the fact of news being received to the effect that the customs authorities had orders to detain us that morning," and signified your lordships' desire that we would inquire and report how these orders could have become known to the parties concerned, we report

That your lordships' order directing the seizure of the vessel 290, subsequently known as the confederate steamer Alabama, was dated 31st July, 1862, and was not received at the custom-house until the evening of that day, when instructions were at once forwarded by telegraph to the collectors of this revenue at Liverpool and Cork to seize the vessel if she could be met with, and on the following day directions to the like effect were sent to the officers at Beaumaris and Holyhead.

The vessel had, however, left the Mersey on the 29th preceding, (as stated for your lordships' information in our secretary's letters of that date and the following day,) bound ostensibly on a trial trip, from which she did not return.

[226] *It is impossible, therefore, that any information of the intention of the gov ernment to direct the seizure of the vessel could have been obtained from the officers of this department, inasmuch as that intention, though known of course earlier in other public offices, was not made known to us, nor was your lordships' order to detain the vessel transmitted to us until 4 p. m., on the 31st July, or two days after the Alabama had left the Mersey, and twelve hours after she had finally sailed from Moelfra Roads.

(Signed)

THOS. F. FREMANTLE.
GRENVILLE C. L. BERKELEY.

Statement by John Latham, a seaman who deserted from the Alabama at Jamaica.

No. 55.

Mr. Adams to Earl Russell,

LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES,

London, January 13, 1864. (Received January 13.) MY LORD: I pray your attention to copies of a letter of the consul of the United States at Liverpool, and of three depositions, all going cumulatively to prove the manner in which the neu trality of Her Majesty's realm has been abused by some of her subjects, for the purpose of carrying on war against the I have every reason to suppose that these proceedings are continued without material diminution. Renewing, &c., (Signed)

United States.

CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS.

[Inclosure 1 in No. 55.]

Mr. Dudley to Mr. Adams.

UNITED STATES CONSULATE, Liverpool, January 11, 1864.

SIR: I beg to call your attention to copies of three affidavits: one of John Latham, another of his wife, Martha Latham, and the other that of Thomas Winstinley, inclo sed. It is a well-known fact that the steamer Alabama, which was built and fitted out at this port, and manned by British seamen, regularly receives her coal and supplies from this country, and that the families of the men now serving on board are paid once a month here in Liverpool by M. G. Klingender & Co., and Fraser, Trenholm & Co., the one-half part of the wages earned by the men on board this vessel. John Latham, of Swansea, in Wales, was one of the men who enlisted on said steamer. During the time of his service on board, his wife, Martha Latham, received regularly each month the one-half part of his wages, which was sent to her by M. G. Klingender & Co., No. 22 Water street, Liverpool. The money was transmitted in post-office orders. The letters in which this money was sent are annexed to her affidavit, and copies inclosed to you. At the time of enlisting Mr. Latham received a bounty. He sent £5 of this to his wife by Captain James D. Bullock. This £5 was paid to Thomas Winstinley for her at Fraser, Trenholm & Co.'s office by their cashier.

I regard these affidavits as important to show the character and nationality (if she has any) of this vessel, which, built in England, fitted out in England, armed with

English guns, and manned by English seamen; supplied with coal and other necessaries while cruising from England, in English vessels, by English merchants; and the wages earned by the men while serving on board paid here in Liverpool by these same merchants to their wives and families residing here, stamps her, it seems to me, if anything can, as an English piratical craft.

I am, &c.,
(Signed)

THOMAS H. DUDLEY.

[Inclosure 2 in No. 55.1

Affidavit of John Latham.

I. John Latham, of 36 Jasper street, Liverpool, in the county of Lancaster, engineer, make oath and say as follows:

1. About the 8th or 10th of August, 1862, I signed articles at the Sailor's Home, Liverpool, to ship in the steamship Bahama, Captain Tessier, for a voyage to Nassau and back. The Bahama went out of the Bramley Moore dock the same night about [227] *12 o'clock, and went into the river and lay to. Captain Semmes, Captain James

D. Bullock, and some other officers came on board, and about half-past 7 o'clock a. m. a tug-boat came alongside with some seamen on board; the tug-boat accompanied us out about ten miles. The tug then left us, and a tall gentleman, with a reddish face and pock-marked, who came from Cunard, Wilson & Co.'s office, left us and went into the tug; as he left us he said, "I hope you will make a good thing of it, and that you will stop where you are going to." We then proceeded on our voyage, and stood out some days, when we found we were going to the Western Isles.

