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master in Liverpool for a voyage "from Greenock to Singapore and Hong-Kong, (with liberty to call at any port or ports on the way, if required,) and after arrival there to be employed in trading to and from ports in the China and Indian seas, the voyage to be completed within two years by arrival at a final port of discharge in the United Kingdom." 1 Her crew left Liverpool for Glasgow on the 30th March, and they went on board the vessel whilst lying in the Clyde, off the port of Greenock. 3 On the 1st April she cleared from Greenock in ballast for Hong-Kong.+

It is said in the British Case, page 123, that "the men believed that this was the real destination of the ship." The United States will reply in the language of one of the distinguished gentlemen who now compose this honorable Tribunal, the Lord Chief Justice of England, on the trial, in 1864, of the parties indicted for procuring the enlistment of the men, and say, "No doubt it was possible they might have been under the delusion that the ship was engaged for a voyage to China;" 5 but they think that, after a consideration of the affidavits and correspondence, found in vol. i, pages 412 to 415, 430 to 439, and 443 of the Brit. App., the Arbitrators will conclude that such a delusion was hardly probable. One witness, Thomas Matthews, said in his affidavit, "I understood that the vessel was not going to China, although she would be entered out for that place;" and it is hardly possible to believe that many of the crew did not, when they shipped, have the same understanding.

The Alar.

Armament of the Georgia.

6

The steamer Alar cleared from the port of Newhaven on the 4th of April, for Alderney and St. Malo, under circumstances which attracted the attention and excited the suspicions of the collector there. The same night, after her clearance, about thirty men, twenty of whom appeared to have been British sailors, and teй mechanics, arrived by train. Her agent admitted she had munitions of war on board. She took to the Japan her armament and equipment, which were transferred to her off the coast of France, near to Brest. This transfer was completed on the evening of the 9th. On the 6th the collector at Newhaven addressed a letter to the commissioners of customs advising them of the circumstances of suspicion attending the clearance of the Alar, and adding, "leaving no doubt on my mind nor on the minds of any here, that the thirty men and munitions of war are destined for transfer at sea to some second Alabama."

Mr. Adams gives

Russell.

On the 8th, Mr. Adams, in behalf of the United States, addressed a note to Earl Russell calling his attention to the Virginia information to Earl [Japan] and the circumstances of her escape, as well as to the fact that the Alar, loaded with guns, shells, shot, powder, &c., intended for her equipment, was then on the way to her. This note was received at the foreign office at 12.45 p. m. of the day of its date. At that time it was supposed by Mr. Adams that the vessels would proceed to, and meet at, the island of Alderney. Instructions were immediately sent, on the request of Earl Russell, to the officers of the Government at that station to take such steps in the matter as they might be advised to do by their legal advisers.10 No instructions were sent to the naval

officers at Plymouth or Portsmouth. No cruisers were sent out.

1 Brit. App., vol. i, p. 426.

Dudley to Seward, Am. App., vol. vi, p. 509.

3 Brit. Case, p. 123.

4 Brit. App., vol. i, p. 407.
Am. App., vol. iv, 567.

6 Brit. App., vol. i, p. 443.

Report of collector, Brit. Case, p. 123.
Brit. Case, p. 123.
Brit. App., vol. i, p. 399.
p. 401.

10Arbuthnot to Hammond, ibid.,

The Alar was of only eighty-five tons burden. 1 Of course she could not be expected to take her cargo a great distance. The place from which she cleared was given by Mr. Adams in his letter to Earl Russell. The letter from the collector of customs to the commissioners of customs reached that department of the Government in London on the 7th, and was at once transmitted to the lords commissioners of the treasury. 2 When the letter of the collector reached the treasury, the Alar was "lying to," not having yet reached the Japan. When Mr. Adams's letter reached the Foreign Office, the two vessels had but just joined each other and the transfer of armament had not been commenced.3

ernment.

The Government, however, acted only on the suggestion of Mr. Adams that the vessels were to meet at the island of Alderney. It Insufficient action originated no plans of its own. It did not institute any in- of Her Majesty's gov quiries for itself; it did not even pay any attention to the suspicions of its own officers. The consequence was that the vessel escaped; and thus Great Britain furnished the insurgents with another completed, equipped, and manned vessel of war ready to prey upon the commerce of the United States. The Navy of the insurgents by this addition was increased to three effective and powerful vessels, only one of which had ever entered their ports, but all of which had proceeded from the ports of Great Britain, with no attempt on the part of Her Majesty's Government to prevent their departure. All these vessels, too, were freely admitted into the ports of Great Britain as vessels of war set on foot legitimately, and without any insult to the sovereignty of Her Majesty.

