money, to be employed in fitting out privateers, and also several commissions issued by the southern Confederate States for such privateers; and in the month of August, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, information was sent by the United States government to the United States consulate at Liverpool, that the said Captain Bullock was then residing near Liverpool, and acting as the agent of the said Confederate States in Liverpool and London.

3. In accordance with instructions received from the government of the United States, steps have been taken to obtain information as to the proceedings and movements of the said J. D. Bullock, and I have ascertained the following circumstances, all of which I verily believe to be true, namely: That the said J. D. Bullock is in constant communication with parties in Liverpool who are known to be connected with, and acting for, the parties who have assumed the government of the Confederate States; that the said J. D. Bullock, after remaining for some time in England, left the country, and after an absence of several weeks, returned to Liverpool in the month of March last from Charleston, in the State of South Carolina, one of the seceded States, in a screwsteamer then called the Annie Childs, which had broken the blockade of the port of Charleston, then and now maintained by the United States Navy, and which vessel, the Annie Childs, carried the flag of the Confederate States as she came up the Mersey; that shortly after the arrival of the said J. D. Bullock at Liverpool in the Annie Childs, as above mentioned, he again sailed from Liverpool in a new gunboat called the Oreto, built at Liverpool by Messrs. W. C. Miller & Sons, shipbuilders, and completed in the early part of the present year, and which gunboat, the Oreto, though she cleared from Liverpool for Palermo and Jamaica, in reality never went to those places, but proceeded to Nassau, New Providence, to take on board guns and arms, with a view to her being used as a privateer or vessel of war under a commission from the so-called confederate government against the government of the United States, and which said vessel, the Oreto, is stated to have been lately seized at Nassau by the commander of her Majesty's ship Greyhound; that the said J. D. Bullock has since returned again to Liverpool, and that before he left Liverpool, and since he returned, he has taken an active part in superintending the building, equipment, and fitting-out of another steam gunboat, known as No. 290, which has lately been launched by Messrs. Laird & Co., of Birkenhead, and which is now lying, as I am informed and believe, ready for sea in the Birkenhead docks, with a large quantity of provisions and stores and thirty men on board; that the said J. D. Bullock is going out in the said gunboat No. 290, which is nominally commanded by one Matthew J. Butcher, who, I am informed, is well acquainted with the navigation of the American coast, having formerly been engaged in the coasting trade between New York, Charleston, and Nassau.

4. From the circumstances which have come to my knowledge, I verily believe that the said gunboat No. 290, is being equipped and fitted out as a privateer or vessel of war, to serve under a commission to be issued by the government of the so-called Confederate States, and that the said vessel will be employed in the service of the said Confederate States to cruise and commit hostilities against the government and people of the United States of North America.

T. H. DUDLEY.

Sworn before me, at the custom-house, Liverpool, the 21st July,

1862.

J. PRICE EDWARDS, Collector.

Deposition of Matthew Maguire.

I, Matthew Maguire, of Liverpool, agent, make oath and say as follows:

1. I know Captain J. D. Bullock, who is commonly reputed to be the agent of the Confederate States of America at Liverpool.

2. I have seen the said J. D. Bullock several times at the yard of Messrs. Laird & Co. at Birkenhead, where a gunboat known as No. 290 has lately been built, while the building of the said vessel has been going on.

3. On the 2d day of July now instant, I saw the said J. D. Bullock on board the said vessel at Messrs. Laird & Co.'s yard. He appeared to be giving orders to the workmen who were employed about such vessel. MATTHEW MAGUIRE.

Sworn before me at the custom-house, Liverpool, 21st July, 1862. J. PRICE EDWARDS, Collector.

Deposition of Allen Stanley Clare.

I, Allan Stanley Clare, of Liverpool, in the county of Lancaster, articled clerk, make oath and say as follows:

On the 21st July now instant, I examined the book at the Birkenhead dockmaster's office at Birkenhead, containing a list of all vessels which enter the Birkenhead docks, and I found in such book an entry of a vessel described as "Number Two Hundred and Ninety," and from the entries in said book in reference to such vessel, it appears that she is a screw steamer, and that her registered tonnage is five hundred tons, and that Matthew J. Butcher is her master.

