a limited number of vessels adapted for the public service. Two vessels have been prepared and manned, the Sumter and McRae, and are now being prepared for sea at New Orleans with all possible dispatch.

On the 1st May, 1861, Mr. Seward, Secretary of State of the United States, addressed to the British Minister at Washington a dispatch of that date, which contained the following passage:1

The so-called Confederate States have waged an insurrectionary war against this Government. They are buying, and even seizing, vessels in several places for the purpose of furnishing themselves with a naval force, and they are issuing letters of marque to privateers to be employed in preying on the commerce of this country. You are aware that the President has proclaimed a blockade of the ports included within the insurgent States. All these circumstances are known to the world.

On the 6th May, 1861, the congress of the Confederate States passed an act entitled "An act recognizing the existence of war between the United States and the Confederate States, and concerning letters of marque, prizes, and prize-goods." The first section of this act was as follows:

2

The congress of the Confederate States of America do enact that the president of the Confederate States is hereby authorized to use the whole land and naval force of the Confenerate States to meet the war thus commenced, and to issue to private vessels commissions or letters of marque and general reprisal, in such form as he shall think proper, under the seal of the Confederate States, against the vessels, goods, and effects of the United States, and of the citizens or inhabitants of the States and territories thereof; provided, however, that property of the enemy (unless it be contraband of war) laden on board a neutral vessel, shall not be subject to seizure under this act; and provided further, that vessels of the citizens or inhabitants of the United States now in the ports of the Confederate States, except such as have been since the 5th April last, or may hereafter be in the service of the Government of the United States, shall be allowed thirty days after the publication of this act to leave said ports and reach their destination; and such vessels and their cargoes, excepting articles contraband of war, shall not be subject to capture under this act during said period, unless they shall have previously reached the destination for which they were bound on leaving said ports.

The act then proceeded to lay down in detail regulations as to the conditions on which letters of marque should be granted to private vessels, and the conduct and behavior of the officers and crews of such vessels, and the disposal of prizes made by them, similar to the regulations which have been ordinarily prescribed and enforced with respect to privateers in the United States and by the maritime powers of Europe.

The fourth and seventh sections were as follows:

4. That, before any commission or letters of marque and reprisal shall be issued as aforesaid, the owner or owners of the ship or vessel for which the same shall be requested, and the commander thereof for the time being, shall give bond to the Confederate States, with at least two responsible sureties not interested in such vessel, in the penal sum of $5,000, or, if such vessel be provided with more than 150 men, then in the penal sum of $10,000, with condition that the owners, officers, and crew who shall be employed on board such commissioned vessel shall and will observe the laws of the Confederate States, and the instructions which shall be given them according to law for the regulation of their conduct, and will satisfy all damages and injuries which shall be done or committed contrary to the tenor thereof by such vessel during her commission, and to deliver up the same when revoked by the president of the Confederate States.

7. That before breaking bulk of any vessel which shall be captured as aforesaid, or disposal or conversion thereof, or of any articles which shall be found on board the same, such captured vessel,* goods, or effects, shall be brought into some port of the [7] Confederate States, or of a nation or State in amity with the Confederate States, and shall be proceeded against before a competent tribunal; and after condemnation and forfeiture thereof shall belong to the owners, officers, and crew of the vessel capturing the same, and be distributed as before provided; and in the case of all captured vessels, goods, and effects which shall be brought within the jurisdiction of the Confed

1

Appendix, vol. iii, p. 12.

* Ibid., p. 13.

erate States, the district courts of the Confederate States shall have exclusive original cognizance thereof, as the civil causes of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction; and the said courts, or the courts being courts of the Confederate States into which such cases shall be removed, in which they shall be finally decided, shall and may decree restitution in whole or in part, when the capture shall have been made without just cause. And, if made without probable cause, may order and decree damages and costs to the party injured, for which the owners and commanders of the vessels making such captures, and also the vessels, shall be liable.

A further act, entitled "An act regulating the sale of prizes and the distribution thereof," was likewise passed by the congress of the Confederate States on the 14th of May, 1861.1

Many persons who had served as officers in the Navy of the United States offered themselves for employment in the naval service of the Confederate States, and those for whom employment could be found were received and employed in such service.

