direction of the said Mr. Barnett I met Captain Butcher the same day on the George's landing stage, and followed him to Messrs. Laird & Co.'s ship-building yard, and on board a vessel lying there. The said Captain Butcher spoke to the boatswain about me, and I received my orders from the said boatswain. At dinner time the same day, as I left the yard the gateman asked me if I was "going to work on that gunboat;" to which I replied, "Yes." 4. The said vessel is now lying in the Birkenhead float, and is known by the name "No. 290." The said vessel has coal and stores on board. The said vessel is pierced for guns, I think four on a side, and a swivel gun. The said vessel is fitted with shot and canister racks, and has a magazine. There are about fifty men, all told, now on board the said vessel. It is generally understood on board of the said vessel that she is going to Nassau for the southern government. 5. I know Captain Bullock by sight, and have seen him on board of the said vessel five or six times; I have seen him go round the said vessel with Captain Butcher. I understood, both at Messrs. Laird & Co.'s yard and also on board the said vessel, that the said Captain Bullock was the owner of the said vessel. 6. I have been working on board the said vessel from the 19th day of June last up to the present time, with wages at the rate of 67. per month, payable weekly. I have signed no articles or agreement. The talk on board is that an agreement will be signed before sailing. EDWARD ROBERTS. Sworn at Liverpool, in the county of Lancaster, this 22d day of July, 1862, before me. WM. BROWN, Justice of the Peace for Lancashire and Liverpool. Deposition of Robert John Taylor. I, Robert John Taylor, of Mobile, but at present remaining temporarily at Liverpool, mariner, make oath and say as follows: 1. I am a native of London, and forty-one years of age. Froin fourteen years upward I have followed the sea. During the last fifteen years I have been living in the. Confederate States of America, principally at Savannah and Mobile, and since the secession movement I have been engaged in running the blockade. I have run the blockade six times, and been captured once. 2. The vessels in which I have been engaged in running the blockade have sailed from Mobile, antl have gone to Havana and New Orleans. I am well acquainted with the whole of the coast of the Confederate States, as I have been principally engaged since 1847 in trading to and from the Gulf ports. 3. I came to England after my release from Fort Warren on the 29th of May last. I came here with the intention of going to the southern States, as I could not get there from Boston. 4. Mr. Rickarby, of Liverpool, a brother of the owner, at Mobile, of the vessel in which I was captured when attempting to run the blockade, gave me instructions to go to Captain Butcher, at Lairds' yard, Birkenhead. I had previously called on Mr. Rickarby, and told him that I wanted to go South, as the northerners had robbed me of my clothes when I was captured, and I wanted to have satisfaction. 5. I first saw Captain Butcher at one of Mr. Laird's offices last Thursday fortnight (namely, the 3d of July last.) I told him that I had been sent by Mr. Rickarby, and asked him if he were the captain of the vessel which was lying in the dock. I told him that I was one of the men that had been captured in one of Mr. Rickarby's vessels, and that I wanted to get South in order to have retaliation of the northerners for robbing me of my clothes. He said that if I went with him in his vessel I should very shortly have that opportunity. 6. Captain Butcher asked me at the interview if I was well acquainted with the Gulf ports, and I told him I was. I asked him what port he was going to, and he replied that he could not tell me then, but that there would be an agreement made before we left for sea. I inquired as to the rate of wages, and I was to get four pounds ten shillings per month, payable weekly. 7. I then inquired if I might consider myself engaged, and he replied, yes, and that I might go on board the next day, which I accordingly did; and I have been working on board up to last Saturday night. 8. I was at the siege of Acre in 1840, in her Majesty's frigate Pique, Captain Edward Boxer, and served on board for nine months. Captain Butcher's ship is pierced for eight broadside guns and four swivels or long-toms. Her magazine is complete, and she is fitted up in all respects as a man-of-war, without her ammunition. She is now chock full of coals, and has, in addition to those in the hold, some thirty tons on deck. 9. One day, whilst engaged in heaving up some of the machinery, we were singing a song, as seamen generally do, when the boatswain told us to stop that, as the ship was not a merchant ship, but a man-of-war. ROBERT JOHN TAYLOR. Sworn at Liverpool, in the county of Lancaster, this 22d day of July, 1862, before me. W. J. LAMPORT, Justice of the Peace for Liverpoool. Opinion of R. P. Collier. CASE. JULY 23, 1868. You will receive herewith copies of the following affidavits in reference to a gunboat known as No. 290, which was built by Messrs. Laird & Co., at Birkenhead, as it is believed, for the Confederate States of America, and which is now lying ready for sea in all respects in the Birkenhead docks. No. 1. Affirmation of T. H. Dudley. No. 2. Affidavit of I. DeCosta. No. 3. Affidavit of M. Maguire. No. 4. Affidavit of Hy. Wilding and M. Maguire. No. 5. Affidavit of A. S. Clare. No. 6. Affidavit of Wm. Passmore. No. 7. Affidavit of Edward Roberts. No. 8. Affidavit of Robt. John Taylor. An application has been made, on the affidavits Nos. 1 to 6, inclusive, to the collector of customs at Liverpool, to detain the vessel under the provisions of the act 59 Geo. III, cap. 69, but under the advice of the solicitors to the customs the board have declined to sanction the detention of the vessel. You are requested to advise the consul for the United States at Liverpool whether the affidavits now submitted to you disclose facts which would justify the collector of customs in detaining the vessel under the