Papers Relating to Foreign Affairs, Accompanying the Annual Message of the President to the First Session Thirty-ninth Congress
Mr. Moran to Mr. Seward
My Dear Sir: Mr. Adams directs me to forward the enclosed letter and bill in the case of the United States vs. Prioleau, and to say that, as the report of the hearing has not been received by him, he will be obliged to postpone sending it until next week.
I am, my dear sir, with great respect, your very obedient servant,
Hon. William H. Seward, &c., &c., &c.
Messrs. Harvey, Jevons & Ryley to Mr. Adams
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The United States of America vs. Prioleau and others. |
} | In chancery. |
Sir: We send you herewith a print of the bill filed in this case, and will send you a copy of the short-hand writer’s notes of the argument and judgment at the hearing yesterday before Vice-Chancellor Page Wood.
It will be observed by the bill and the short-hand writer’s notes, when you have them, that the case, as put by the pleadings and argued at the bar, is that the so-called confederate government (which is styled throughout a pretended government) could neither acquire nor hold, property; and though the vice-chancellor did not adopt the argument fully, his decision only involved the conclusion that the United States of America is the only lawful government, and entitled, as such, to all the public property of the United States.
The motion yesterday dealt with the question of protecting the property pending the inves tigation of the facts, and before the hearing of the cause. The case to be contended for on behalf of the United States of America can be well considered, having reference to the facts as they will then appear.
We have the honor to be, sir, your obedient, humble servants,
Hon. Charles Francis Adams, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States of America, 5 Portland Place, London.
[Untitled]
1865. U. No. 20. Filed 18th July, 1865. Amended 24th July, 1865. By order dated ——July, 1865.
In chancery—Lord chancellor, Vice-Chancelror Wood—between the United States of America, plaintiffs, and Charles Kuhn Prioleau, Theodore Dehon Wagner, James Thomas Welsman, William Lee Trenholm, William Greer Malcolmson, Andrew Malcolmson, ——— Legarde, the Mersey Docks and Harbor Board, and C. G. Ramsay, (out of the jurisdiction of the court, ) defendants.
Amended bill of complaint.
To the Right Honorable Robert Monsey Baron Cranworth, of Cranworth, in the county of Norfolk, lord high chancellor of Great Britain:
Complaining, show unto his lordship the United States of America, the above-named plain tiffs, as
1. The plaintiffs sue and may be sued in respect of all matters touching the interests or public property of the United States by their corporate title of the United States of America and not otherwise.
[Page 443]2. Previously to the shipment of the cotton after mentioned, divers persons who are inhabitants and subjects of the United States rose in rebellion against the government of the plaintiffs, and formed themselves into an association for the purpose of carrying on the said rebellion. The said several persons usurped the plaintiff’s authority, and established in part of the plaintiff’s dominions a pretended government, under the style of the government of the Confederate States, which assumed the administration of public affairs there, and they continued to exercise such usurped authority until the rebellion was put an end to, as after mentioned.
3. The said pretended government, during the period of their exercising such usurped authority as aforesaid, possessed themselves of divers moneys, goods, and treasure which were part of the public property of the plaintiffs, and other moneys and goods were from time to time paid and contributed to them by divers persons, being inhabitants of the United States, and who owed allegiance to the plaintiffs, or were seized and acquired by the said pretended government in the exercise of their usurped authority, and all the said moneys and goods became part of the public property of the said pretended government, and were employed, or intended to be employed by them, for the purposes of the said pretended government, and in aid of the said rebellion.
4. The said pretended government, some time since, caused a large quantity of cotton, which had been contributed by divers inhabitants of the United States to the said pretended government in manner aforesaid, or had been otherwise acquired by the said pretended government by virtue of and in exercise of such usurped authority as aforesaid, and which had become part of the public property of the said pretended government, to be shipped from Texas (being a place within the dominion and subject to the authority of the plaintiffs) to Havana, with a view to its being shipped thence to England and being sold there on account and on behalf of the said pretended government, and they shortly afterwards caused to be shipped on board the Aline a cargo of the last-mentioned cotton, consisting of 1,356 bales or thereabouts, destined for England.
