my pointing out to him," says Rear-Admiral Walker, "that he had done so in neutral waters, he assured me that it was quite unintentional, and, being at a distance from the land, he did not observe that he had got within three miles of an imaginary line drawn from the Cape of Good Hope to Cape Hanglip, but on discovering it, he did not detain the vessel." This explanation was considered sufficient.1 After the capture of the Sea Bride, she was brought within a mile and a half of the shore. Upon the representation of this fact by the Consul of the United States to the Governor, he immediately replied that he did not feel warranted in taking steps to remove the prize crew,3 upon the ground, as he afterward said, that the vessel was brought in through "inadvertence." 4 After his arrival at Cape Town on the 5th, Captain Semmes "mentioned to the Governor" that he left outside one of his prizes The Tuscaloosa. previously taken, the Tuscaloosa, which he had equipped and fitted as a tender, and had ordered to meet him in Simon's Bay, as she also stood in need of supplies." 5 66 On the 8th this vessel arrived at Simon's Bay. She was a bark of five hundred tons, with two small rifled twelve-pounder guns and ten men, and was captured by the Alabama on the 21st of June last, off the coast of Brazil, cargo of wool still on board." " She had never been condemned by a prize court, but had been commissioned by Captain Semmes on the high seas as a tender to his ship, one of his lieutenants having been placed in command." The Attorney-General of the Colony was of the opinion that "if the vessel received two guns from the Alabama, or other Confederate vessel of war, or if the person in command of her has a commission of war, or if she be commanded by an officer of the Confederate Navy, in any of these cases there will be a sufficient setting forth as a vessel of war to justify her being held to be a ship of war." And she was admitted into the harbor as such. The Tuscaloosa remained at Simon's Bay until the morning of the 14th, and the Alabama until noon of the 15th.9 The Tuscaloosa went to Saldanha Bay, where she found the Sea Bride, driven there, as was said, by stress of weather. Both vessels remained two days, then proceeded to Angra Pequena on the west coast of Africa, where they were afterward joined by the Alabama. On leaving the bay they were communicated with by a steamer. The Sea Bride and her cargo were sold at Angra Pequena to an English subject who resided at Cape Town. The Tuscaloosa also landed there her cargo of wool.10 * * The Tuscaloosa and Sea Bride were ordered to Angra Pequena by Captain Semmes. "The object of sending the Tuscaloosa there was to get wool taken out of her and replaced by ballast. * Captain Semmes had previously had an offer for the Sea Bride, which he resolved to accept. * * * A day was fixed for both the Tuscaloosa and Sea Bride to be at anchor in the harbor of Angra 'Pequena. Upon that day Captain Semmes took in the Alabama, met the parties who had made him the offer for the Sea Bride, and completed the sale of her. * The wool was taken out of the Tuscaloosa and landed, * and is now (September 19) on its way to market."11 * * 3 Ibid., p. 317. 5 Brit. Case, p. 113. 6 Brit. App., vol i, p. 310. 7 Ibid., p. 308. 8 Ibid., p. 311. 9 Brit. Case, p. 113. 11Am. App., vol. vi, pp. 454, 455. 10 Forsyth to Walker, Brit. App., vol. i, p. 324; Walker to Admiralty, ibid., p. 325. The account of the transaction, as given by Captain Semmes himself, is as follows: The Tuscaloosa went to sea at daylight on the 14th, and we followed her in the Alabama the next day. The former was to proceed to Saldanha Bay, and thence take the Sea Bride with her to one of the uninhabited harbors, some distance to the northward, and the Alabama was to follow her thither after a cruise of a few days off the Cape. At length, when I supposed the Tuscaloosa and the Sea Bride had reached their destination, I filled away and followed them. On the morning of the 28th of August we sighted the land, after having been delayed by a dense fog for twenty-four hours, and in the course of the afternoon we ran into the bay of Angra Pequena and anchored. This was our point of rendezvous. I found the Tuscaloosa and the Sea Bride both at anchor. I had at last found a port into which I could take a prize. I was now, in short, among the Hottentots, no civilized nation claiming jurisdiction over the waters in which I was anchored. When at Cape Town an English merchant had visited me, and made overtures for the purchase of the Sea Bride and her cargo. He was willing to run the risk of non-condemnation by a prize-court, and I could put him in possession of the prize, he said, at some inlet on the coast of Africa without the jurisdiction of any civilized power. I made the sale to him. He was to repair to the given rendezvous in his own vessel, and I found him here, according to his agreement, with the stipulated price-about one-third the value of the ship and cargo-in good English Sovereigns, which, upon being counted, were turned over to the paymaster for the military chest. The purchaser was then put in possession of the prize. I had made an arrangement with other parties for the sale of the wool still remaining on board the Tuscaloosa. This wool was to be landed at Angra Pequena also, the purchaser agreeing to ship it to Europe, and credit the Confederate States with two-thirds of the proceeds.1 2 At Simon's Bay, On the 16th of September the Alabama again arrived at Simon's Bay. Upon his arrival Captain Semmes immediately waited upon Rear-Admiral Walker and "frankly explained" to him, as the Admiral reported to the Secretary of the Admiralty on the 17th, his proceedings at Angra Pequena.3 On the 19th a full account, as given by Captain Semmes to a reporter on the 18th, was published in the Cape Town Argus.