Mr. Burnley to Mr. Seward.
Sir: Her Majesty’s government have had under their consideration the records of the various prize cases which have been submitted to them from time to time, with regard to the proceedings before the prize court of New Orleans, respecting the capture, in the Rio Grande, of the British vessels Science, Sir William Peel, Dashing Wave, and Volante.
With respect to the Yolante, her Majesty’s government cannot perceive that there was any sufficient legal justification for the condemnation of that vessel. In the absence of a reasoned judgment in the case, her Majesty’s government are left to suppose that the sentence had proceeded on the ground that part of the cargo was proved to have consisted of military clothing, and that, from the position in which the ship lay, that clothing may have been intended for importation direct into the Confederate States, although ostensibly consigned to merchants in the neutral port of Matamoras. But her Majesty’s government consider that there seems to be no sufficient evidence to warrant such a conclusion, and can collect only that the ground really assigned by the judge for the sentence was, that the vessel was “anchored in interdicted or American waters,” and her Majesty’s government are wholly at a loss to understand the [Page 734] meaning of the word “interdicted,” as applied to any anchorage whatever, where there is no blockade.
I am, therefore, instructed to express the surprise of her Majesty’s government at the declared ground of this sentence, and their confident expectation, that, unless it can be shown either that her Majesty’s government has been misinformed as to the reasons for the sentence, or that such a ground is warranted by the principles and precedents of maritime international law, the United States government will at once interfere to prevent the execution of a sentence which is, on the face of it, so unjust.
With regard to the Sir William Peel, Science, and Dashing Wave, which was declared by the sentence of the court to have been seized without probable cause, her Majesty’s government instruct me to say, whilst expressing their satisfaction at the release of these vessels, that they are at a loss to conceive upon what principle of recognized prize law a reasonable ground of capture can have been asserted in the case of the Sir William Peel, or cost and damages can have been refused to the owners.
Her Majesty’s government have also heard with much regret that the district attorney of the United States has given notice of appeal in these several cases. In the opinion of her Majesty’s government it appears too clear for any reasonable controversy that the seizure of all these ships was made upon a false principle, contrary to international law, in which (even if it were to receive the sanction of an American prize court) her Majesty’s government could not acquiesce.
Her Majesty’s government, therefore, approving of the representation made by Lord Lyons in his note of the 11th July, as to the threatened appeal in the particular case of the Sir William Peel, instructs me again to remonstrate against the delay and injustice which must arise from the prosecution of appeal in any of these cases.
I have the honor to be, with the highest consideration, sir, your most obedient, humble servant,
Hon. William H. Seward, &c., &c., &c..