5. The said ship set sail under English colors from the port of Havana on the 10th June, 1865, with the said cargo of cotton on board The defendant ——— Legarde is the masterof the said ship.
6. The said cotton, the subject-matter of this suit, was shipped in the name of the defendant C. G. Ramsay, not on his own account, but as agent only, and on behalf of the said persons, who had formed themselves into and constituted the said pretended government.
7. The said cotton, the subject-matter of this suit, was consigned by the said C. G. Ramsay to the defendants Charles Kuhn Prioleau, Theodore Dehon Wagner, James Thomas Welsman, and William Lee Trenholm, who are merchants carrying on business in Liverpool under the firm of Messrs. Frazer, Trenholm & Co., for sale there. The said ship carried 102 further bales of cotton, consigned to Edward McDowell and George Halidays, of Liverpool, and 3 bales consigned to or in charge of the defendant ——— Legarde, but which last-mentioned cotton is not the subject of this suit.
8. The said ship Aline has recently arrived with the said 1,356 bales of cotton on board at the port of Liverpool, and she is about to discharge her cargo there. The said ship is con signed to the defendants William Greer Malcolmson and Andrew Malcolmson, of Liverpool, and they now, in conjunction with the said master and with the dock board after mentioned, have control over the last mentioned cotton. The defendants Charles Kuhn Prioleau, Theo dore Dehon Wagner, James Thomas Welsman, and William Lee Trenholm, hold the bills of lading of the last-mentioned cotton, and they threaten and intend to possess themselves of the said cotton and to sell the same.
9. The said ship, with her said cargo on board, has recently been placed in the docks of the defendants the Mersey Docks and Harbor Board, of Liverpool, who are incorporated un der the Mersey docks and harbor act of 1857, and she is about to discharge her cargo in the said docks, and her said cargo is now in the possession and power of the last-named defendants.
10. The said rebellion is now at an end, and the said association, or so-called confederate government, has been dissolved and has ceased to exist, and the several persons who had formed themselves into the said pretended government, and on whose account the said cotton was shipped as aforesaid, have submitted to the authority of the government of the United States, and have expressly ceded and made over to the plaintiffs all the joint or public property of the persons who constituted the said pretended or so-called confederate government, including the said cotton shipped by the Aline and consigned to Frazer, Trenholm & Co., as aforesaid; and they do not, nor does any person on their behalf, now claim to be entitled to or interested in the said cotton, and by reason of the said pretended government having been dissolved, they cannot be made parties and they are not in fact necessary parties to this suit.
11. The said cotton, consigned to Frazer, Trenholm & Co. aforesaid,’ is now the absolute property of the plaintiffs, and ought to be delivered up to them.
12. The defendants Charles Kuhn Prioleau, Theodore Dehon Wagner, James Thomas Welsman, and William Lee Trenholm hold the bills of lading of the said cotton, consigned to them as aforesaid, as agents only on behalf of the plaintiffs; and the plaintiffs have caused to be served on them, and also on the other defendants in this country, a notice of the plaintiffs’ title requiring them respectively not to part or deal with the said cotton without the consent of the plaintiffs, but they refused to act upon the orders of the plaintiffs, and the defendants, [Page 444] the consignees of the cotton and of the ship, respectively allege that they are bound to follow some instructions which they allege they some time since received from some person or persons unknown to the plaintiffs, to deliver and sell the said cotton in Liverpool; and the defendants, the Mersey Docks and Harbor Boards insist that they are bound to deliver the said cargo to the other defendants, the holders of the bills of lading thereof, who have offered the dock board an indemnity against the plaintiffs’ claim, and the defendants, the holders of the bills of lading on the said cotton, will sell the said cotton and remit the proceeds thereof to some persons other than and unknown to the plaintiffs, unless restrained by the injunction of this court, and if the said defendants succeed in so doing the said cotton will be absolutely lost to the plaintiffs.
