three or four, one of whom only was an Ameri The Tribunal of Arbitration will observe that even from the reports of these British officers it is established that the Florida was a vessel of war, "pierced for four guns;" and also that notwithstanding their alleged belief that she was intended for the King of Italy, she was allowed to clear for Jamaica in ballast. Attention is also invited to the easy credulity of these officials, who, to the first charges of Mr. Adams, replied by putting forward the "belief" of the builders as to the destination of the vessel, and who met his subsequent complaints by extracting from the custom-house records the false clearance which Bullock, and Fraser, Trenholm & Co., had caused to be entered there. Such an examination and such a report can scarcely be regarded as the exercise of the "due diligence" called for by the rules of the Treaty of Washington. The Florida arrived at Nassau on the 28th of April, and was taken in charge by Heyliger, who was then a well-known and recognized insurgent agent. The Bahama arrived a few days later at the same port by preconcerted arrangement. The two branches of the hostile expedition, which had left Great Britain in detachments, were thus 1 Vol. II, page 605; Vol. VI, page 231. The Florida and her tenders. her tenders. The Florida and united in British waters. They were united in their conception in the contracts with Fawcett, Preston & Co. They were temporarily separated by the shipment of a portion of the ammunition and stores by rail to Hartlepool, and thence by the Bahama. They were now again united, and the vessels went together to Cochrane's Anchorage, a place about nine miles from the harbor of Nassau, not included in the port limits. While there Captain Hickley, of Her Majesty's ship Greyhound, thought it his duty to make a careful examination of the vessel, and he reported her condition to the Governor. In a remarkable certificate, signed by himself, and by the officers of the Greyhound, dated June 13, 1862, it is stated that he "asked the captain of the Oreto whether the Oreto had left Liverpool in all respects as she was then; his answer was yes; in all respects." As, therefore, no changes had been made in her after leaving Liverpool, Captain Hickley's report may be taken to be the official evidence of a British expert as to her character, at the time of Mr. Adams's complaints, and of the customs examinations. He says, "I then proceeded to examine the vessel, and found her in every respect fitted as a war vessel, precisely the same as vessels of a similar class in Her Majesty's Navy. She 1 Vol. VI, page 246. * * * her tenders. has a magazine and light-rooms forward, handing- The Florida and rooms and handing-scuttles for powder as in war vessels; shell-rooms aft, fitted as in men-of-war; a regular lower deck with hammock-hooks, messshelves, &c., &c., as in our own war vessels, her cabin accommodations and fittings generally being those as fitted in vessels of her own class in the Navy. She is a vessel capable of carrying guns; she could carry four broadside-guns forward, four broadside-guns aft, and two pivotguns amidships. Her ports are fitted to ship and unship; port-bars cut through on the upper part to unship also. The construction of her ports, I consider, are peculiar to vessels of war. I saw shot-boxes all round her upper deck, calculated to receive Armstrong shot, or shot similar. She had breeching bolts and shackles, and side-tackle bolts. Magazine, shell-rooms, and light-rooms are entirely at variance with the fittings of a merchant ship. She had no accommodation whatever for the stowage of cargo; only stowage for provisions and stores. She was in all respects fitted as a vessel of war of her class in Her Majesty's Navy. * * * The Oreto, as she now stands, could, in my professional opinion, with her crew, guns, arms, and ammunition, going out with another vessel alongside of her, be equipped in twenty-four hours for battle." Vol. VI, pages 264 and 266. The judge before whom the case was tried, commenting on this evidence, said: "Captain Hickley's evidence as to the construction and fittings of the vessel I should consider conclusive even had there been no other; but that construction and those fittings were made, not here, but in England." This was, therefore, the condition of the Florida when she left Liverpool. That she was then "intended to cruise and carry on war" against the United States there can be no reasonable doubt; that she was "fitted out" and " equipped" within the jurisdiction of Great Britain, with all the fittings and equipments necessary to enable her to carry on such war, is equally clear from Captain Hickley's professional statement. "Arming" alone was necessary to make her ready for battle. By the rules of the Treaty of Washington either the "fitting out" or the "equipping" constitute an offense without the "arming." That Great Britain had reasonable ground to believe that the fitting out and the equipping had been done within its jurisdiction, with intent that she should carry on such a war, the United States claim to have substantiated. That she had been specially adapted within British jurisdiction, to wit, at Liverpool, to warlike use, will scarcely be questioned after the positive testimony of Captain Hickley. That her 1 Vol, V, page 513. departure from the jurisdiction of Great Britain might have been prevented after the information. furnished by Mr. Adams would seem to be beyond doubt, And that a neglect to prevent such departure was a failure to use the "due diligence" called for by the second clause of the first rule of the Treaty obviously follows the last conclusion. If these several statements are well founded, Great Britain, by permitting the construction of the Florida, at Liverpool, under the circumstances, and by consenting to her departure from that port, violated its duty as a neutral Government toward the United States. The United States Consul, soon after the arrival of the Oreto at Nassau, called the attention of the Governor to her well-known character.' The Governor declined to interfere, and with an easy credulity accepted the statements of the insurgent agents that the vessel was not and would not be armed, and he made no further inquiries. was then permitted to remain at Cochrane's Anchorage. A second request to inquire into her character was made on the 4th of June, and refused. On the 7th of June both the Oreto and the Bahama were arrested and brought up from She Consul Whiting to Governor Bayley, May 9, 1862, Vol. VI, page 235. 2 Nesbitt to Whiting, May 13, 1862, Vol. VI, page 236. 3 Vol. VI, pages 238-239. The Florida and her tenders. |