All the facts in relation to the escape of the Japan (afterwards the Georgia) were made known to Earl Russell by Mr. Adams on the 16th of April, through affidavits of two men who had left her at Brest.1

At Bahia.

After her armament she first made the port of Bahia, on or about the 11th of May, where she went to "meet her coal-ship," the Castor, which had been ordered there from England; but, after taking in a part of her supply, she was "stopped by the authorities," and compelled to get the remainder from the shore. This the United States suppose was for the same reason which was assigned by the Brazilian Government at the same time for refusing to permit the Alabama to coal from the same vessel, to wit, "the circumstance of suspecting that the bark had gone direct to that port by preconcerted agreement." His Majesty the Emperor of Brazil had determined that his ports should not be made a place of rendezvous by belligerents from which to carry on their hostile operations. Banishment, as has been seen, was his penalty for a violation of his neutrality.

She remained there about a week

At Trinadi.

Leaving Bahia the Georgia next stopped at a desolate island called Trinadi, where it had been arranged to meet the English bark Castor, for coal. waiting for her tender, but, it not arriving, she sailed and captured a vessel which she had sighted from port. The prize was a vessel laden with coal, from which a supply was taken, and the Georgia proceeded on her cruise. Her next port was Simon's Bay, in Cape Colony, in Her Majesty's dominions, where she arrived

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At Simon's Bay.

on the 16th of August, requiring "coals, provisions, and calking."1 She remained there about two weeks, receiving all she needed without objection on the part of the authorities, and then started north. She

coaled at Teneriffe about the 10th of October, and arrived At Cherbourg. at Cherbourg, in France, on the 28th of the same month.3 There she was admitted into the Government docks, but "her repairs were inconsiderable." She left the roads and sailed from Cherbourg on the 16th of February, 1864. In the mean time she was in constant communication with Great Britain. Recruitment of men for her account was going forward in Liverpool.5

At Liverpool.

During her cruise after leaving Cherbourg no prizes were made, and on the 2d of May she found her way back to Liverpool. She had not been a successful cruiser. Her commercial value in money was worth more to the insurgents than her powers as a vessel of war, and, on her arrival, she was dismantled and offered for sale. Great Britain made no objection to the use of her ports for such a purpose. Her Majesty's Government contented itself with a simple notice to the purchaser that he must purchase at his own risk. This notice may have reduced the amount of the proceeds of the sale, but it kept open the ports of Great Britain to the insurgents as a base for their naval operations. They had no ports of their own. The right of a belligerent to make use of the ports of a neutral for the sale of its ships of war was, to say the least, doubtful. Great Britain had been accustomed to resolve all doubts in favor of the insurgents. This new experiment was therefore tried; a sale was effected, and the proceeds went into the treasury of the insurgents.

Sale.

1 Brit. App., vol. i, p. 307. Am. App., vol. vi, p. 525.

3 Brit. App., vol. i, p. 441. 4 Ibid.

5 Affidavit of Shanley, Brit. App., vol. i, p. 448; affidavit of Matthews, ibid., p. 443 ; Queen vs. Campbell, Am. App., vol. iv, p. 613.

IX. THE SHENANDOAH.

General review of

want of due dili

Open hostilities were commenced by the insurgents against the Government of the United States on the 12th of April, 1861, by an attack on Fort Sumter, in the harbor of Charleston and its establishing State of South Carolina, Previous to that time, W. L. Yan- gence. cey, P. A. Rost, and A. Dudley Mann had been appointed by the insurgent president "a commission" to the Government of Her Britannic Majesty. They proceeded to London, and on the Saturday previous to the 11th day of May (being the 4th) were admitted by Earl Russell to an informal interview.1

On the 30th of April, Fraser, Trenholm & Co., a branch at Liverpool of the commercial house of John Fraser & Co., at Charleston, became the "financial agents and depositaries" of the insurgent Government, through whom "contracts required abroad" were to be carried out.2

