Mr. Seward to Mr. Adams.
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your despatch of the 21st of June, No. 724, which relates to the destruction of the pirate ship Alabama by the Kearsarge in an engagement off Cherbourg on the 19th June last. This event has given great satisfaction to the government, and it appreciates and commends the bravery and skill displayed by Captain Winslow and the officers and crew under his command.
Several incidents of the transaction seem to demand immediate attention. The first is, that this government disapproves the proceeding of Captain Winslow in paroling and discharging the pirates who fell into his hands in that brilliant naval engagement, and in order to guard against injurious inferences which might result from that error if it were overlooked, you are instructed to make the fact of this disapprobation and censure known to her Majesty’s government, and to state at the same time that this government, adhering to declarations heretofore made, does not recognize the Alabama as a ship-of-war of a lawful belligerent power.
Secondly, the presence and the proceedings of a British yacht, the Deerhound, at the battle, require explanation. On reading the statements which have reached this government, it seems impossible to doubt that the Deerhound went out to the place of conflict by concert and arrangement with the commander of the Alabama, and with at least a conditional purpose of rendering her aid and assistance. She did effectually render such aid by rescuing the commander of the Alabama and a portion of his crew from the pursuit of the Kearsarge, and by furtively and clandestinely conveying them to Southampton, within British jurisdiction. We learn from Paris that the intervention of the Deerhound occurred after the Alabama had actually surrendered. The proceeding of the Deerhound, therefore, seems to have been directly hostile to the United States. Statements of the owner of the Deerhound are reported here, to the effect that he was requested by Captain Winslow to rescue the drowning survivors of the battle, but no official confirmation of this statement is found in the reports of Captain Winslow. Even if he did make such a request, the owner of the Deerhound subsequently abused the right of interference by secreting the rescued pirates and carrying them away beyond the pursuit of the Kearsarge. Moreover, we are informed from Paris that the Deerhound before going out received from Semmes, and that she subseqently conveyed away to England, a deposit of money and other valuables of which Semmes in his long piratical career had despoiled numerous American merchantmen.
The Deerhound is understood to belong to the royal yacht association, with certain naval privileges conferred by law, and recognized as belonging to the [Page 207] naval force of Great Britain. Her proceedings are therefore regarded with the more concern, since they have a semi-official character.
Again, it is observed that, so far as can be discovered, the crew of the pirate, excepting two traitorous officers from the United States, were chiefly British subjects, and all of them had been enlisted for the Alabama in British ports. All of them have been periodically paid their wages, nearly two years, by other British subjects, residing and keeping an office openly in the British port of Liverpool. It is further represented upon British authority, very manifestly hostile to the United States, that the surgeon of the Alabama who was lost in the vessel was a British subject. It is stated on like authority that Semmes, the pirate commander, has openly avowed at Southampton, as if it were to the honor and renown of the British nation, that the best gunners of the Alabama had been trained in a British governmental school of artillery. It is related on the like authority that the same Semmes has avowed, manifestly to the satisfaction of a considerable portion of the British public, that the pirate crew who escaped would continue to receive wages in England, and would remain there in his unlawful service until he should, in August next, take to the sea again in a new Alabama, understood to be forthcoming from a British port.
Once more, it is stated that the wounded pirates were received at once and cared for in a national British naval hospital, in or near to Southampton.
While these occurrences were happening in England, the escaped commander of the Alabama is said to have been the object of hospitalities and demonstrations from British subjects in Southampton, which could have been reasonably bestowed only upon the supposition that, in robbing or burning or sinking American merchantmen on the high seas, in all quarters of the globe, and finally in engaging the Kearsarge off the port of Cherbourg, he was acting with the implied consent and in the interest of Great Britain as an enemy of the United States. This government experiences much pain in reviewing these extraordinary incidents of the late naval engagement. The President earnestly desires, not only a continuance of peace, but also to preserve our long-existing friendship with Great Britain. He is therefore indisposed to complain of injuries on the part of British subjects whenever he can refrain consistently with the safety, honor, and dignity of the United States. In this spirit we are ready, as we are desirous, to learn that many of the statements to which I have referred are erroneous. But when we have made considerable allowances in that way, there yet remain very large grounds for representation on our part to her Majesty’s government.
I desire, however, to be understood as speaking with sincerity and frankness when I say, that this government does not for a moment believe that any of the proceedings which I have related were adopted under any orders or directions, or with any knowledge, on the part of her Britannic Majesty’s government. On the contrary, I have to declare, without reservation, my belief that the proceedings herein recited of the pirate Semmes and of the yacht Deerhound, and of the British subjects who have sympathized with and unlawfully aided and abetted the pirates, are the unauthorized, acts of individuals, and that those proceedings will be regretted and disapproved by her Majesty’s government.
The President will expect you to carefully gather information, to weigh it well, and then to make a proper representation to her Majesty’s government upon the whole subject I have thus presented. The Secretary of the Navy will give special instructions to Captain Winslow to answer your inquiries.
Unless the cases shall be materially modified by the result of your inquiries, you will be expected to say, in the first place, that the incidents I have related, if unexplained, seem to confirm the soundness of the opinion heretofore held and insisted upon by.this government, that the Alabama is justly to be regarded as a vessel fitted out by British subjects, engaged in making unlawful war against the United State.
[Page 208]Secondly, this government is of opinion that Semmes and his confederates having been rescued by unlawful intervention of the Deerhound, and conveyed within the jurisdiction of Great Britain, they ought to be delivered up to the United States.
Thirdly, it will be your duty to remonstrate against the conduct of any British authorities or subjects who may be engaged in furnishing supplies or paying wages to the escaped pirates of the Alabama, and to ask for their conviction and punishment.
Fourthly, the occasion will warrant you in asking her Majesty’s government, with earnestness, to adopt such measures as shall be found necessary to prevent the preparation, equipment, and outfit of any further hostile naval expedition from British shores to make war against the United States. If, however, you find the facts established by your inquiries to differ materially from the statements thereof, herein assumed to be true, you will be at liberty to modify your representations accordingly; or if you prefer, you will report the result of your inquiries and apply to this government for further and specific instructions.
I am, sir, your obedient servant,