Vessels of war dispatched from Plymouth and Portsmouth, immediately on the receipt of Mr. Adams's note, into the waters about Brest and the Channel Islands, would have afforded, a complete remedy. This was a measure sanctioned by British precedent and by British law. [See the Terceira case, above cited.] The failure to adopt that "effectual measure,” taken in connection with the original fitting out and equipping of the Georgia, in the Clyde, and with the arming her through the Alar, at Newhaven, constitute a violation of the duties of Great Britain as a neutral toward the United States, which entails upon it the obligation to make full compensation for the injuries caused by the acts of the Georgia. 4. When the Georgia arrived at Cape Town, Great Britain failed to detain her. This was a violation of the duties of a neutral as set forth in the second clause of the first rule of the Treaty of Washington. OLUST THE TALLAHASSEE, OR THE OLUSTEE. The Tallahassee was "a British steamer fitted out from London to play the part of a privateer out of Wilmington." She was [410] originally called the *Atlanta. Under that name she The Tallahassee or Olustee. 66 arrived in Bermuda from England on the 18th day of April, 1864. She made two trips as a blockade-runner between there and Wilmington, and then went out for a cruise as a vessel of war. Her captures were principally made under the name of the Tallahassee. Some were made under the name of the Olustee. It is not quite clear whether she made two trips, one under each name, or whether the name was changed in one trip, in order to blind the pursuers. On the 19th of August, 1864, she arrived in Halifax, after destroying several vessels near Cape Sable. The Consul of the United States at Halifax reported her as about six hundred tons burden," "an iron double-screw steamer," having "about one hundred and twenty men." He also said that the insurgents had established a coal depot there. On arrival, the officer in command called upon the Admiral and Lieutenant Governor. He gives the following account of what took place: "My reception by the first [the Admiral] was very cold and uncivil; that of the Governor less so. stated that I was in want of coal, and that as soon as I could fill up I would go to sea; that it would take from two to three days. No [11] objection was made at the time-if there had been I was pre I pared to demand forty-eight hours for repairs. The Governor asked ine to call next day, and let him know how I was progressing, and when I would leave. I did so, and then was told that he was surprised that I was still in port; that we must leave at once; that we could leave the harbor with only one hundred tons of coal on board. I protested against this, as being utterly insufficient. He replied that the Admiral had reported that quantity sufficient (and in such matters he must be governed by his statement) to run the ship to Wilmington. The Admiral had obtained this information by sending on board three of his officers, ostensibly to look at our machinery and the twin-screw, a new system, but really to ascertain the quantity of coul on board, that burned daily, &c. * I am under many obligations to our agent, Mr. 1 Mr. Adams to Earl Russell, Vol. I, page 709: See Vol. VI, page 728. 2 Morse to Seward, Vol. VI, page 727. 3 Boreham's affidavit, Vol. VI, page 732. 4 Mr. Jackson to Mr. Seward, 19th August, 1864, Vol. VI, page 728. * Weir, for transacting our business, and through his management about one hundred and twenty tons of coal were put aboard instead of half that quantity. * Had Iprocured the coal needed I intended to have struck the coast at the capes of the Delaware, and followed it down to Cape Fear, but I had only coal enough to reach Wilmington on the night of the 25th." Had the British authorities at Nassau, Bermuda, * Barbadoes, [412] Cape Town, Melbourne, and other colonial ports, pursued the same course that the Lieutenant Governor at Halifax did, under the wise advice of the Admiral, the grievances of the United States would have been much less, and this case would have been shorter by many pages. The first time that the rule of January 31st, 1862, as to the supply of coal, was fairly carried out, the operations of the insurgent cruiser, to which it was applied, were arrested on the spot, and the vessel was obliged to run for a home port. The Tallahassee apparently remained in Wilmington for some months. On the 13th of January, 1865, she arrived in Bermuda again, under the name of the Chameleon. On the 19th she sailed again, taking a cargo to Liverpool, where at the close of the war she was claimed by the United States. From the fact that she was fitted out in London to be used as a privateer from Wilmington, and that she did go out from Wilmington with what purported to be a commission from the insurgent authorities, and did prey upon the commerce of the United States, and for the reasons already given, the United States ask the Tribunal to find and certify as to this vessel as they have been asked to find and certify as to the Sumter and the Nashville, the Florida and the Alabama, and the Georgia. *THE CHICKAMAUGA. [413] Among the new British-built blockade-runners reported by the United States Consul at Liverpool on the 5th of March, 1864, was The Chickamauga. "the Edith, new double-screw; two pole-masts; forecastle raised one foot higher than bulwark; two funnels; marked to draw nine feet forward and ten aft; no figure-head." She arrived at Bermuda from England, on the 7th day of April, 1864. On the 23d of the following June she sailed for Wilmington, and on the 7th of the next July arrived from there with cotton. On the 23d of July she again went to Wilmington. The Edith was one of that class of blockade-runners, like the Tallahassee, which was owned by the insurgent authorities. In the year 1864 other parties as well as the insurgent authorities were largely engaged in the business of running cotton out of the blockaded ports. Thus, in the quarter in which the Edith left Liverpool, 34,754 bales of cotton were imported into Liverpool from the Southern States, via Bermuda, Nassau, Havana, and Matamoras, of which only 7,874 were consigned to Fraser, Trenholm & Co." The Edith, however, was a vessel belonging to the so-called government at Richmond, and, being [414] found to be fast, and adapted for the sort of war that was carried I Wood to Mallory, 31st August, 1864, Vol. VI, page 729. 