in the presence of the landing-waiter and searcher. Before, however, all the packages had been discharged the ship was boarded by the said Henry Dennis Hickley and a party of officers and men from Her Majesty's ship Greyhound; the said Hickley then ordered this deponent to cease discharging until he had overhauled the ship, which was immediately done; that he, the said Hickley, then directed his officers and men to search the ship, which they did; but in the mean time one of the firm of Henry Adderley & Co., the agents of the said ship, having come on board and stated that the vessel had been duly cleared in ballast for the Havana, and then produced the formal clearance-paper from the receiver general and treasurer, a copy of which is hereto annexed, he, the said Hickley, immediately said, "I have done with the vessel,” and then ordered his officers and men into their boats and quitted the ship. The remainder of the cargo having then been discharged in presence of the landing-waiter and searcher, and the former clearance document by him delivered to this deponent, for the purpose of the vessel leaving the port on the voyage last beforementioned. That on Friday, the 13th day of June, the said vessel being then ready to proceed on her voyage to the Havana, the agents informed the said Henry Dennis Hickley of that fact, in order that he might again inspect the ship, if he thought fit; and he, the said Hickley, did accordingly again go on board the said steamship, and, together with one of the officers of Her Majesty's ship Greyhound, again subjected the said vessel to a strict and thorough examination; after which he accorded his full and unreserved permission to this deponent to take the said ship to sea; and this deponent then shortly afterward ordered the crew to unmoor the ship, when, to the surprise of this deponent, they refused to obey the orders given to them, excited, without doubt, and instigated, as this deponent verily believes, to this mutinous conduct by the unwarranted and extraordinary course of proceeding which had been adopted and pursued toward the said ship by Henry Dennis Hickley, a belief in which this deponent is confirmed by the fact that the crew were constantly expressing themselves as anxious to see the captain of the Greyhound; and as they continued in this course of conduct, this deponent on the following day laid a charge against them at the police office in this town, and they were then duly summoned to appear before Edward B. A. Taylor, esq., the police magistrate, at noon, to answer to the charge, and having duly appeared, upon the hearing of the case before the said magistrate, the said crew claimed to be released and discharged from the articles under which they had shipped, upon the ground that the ship had deviated; and inasmuch as they had evinced a mutinous spirit, this deponent decided not to oppose their claim, but to permit them to quit the ship, which they at once, one and all, in the presence of the said magistrate, elected to do; and accordingly, then at once, repaired on board the ship to obtain their clothes and effects, and then took their discharge from her. That this deponent immediately proceeded to ship another crew, for the purpose of prosecuting the voyage to the Havana, and on the morning of Sunday, the 15th instant, preparations were again made for leaving the harbor, when the said ship was again arrested by officers and men from the Greyhound, acting under instructions from the said Henry Dennis Hickley, and prevented from quitting port, no reason whatever being assigned for such a proceeding. That this deponent then immediately caused a formal protest to be served upon the officers in charge of the said vessel, a copy of which is hereunto annexed; and on the next day, Monday, addressed a letter to the said Henry Dennis Hickley, a copy of which is also annexed hereto, and to which letter the deponent received a reply from the said Henry Dennis Hickley, a copy of which is also annexed hereto; and on the morning of Tuesday the ship was again released from arrest, and preparations again made by this deponent for taking her to sea. That about 10.30 in the morning of the aforesaid Tuesday, although the said steamship Oreto had just then previously been released from the arrest and restraint which had been imposed upon her by the said Henry Dennis Hickley, and although no charge whatever had been made in the character of the said ship or in her [65] equipment, furniture, or fittings, nor had she in any way been furnished or armed with intent, as is provided against in the before-mentioned statute of the reign of His late Majesty King George the Third, she was again boarded by officers and men from the Greyhound, and then again seized and arrested, and this deponent wholly dispossessed of her by them, and the said ship has thence hitherto remained and continued in the possession and under the control of the said Henry Dennis Hickley and the officers and men under his command. And this deponent further made oath that, from the time the said steamship Oreto quitted the port of Liverpool until her final arrest as hereinbefore detailed, there never were any arms, ammunition, or munitions of war on board the said steamship, save and except one pistol, with ammunition therefor, the private property of this deponent, and which he habitually takes with him for personal protection at sea, and which in no particular was intended for belligerent purposes, and save and except such ammunition as may have formed or been part of the cargo which was being placed on board of the said ship under the special license obtained for the purpose from the duly constituted authority at this port, and which was again taken out of her. And this deponent further saith that the action of the said Henry Dennis Hickley and his conduct in arresting the said steamship or vessel on three distinct occasions and discharging her, and ultimately causing her to be proceeded against in this honorable court, has been vexatious and oppressive, tending to the great and serious damage of the owner of the said ship, and subversive of his just right of property therein. And this deponent lastly saith that the claim hereunto annexed is a true and just claim. (Signed) J. A. DUGUID. On the 27th day of this instant, June, the said Alexander Duguid was duly sworn to the truth of this affidavit, before me, (Signed) J. A. BROOK, Surr. J. C., Vice-Admiralty, Bahamas, (No. 9 A. Steamer.) Certificate of British registry. Signal letters, T. F. D. N. Official number of ship, 44200.