Mr. Seward to Mr. Adams.
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your despatch of the, 29th of July, No. 755, which treats of the conduct of the Deerhound in the engagement between the Kearsarge and the Alabama.
A copy of your note which Earl Russell addressed to you on this subject, on the 26th ultimo, accompanies your despatch, and also a copy of a letter from the owner of the Deerhound to Earl Russell.
The owner of the Deerhound evades the allegation of a concert or understanding established between himself and the pirate Semmes on the night before the battle.
The owner of the Deerhound confesses that on his quick departure from the scene of action to the British shores, after having received Semmes and his confederates on board, the owner of the Deerhound was actuated by a desire to save them from capture. This statement of the owner of the Deerhound is communicated to you by Earl Russell with the simple declaration that he does not think it necessary to take any further steps in the matter.
Leaving all the other circumstances of that strange transaction out of view, as being debatable in point of fact, there is ground in the case, as it is thus presented, for grave remonstrance with her Majesty’s government.
The Alabama, or 290, was built, manned, and armed by British subjects to commit piracies against the United States. She has been pursuing this course of piracy two years. Her Majesty’s government condemning the enterprise, allege their exemption from responsibility on the ground that they exerted themselves, in good faith, but ineffectually, to prevent it. The Kearsarge finds the Alabama on the high seas—engages and sends her to the bottom. The Deerhound, belonging to the royal yacht association, and by authority of law carrying the British naval ensign, intervenes to save a number of drowning men of the Alabama, with the consent of the Kearsarge, and having rescued them from the waves, without making any explanations, makes haste to convey them from the scene of the action, and to place them in safety on the British shores. And he confesses that in doing so he was actuated by a desire to withdraw them from the presence of the conquering vessel.
The President is surprised that her Majesty’s government do not find in these proceedings of the owner of the Deerhound cause of severe censure and regret.
You are authorized to express that surprise to Earl Russell. I have to observe, however, that this despatch is written without a knowledge of what information you may have gained, what opinions you may have formed, or what proceedings you may have taken in regard to the whole case, under my previous [Page 271] instructions. And, therefore, the execution of the instructions herein given is, as was the case in regard to the previous instructions, referred to your own better-informed discretion.
I am, sir, your obedient servant,
Charles Francis Adams, Esq., &c., &c., &c.