Papers Relating to Foreign Affairs, Accompanying the Annual Message of the President to the First Session Thirty-ninth Congress, Part I
Mr. Adams to Mr. Seward
Sir: Under the directions contained in your No. 1278, of the 25th of February, I addressed a note to Lord Russell on the 15th of March, on the subject of the visit to Nassau of the United States steamer Honduras, a copy of which [Page 313] is herewith transmitted. His lordship has replied to the separate points in two notes of the same date, the 5th of April, copies of which are also sent.
I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant,
Hon. William H. Seward, Secretary of State, Washington, D. C.
[Enclosures.]
1. Mr. Adams to Lord Russell, March 15, 1865.
2. Lord Russell to Mr. Adams, April 5, 1865.
3. Extract from London Gazette, January 31, 1862.
4. Lord Russell to Mr. Adams, April 5, 1865.
Mr. Adams to Earl Russell
My Lord: It is with much regret that I find it my duty to lay before your lordship copies of papers herewith transmitted.
It appears that some time since one of the United States steamships of war, the San Jacinto, was wrecked upon a desolate cay of the Bahamas. Her officers and crew found shelter at Nassau until relief could be obtained from the United States. The wreckers who had recovered certain portions of the movables of the vessel presented their claim for salvage, the payment of which they required in coin. Nassau being considered as the most convenient point for settling this claim, the steamer Honduras proceeded thither for the purpose of procuring the coin with which to adjust the transaction. The consul of the United States, in compliance with the terms of her Majesty’s proclamation, solicited permission for her to enter. That permission was at once refused by the governor, on the ground that it was not a case within the exceptions provided by the proclamation. It is true that the Honduras was not in distress, but she was bound on an errand made necessary by a case of distress, and one which was to remunerate British subjects for services rendered in that distress. Not only was this consideration utterly neglected by the governor, but in a spirit certainly not often manifested during this war. He broke out into remonstrances with the officers of the United States for having themselves landed in a boat upon the shore.
I shall not seek to dwell on the painful impression this proceeding has made in the naval department of the United States, which at the same time had but too much reason to be cognizant of the abuse made of that port by persons practically engaged in hostilities in violation of her Majesty’s proclamation.
There was no single day during the month in which this incident happened that thirty-five vessels engaged in breaking the blockade were not to be seen flaunting their contraband flags in that port. Neither has its hospitality been restricted to that hybrid class of British ships running its illegal ventures on joint account with the insurgent authorities in the United States. The Cameleon, not inaptly named, but before known as the Tallahassee, and still earlier as a British steamer fitted out from London to play the part of a privateer, out of Wil-mington, was lying at that very time in Nassau, relieved indeed of her guns, but still retaining all the attributes of her hostile occupation. But a few days earlier the steamer Laurel, whose history is already too well known to your lordship, by my note of the 7th instant, had reappeared after its assumption of the name of the Confederate States, and had there been not only received, but commissioned with a post mail to a port of her Majesty’s kingdom.
Neither is it overlooked that Nassau was the point at which the Oreto found shelter when undergoing a sea change which converted her into a vessel to prey upon the unresisting commerce of the people of the United States. I am instructed to explain to your lordship that my government does not intend to be understood as adopting this painful view of the proceedings of the governor of New Providence. Neither is it disposed to believe that her Majesty’s ministers would have authorized this illiberal proceeding in the case of the Honduras. On the contrary, it is thought that this could hardly have been foreseen when the regulations under which the governor is acting were made. Nevertheless, mit ust equally be affirmed that these reservations cannot be known or felt by the nation whose sensibilities are naturally wounded in these transactions.
With a government so enlightened as that of Great Britain I cannot but regard it as super fluous to deal in further expostulations with your lordship upon the evil fruits of petty irritations on border lines and in colonial ports.
The unhappy state of things on the Canadian border has furnished too unpleasant an experience of that sort for the instruction of both nations. Just at this time vexatious incidents in her Majesty’s West Indian ports are of more than usual importance. But a single considerable seaport town in the whole region of insurrection remains in the possession of the [Page 314] insurgents. That one, as well as every inferior harbor is hermetically sealed by blockade. Every movement hereafter attempted on the ocean by the insurgents can be carried on only by illegal acts of equipment in the ports of nations with which the United States are bound in treaties of peace and amity. There can be no such thing as a belligerent vessel of the insurgents on the high seas which is notthe offspring of fraud or of a violation of the neutrality of foreign powers.
I am, therefore, instructed to suggest to your lordship the consideration, whether the further recognition of this right does not simply operate to favor the machinations of these unscrupulous enemies of both countries, whose business it is, by fitting out ships and enlisting men from the Mersey and the Clyde to carry on war against the United States, to make, if possible, an incureable breach between the two countries.