-Port number, 48. Date of Length from the fore part of stem under the bowsprit to the aft side of the stern-post.. Main breadth to outside plank..... Depth in hold from tonnage-deck to ceiling at midships.... Name and address of builder, W. C. Miller, Liverpool, aforesaid. Tonnage under tonnage-deck TONNAGE. Carvel. None. Shield. Wood. Closed-in spaces above the tonnage-deck, if any, viz: Space, and spaces between decks.. Poop.. Round-house.. Other inclosed spaces, if any, naming them.. 410.41 Gross tonnage.. Reduction required for space for propelling-power as measured.. 231.90 178.51 Register tonnage.. Length of engine-room, 61 feet. Number of engines, two. Combined power. Estimated horse-power. Number of horse power, 200. [66] *I, the undersigned, registrar of the port of Liverpool, hereby certify that the ship, the description of which is prefixed to this certificate, has been duly surveyed, and that the above description is true; that James Alexander Duguid, whose vessel proceeded against in this cause, of the burden of 178 tons, or thereabouts, registered as of, and belonging to, the port of Liverpool, in that part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called England, as being owned by a certain John Henry Thomas, of Liverpool aforesaid, was equipped, furnished, fitted out, and manned at the said port, and on or about the day last mentioned left the said port of Liverpool, commanded by the said James Alexander Duguid, and manned with a crew, including officers, of fifty-two men, or thereabouts, all of whom had been shipped as and for a voyage from Liverpool aforesaid to Palermo, and thence if required to a port or ports in the Mediterranean or the West Indies, and to a final port of discharge in the United Kingdom, there being also on board of the vessel at the time of her departure from Liverpool as aforesaid an agent of the owners or persons interested in the said vessel of the name of John Lowe. That the said vessel did not go to Palermo, but proceeded directly to the port of Nassau, in the island of New Providence, one of the said Bahama Islands, where she arrived on or about the 28th day of April, in the year of our Lord 1862, and was conducted to and brought to anchor in a certain anchorage lying to the eastward of the harbor of Nassau, called and known as Cochrane's Anchorage, where she remained and continued until the 7th day of June in the year aforesaid, on which day she was removed from the said anchorage and brought into the harbor of Nassau, where she now lies. That at the time of the departure of the said steamship Oreto from Liverpool aforesaid, and at the time of her arrival at the port of Nassau aforesaid, she was equipped, furnished, and fitted out in various particulars as a vessel of war; and that after arrival of the said steamship Oreto at Nassau aforesaid, the said James Álexander Duguid and other persons exercising authority over the said steamship Oreto, without the leave and license of Her Majesty for that purpose first had and obtained, attempted to equip, furnish, and fit out the said steamship Oreto with intent that the said steamship Oreto should be employed in the service of certain persons exercising, or assuming to exercise, the powers of government in certain States claiming to be designated and known as the Confederated States of America, to cruise, commit hostilities against the citizens of the United States of America, Her Most Gracious Majesty the Queen being at the time at peace with the said United States; whereupon and wherefore the said steamship Oreto was seized as being liable to forfeiture for a breach of some or one of the provisions of the statute hereinbefore pleaded, and this was and is true, and the party proponent doth allege and propound as before. 3d. That all and singular the premises were and are true, of which legal proof being made, the party proponent prays that the ship or vessel Oreto, her tackle, apparel, and furniture, may be pronounced by you, the said judge, to have been at the time of the seizure thereof subject and liable to forfeiture and condemnation, and to condemn the same as forfeited to our Sovereign Lady the Queen, her heirs and successors accordingly, and to condemn the said James Alexander Duguid in the costs made in this cause on the part and behalf of our Sovereign Lady the Queen by your definitive sentence or final interlocutory decree to be made and given in this behalf. (Signed) ANDERSON, In the vice-admiralty court of the Bahamas. Our Lady the Queen us. The steamship Oreto, her tackle, &c., whereof James Alexander Duguid was the master. On Monday, the 21st day of July instant, Bruce Lockhart Burnside, in the name and as the lawful proctor of James Alexander Duguid, at present of the city of Nassan, in the island of New Providence, representing the interests of the owners of the steamship called the Oreto, and under that denomination, and by all better and more effectual ways, means and methods, which may be most beneficial and effectual for his said party, said, alleged, and in law articulately propounded as follows, to wit: * 1st. That there was not at the time of the sailing of the said steamship Oreto from the port of Liverpool an agent of the owners or persons interested in the