Department of State,
Washington,
September 19, 1864.
I have the honor to be, with high consideration, sir, your obedient
servant,
J. Hume Burnley, Esq., &c. &c., &c.
Mr. Welles to Mr. Seward.
Navy
Department,
September 17, 1864.
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the
receipt of your letter of the 10th instant, enclosing a copy of a
private note of the 7th instant from J. Hume Burnley, esquire, in
regard to permission for the British consul at New York to visit
designated British subjects on board the receiving-ship.
On the 12th instant, in acknowledging the receipt of your letter of
the 8th instant, I informed you that instructions had been given to
Rear-Admiral Paulding on the subject referred to. That the matter
may be fully understood, I enclose herewith a copy of those
instructions. I also enclose a copy of the reply of Rear-Admiral
Paulding to the complaints of the British consul, communicated in
the note of Mr. Burnley which accompanied your letter of the 8th
instant.
Very respectfully, &c.,
GIDEON WELLES, Secretary of the
Navy.
Hon. William H. Seward,
Secretary of State.
Mr. Welles to Admiral Paulding.
Navy
Department,
September 12,
1864.
Sir: I transmit herewith a copy of a
communication received from the Department of State, in relation
to an alleged refusal by you of permission to a clerk or deputy
of the British consul at New York to visit persons supposed to
be British subjects, illegally detained on board the recruiting
ship North Carolina.
The department does not desire you to withhold permission from
the consul,
[Page 712]
or a
proper person delegated by him, to interrogate any designated
individual under your command, who may claim to be a British
subject, and to have been illegally or improperly enlisted or
detained.
Any examination of this kind, made of a recruit, should take
place in presence of a proper officer, and not on board the
receiving ship, but elsewhere in the yard.
I am, respectfully, your obedient servant,
GIDEON WELLES, Secretary of the
Navy,
Rear Admiral Hiram Paulding, Commandant Navy Yard, New York.
Admiral Paulding to Mr. Welles.
Navy Yard, New
York,
September 13,
1864.
Sir: In reply to the department’s
letter in relation to the complaint of the British consul, that
his letters to me remain unanswered, I have the honor to state
that all letters from him that seemed to call for a reply have
been duly attended to.
To his complaint that he has not free access to men who claim the
protection of his government, I reply that I have no
recollection of any instance of the kind, where the man has been
named, and the request been officially made. Some time since the
acting British consul sent a clerk of his office with a note,
requesting that he might be permitted to go on board the North
Carolina to converse with her Britannic Majesty’s subjects, and,
not recognizing the fact that we had such people there, refused
the privilege of his going for that purpose.
Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
Hon. Gideon Welles,
Secretary of the Navy.