2 Manuscripts in Department of State; see Vol. VI, pages 723–4–5. 3 Dudley to Seward, 1st April, 1864. Only 697 bales came by way of Havana. on against the commerce of the United States, it was determined to put her in commission as a man-of-war. The attention of the Tribunal of Arbitration is invited to the facile manner in which these vessels were permitted to adapt themselves to circumstances. The Sumter cruised as a man-of-war, and received hospitalities as such. She was allowed to change her character in a British port, and then to sail under the British flag as a blockade-runner, owned and operated by the insurgents. The same thing would undoubtedly have been done with the Georgia had she not been captured by the Niagara. The Atlanta started her career as a blockade-runner, owned by the insurgents; she was converted into a man-of-war under the name of the Tallahassee. When unable to pursue further her work of destruction, she became again a carrier for the benefit of the insurgents, and was accepted by Great Britain in her new character. The Edith was now to go through similar transformations. On the 17th of September she was in commission as a man-of-war. Between that date and the 28th of October she took on board large [415] supplies of coal from blockade-runners. On the 28th of October, having waited for a month for a night dark enough to run the blockade, she put to sea from Wilmington, and ran northward toward Long Island. On the 30th she destroyed the bark Mark L. Potter, of Bangor, Maine; on the 31st, the Emily L. Hall, the Shooting Star, the Goodspeed, and the Otter Roch, all vessels under the flag of the United States; on the 2d of November, the bark Speedwell, also a vessel of the United States; and on the 7th of November she reached Bermuda. On the 8th of November she was allowed to come into the harbor, and permission was given for a stay of five days for repairs, and also to take on board twenty-five tons of coal, although she had at that time one hundred tops in her bunkers. She actually staid seven days, and took on board eighty-two tons. On the 15th of November she sailed from Bermuda, and on the 19th arrived at Wilmington. For the reason already given the United States ask the Tribunal, as to this vessel, to find and certify as they have been asked to find and certify as to the Sumter, the Nashville, the Florida, the Alabama, the Georgia, and the Tallahassee. [416] *THE SHENANDOAH. The Shenandoah. The British steamer Sea King, a merchant-vessel which had belonged to a Bombay Company, and had been employed in the East India trade, was "a long rakish vessel of seven hundred and ninety tons register, with an auxiliary engine of two hundred and wenty nominal horse-power, with which she was capable of steaming en knots an hour. She was the handiwork of celebrated builders on the river Clyde, in Scotland, and had made one voyage to New Zealand as a transport for British troops, when she proved herself one of the fastest vessels afloat, her log showing at times over three hundred and twenty miles in twenty-four hours."3 In the year 1863, before the voyage to New Zealand, Mr. Dudley had seen her at Glasgow, and had reported her as a most likely steamer for the purposes of a privateer. 1 Manuscript dairy in the Department of State. 2 Bernard's British Neutralty, page 359. 3 Cruise of the Shenandoah, page 9. 4 Dudley to Seward and Morse to Seward, Vol. VI, page 555. On the 20th September, in the year 1864, she was sold in London to Richard Wright, of Liverpool, a British subject, and the father-in-law of Mr. Prioleau, of South Carolina, the managing partner in the house of Fraser, Trenholm & Co., and the transfer was registered the same day. *The United States assert that the notorious connection of the [417] firm of Fraser, Trenholm & Co. with the insurgents, and their repeated violations of the sovereignty of Great Britain in purchasing, constructing, equipping, arming, and contracting for vessels of war to be used in carrying on hostilities against the United States, ought by that time to have made them objects of suspicion to every British official, connected with the construction of the transfer of steamers capable of being adapted to warlike use. The acquisition, by a near connection of a member of their firm, of a fast-going steamer, capable of being so converted, and the proposition to send her to sea in ballast, with nothing on board but two mounted guns and a supply of provisions and coal, ought of itself to have attracted the attention of the British officials. The omission to take notice of the fact is a proof of want of the due diligence required by the Treaty. Under the circumstances, it would have been the exercise of but the most ordinary diligence to supervise the transfers of this class of vessels in the Government records, and to follow up so palpable