said vessel of the name of John Lowe, as, in the second position or article of the libel given in and admitted in this cause on the part of our Lady the Queen, is falsely alleged and pleaded; on the contrary, the party proponent doth allege and propound that the said John Lowe came on board the said steamship Oreto, at the port of Liverpool, as [19] a passenger, and was never recognized by the said James Alexander Duguid in any other capacity, or as exercising, or claiming to exercise, any power or authority in and over the said steamship; nor did the said Lowe exercise any power or authority, nor did he at any time after the arrival of the said ship at this port of Nassau in any way interfere with the provisioning of the crew of the said ship, nor give orders for the purchase of provision or any other article for the use of the ship, save and except on one occasion, when he, the said James Alexander Duguid, specially requested the said Lowe to purchase a spare spar for the use of the said ship; and this was and is true. public, and notorious, and so much the said other party in this cause doth know, or hath heard, and in his conscience believes, and hath confessed to be true, and the party proponent doth allege and propound of any other time, place, person, or thing, as shall appear from the proof to be made in this cause, and everything in this and the subsequent articles of this allegation contained jointly and severally. 2d. That, after the arrival of the steamship Öreto at Nassau aforesaid, neither the said James Alexander Duguid, nor any person exercising authority over the said steamship Oreto, without the leave or license of Her Majesty for that purpose first had and obtained, attempted to equip, furnish, and fit out the said steamship Oreto, with intent that the said steamship Oreto should be employed in the service of certain persons exercising, or claiming to exercise, the powers of government in certain States claiming to be designated and known as the Confederated States of America, to cruise and commit hostilities against the citizens of the United States of America, Her Most Gracious Majesty the Queen being at the time at peace with the said United States, as in the second position of the article or libel given in and admitted in this cause, on the part and behalf of our said Lady the Queen, is falsely alleged and pleaded; on the contrary, the party proponent doth allege that the steamship Oreto and her fittings and equipments were, since her arrival and up to the time of her seizure by the said Henry Dennis Hickley, under the sole control and management of him, the said James Alexander Duguid, and none other, and that no act or deed or thing done or committed on board the said steamship after her said arrival, as aforesaid, was with such unlawful intent as would make the said steamship liable to forfeiture for breach of some or one of the provisions of the statute in the first article of the said libel pleaded. And this was and is true, public, and notorious, and the party proponent doth allege and propound as before. That the said steamship or vessel Oreto was, before she sailed on the voyage from the port of Liverpool to this port of Nassau, lying in the river Mersey, and during all that time vessels of war in the navy of Her Majesty the Queen frequently passed and repassed the said steamship; and the said steamship was at all times, both in dock and in the said river, in a conspicuous and public position, without having been in any manner seized, arrested, or subjected to detention or scrutiny; and the said ship quitted the port of Liverpool aforesaid in the open day, and without any manner of haste or secrecy. And that the said James Alexander Duguid, the master, while the said ship was lying in the Mersey, with all her crew on board, waiting instructions from the owner, directed the then mate to employ the crew during their leisure hours in doing ordinary ship's work, fitting gear, strapping blocks, &c., and during such last-mentioned time, as well as after the said ship sailed on her voyage aforesaid, certain spare blocks which were then on board, and which were intended solely for the use of the ship as part and parcel of her rigging, and not in any way whatever as blocks for gun-tackles, or as the part of the furniture of guns, were strapped by the said crew; and the said blocks were never known or called "gun-tackle blocks" until a certain Edward Jones, a man of infamous and abandoned character, who had been shipped on board in the capacity of boatswain, called them "gun-tackle blocks," and then told certain of the crew of the said ship that the blocks were gun-tackle blocks. And this proponent further propounds that neither the said James Alexander Duguid, nor any person whomsoever having authority over the said steamship during the time she was at this port of Nassau, ever gave any orders or directions to strap blocks as gun-tackle blocks, or to strap any blocks whatever. But any blocks which may have been strapped on board the said ship was done by the seamen of the Oreto in their ordinary avocations, as is always done on board, and not for the purpose of fitting the Oreto as a vessel of war, for the purpose of cruising or committing hostilities; and the said proponent doth further propound that the said Jones, in calling the blocks "gun-tackle blocks," well knew that they were blocks intended simply for the use of the ship; but he having been disrated on board by the said James Alexander Duguid for incapacity and general bad conduct, refused to work, and endeavored likewise to prejudice the crew against the said James Alexander Duguid, and to cause it to be believed throughout the ship that the Oreto [70] was intended as a "cruiser; and this was and is true, and the party proponent doth allege and propound as before. And the said Bruce Lockhart Barnside lastly alleged that no faith or credit is