I have, &c,
The Right Honorable Earl Russell, &c., &c., &c.
[Enclosures.]
1. Mr. Kirkpatrick to Governor Rawson, January 31, 1865.
2. C. R. Nesbit to Mr. Kirkpatrick, January 31, 1865.
3. Same to same, February 2, 1865.
4. Mr. Kirkpatrick to C. R. Nesbit, February 3, 1865.
5. C. R. Nesbit to Mr. Kirkpatrick, February 4, 1865.
6. Mr. Kirkpatrick to C. R. Nesbit, February 7, 1865.
[For above enclosures see instructions No. 1278 to Mr. Adams.]
Earl Russell to Mr. Adams
Sir: In answer to your letter of the 15th of March, I have the honor to state to you, that it has been the endeavor of her Majesty’s government to carry into effect with fairness and impartiality the duties of neutrality between the government of the United States and those parties who had risen in arms against their authority. Nassau is a position from which, on the one hand, confederate privateers might have greatly annoyed the commerce of the United States, and which, on the other hand, might have been a convenient base of operations for the United States navy.
It was thought right, therefore, by her Majesty’s government to forbid the resort of men-of-war of either of the two parties to the port of Nassau.
I send you a printed copy of the orders issued to this effect on the 31st of January, 1862.
Governor Rawson, who has been exceedingly strict, in compelling the confederate vessels to comply with the rules which he was ordered to enforce, has no doubt conceived it to be his duty to require equal compliance with those rules from the United States vessels-of-war. Her Majesty’s government, if the case had been referred to them, might, in all probability, have dispensed with the observance of these rules in the peculiar case of the Honduras; but her Majesty’s government cannot be surprised that an inferior officer should not have conceived himself at liberty, upon his own responsibility, to dispense with rules laid down by her Majesty for his guidance. I have to observe, moreover, that the landing of the captain of the Honduras and his officers was presisted in not only in contraversion of the express dissent of the governor and in violation of the rules which the governor had been ordered to cause to be observed, but in contravention also of the quarantine laws of the colony. This is a proceeding which Mr. Seward, I conceive, will surely not consider to have been justifiable.
You are perfectly aware that there is nothing in the law of nations which forbids the attempt of neutral ship-owners or commanders to evade the blockade, taking, thereby, upon themselves the risk of capture and condemnation.
British merchants have made use of this chance of profit, and have submitted to the capture and condemnation with which such chance is liable to be accompanied.
American merchants, when neutrals, have availed themselves of similar chances of profit, attended with similar risk. With respect to the latter part of your letter of the 15th ultimo, suggesting that certain consequences ought to arise from the present altered position of the sea-ports of the Confederate States, I can only say that her Majesty’s government will feel bound to continue, as they have heretofore done, to prevent, to the utmost of their power, the violation of her Majesty’s rights and of her Majesty’s declared neutrality.
I have the honor to be, with the highest consideration, sir, your most obedient, humble servant,
Charles Francis Adams, Esq., &c., &c., &c.
[Extract from the London Gazette of the 31st January, 1862.]
Copy of a letter from Earl Russell to her lords commissioners of the admiralty
My Lords: Her Majesty being fully determined to observe the duties of neutrality during the existing hostilities between the United States and the States calling themselves the “Confederate States of America,” and being, moreover, resolved to prevent, as far as possible, the use of her Majesty’s harbors, ports, and coasts, and the waters within her Majesty’s territorial jurisdiction, in aid of the warlike purposes of either belligerent, has commanded me to communicate to your lordships, for your guidance, the following rules, which are to be treated and enforced as her Majesty’s orders and directions.
Her Majesty is pleased further to command that these rules shall be put in force in the United Kingdom and the Channel islands on and after Thursday, the 6th day of February next, and in her Majesty’s territories and possessions beyond the seas six days after the day when the governor or other chief authority of each of such territories or possessions, respectively, shall have notified and published the same, stating in such notification that the said rules are to be obeyed by all persons within the same territories and possessions.
I. During the continuance of the present hostilities between the government of the United States of North America and the States calling themselves “the Confederate States of America,” or until her Majesty shall otherwise order, no ship-of-war or privateer belonging to either of the belligerents shall be permitted to enter or remain in the port of Nassau, or in any other port, roadstead, or waters of the Bahama islands, except by special leave of the lieutenant governor of the Bahama islands, or in case of stress of weather. If any such vessel should enter any such port, roadstead, or waters, by special leave, or under stress of weather, the authorities of the place shall require her to put to sea as soon as possible, without permitting her to take in any supplies, beyond what may be necessary for her immediate use.