A. S. CLARE.

Sworn before me at the custom-house, Liverpool, 21st July, 1862.
J. PRICE EDWARDS,

Collector.

Deposition of John de Costa.

I, John de Costa, of No. 8 Waterloo Road, Liverpool, shipping master, make oath and say as follows:

1. I know and have for several months known by sight Captain Bullock, who is very generally known in Liverpool as an agent or commissioner of the Confederate States in America.

2. In the month of March last I saw the screw-steamer Annie Childs, which had run the blockade from Charleston, enter the river Mersey. She came up the Mersey with the confederate flag flying at her peak, and I saw the Oreto, a new gunboat which had been recently built by Messrs. W. C. Miller & Sons, and which was then lying at anchor in the river off Egremont, dip her colors three times in acknowledgment of the Annie Childs, which vessel returned the compliment, and a boat was immediately afterwards dispatched from the Annie Childs to the Oreto, with several persons on board besides the men who were at the oars.

3. On the 22d day of March last I was on the North Landing stage, between seven and eight o'clock in the morning. I saw the said Captain

Bullock go on board a tender which afterwards took him off to the said gunboat Oreto, which was then lying in the Sloyne. Just before he got on board the tender he shook hands with a gentleman who was with him, and said to him, "This day six weeks you will get a letter from me from Charleston," or words to that effect.

4. On the same day, between eleven and twelve o'clock, as well as I can remember, I saw the Oreto go to sea. She came well in on the Liverpool side of the river, and from the Prince's pier-head, where I was standing, I distinctly saw the said Captain Bullock on board her with a person who had been previously pointed out to me by a fireman who came to Liverpool in the Annie Childs, as a Charleston pilot, who had come over in the Annie Childs with Captain Bullock, to take the gunboat out. JOHN DE COSTA.

Sworn before me at the custom-house, Liverpool, the 21st July, 1862. J. PRICE EDWARDS, Collector.

Depositions of Henry Wilding and Matthew Maguire.

We, Henry Wilding, of Liverpool, in the county of Lancaster, gentleman, and Matthew Maguire, of Liverpool aforesaid, agent, make oath and say as follows:

1. I, the said Matthew Maguire, for myself say that, on the 15th day. of July now instant, I took Brogan, whom I know to be an apprentice working in the ship-building yard of Messrs. Laird & Co., at Birkenhead, to the above-named deponent, Henry Wilding, at his residence at New Brighton.

2. And I, the said Henry Wilding, for myself say as follows: I am the vice-consul of the United States of North America at Liverpool.

3. On the 15th of July now instant, I saw the said Brogan, and examined him in reference to a gunboat which I heard was being built by the said Messrs. Laird & Co. for the so-called confederate government; and the said Brogan then informed me that the said vessel was built to carry four guns on each side, and four swivel guns; that Captain Bullock had at one time, when the vessel was in progress, come to the yard almost every day to select the timber to be used for the vessel; that the said Captain Bullock was to be the captain of the said vessel, and that the said Captain Bullock had asked the said Brogan to go as car

penter's mate in the said vessel for three years, which the said Brogan had declined to do, because Mr. Laird, who was present at the time, would not guarantee his wages; that the said vessel was to carry one hundred and twenty men, and that thirty able seamen were already engaged for her; that the petty officers for the said vessel were to be engaged for three years, and the seamen for five months; that the said vessel was then at the end of the new warehouses in the Birkenhead docks, and that it was understood she was to take her guns on board at Messrs. Laird & Co.'s shed further up the dock; and that it was generally understood by the men in Messrs. Laird & Co.'s yard that the said vessel was being built for the confederate government.

4. The vessel above mentioned is the same which is now known as No. 290, and I verily believe that the said vessel is in fact intended to

be used as a privateer, or vessel of war, under a commission from the so-called confederate government, against the United States government.

HENRY WILDING.
MATTHEW MAGUIRE.

Sworn before me at the custom-house, Liverpool, the 21st July, 1862. J. PRICE EDWARDS, Collector.

Deposition of William Passmore.

I, William Passmore, of Birkenhead, in the county of Chester, mariner, make oath and say as follows:

1. I am a seaman, and have served as such on board her Majesty's ship Terrible during the Crimean war.

2. Having been informed that hands were wanted for a fighting vessel built by Messrs Laird & Co., of Birkenhead, I applied on Saturday, which was I believe the 21st day of June last, to Captain Butcher, who, I was informed, was engaging men for the said vessel, for a berth on board her.