13. The defendants Charles Kuhn Prioleau, Theodore Dehon Wagner, James Thomas Welshman, and William Lee Trenholm, notwithstanding the said notice, still insist on their right to obtain possession of and to sell the said cotton, and they threaten and intend to com mence actions at law against the defendants William Greer Malcolmson, Andrew Malcolmson, and ——— Legarde, and against the defendants the Mersey Docks and Harbor Board, to recover the cotton, and they will proceed therewith and obtain judgment and issue execution thereunder, unless restrained by the injunction of this court
14. The said cotton consigned to Frazer, Trenholm & Co., as aforesaid, is of great value, but the price thereof fluctuates. It is now estimated as worth £50,000.
15. Divers letters and written and oral communications have passed between the defendants, respectively, and divers persons acting on their behalf, on the one hand, and the said pretended government and divers members, agents, and officers thereof, and the defendant ——— Legarde and other persons, on the other hand, mentioning, or relating, or referring to the said ship Aline and the said cotton and to the shipment and Consignment thereof, and showing, or purporting to show, or otherwise referring to the person from whom and the mode in which and the objects for which the said cotton was acquired and shipped, and showing the real title to the said cotton and by which the truth of the matters aforesaid would appear.
16. The defendants have in their possession or power the letters and written communication herein mentioned or referred to and divers copies of and extracts therefrom, and divers manifests, invoices, bills of lading, books, accounts, letters of advice, letters of instruction, and other letters and copies of and extracts from the same, receipts, vouchers, documents, memoranda, papers and writings, mentioning or referring to the matters herein mentioned, or by which the truth thereof would appear, but the defendants refuse to produce or discover the contents of the same.
17. The defendant C. G. Ramsay is now residing in America, out of the jurisdiction of this court.
PRAYER.
The plaintiffs pray as follows:
1. That the said cotton, consigned to the said Messieurs Frazer, Trenholm & Co., as aforesaid, may be decreed to be delivered up to the plaintiffs or as they may direct.
2. That the defendants William Greer Malcolmson, Andrew Malcolmson, and ——— Legarde, and also the defendants the Mersey Docks and Harbor Board, their servants and agents, may be restrained by the order and injunction of this honorable court from delivering the last-mentioned cotton, or any part thereof, to, or causing or permitting the same to be received by, the defendants Charles Kuhn Prioleau, Theodore Dehon Wagner, James Thomas Welsman, William Lee Trenholm, or any of them, or to or by any person or persons other than the plaintiffs or as they may direct, and that the said last-named defendants, their servants and agents, may respectively be restrained in like manner from obtaining possession of or selling or parting with the said cotton, or any part thereof, and from negotiating or parting with the bills of lading thereof, and from otherwise dealing with the same, or from paying over the proceeds thereof in case the same shall have been sold by them, or causing or permitting the said cotton or bills of lading or proceeds to be received by or to be paid over to any person or persons other than or except by the direction of the plaintiffs.
3. That the defendants Charles Kuhn Prioleau, Theodore Dehon Wagner, James Thomas Welsman, and William Lee Trenholm, respectively, and their respective attorneys and solicitors, may be restrained by the order and injunction of this honorable court from commencing or instituting any action, suit, or other proceeding at law or in equity against the other defendants, or any of them for recovering or otherwise in respect of the said cotton or the bills of lading thereof.
4. That, if necessary, a receiver may be appointed, with power to sell the said cotton.
5. That all proper inquiries may be made and directions given for the purposes of this suit.
6. That the plaintiffs may have such further or other relief as the circumstances of the case may require
GEORGE DRUCE.
Amended: GEORGE DRUCE.
[Page 445]Names of defendants.—The defendants to this bill of complaint are Charles Kuhn Prioleau, Theodore Dehon Wagner, James Thomas Welsman, William Lee Trenholm, William Greer Malcomson, Andrew Malcomson,— Legarde, the Mersey Docks and Harbor Board, and C. G. Ramsay, (out of the jurisdiction.)
Note.—This amended bill is filed by Messrs. Sharpe & Parker, of No. 41 Bedford Row, in the county of Middlesex, as agents for Messrs. Harvey, Jevons & Ryley, of Liverpool, the solicitors of the above-named plaintiffs.