In and soon after the month of May, 1861, a number of armed ships, mostly of small tonnage, were fitted out in and sent to sea from ports in the Confederate States, and a considerable number of captures were made by them. Some of these were commissioned as public ships of war of the Confederates States, and commanded by officers in the naval service of the confederacy; others as private ships of war or privateers. Among the armed vessels which were so fitted out and made prizes were the Calhoun, a steamer of upwards of 1,000 tons, sent to sea in May, 1861; the Jeff Davis, Savannah, St. Nicholas, Winslow, and York. More than twenty prizes were made by these vessels. The Sumter (to which reference will be made hereafter) went to sea in June, 1861; the Sallie and Nashville in October, 1861; the Echo in 1862; the Retribution and Boston, 1863; the Chickamauga, Olustee, and Tallahassee, in 1864. These vessels are said to have taken from sixty to seventy prizes. It appears from an official report of the Secretary of the Navy of the United States that the number of vessels captured and destroyed by vessels of the United States during the war, for breach of blockade or in battle, exceeded 1,200.

NEUTRALITY OF THE MARITIME POWERS.

The maritime powers, on receiving information of the outbreak of the war, resolved to maintain a strict and impartial neutrality in their relations with the belligerents, holding that it did not belong to them, as Governments, to decide on the questions which had unhappily divided the American people, nor to take any part in the contest on which the future of the American Commonwealth appeared to depend.

Of all the nations of the world, Great Britain, by reason of her geographical position, the activity of her manufacturing and trading industries, her vast commerce with America, the extent and number of her transatlantic possessions, the magnitude of her military and commercial marine, and its dispersion, not only over the seas bordering on the American coast but over every part of the world, was the power most immediately and profoundly affected by a civil war in the United States. The European power which, after Great Britain, possessed the largest marine was France.

On the 14th of May, 1861, Her Britannic Majesty's government issued the following proclamation, intended for the information of the officers of the government and of British subjects in general:

VICTORIA R.

Whereas we are happily at peace with all sovereigns, powers, and states;

And whereas hostilities have unhappily commenced between the Government of the

Appendix, vol. iii, p. 15.

* Ibid., p. 17.

United States of America and certain States styling themselves the Confederate States of America;

And whereas we, being at peace with the Government of the United States, have declared our royal determination to maintain a strict and impartial neutrality in the contest between the said contending parties;

We therefore have thought fit, by and with the advice of our privy council, to issue. this our royal proclamation.

[8]

་་

And we do hereby strictly charge and command all our loving subjects to observe a strict neutrality in and during the aforesaid hostilities, and to abstain from violating or contravening either the laws and statutes of the realm in this behalf, or the law of nations in relation thereto, as they will answer to the contrary at their peril. And whereas in and by a certain statute made and passed in the fifty-ninth year of His Majesty King George III, entitled "An act to prevent enlisting or engagement of His Majesty's subjects to serve in a foreign service, and the fitting out or equipping, in His Majesty's dominions, vessels for warlike purposes, without His Majesty's license, it is among other things declared and enacted as follows: "That if any natural-born subject of His Majesty, his heirs, and successors, without the leave or license of His Majesty, his heirs, or successors, for that purpose first had and obtained, under the sign manual of His Majesty, his heirs, or successors, or signified by order in council, or by proclamation of His Majesty, his heirs, or successors, shall take or accept, or shall agree to take or accept, any military commission, or shall otherwise enter into the military service as a commissioned or non-commissioned officer, or shall enlist or enter himself to enlist, or shall agree to enlist or to enter himself to serve as a soldier, or to be employed or shall serve in any warlike or military operation in the service of, or for, or under, or in aid of any foreign prince, state, potentate, colony, province, or part of any province or people, or of any person or persons exercising or assuming to exercise the powers of government in or over any foreign country, colony, province, or part of any province or people, either as an officer or soldier, or in any other military capacity; or if any natural-born subject of His Majesty shall, without such leave or license as aforesaid, accept, or agree to take or accept, any commission, warrant, or appointment as an officer, or shall enlist or enter himself, or shall agree to enlist or enter himself, to serve as a sailor or marine, or to be employed, or engaged, or shall serve in and on board any ship or vessel of war, or in and on board any ship or vessel used or fitted out, or equipped or intended to be used, for any warlike purpose, in the service of, or for, or under, or in aid of any foreign power, prince, state, potentate, colony, province, or part of any province or people, or of any person or persons exercising or assuming to exercise the powers of government in or over any foreign country, colony, province, or part of any province or people; or if any naturalborn subject of His Majesty shall, without such leave and license as aforesaid, engage, contract, or agree to go, or shall go, to any foreign state, country, colony, province, or part of any province, or to any place beyond the seas, with an intent or in order to enlist or enter himself to serve, or with intent to serve in any warlike or military operation whatever, whether by land or by sea, in the service of, or for, or under, or in aid of any foreign prince, state, potentate, colony, province, or part of any province or people, or in the service of, or for, or under, or in aid of any person or persons exercising or assuming to exercise the powers of government in or over any foreign country, colony, province, or part of any province or people, either as an officer or a soldier, or in any other military capacity, or as an officer or sailor or marine in any such ship or vessel as aforesaid, although no enlisting money or pay or reward shall have been or shall be in any or either of the cases aforesaid actually paid to or received by him, or by any person to or for his use or benefit; or if any person whatever, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, or in any part of His Majesty's dominions elsewhere, or in any country, colony, settlement, island, or place belonging to or subject to His Majesty, shall hire, retain, engage, or procure, or shall attempt or endeavor to hire, retain, engage, or procure, any person or persons whatever to enlist, or to enter or engage to enlist, or to serve or to be employed in any such service or employments as aforesaid, as an officer, soldier, sailor, or marine, either in land or sea service, for, or under, or in aid of any foreign prince, state, potentate, colony, province, or part of any province or people, or for, or under, or in aid of any person or persons exercising or assuming to exercise any powers of government as aforesaid, or to go, or to agree to go, or embark from any part of His Majesty's dominions, for the purpose or with intent to be so enlisted, entered, engaged, or employed as aforesaid, whether any enlisting money, pay, or reward shall have been or shall be actually given or received, or not; in any or either of such cases, every person so offending shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon being convicted thereof, upon any information or indictment, shall be punishable by fine and imprisonment, or either of them, at the discretion of the court before which such offender shall be convicted.”