3. Captain Butcher asked me if I knew where the vessel was going. In reply to which I told him I did not rightly understand about it. He then told me the vessel was going out to the government of the Confederate States of America. I asked him if there would be any fighting; to which he replied yes; they are going to fight for the southern government. I told him I had been used to fighting vessels, and showed him my papers. I asked him to make me signal man on board the vessel, and, in reply, he said that no articles would be signed until the vessel got outside, but he would make me signal man if they required one when they got outside.

4. The said Captain Butcher then engaged me as an able seaman on board the said vessel at the wages of £4 10s. per month; and it was arranged that I should join the ship in Messrs. Laird & Co.'s yard on the following Monday. To enable me to get on board, Captain Butcher gave me as a password the number “290.”

5. On the following Monday, which was I believe the 23d day of June last, I joined the said vessel in Messrs. Laird & Co.'s yard at Birkenhead, and I remained by her until Saturday last.

6. The said vessel is a screw steamer of about 1,100 tons burden, as far as I can judge, and is built and fitted up as a fighting ship in all respects. She has a magazine, and shot and canister racks on deck, and is pierced for guns, the sockets for the bolts for which are laid down. The said vessel has a large quantity of stores and provisions on board, and she is now lying at the Victoria wharf, in the great float at Birkenhead, where she has taken in about three hundred tons of coal.

7. There are now about thirty hands on board her, who have been engaged to go out in her. Most of them are men who have previously served on board fighting ships, and one of them is a man who served on board the confederate steamer Sumter. It is well known by the hands on board that the vessel is going out as a privateer for the confederate government, to act against the United States, under a commission from Mr. Jefferson Davis. Three of the crew are, I believe, engineers, and there are also some firemen on board.

8. Captain Butcher and another gentleman have been on board the

ship almost every day. It is reported on board the ship that Captain Butcher is to be the sailing-master, and that the other gentleman, whose name I believe is Bullock, is to be the fighting captain.

9. To the best of my information and belief, the above-mentioned vessel, which I have heard is to be called the Florida, is being equipped and fitted out in order that she may be employed in the service of the confederate government in America, to cruise and commit hostilities against the government and people of the United States of America. WILLIAM PASSMORE.

Sworn before me, at the custom-house, Liverpool, this 21st day of July, 1862. J. PRICE EDWARDS, Collector.

[The above affidavits were made before and submitted to the collector of customs at Liverpool, on 21st day of July, 1862, at the suggestion of Earl Russell, in his letter to Mr. Adams, of July 4, 1862, by the attorney of the United States consul, A. F. Squarey, esq., who read the portions of the foreign enlistment act applicable to said case to the collector, and requested him to detain the vessel. The collector replied that he should refer the matter to the board of customs at London.]

Mr. Adams to Earl Russell.

LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES,
London, July 24, 1862.

MY LORD: In order that I may complete the evidence in the case of the vessel now fitting out at Liverpool, I have the honor to submit to your lordship's consideration the copies of two more depositions taken respecting that subject.

In the view which I have taken of this extraordinary proceeding as a violation of the enlistment act, I am happy to find myself sustained by the opinion of an eminent lawyer of Great Britain, a copy of which I do myself the honor likewise to submit.

Renewing to your lordship the assurances of my highest consideration, I have the honor to be, my lord, your most obedient servant, CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS.

Right Hon. EARL RUSSELL, &c., &c., &c.

Deposition of Edward Roberts.

I, Edward Roberts, of No. 6 Vere street, Toxteth Park, in the county of Lancaster, ship carpenter, make oath and say as follows:

1. I am a ship carpenter, and have been at sea for about four years in that capacity.

2. About the beginning of June last I had been out of employ for about two months, and hearing that there was a vessel in Messrs. Laird & Co.'s yard fitting out to run the blockade, I applied to Mr. Barnett, shipping-master, to get me shipped on board the said vessel.

3. On Thursday, the 19th day of June last, I went to the said Mr. Barnett's office, No. 11 Hanover street, Liverpool, in the county of Lancaster, and was engaged for the said vessel as carpenter's mate. By the