a clew as was given in the case of the Sea King. On the 7th of October, Wright gave a power of attorney to one Corbett to "sell her at any time within six months for a sum not less than £45,000 *sterling." Corbett was an Englishman who had [418] commanded the Douglas, afterward known as the Margaret and Jessie, one of the kaleidoscopic blockade-runners owned by the insurgents and carrying the British flag. The next day the Sea King cleared for Bombay, and sailed "with a crew of forty-seven men." Before sailing, while she "lay in the basin.” she" took in coal and provisions sufficient for a twelve-months' cruise." She "had two 18-pounders mounted on the decks," which were the guns generally used in bringing vessels to. "She was scarcely clear of the ground when a telegram was flashed to Liverpool, advising the Confederate agent at that port" that she had sailed; and about 8 or 9 o'clock that evening a screw-steamer, called the Laurel, "nearly new-built, very strong, and admirably adapted for a privateer," left Liverpool, clearing for Matamoras, via Nassau, taking a "score or more of natives of the South, who had staked life and fortune on the hazard of a desperate game," among whom were "several old Confederate States navy officers, who had served on board the Sumter, Alabama, and [419] Georgia." The Laurel took out as cargo "cases marked as machinery, but in reality contained guns and gun-carriages, such as are used in war vessels." Mr. Dudley, the Consul at Liverpool, from the number of guns and the number of men, drew the correct conclusion that they were shipped in order to be transferred to some other vessel." The officers in Her Majesty's service, by the exercise of due diligence, Dudley to Seward, Vol. III, page 319; Vol. VI, page 660. 3 Dudley to Seward, Vol. III, page 319; Vol. VI, page 560. 4 Cruise of the Shenandoah, page 10. 5 Temple's affidavit, Vol. III, page 478; Vol. VI, page 709. 6 Cruise of the Shenandoah, page 11. 7 Dudley to Adams, Vol. III, page 316; Vol. VI, page 556. 8 Cruise of the Shenandoah, page 16. See also Vol. III, page 318. 9 Dudley to Seward, Vol. III, page 317; Vol. VI, page 556. 19 Dudley to Seward, Vol. III, page 318; Vol. VI, page 557. might have arrived at the same conclusion, and might have detained both ships. The appointed place of meeting was the harbor of Funchal, in the island of Madeira. The Laurel arrived there two days in advance of the Sea King. The latter vessel had enlisted its crew" for a voyage to Bombay or any port of the Indian Ocean, China Seas, or Japan, for a term not to exceed two years." She went down the English Chan nel under steam and sail, and when off Land's End she was put under reefed canvas,” and so continued to Madeira. She was fully rigged for sailing, and her steam was intended only as an auxiliary. 66 [420] The Sea King arrived off Funchal the night of the 19th. The Laurel, on the morning of the 20th, came out to meet her, "with a full head of steam on ;" signaled her to round the Desertas, a barren rocky island lying near Madeira; and proceeded to the place of rendezvous, the Sea King following in the wake.4 "Tackles were at once got aloft on both vessels, and they commenced operations by first transferring from the Laurel to the Sea King the heavy guns." "At the expiration of thirty-six hours the transfer was effected, and the munitions of war, clothing, and stores, with which the Laurel had been laden, were piled in utter confusion on the decks and in the hold of the Sea King, which was to bear that name no more.“5 They took in from the Laurel eight cannon, viz, six large and two small, with their carriages, (the guns were called 68-pounders ;) a quantity of powder, muskets, pistols, shot and shell; clothing, and a quantity of other stores, and also a quantity of coals.” Corbett then came forward and announced a pretended sale of the ressel, (the real sale having taken place in London,) and tried to induce the men who had enlisted to sail in the Sea King to continue [421] their contract in the Shenandoah. The *conduct of this person was so palpably a violation of the Foreign Enlistment Act that the British Consul at Funchal sent him home as a prisoner, accompanied by depositions to prove his guilt. Captain Waddell, the new commander in the place of Corbett, made a speech, "which was receiv ed with but little enthusiasm from the majority of those who listened to him." "Out of eighty twenty-three only cast in their lots with the new cruiser." When the Shenandoah left the Laurel her "officers and crew only numbered forty-two souls, less than half her regular complement. This obliged her " to depend upon her auxiliary engine." When the news of these proceedings was fully known in London, Mr. Adams brought the subject to the notice of Earl Russell." In a subsequent note he referred to this fact in the following language: 12 "On the 18th of November, 1864, I had the honor to transmit to your Lordship certain evidence which went to show that on the 8th of October preceding a steamer had been dispatched, under the [422] British flag, from London, called the *Sea King, with a view to Cruise of the Shenandoah, page 19. Ellison's affidavit, Vol. III, page 359; Vol. VI, page 580. 3 Harris's affidavit, Vol. III, page 363; Vol. VI, page 584. 4 Cruise of the Shenandoah, pages 19, 20. this. 8 Cruise of the Shenandoah, page 21. Vol. III, page 363; Vol. VI, page 580. See also the other affidavits which follow Vol. VI, page 572. Cruise of the Shenandoah, page 22. 9 Cruise of the Shenandoah, page 23. 10 Cruise of the Shenandoah, page 24. 11 Adams to Russell, Vol. III, page 323 12 Same to same, Vol. III, page 377. |