And it is in and by the said act further enacted:

"That if any person within any part of the United Kingdom, or in any part of His Majesty's dominions beyond the seas, shall, without the leave and license of His Majesty

for that purpose first had and obtained as aforesaid, equip, furnish, fit out, or arm, or attempt or endeavor to equip, furnish, fit ont, or arm, or procure to be equipped, furnished, fitted out, or armed, or shall knowingly aid, assist, or be concerned in the equipping, furnishing, fitting out, or arming, of any ship or vessel, with intent or in order that such ship or vessel shall be employed in the service of any foreign prince, state, or potentate, or of any foreign colony, province, or part of any province or people, or of any person or persons exercising or assuming to exercise any powers of government in or over any foreign state, colony, province, or part of any province or people, as a transport or store-ship, or with intent to cruise or commit hostilities against any prince, state, or potentate, or against the subjects or citizens of any prince, state or potentate, or against the persons exercising or assuming to exercise the powers of, government in any colony, province, or part of any province or country, or against the inhabitants of any foreign country, province, or part of any province or country, with whom His Majesty shall not then be at war; or shall, within the United Kingdom, or any of His Majesty's dominions, or in any settlement, colony, territory, island, or place belonging or subject to His Majesty, issue or deliver any commission for any ship or vessel, to the intent that such ship or vessel shall be employed as aforesaid, every such person so offending shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall, upon conviction thereof upon any information or indictment, be punishable by fine and imprisonment, or either of them, at the discretion of the court in which such offender shall be convicted; and every such ship or vessel, with the tackle, apparel, and furniture, together with all the materials, arms, ammunition, and stores, which may belong to or be on board of any such ship or vessel, shall be forfeited; and it shall be lawful for and officer of His Majesty's customs or excise, or any officer of His Majesty's navy, who is by law empowered to make seizures for any forfeiture incurred under any of the laws of customs or excise, or the laws of trade and navigation, to seize such ships and vessels aforesaid, and in such places and in such manner in which the officers of His Majesty's customs or excise and the officers of His Majesty's navy are empowered [9] respectively to make seizures under the laws of customs and excise, or under

the laws of trade and navigation; and that every such ship and vessel, with the tackle, apparel, and furniture, together with all the materials, arms, ammunition, and stores which may belong to or be on board of such ship or vessel, may be prosecuted and condemned in the like manner and in such courts as ships or vessels may be prosecuted and condemned for any breach of the laws made for the protection of the revennes of customs and excise, or of the laws of trade and navigation.” And it is in and by the said act further enacted:

That if any person in any part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, or in any part of His Majesty's dominions beyond the seas, without the leave and license of His Majesty for that purpose first had and obtained as aforesaid, shall, by adding to the number of guns of such vessel, or by changing those on board for other guns, or by the addition of any equipment for war, increase or augment, or procure to be increased or augmented, or shall be knowingly concerned in increasing or augments ing, the warlike force of any ship or vessel of war, or cruiser, or other armed vessels which at the time of her arrival in any part of the United Kingdom, or any of His Majesty's dominions, was a ship of war, cruiser, or armed vessel in the service of any foreign prince, state, or potentate, or of any person or persons exercising or assuming to exercise any powers of government in or over any colony, province, or part of any province or people belonging to the subjects of any such prince, state, or potentate, or to the inhabitants of any colony, province, or part of any province or country under the control of any person or persons so exercising or assuming to exercise the powers of government, every such person so offending shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall, upon being convicted thereof upon any information or indictment, be pauishable by fine and imprisonment, or either of them, at the discretion of the court before which such offender shall be convicted."

