against which "the government of the United States has serious ground of remonstrance." I pray your lordship to accept the assurance of the highest consideration with which I have the honor to be, my lord, your obedient servant, CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS. Right Hon. Earl RUSSELL, &c., &c., &c. S. R. Mallory to James H. North. CONFEDERATE STATES OF AMERICA, Navy Department, Richmond, July 12, 1862. SIR: Your letter of the 29th of March last reached me this morning. The department notified you on the 11th of January last, that you would receive orders to command the second vessel then being built in England, but for reasons satisfactory to the department you were subsequently assigned to the command of the first vessel, the Florida, (Oreto,) now at Nassau; and any just ground for "the surprise and astonishment" in this respect at the department's action is not perceived. A commission as commander for the war was sent you on the 5th of May, and your failure to follow the Oreto, which left England about the 21st of March, and to take command of her as was contemplated, and as you were apprised by Captain Bullock, on the 26th of March, is not understood, and has been productive of some embarrassment. Captain Bullock was nominated by the executive for his position in the navy under existing law, and was duly confirmed by the senate, and your protest to this department against the action of these co-ordinate branches of your government is out of place. Upon the receipt of this letter you will turn over to Lieutenant G. F. Sinclair the instructions which you may have received, together with any public funds in your hands, and return to the Confederate States in such manner as your ju dgment may direct. Should you not be provided with funds for this purpose, Commander Bullock will, upon your application, supply them. I am, respectfully, your obedient servant, Commander JAMES H. NORTH, C. S. N., London, England. S. R. MALLORY, [For evidence as to Captain Bullock's operations in England, see Alexandra jury trial, Appendix No. 15, given in court June 23, 1863; also the correspondence in 1863, post.] Mr. Adams to Mr. Seward. No. 242.] LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, London, October 16, 1862. SIR: I now transmit copies of further notes on the subject of the gunboat 290, in continuation of those sent with my dispatch (No. 227) of the 26th of September. It is very manifest that no disposition exists here *She sailed on the 22d of March. , to apply the powers of the government to the investigation of the acts complained of, flagrant as they are, or to the prosecution of the offendThe main object must now be to make a record which may be of use at some future day. ers. I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant, CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS. Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State. Earl Russell to Mr. Adams. FOREIGN OFFICE, October 9, 1862. SIR: With reference to my letter to you of the 22d ultimo, I have the honor to inclose a copy of a letter which I have received from the board of treasury, forwarding the copy of a report from her Majesty's commissioners of customs relative to the supply of cannon and munitions of war to the gunboat 290. I have the honor to be, with the highest consideration, sir, your most obedient, humble servant, CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS, Esq., &c., &c., &c. RUSSELL. TREASURY CHAMBERS, September 29, 1862. SIR: With reference to your letter of the 12th instant, and previous correspondence, I am directed by the lords, &c., to transmit herewith, for the information of Earl Russell, a copy of a report, No. 478, dated 25th instant, of the commissioners of customs relative to the supply of cannon, &c., to the gunboat No. 290. I am, &c., GEO. A. HAMILTON. No. 478.] CUSTOM-HOUSE, September 25, 1862. Your lordships having, by Mr. Arbuthnot's letter of the 16th instant, transmitted to us, with reference to Mr. Hamilton's letter of the 2d ultimo, the inclosed communication from the Foreign Office, with copies of a further letter and its inclosures from the United States minister at this court respecting the supply of cannon and munitions of war to the gunboat No. 290, recently built at Liverpool, and now in the service of the so-called Confederate States of America; and your lordships having desired that we would take such steps as might seem to be required in view of the facts therein represented, and report the result to your lordships, we have now to report: That, assuming the statement set forth in the affidavit of Redden, (who sailed from Liverpool in the vessel,) which accompanied Mr. Adams's letter to Earl Russell, to be correct, the furnishing of arms, &c., to the gunboat does not appear to have taken place in any part of the United Kingdom or of her Majesty's dominions, but in or near Angra Bay, part of the Azores, part of the Portuguese dominions. No offense, therefore, cognizable by the laws of this country appears to have been committed by the parties engaged in the transaction alluded to in the affidavit. With respect to the allegation of Redden that the arms, &c., were shipped on board the 290 in Angra Bay, partly from a bark (name not given) which arrived there from London, commanded by à Captain Quinn, and partly from the steamer Bahama, from Liverpool, we beg to state that no vessel having a master named Quinn can be traced as having sailed from this port for foreign parts during the last six months; the Knight Errant, Captain Quine, a vessel of 1,342 tons burden, cleared for Calcutta on the 12th of April last, with a general cargo, such as is usually exported to the East Indies; but so far as can be ascertained from the entries, she had neither gunpowder nor cannon on board. The steamer Bahama cleared from Liverpool on the 12th ultimo for Nassau. We find that Messrs. Fawcett, Preston & Co., engineers and iron founders, of Liverpool, shipped on board that vessel nineteen cases containing guns, gun-carriages, shot, rammers, &c., weighing in all 158 cwt. 1 qr. 27 lbs. ; there was no other cargo on board except 552 tons of coals, for the use of the ship; and the above-mentioned goods having been regularly cleared for Nassau in compliance with the customs law, our officers could have no power to interfere with their shipment. With reference to the further statement in the letter