2. About the 17th or 18th of August we arrived at Terceira, and we there found the Alabama and the bark Agrippina. Captain Butcher, who was on board the Alabama, hailed us and told us to go round the island, and he would be after us, but it would take them three-quarters of an hour to get his steam up. We went on, and he followed Us, and the Alabama went under the lee of the island, and a shot was fired across the Bahama's bows from a battery on shore, so we stopped out until the morning. In the morning we went alongside the Alabama, and some small cases and a safe containing money was passed into the Alabama from our ship, and we then parted and anchored a little distance from her, and the bark Agrippina went and discharged the remainder of her cargo into the Alabama. During this time Captain Semmes and Captain Bullock were going backward and forward to the Alabama, but would not let any of the officers go. On Sunday, the 24th of August, Captain Semmes came on board the Bahama, and called us under the bridge, he himself and the officers standing on the bridge; he addressed us and said, "Now, my lads, there is the ship," (pointing to the Alabama,) "she is as fine a vessel as ever floated; there is a chance which seldom offers itself to a British seaman, that is, to make a little money. I am not going to put you alongside of a frigate at first; but after I have got you drilled a little, I will give you a nice little fight." He said, "There is only six ships that I am afraid of in the United States Navy." He said, "We are going to burn, sink, and destroy the commerce of the United States; your prize-money will be divided proportionately according to each man's rank, something similar to the English navy." Some of the men objected, being naval, reserve men. Captain Semmes said, "Never mind that; I will make that all right; I will put yon in English ports where you can get your book signed every three months." He then said, "There is Mr. Kell on the deck, and all those who are desirons of going with me let them go aft and give Mr. Kell their names." A great many went aft, but some refused. A boat came from the Alabama, and those who had agreed to go went on board. Captain Semmes and the officers went on board. Mr. Low, the fourth lieutenaut, then appeared in uniform, and he came on board the Babama, endeavoring to induce the men to come forward and join, and he succeeded in getting the best part of us. I was one who went at the last minute. When I got on board the Alabama, I found a great number of men that had gone on board of her from Liverpool. Captain Semmes then addressed us on board the Alabama, and Captain Butcher was there also, who had taken the vessel out. Captain Semmes said he hoped we should all be content ourselves and be comfortable one among another; but any of you that thinks he cannot stand to his gun I don't want. He then called the purser, and such as agreed to serve signed articles on the companion-hatch, and on siguing the men received either two month's pay in advance, or one month's wages and a half-pay note. I took a months' wages and a half-pay note for £3 108. a month in favor of my wife, Martha Latham, 19 Wellington street, Swansea; the note was drawn on Fraser, Trenholm & Co., of Liverpool, but it was paid at Mr. Klingender's in Liverpool; the note was signed by Captain Semmes, Yonge, who was the paymaster, and Smith, the captain's clerk. I sent £5 and this half-pay note ashore by Captain Bullock, and be forwarded it with a letter to my wife.

3. Captain Bullock on the passage out, and after we arrived at Terceira, used argu

ments to induce us to join the Alabama. On several occasions he advised us, and urged the men to join.

4. As soon as the men who had consented to go had all signed articles, the English ensign which the Alabama had been flying was pulled down, and the confederate flag hoisted, and a gun was fired. The men who declined joining left the ship with Captains Bullock and Butcher for the Bahama, and we proceeded, under the command of Captain Semmes; and I have in the schedule hereto annexed given a list of the officers and men, with their places of residence.