Now, in order that none of our subjects may unwarily render themselves liable to the penalties imposed by the said statute, we do hereby strictly command, that no person or persons whatsoever do commit any act, matter, or thing whatsoever contrary to the provisions of the said statute, upon pain of the several penalties by the said statute imposed, and of our high displeasure.

And we do hereby further warn all our loving subjects, and persons whatsoever entitled to our protection, that if any of them shall presunie, in contempt of this our royal proclamation, and of our high displeasure, to do any acts in derogation of their duty as subjects of a neutral sovereign in the said contest, or in violation or contravention of the law of nations in that behalf; as, for example, and more especially, by entering into the military service of either of the said contending parties as commissioned or non-commissioned officers or soldiers; or by serving as officers, sailors, or marines on board any ship or vessel of war or transport of, or in the service of, either of the said contending parties; or by serving as officers, sailors, or marines on board any privateer bearing letters of marque of or from either of the said contending parties; or by engaging to go or going to any place beyond the seas with intent to

H. Ex. 282-2

enlist or engage in any such service, or by procuring or attempting to procure, within Her Majesty's dominions at home or abroad, others to do so; or by fitting out, arming, or equipping any ship or vessel to be employed as a ship of war or privateer or transport by either of the said contending parties; or by breaking or endeavoring to break any blockade lawfully and actually established by or on behalf of either of the said contending parties; or by carrying officers, soldiers, dispatches, arms, military stores, or materials, or any article or articles considered and deemed to be contraband of war, according to the law of modern usage of nations, for the use or service of either of the said contending parties, all persons so offending will incur and be liable to the several penalties and penal consequences by the said statute or by the law of nations in that behalf imposed or denounced.

And we do hereby declare, that all our subjects, and persons entitled to our protec tion, who may misconduct themselves in the premises, will do so at their peril and of their own wrong, and that they will in nowise obtain any protection from us against any liabilities or penal consequences, but will, on the contrary, incur our high displeasure by such misconduct.

Given at our court at the White Lodge, Richmond Park, this 13th day of May, in the year of our Lord 1861, and in the 24th of our reign.

This proclamation was published fourteen days after the receipt in London of the news that Fort Sumter had been reduced by bombardment, that the President of the United States had called out 75,000 men, and that Mr. Jefferson Davis had taken measures for issuing letters of marque; twelve days after receipt of intelligence that President Lincoln had published a proclamation of blockade; nine days after a copy of that proclamation had been received from Her Britannic Majesty's consul at New York; and three days after the same proclamation had been officially communicated to Her Majesty's secretary of state for foreign affairs by the United States minister, Mr. Dallas.1

On the 1st June, 1861, Her Britannic Majesty's government issued orders by which the armed ships of both belligerents, whether public ships of war or privateers, were interdicted from carrying prizes made by them into the ports, harbors, roadsteads, or waters of the United Kingdom, or of any of Her Majesty's colonies or possessions abroad.5 The government of the Confederate States remonstrated warmly against these orders, as practically unequal in their operation, and unduly disadvantageous to the belligerent whose ports were blockaded. The Secretary of State of the United States expressed his satisfaction with them, as likely to "prove a death-blow to southern privateering."

[10] *These orders were strictly enforced throughout the whole period of the war, and no armed vessel was suffered to bring prizes into any British port.

On the 10th June, 1861, the government of the Emperor of the French issued a declaration, which was as follows:6

PARIS, le 10 juin, 1861. Le ministre des affaires étrangères a soumis à l'empereur la déclaration suivante, que sa majesté a revêtue de son approbation:

DÉCLARATION.

Sa majesté l'empereur des Français, prenant en considération l'état de paix qui existe entre la France et les Etats-Unis d'Amérique, a résolu de maintenir une stricte neutralité dans la lutte engagée entre le gouvernement de l'union et les états qui prétendent former une confédération particulière.

En conséquence, sa majesté, vu l'article 14 de l'ordonnance da la marine du mois d'Août, 1861, l'article 3 de la loi du 10 Avril, 1825, les articles 84 et 85 du code pénal,