3

On the 10th of May the insurgent congress authorized the president "to cause to be purchased, if possible, otherwise to be constructed, with the least possible delay, in France or England, one or two war-steamers of the most modern and improved description, with a powerful armament and fully equipped for service." On the same day another act was passed making an appropriation "to enable the Navy Department to send an agent abroad to purchase six steam propellers, in addition to those before authorized."4 Of the sums appropriated by these acts and others which had preceded them, "six hundred thousand dollars" were placed at once in England and agents dispatched abroad to purchase gun-boats.5

On the 1st of July the insurgent secretary of war, in a letter of instruction to a Mr. Charles Green, who had been appointed to go to London and act with Captain Huse and Major Anderson in the purchase of arms, &c., desired him to give or cause to be given special attention to the shipments. It is then said, "in this connection it is proper to remark that Captain North, of the Confederate States Navy, is now in Europe to purchase vessels for this Government, and it is probable that, being a British subject, you might secure the shipments under British colors." 6

About the same time James D. Bullock was appointed "head agent of the confederate navy in England." He immediately went to England and established his "headquarters" at Liverpool, in one of the rooms of the office of Frazer, Trenholm & Co., the "financial agents and depositaries."

As early as the 4th of July the Consul of the United States at that port (Liverpool) informed the head constable of the city and the collector of customs of the port that he had reason to believe Bullock had "come to England for the purpose of procuring vessels to be fitted as

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privateers to cruise against the commerce of the United States, and that he will make Liverpool the scene of his operations."1

On the 14th of August, the above-named commissioners, having on "two different occasions" before "verbally and unofficially informed" Earl Russell of their appointment, took occasion to address to him a formal communication in writing, and in that communication, among other things, said "this Government [that of the insurgents] commenced its career entirely without a navy. *The people of the Confederate States are an agricultural, not a manufacturing or a commercial, people. They own but few ships. But it is far otherwise with the people of the present United States. They do a large part of the carrying trade of the world. Their ships and commerce afford them the sinews of war, and keep their industry afloat. To cripple this industry and commerce, to destroy their ships or cause them to be dismantled and tied up to their rotting wharves, are legitimate objects and means of warfare."2

*

On the next day (the 15th) Mr. Adams addressed Earl Russell as follows:

From information furnished from sources which appear to me entitled to credit, I feel it my duty to apprise Her Majesty's Government that a violation of the act prohibiting the fitting out of vessels for warlike purposes is on the point of being committed in one of the ports of Great Britain, whereby an armed steamer is believed to be about to be dispatched with the view of making war against the people of the United States. It is stated to me that a new screw-steamer, called the Bermuda, ostensibly owned by the commercial house of Frazer, Trenholm & Levy, of Liverpool, well known to consist in part of Americans in sympathy with the insurgents in the United States, is now lying at West Hartlepool, ready for sea. She is stated to carry English colors, but to be commanded by a Frenchman.3

To this Earl Russell replied on the 22d of the same month that he had been advised by the Law-Officers of the Crown "there is not suffi cient evidence to warrant any interference with the clearance or the sailing of the vessel."4

This vessel turned out to be only a "transport," and not an "armed vessel of war;" and the United States admit that the evidence, then in the possession of the two Governments, might not have been sufficient to justify her condemnation by the courts upon the proper proceedings instituted for such purpose; but they insist that the complaint of Mr. Adams, following so closely as it did upon the remarkable communication of the insurgents already quoted, was worthy of being kept in the remembrance of Her Majesty's Secretary of Foreign Affairs. As has been seen, Bullock contracted in Liverpool, shortly after his arrival, for the construction of the Florida; not long after a contract was made for the Alabama; and later still, others for the Alexandra and the Laird iron-clads at Liverpool, and for the Georgia and Pampero, (or Canton,) at Glasgow. A purchase was also made of one of Her Majesty's cast-off gun-boats, the Victor, afterward known as the Rappahannock. The Florida, Alabama, and Georgia (the first two after having been made the subject of special complaint by the United States to Her Majesty's Government) escaped from the ports of Great Britain, and their ravages upon the commerce of the United States formed the subject of much correspondence between the two governments. As early as the 20th November, 1862, Mr. Adams called the attention of Earl Russell to this subject by letter, and in so doing said:

1Am. App., vol. vii, p. 72.
2 Am. App., vol. i, p. 336.
3 Brit. App., vol. ii, p. 133.

4 Brit. App., vol. ii, p. 138.
5 Am. App., vol. vi, p. 174.

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