* Captain Semmes returned to the port at Simon's Bay " for coal, some provisions, and to repair her condensing apparatus." He would not have come back there, "but his condensing apparatus got out of. order." 6 The Alabama remained in port until 3 p. m. of the 24th, when, having completed her repairs and taken on a supply of coal, she sailed for the Indian seas. "The officers of the station were as courteous" as before, and Captain Semmes renewed his "very pleasant intercourse with the Admiral's family." At Singapore. On the 22d of December she arrived at Singapore, also within the jurisdiction of Her Majesty's Government, and was supplied with coal and provisions. While there, some of the crew having deserted, Captain Semmes "permitted half a dozen picked fellows to come on board, to be shipped as soon as we should get out into the strait."8 On the 20th of March the Alabama again arrived at Simon's Bay. Captain Semmes was "permitted to receive a supply of At Simon's Bay: coal, and complete provisions," after which he put to sea on coals and provisions. the 25th. From there she proceeded to Cherbourg in France, at which place she arrived on the 11th of June. On the 19th she left that port to engage the United States steamer Kearsarge, and was sunk Is destroyed by the in the engagement, many of her officers escaping to Great Kearsarge, June 19, Britain in an English yacht which came out from Cherbourg to witness the action.10 Am. App., vol. vi, p. 498. 3 Brit. App., vol. i, p. 325. 1864. Am. App., vol. vi, p. 455. 7 Ibid., p. 499. 8 Ibid., p. 501. 9 Brit. App., vol. i, p. 372. 10 Brit. Case, p. 116. Reasons why Great for acts of. Thus it will be seen that in a cruise of about two years, the Alabama received all her repairs, previous to her arrival at Cherbourg, Britain is responsible (except such as could be made in the open sea or at anchorages found in uninhabited islands,) in the ports of Great Britain. She was supplied with coal from Great Britain exclusively, except once when it was taken from one of her prizes and once at Bahia. This last would not, however, have been allowed, had the facts in relation to her conduct in the waters of His Majesty the Emperor of Brazil been known at the time. Having made "Rata Island the base of her operations, for to that place she carried prizes, and from thence proceeded to make others, which she ordered to be burnt, after having kept them there some days at the anchorage place of that island," His Majesty the Emperor of Brazil "ordered that the said steamer be no more received in any port of the Empire."1 The "toleration" of such abuses was, in the opinion of His Majesty, "equivalent to permitting the ports of the Empire to serve as bases for operations for the belligerents." Therefore, this first "disrespect to the sovereignty" of that Empire was followed, as soon as discovered, by a peremptory order of banishment. The United States ask the Arbitrators to contrast this conduct with that of the Government of Her Majesty. This vessel was built and specially adapted to warlike use in Great Britain, and in violation of the laws of that sovereignty. She sailed from a port in that sovereignty, unarmed, but fitted in all respects to receive her armament; she escaped after her detention by the Government had been determined upon; her armament was constructed in Great Britain; her ammunition, stores, and crew were all provided there; these were shipped by the insurgents on board of English vessels in English ports, transported to the waters of another Government, under the English flag, and there transferred. After her cruise com menced, her coal was supplied from Great Britain in English vessels dispatched from English ports, with instructions to proceed to places of rendezvous arranged by "preconcerted agreement" through agents of the insurgents, having their places of business, and carrying on the operations of their government, upon English soil. She sailed a distance of more than fifteen hundred miles to reach an English port after an engagement with the enemy only twenty-five miles from one of her own ports, in order to repair damages and refit. While cruising along the coast, going from one port to another in British jurisdiction, within cannon-shot of the shore, and in sight of the town in which was located the seat of the colonial government of Her Majesty, she captured an innocent merchantman and "inadvertently" brought it within the territorial jurisdiction of Her Majesty. While again coasting between other ports of Her Majesty's dominions she again chased and detained another merchantman, but upon being informed by one of the officers of Her Majesty's Navy that this was within the jurisdiction of Her Majesty the captain again put in a plea of "inadvertence" and released his prize. She brought an uncondemned prize into a port of Her Majesty under pretense of a commission as a tender; her officers there made contracts for