some
other British subjects who were prisoners on board the receiving
ship Princeton.
Very respectfully, &c.,
GIDEON WELLES, Secretary of the
Navy.
Hon. William H. Seward, &c., &c., &c.