to Mr. Dudley, the consul of the United States at Liverpool, that the bark that took out the guns and coals is to carry out another cargo of coals to the gunboat 290, either from Cardiff or Troon, near Greenock, we have only to remark that there would be great difficulty in ascertaining the intention of any parties making such a shipment; and we do not apprehend that our officers would have any power of interfering with it, were the coals cleared outwards for some foreign port in compliance with the law. F. GOULBURN. W. R. GREY. To the LORDS, &c., &c. Mr. Seward to Mr. Adams. No. 373.] DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, October 20, 1862. SIR: Your dispatch of October 3 (No. 230) has been received. Your proceeding in presenting to her Majesty's government a remonstrance against the practices of British subjects in arming and fitting out privateers to depredate on American commerce is approved by the President. The language and the effect of your remonstrance are equally satisfactory. When at the close of the last session of Congress it was proposed here to issue letters of marque for the protection of our commerce against such depredations by the insurgents, the proposition was relinquished on the ground that they had no ports here within control from which piratical cruisers could be sent out, and it was not apprehended that the shores of Great Britain would be suffered to be used by them for a base of operations. Yet we now see a piratical vessel built, manned, armed, equipped, and dispatched from a British port, and roaming at large on the seas, without ever touching the American shores, destroying American merchantmen as if there were no treaties between Great Britain and the United States, while entrance into British ports for coals and other supplies is denied to our national armed vessels under a proclamation of neutrality. This is one of the lamentable fruits of the policy which Great Britain adopted at the beginning of the war, without previous consultation with the United States, and has persisted in ever since in opposition to their earnest and persevering remonstrances. Our agents are reporting to us new and larger military and naval preparations in British ports, and if they are to be allowed to go on to their conclusion, and to operate, as has been done in the case of the 290, will not the result be that, while Great Britain avows neutrality, her subjects are practically allies of the internal enemies of the United States? The President will not consent to believe that her Britannic Majesty's government would willingly allow a condition of affairs to occur which would seem to leave to the United States almost no hope of remaining at peace with Great Britain without sacrifices for which no peace could ever compensate. The Secretary of the Navy is adopting all possible means to meet the new exigency which has occurred. I am, sir, your obedient servant, WILLIAM H. SEWARD. CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS, Esq., &c., &c., &c. No. 374.] : SIR With reference to the operations of the insurgent steamer 290, an extract from a letter of Mr. Dabney, the United States consul at Teneriffe, to Mr. Perry, chargé d'affaires at Madrid, is herewith appended. The vessel referred to is probably the 290, a powerful vessel, which you are, of course, cognizant of, and an equally powerful steamer is necessary to overhaul her, which, perhaps, you may have the power to dispatch after her. I would inform you that, about the 22d ultimo, two steamers and a ship, all showing the English flag, anchored at an out-of-the-way place, at the island of Terceira, Azores, and were two days engaged in passing cargo from the ship to the steamers, of which this is probably one, and there may have been two fitted out at that time. I now transmit a copy of Lord Russell's note to me of the 16th instant, in reply to mine of the 9th, a copy of which was forwarded with my dispatch No. 238, of the 10th of October. The attitude of indifference to the consequences of their own inaction under the provisions of the enlistment law is continued, and will probably remain to the last. In the mean time the vessel which was suffered to escape is continuing its piratical ravages on the ocean. Mr. Dudley will send you further particulars received by the captain of the ship Emily Farnum, who has arrived at Liverpool. I know not what has become of the Tuscarora. The probabilities are that the next attack will be made on the California steamers. I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant, Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS. Secretary of State. Earl Russell to Mr. Adams. FOREIGN OFFICE, October 16, 1862. SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 9th instant, inclosing a copy of an intercepted letter which you had received from the United States government, being the further evidence with regard to the gunboat No. 290, to which you alluded in your previous communication to me of the 30th ultimo, and with reference to your observations with regard to the infringement of the enlistment law, I have to remark that it is true the foreign enlistment act, or any other act for the same purpose, can be evaded by very subtle contrivances; but her Majesty's government cannot, on that account, go beyond the letter of the existing law. I have the honor to be, with the highest consideration, sir, your most obedient, humble servant, CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS, Esq., &c., &c., &c. RUSSELL. Mr. Seward to Mr. Adams. No. 378.] DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, October 25, 1862. SIR: Your dispatch of October 10 (No. 238) has been received. Your reply to Earl Russell's note of the 4th instant on the subject of British outfits of British-built vessels from British ports, with British-shipped crews, to depredate on American commerce on the high seas, is approved by the President. I do not know how I could add a word to fortify or improve the clear, calm, and energetic protest which that paper contains. I am, sir, your obedient servant, WILLIAM H. SEWARD. CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS, Esq., &c., &c., &c. No. 381.] Mr. Seward to Mr. Adams. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, October 25, 1862. SIR: I send herewith copies of papers which have just been received from James E. Harvey, esq., our minister at Lisbon, touching the |