the sale to Her Majesty's subjects of the prize cargo of this so-called tender, and of the prize vessel and cargo taken within sight of the land; and, in pursuance of an arrangement made in port, proceeded to an unfrequented island, and completed the sale of the uncondemned prizes 2 Ibid., p. 294. Brit. App., vol. i, p. 295. by delivery and receipt of the purchase-money; and afterward, in an English port, her captain "permitted" a few picked fellows to come on board for "shipment " outside of the jurisdiction. All these facts, save perhaps the last, were made known to Her Majesty's Government as soon as they occurred, yet no "disrespect to the sovereignty" of Her Majesty was discovered; such practices were "tolerated;" the vessel, with her officers, was at all times and on all occasions admitted without hesitation to the hospitalities of all British ports, and "treated exactly as any United States man-of-war would have been." In short, she was permitted at all times to do, in the ports of Great Britain, what, in the opinion of His Majesty the Emperor of Brazil, was "equivalent" to their use as the bases of belligerent operations. During all this time no instructions were ever issued from the home Government which could, in any manner whatever, embarrass the operations of a vessel whose Government had so persistently abused and insulted the power and sovereignty of Her Majesty. As to the vessel, therefore, the United States believe the Arbitrators will find that she was not only constructed and specially adapted to warlike use within Her Majesty's jurisdiction, and that due diligence was not used to prevent her departure therefrom, but that after her departure she was permitted to use the ports and waters of Her Majesty as a base of naval operations against the United States. As has been seen, the Tuscaloosa was commissioned as her tender. Before her arrival within the jurisdiction of Her Majesty's Government at the Cape of Good Hope, she had captured and released upon ransombond one vessel. After her visit and supplies there, on the 13th of September, 1863, she captured and destroyed one more. As to her, Great Britain permitted her ports to be used as a base of belligerent operations. In addition to this, having been commissioned by the Alabama, her acts are to be treated as the acts of her principal. VIII. THE GEORGIA. The Georgia at Glasgow, This vessel was built at Dumbarton, on the Clyde, a few miles below Glasgow, by William Denny and Brothers.1 She was launched on the 10th of January, 1863, and was then called the Virginia. A Miss North, daughter of Captain North, of the insurgent States, was prominent at the launch and gave the ship her name.2 All this was reported by the consul at Glasgow to Mr. Seward on the 16th of January. On the 9th of October, 1862, Mr. Adams communicated to Earl Russell a copy of an intercepted letter from the insurgent secretary of the navy to Captain North, which fully explained the position that gentleman occupied toward the insurgents.* Notoriety of the 3 On the 12th of February an article in the form of a communication appeared in the London Daily News addressed to Lord Palconstruction and pur- merston, then at the head of Her Majesty's Government, in poses of the Georgia. which the attention of his lordship was particularly called to the great activity in the ship-building yards for the construction of a fleet of war-steamers alleged to be for the "Emperor of China." Among others, mention was specially made of the two "iron-clads" in the yard of the Messrs. Laird, and also of a steam ram, afterward the Pampero, (or Canton,) being built by Thompson Brothers, at Glasgow, where they were subsequently, when they were approaching completion, seized and detained by the Government. In this article it is expressly stated that, "the term 'Chinese' is in general use in the building-yards of the Clyde and the Mersey, to designate the Confederates, and the Emperor of China' has no other signification, in this connection, than to personify Jefferson Davis." 5 The Virginia is also specially mentioned as one of this class of vessels, and it is then stated that "the Government, indeed, professes a policy of non-interference; but such a profession is neutralized by the moral support which the noble lord, the Secretary of Foreign Affairs, lends to the rebellion, when, in his place in Parliament, he expresses the view that the subjugation of the South by the North would be a great calamity." On the 17th of February, another article appeared as a communication in the same paper, addressed in the same form, in which this language is used: "It is simply incredible that it (the Government) alone is not cognizant of facts notorious in commercial circles, and the evidence of which is more easily accessible to its agents than to lookers on." 6 It is quite true that these were anonymous communications in a newspaper, but the newspaper was one of a large circulation and important political influence in London, and the articles professed to state facts. One of these facts was that many vessels were being built in Great Britain, intended for vessels of war; and another, that it was pretended they were for the Emperor of China. The Oreto and the Alabama had, before that time, escaped from Eng 1 Brit. App., vol. i, p. 423. 2 Am. App., vol. vi, p. 503. 4 Brit. App., vol. i, p. 216. 5 Am. App., vol. vi, p. 505. |