5. We proceeded on our voyage, and cruised about the Western Isles for some days, and on the following Sunday we fell in with a whaler, and burnt her; and we then cruised about, and in about two days we fell in with the schooner Starlight, from Boston. We fired at her four times. Her captain said, If I had but one gun on board I [228] would fight you." He tried to make the land, but we overhauled him, and he brought to. We kept the crew of the schooner, and on the next day we landed them at the Western Isles, and took the schooner in tow, for the purpose of decoying other vessels with the stars and stripes. We succeeded in capturing several; among other vessels we captured the Manchester, of Philadelphia line of packets, bound from New York to Liverpool. We burnt this vessel, having first taken her crew, and we put them on board the Tonawanda, which we had previously captured, and had then in tow. Among the crew there was a man of the name of George Forrest, who one of the midshipmen recognized as having been a seaman on board the Sumter, and had deserted. He was brought on board to Captain Semmes, who told him that he behaved well he should have his pay and prize-money as the other men, but that he had a right to detain him throughout the war without paying him a cent. Forrest was retained on board the Alabama, was frequently punished by having his hands and legs fastened to the rigging, the punishment being known as the "spread eagle," and he would be kept in this position for four hours at a time, and this was done at least twenty times, and at last they ironed his legs and arms, and sent him on shore on a desolate island called Blencoola, some two hundred miles from the mainland, and left him. The crew subscribed some £17, unknown to Captain Semmes, which we gave him, in the hope of its being some inducement to a vessel to take him off.

6. The bark Agrippina, flying the British flag and loaded with coals from Cardiff, was at Martinique when we arrived there; and she went out to sea, and whilst out she supplied us with coal. After this we went to Arkaskees, where we stopped and painted the ship, and then went toward Galveston, and off that place we fell in with the American ship Hatteras, which we sunk. We got her crew on board, and proceeded to Port Royal, Jamaica. There I ran away, and left the Alabama. While there the Alabama enlisted two British sailors, who had deserted from Her Majesty's ships Jason and Steady. Thomas Potter, who was fireman, also ran away, but the men of the Alabama came after him and arrested him, and took him back to the ship. Clarence Yonge, the purser, also left the ship. I was also arrested at an hotel in Jamaica by the Alabama's crew. They wanted to force me on board, but I refused to go until I had seen the governor of the island, whose residence was some fifteen miles distant; and I saw the superintendent of the police, who on my producing a certiticate that I was a naval coast volunteer on board Her Majesty's ship Majestic, I was

released.

7. My wife received my half-pay. She used to receive it by post-office order, payable at Swansea; and to obtain this she every month used to write Messrs. Fraser, Trenholm & Co., or M. G. Klingender & Co., Liverpool, inclosing the half-pay note: and the latter firm used to send her a post-office order for the £3 98. 5d., deducting the cost of the order and the postage. In February or March she wrote as usual for the half-pay note. They wrote, in reply, that they could send her no more money, as I had left the ship, but they did not return her the half-pay note.

8. On my return I called at Fraser, Trenholm & Co.'s office for the balance of my wages, but they declined to pay me, and denied all knowledge of the ship; but Mr. Cooper gave me the name of Mr. M. G. Klingender, and told me to see him, and see if he could arrange it. I did so, but he told me he would not do so, as they had received a note from Captain Semmes that I had deserted at Jamaica.

9. The guns comprising the armament on the Alabama have Fawcett, Preston & Co's marks on them, showing they were made by this firm.

(Signed)

JOHN LATHAM.

Sworn and subscribed to before me this 8th day of January, 1864, at Liverpool, in the

county of Lancaster.

(Signed)

SCHEDULE BEFORE REFERRED TO.

Officers and crew of the steamer Alabama.

James King, master-at-arms; Savannah
pilot.

Adolphus Marmelegs, Portuguese.
William A. King, quartermaster.
James King, master-at-arms.
James G. Dent, quartermaster.
William Forestall, quartermaster; Eng-
lishman.

Ralph Masters, quarter gunner; Irishman.
William Crawford, Englishman; lives in
Liverpool; belongs to royal naval re-

George Addison, Englishman; lives in
Liverpool.

William Brinton, Englishman; royal naval

George Freemantle, seaman; Englishman;

enlisted at Terceira.
[230] *Frederick Johns, purser's stew-
ard; Englishman; resides in Liv-
erpool; father keeps a coal-yard in
Howard street; enlisted at Terceira.
John Grandy, boy; English; lives in
Liverpool.

