Mr. Adams to Mr. Seward
Sir. I presume that you will have received information of the escape of the iron-clad steamer Olinda from Nantes, and the transfer of rebel seamen and armament from the steamer City of Richmond, sent from this port, at the island [Page 160] of Houat, on the French coast, from other sources, much more fully and circumstantially than I have been able to obtain. In treating of the matter I shall, therefore, confine myself to the share that I have had in the subsequent proceedings.
The first intelligence I had came on Saturday, the 28th January, in a telegram through Liverpool from the consul at Nantes, stating the facts in not a very clear, way. So far as I could then understand it, the whole affair had been carried on under French connivance, and with French instruments, so that I took it for granted that Mr. Bigelow, at Paris, would be the proper person to take care of it. At the same time I knew that Mr. Dudley, at Liverpool, who had first received the information, would let the government know of it by the steamer that sailed that day.
On Sunday last I received from Mr. Perry, at Madrid, a telegram announcing that an iron-clad steamer, mounting three guns, with seventy-four men, had put into Corunna to repair damages. It was called the Stonewall. Not having a doubt of the identity of this vessel, I immediately sent a telegram to the consul at Flushing, directing him to notify Commodore Craven at once of the facts. He replied, the same day, that the commodore was already gone to Dover, to which place he would forward my message. I have not since heard anything either of the message or the commodore.
It turns out, from later information, that the steamer first called by a French name, I’ Expeditif, which met this vessel to supply the men and armament was in fact the British steamer City of Richmond, which I knew to have left London about the 13th of January, with a number of men enlisted for the rebels. I had already apprised the British government of the fact of her departure, though I could not then mention the destination. And the Stonewall turns out to be one of M. Annan’s vessels, built originally in France for the rebels; then negotiated for by the Danish government, and sent to Copenhagen for inspection, but rejected by it as not satisfactory; next examined and inspected by Mr. Barreda, the Peruvian minister, and found unseaworthy; and, lastly, slipped out of France by the original party that was responsible for it, and had failed to get rid of it. Under these circumstances it does not surprise me that after trial in the bay of Biscay she should have put into Ferrol to repair damages. My impression is that, as usual, the rebels will meet with a disappointment greater than their success. If Commodore Craven does not dispose of her, she will be lucky if she gets across the Atlantic in any shape. With a proper degree of vigilance on the part of our seamen, her prospect of getting into Charleston will not be very brilliant, much less of doing our fleet the anticipated damage. Forewarned is forearmed against every such effort.
I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant,
Hon. William. H. Seward. Secretary of State, Washington, D. C.