due or ought to be given to the sayings or depositions of Charles Ward, a witness produced, Sworn, and examined in this cause on the libel given in and admitted on the part and behalf of the other party in this cause; for the party proponent doth allege and propound that the said Charles Ward is a man of abandoned character, and is actuated by malicious and vindictive feelings against the said James Alexander Duguid, and has sworn falsely, and is not to be believed on his oath, and who, for the purpose of carrying out an avowed intention of doing an injury to the said James Alexander Duguid, has, of his own malicious intent, in various and many particulars, detailed and sworn to occurrences which he, the said Charles Ward, has fabricated for such malicions purpose; and this was and is true, public, and notorious; and the party proponent doth allege and propound, as before, that all and singular the premises were and are true. BURNSIDE, Counsel. (Signed) [Inclosure 8 in No. 37.] Proclamation by Governor Bayley. BAHAMA ISLANDS. By his Excellency Charles John Bayley, esq., governor and commander-in-chief in and over the said islands, chancellor, vice-admiral, and ordinary of the same. A Proclamation. Whereas his Grace the Duke of Newcastle, Her Majesty's principal secretary of state for the colonies, has transmitted for my guidance the following copy of a dispatch from the Right Honorable Earl Russell, Her Majesty's principal secretary of state for foreign affairs: "FOREIGN OFFICE, January 31, 1862. "MY LORD DUKE: Her Majesty being fully determined to observe the duties of neutrality during the existing hostilities between the United States and the States calling themselves the Confederate States of America, and being, moreover, resolved to prevent, as far as possible, the use of Her Majesty's harbors, ports, and coasts, and the waters within Her Majesty's territorial jurisdiction, in aid of the warlike purposes of either belligerent, has commanded me to communicate to your grace, for your guidance, the following rules, which are to be treated and enforced as Her Majesty's orders and directions. "Her Majesty is pleased further to command that these rules shall be put in force in the United Kingdom and in the Channel Islands on and after Thursday, the 6th day of February next, and in Her Majesty's territories and possessions beyond the seas six days after the day when the governor or other chief authority of each of such territories or possessions, respectively, shall have notified and published the same, stating in such notification that the said rules are to be obeyed by all persons within the same territories and possessions. "1. During the continuance of the present hostilities between the Government of the United States of North America and the States calling themselves the Confederate States of America, or until Her Majesty shall otherwise order, no ships of war or privateers belonging to either of the belligerents shall be permitted to enter or remain in the port of Nassau, or in any other port, roadstead, or waters of the Bahama Islands, except by special leave of the governor of the Bahama Islands, or in case of stress of weather. If any such vessel should enter any such port, roadstead, or waters, by spe cial leave or under stress of weather, the authorities of the place shall require her to put to sea as soon as possible, without permitting her to take in any supplies beyond what may be necessary for her immediate use. "If, at the time when this order is first notified in the Bahama Islands, there shall be any such vessel already within any port, roadstead, or waters of those islands, the governor shall give notice to such vessel to depart, and shall require her to put to sea within such time as he shall, under the circumstances, consider proper and reasonable. If there should then be ships of war or privateers belonging to both the said bel[71] ligerents *within the territorial jurisdiction of Her Majesty, in or near the said port, roadstead, or waters, the governor shall fix the order of time in which such vessels shall depart. No such vessel of either belligerent shall be permitted to put to sea until after the expiration of at least twenty-four hours from the time when the last preceding vessel of the other belligerent (whether the same shall be a ship of war, or privateer, or merchant-ship) which shall have left the same port, roaustead, or waters adjacent thereto, shall have passed beyond the territorial jurisdiction of Her Majesty. 2. During the continuation of the present hostilities between the Government of the United States of North America and the States calling themselves the Confederate States of America, all ships of war and privateers of either belligerent are prohibited from making use of any port or roadstead in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, or in the Channel Islands, or in any of Her Majesty's colonies, or foreign possessions, or dependencies, or in any waters subject to the territorial jurisdiction of the British Crown, as a station or place of resort for any warlike purpose, or for the purpose of obtaining any facilities of warlike equipment; and no ship of war or privateer of either belligerent shall hereafter be permitted to sail out of or leave any port, roadstead, or waters subject to British jurisdiction, from which any vessel of the other belligerent (whether the same shall be a ship of war, or privateer, or a merchant-ship) shall have previously departed, until after the expiration of at least twenty-four hours from the departure of such last-mentioned vessel beyond the territorial jurisdiction of Her Majesty. "If any ship of war or privateer of either belligerent shall, after the time when this order shall be first notified and put in force in the United Kingdom and in the Channel Islands, and in the several colonies, and foreign possessions, and dependencies of Her |