[Extract.]
Mr. Perry to Mr.
Seward
No. 174.]
Legation of the United States,
Madrid,
March 10, 1865.
Sir: I have the honor to enclose copies of my
notes to her Catholic Majesty’s minister of state, dated the 7th
instant, one of which refers to the case of men reported to have left
the English ship Clyde, at Ferrol, and gone aboard the Stonewall,
reported to you in my No. 172, of 7th instant, and the other is based on
information received from Mr. Dudley, our consul at Liverpool, whose
letter of 3d instant announced that thirty men formerly belonging to the
pirate Florida were under orders to proceed to Spain to join the
Stonewall.
* * * * * * *
To-day I have had an interview with Mr. Benavides, in which he informed
me that orders had already been sent out to impede these thirty men from
joining the Stonewall, but he could not then tell me precisely where
those orders had gone.
I said that in the uncertainty as to where these men would present
themselves, whether by railway coming from France or at some other port,
so as to avoid our vessels at Ferrol, I was afraid that a simple
repetition of orders to Ferrol might not be sufficient. I was anxious
that her Majesty’s government should avoid all responsibility in regard
to these men, who were not mere passengers or travellers, but enlisted
seamen in the military service of the insurrection, coming from one
armed vessel to join another now seeking to complete her crew in a
Spanish port. I considered, therefore, that the Spanish government would
have a perfect right, even under their ideas of neutrality, to stop
these enlisted men at the frontier, or to make them take some other
direction, and not allow them to travel in the direction of Ferrol.
Mr. Benavides said that was undoubtedly so, and, at my suggestion, said
he would have orders sent to the French and Portuguese frontiers, as
well as to the seaports on the Atlantic coast, so that these men should
assuredly be stopped if they presented themselves in this
jurisdiction.
Mr. Benavides also promised to have the facts connected with the shipment
of certain men formerly belonging to an English vessel now in port at
Ferrol aboard the Stonewall properly and thoroughly investigated.
While I am writing I receive the copy of protest made by the consular
agent Antonio Y. Fernandez, addressed to the brigadier general military
governor of Ferrol, in compliance with my telegraphic instruction of the
6th instant on this subject. It is dated on the 7th instant, and a
translated copy goes enclosed. My telegram will be found as enclosure G,
No. 10, of despatch No. 172, of 7th instant.
With sentiments of the highest respect, sir, your obedient servant,
Hon. William H. Seward, Secretary of State, Washington.
A.
SIR: I have the honor to enclose copy of a
telegram received from the consular agent of the United States at
Ferrol, which informs me that, in spite of the vigilance of the
authorities of that port, a number of men had found means to ombark
aboard the Stonewall from the English ship Clyde, now at anchor in
that port.
It must be easy to verify the truth of this statement by
investigating the fact whether the Clyde has now on board the same
men she had when she entered Ferrol, and whether the Stonewall has
increased her crew of 79 men since she arrived.
[Page 513]
I understand your excellency to be agreed that the Stonewall cannot
be permitted to increase the number of her crew while within the
Spanish jurisdiction; and if she has disobeyed the orders of her
Majesty’s government in this respect, your excellency will know what
are the measures proper to be taken in such a case.
I beg to solicit your excellency’s prompt attention to this incident,
and avail myself of the occasion to renew to your excellency the
assurance of my most distinguished consideration.
His Excellency the Minister of State
of H. C. M.
[Telegram.—Translation.]
To the Charge d’Affaires of the United
States:
Captain of English merchantman Clyde, two months in port, told me the
greater part of the crew had shipped on the Stonewall. What am I to
do?
FERNANDEZ.
Madrid,
March 6.
EDUARDO URICH, Chief on
Service.
B.
Sir: I have the honor to enclose copy of a
despatch received from the consul of the United States at Liverpool,
which informs me that about 30 men formerly belonging to the pirate
ship Florida, and engaged in the military service of the rebel
faction now in insurrection in the United States are, or soon will
be, on their way to join the iron-clad vessel Stonewall, now at
anchor in the port of Ferrol. For this purpose it was supposed they
would be sent by steamer from Calais to some port in Spain, but it
is also very possible that they may proceed by land from that place
to Ferrol.
In laying these facts before your excellency, I have to beg that the
proper orders be issued to her Majesty’s authorities on the
frontiers of France and Portugal, and at all the ports on the
Atlantic coast, not to permit the entrance into Spain of these men
in the military service of the so-called Confederate States for the
purpose of joining the armed expedition preparing aboard the
Stonewall to make war upon the United States, but to impede their
journey in that direction and separate them effectually from that
port. I beg also that renewed orders may be given to the authorities
at Ferrol, in view of these facts, to prevent by every means in the
power of her Majesty’s government the joining of more men to this
armed expedition aboard the Stonewall, whether they present
themselves singly or in bands coming by sea or land to that
port.
And I avail myself of this occasion to renew to your excellency the
assurance of my most distinguished consideration,
His Excellency the Minister of State
of H. C. M.
C.
United States Consulate Tower
Building, St. Water Street, Liverpool,
March 3, 1865.
Dear Sir: The crew from the pirate Florida,
numbering some 30, men were landed at this port on the 16th ultimo
from one of the Boston steamers. They were paid off on the 20th
ultimo, and a certificate given them that they were to be on the
steamer Rappahannock on the 10th March, until which time they were
to have leave of absence. I now hear that they are to muster on the
Rappahannock at the time mentioned, and are then to be taken on a
steamer to the Stonewall now in one of the Spanish ports; most
likely an English steamer will perform this duty. Inform Commodore
Craven.
Very respectfully, yours,
[Page 514]
E
[Translation.]
Mr. Fernandez to Military Governor of Ferrol
It having come to my knowledge that part of the crew of the English
ship Cleodon,* moored in this basin of La Grava for
repairs, have abandoned that ship and gone aboard the confederate
corsair Stonewall and enlisted in her service, I cannot do less, in
fulfilment of my duty, according to my orders by telegram of
yesterday, than to address myself to you in reclamation of the
rights of neutrality, and protesting against the admission of said
corsair while she may be within this jurisdiction of one single man
more than the seventy-nine which her commander declared on his
entrance into this port. All which I hasten to put in your knowledge
for the proper effects which may follow.
God guard you for many years.
Ferrol, March 7,
1865.
ANTONIO Y. FERNANDEZ.
Señor Brigadier Governador Militar
de esta Biaza, &c., &c.,