Thomas Weir, gunner's mate; English-
man; enlisted at Liverpool.
James Busman, seaman; Englishman.
Edgar Tripp, seaman; Englishman; lives
in London; enlisted at Liverpool.
John Neil, seaman; Englishman; lives
with his sister in Manchester street,
Liverpool; belongs to naval reserve;
enlisted at Terceira.

Thomas Winter, fireman; Englishman;
lives in Liverpool; his father is ticket
collector at the Adelphi Theater; en-
listed at Liverpool.

Samuel Henry, seaman; Englishman; resides in Liverpool; naval reserve man; enlisted at Liverpool.

John Roberts, seaman; Welshman; thinks
he resides in Liverpool; enlisted at
Terceira.

John Duggan, seaman; Englishman; re-
sides in Liverpool; belongs to naval
reserve; enlisted at Terceira.
Martin King, seaman.

Thomas Williams, seaman; Englishman;
resides in Liverpool; belongs to naval
reserve; enlisted at Terceira.
Robert Williams, seaman; Englishman;
resides in Liverpool; belongs to naval
reserve; enlisted at Terceira.
Joseph Pearson, seaman; Englishman;
belongs to Chester; enlisted at Liver-
pool.

Joseph Connor, seaman: Englishman;
resides in Walnut street; his wife lives
there, and keeps a butcher's shop; be-
longs to naval reserve; joined at Ter-
ceira.

longs to Bristol; naval reserve; joined
at Terceira.

Robert Egan, boy; English; belongs to
Chorley.

Malcolm McFarlane, seaman; Scotchman;
resides in Liverpool; belongs to naval
reserve; enlisted at Terceira.
Peter Henny, seaman; Irishman; lives in
Liverpool; enlisted at Terceira,
Charles Goodwin, seaman; Englishman;
resides in Liverpool; enlisted at Ter-
ceira.

Thomas McMullen, seaman ; Englishman; resides in Liverpool; joined at Terceira. Michael Mars, seaman; Englishman; be(Signed)

James Hicks, captain of the hold; Englishman; enlisted at Liverpool, thinks he resides here.

Robert Parkinson, ward-room steward; Englishman; resides in Liverpool; enlisted at Liverpool.

George Appleby, Yeoman; Englishman;
resides in Liverpool; married man; en-
listed in Liverpool.

John Emory, seaman; Englishman: re
sides in Liverpool; belongs to naval
reserve; enlisted at Terceira.
William Hearn, seaman; Englishman; re-
sides in Liverpool; belongs to naval
reserve; enlisted at Terceira.
Thomas L. Parker, boy; English; stops
with Brent Johnson.

A. G. Bartelli, seaman; Portuguese.
Peter Hughes, captain of top; English-

man; resides in Liverpool; belongs to naval reserve; enlisted at Liverpool. Henry Fisher, seaman; Englishman; resides at Liverpool; enlisted at Liverpool.

Frank Townsend, seaman; Englishman; enlisted at Liverpool.

George Forrest, seaman; Irishman; taken off the ship Manchester, because he had deserted from the Sumter, and tried by a court-martial for causing mutiny, and sent on shore in irons to Island Blanco, and left there. Previons to his being tried for mutiny, he was tied up twenty times in the rigging, with his arms spread, for four hours at a time, day and night.

JOHN LATHAM.

[Inclosure 3 in No. 55.]

Affidavit of Martha Latham.

I. Martha Latham, of 19 Wellington street, Swansea, in the county of Glamorgan, wife of John Latham, make oath and say as follows:

My husband was one of the crew of the steamer Alabama. In the month of August. 1862, my husband, who was in Liverpool, wrote to me that he was going out in the steamer Bahama to run the blockade. Some weeks after that I received a letter from my husband dated at the Western Islands, stating that he had joined the steamer Alabama for £7 a month. On the same day I received another letter from Captain James D

Bullock, inclosing me a half-pay note, signed by Captain Semmes, for the half-pay [231] of my husband while he served on board of said steamer Alabama. The note was payable to me at Fraser, Trenholm & Co., in Liverpool. In the latter part of Angust, or first part of September, 1862, my husband's cousin, Thomas Winstinley, 36 Jasper Street, Liverpool, received £5 for me from the office in Liverpool. I had sent him Captain Bullock's letter, and the one from my husband; I sent my half-pay note to