If, at the time when this order is first notified in the Bahama islands, there shall be any such vessel already within any port, roadstead, or waters of those islands, the lieutenant governor shall give notice to such vessel to depart, and shall require her to put to sea, within such time as he shall, under the circumstances, consider proper and reasonable. If there shall then be ships-of-war or privateers belonging to both the said belligerents within the territorial jurisdiction of her Majesty, in or near the same port, roadstead, or waters, the lieutenant governor shall fix the order of time in which such vessels shall depart. No such vessel of either belligerent shall be permitted to put to sea until after the expiration of at least twenty-four hours from the time when the last preceding vessel of the other belligerent, (whether the same be a ship-of-war, or privateer, or merchant ship,) which shall have left the same port, roadstead, or waters, or waters adjacent thereto, shall have passed beyond the territorial jurisdiction of her Majesty.
II. During the continuance of the present hostilities between the government of the United States of North America and the States calling themselves “the Confederate States of America” all ships-of-war and privateers of either belligerent are prohibited from making use of any port or roadstead in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, or in the Channel islands, or in any of her Majesty’s colonies or foreign possessions or dependencies, or of any waters subject to the territorial jurisdiction of the British Crown, as a station or place of resort for any warlike purpose or for the purpose of obtaining any facilities of warlike equipment; and no ship-of-war or privateer of either belligerent shall hereafter be permitted to sail out or leave any port, roadstead, or waters subject to British jurisdicton, from which any vessel of the other belligerent (whether the same shall be a ship-of-war, a privateer, or a merchantship) shall have previously departed, until after the expiration of at least twenty-four hours from the departure of such last-mentioned vessel beyond the territorial jurisdiction of her Majesty.
III. If any ship-of-war or privateer of either belligerent shall, after the time when this order shall be first notified and put in force in the United Kingdom and in the Channel islands, and in the several colonies and foreign possessions and dependencies of her Majesty, respecttively, enter any port, roadstead, or waters belonging to her Majesty, either in the United Kingdom or in the Channel islands, or in any of her Majesty’s colonies or foreign possessions or dependencies, such vessel shall be required to depart and to put to sea within twenty-four hours after her entrance into such port, roadstead, or waters, except in case of stress of weather or of her requiring provisions or things necessary for the subsistence of her crew, or repairs; in either of which cases, the authorities of the port, or of the nearest port (as the case may be) shall require her to put to sea as soon as possible after the expiration of such period of twenty-four hours, without permitting her to take in supplies, beyond what may be necessary for immediate use; and no such vessel, which may have been allowed to remain within British waters for the purpose of repair, shall continue in any such port, roadstead, or waters, for a longer period than twenty-four hours after her necessary repairs shall have been completed: provided, nevertheless, that in all cases in which there shall be any vessels (whether ships-of-war, privateers, or merchant ships) of both the said belligerent parties in the same port, roadstead, or waters within the territorial jurisdiction of her Majesty, there shall be an interval of not [Page 316] less than twenty-four hours between the departure therefrom of any such vessel (whether a ship-of-war, a privateer, or a merchant ship) of the one belligerent, and the subsequent departure therefrom of any ship-of-war or privateer of the other belligerent; and the times hereby limited for the departure of such ships-of-war and privateers, respectively, shall always in case of necessity, be extended, so far as may be requisite for giving effect to this proviso, but not further or otherwise.
IV. No ship-of-war or privateer of either belligerent shall hereafter be permitted, while in any port, roadstead, or waters subject to the territorial jurisdiction of her Majesty, to take in any supplies, except provisions and such other things as maybe requisite for the subsistence of her crew, and except so much coal only as may be sufficient to carry such vessel to the nearest port of her own country, or to some nearer destination; and no coal shall be again supplied to any such ship-of-war or privateer, in the same or any other port, roadstead, or waters subject to the territorial jurisdiction of her Majesty, without special permission, until after the expiration of three months from the time when such coal may have been last supplied to her within British waters as aforesaid.
I have, &c,
Note.—A similar letter has been addressed to the secretaries of state for the Home Colonial, War, and India departments, and to the lords commissioners of her Majesty’s treasury.
Earl Russell to Mr. Adams
Sir: In your note of the 15th ultimo you have referred to the arrival of the steamer Chameleon at Nassau. You are no doubt also aware that the steamer Rattlesnake had likewise reached that port, and you have been, probably, informed that the United States consul at Nassau specially called the attention of the governor of the Bahamas to these vessels. It will, therefore, interest you to learn, if you do not know it already, that the governor of the Bahamas caused the United States consul to be informed that there was nothing in his letter to create a suspicion against these vessels, greater than that which attached to every vessel of the same class with which the harbor of Nassau was filled; or to call for any action on the part of the colonial government beyond that of vigilance, which was already exercised with regard to all vessels engaged in trade with the southern States.
I have the honor to be, with the highest consideration, sir, your most obedient, humble servant,
Charles Francis Adams, Esq., &c., &c., &c.