act in question. OPINION. TEMPLE, July 23, 1868. I have perused the above affidavits, and I am. of opinion that the collector of customs would be justified in detaining the vessel. Indeed, I should think it is duty to detain her, and that if, after the application which has been made to him, supported by the evidence which has been laid before me, he allows the vessel to leave Liverpool, he will incur a heavy responsibility of which the board of customs, under whose direction he appears to be acting, must take their share. It appears difficult to make out a stronger case of infringement of the foreign enlistment act, which, if not enforced on this occasion, is little better than a dead letter. It well deserves consideration whether, if the vessel be allowed to escape, the federal government would not have serious grounds of remonstrance. Mr. Squarey to Mr. Adams. R. P. COLLIER. TAVISTOCK HOTEL, COVENT GARDEN, SIR: I beg to inform you that I saw Mr. Layard at the Foreign Office after leaving you this afternoon, and ascertained from him that the papers forwarded by you in reference to the gunboat No. 290 were submitted yesterday to the law officers of the Crown for their opinion. The opinion had not, up to the time of my seeing Mr. Layard, been received, but he promised, on my representation of the extreme urgency of the case, to send for it at once. Mr. Layard was not disposed to discuss the matter, nor did he read Mr. Collier's opinion. I now inclose a copy of the case with Mr. Collier's opinion, and a copy of the letter which I have addressed this afternoon to the secretary of the board of customs. SIR Referring to an application which I made on behalf of the United States government, under the instructions of their consul at Liverpool, to the collector of customs at Liverpool, on Monday last, for the detention, under the provisions of the act 59 Geo. III, cap. 69, of a steam gunboat, built by Messrs. Laird & Co., at Birkenhead, and which, there is no doubt, is intended for the Confederate States, to be used as a vessel of war against the United States government, I beg now to inclose two affidavits which reached me this morning from Liverpool, one made by Robert John Taylor, and the other by Edward Roberts, and which furnish additional proof of the character of the vessel in question. I also inclose a case which has been submitted to Mr. Collier, Q. C., with his opinion thereon. I learned this morning from Mr. O'Dowd, that instructions were forwarded yesterday to the collector at Liverpool not to exercise the powers of the act in this instance, it being considered that the facts disclosed in the affidavits made before him were not sufficient to justify the collector in seizing the vessel. On behalf of the government of the United States, I now respectfully request that this matter, which I need not point out to you involves consequences of the greatest possible description, may be reconsidered by the board of customs, on the further evidence now adduced. The gunboat now lies in Birkenhead docks ready for sea in all respects, with a crew of fifty men on board. She may sail at any time, and I trust the urgency of the case will excuse the course I have adopted of sending these papers direct to the board, instead of transmitting them through the collector at Liverpool, and the request, which I now venture to make, that the matter may receive immediate attention. I have the honor to be, your obedient servant, Secretary of H. M. Board of Customs, London. A. F. SQUAREY. CUSTOM-HOUSE, July 24, 1862. SIR: In acknowledging the receipt of your letter, which only reached me at a quarter to four o'clock on the afternoon of yesterday, respecting the gunboat which is stated to be fitting out at Liverpool for the socalled Confederate States of America, I beg to inform you that I brought the same without delay before the board of customs, by whom I am desired to acquaint you, that they immediately reported all the circumstances to the lords commissioners of her Majesty's treasury for their lordships' directions. I am, sir, your most obedient servant, J. G. GARDNER, Secretary. SIR: I have further to report to you on this matter that I have again seen Mr. O'Dowd, the solicitor to the board of customs, who informs me that on receipt of my letter addressed to the secretary yesterday, the board resolved to refer the matter to the law officers of the Crown, by whose opinion they would be guided as to seizing the vessel. I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant, A. F. SQUAREY. His Excellency THE AMERICAN MINISTER. LIVERPOOL, July 26, 1862. GUNBOAT "No. 290." SIR: I am directed to call your attention to this matter. The further affidavits were forwarded to you on the 23d instant, and I had hoped that, ere this, the decision of the lords commissioners of her Majesty's treasury might have been made known, particularly as every day affords 'opportunities for the vessel in question to take her departure. I am, sir, your obedient servant, J. G. GARDNER, Esq., A. F. SQUAREY. Secretary to her Majesty's Customs, Custom-House, London. CUSTOM-HOUSE, London, July 28, 1862. SIR: Having submitted to the commissioners of her Majesty's customs your letter of the 26th instant, referring to previous correspondence, on the subject of a gunboat which is stated to be fitting out at Liverpool for the so-called Confederate States of America, and stating that you had hoped that ere this the decision of the lords commissioners of her Majesty's treasury on the subject might have been made known, I am desired to acquaint you, that in the absence of instructions from their lordships, the board are unable to give any directions in regard to the gunboat in question. I am, sir, your most obedient servant, F. G. GARDNER, Esq., J. G. GARDNER, Secretary. DUNCANS, SQUAREY & BLACKMORE, Secretary to her Majesty's Commissioners of Customs, Custom-house, London : The vessel "No. 290," came out of dock last night and left the port this morning. LIVERPOOL, July 29, 1862. "No. 290." SIR: We telegraphed you this morning that the above vessel was leaving Liverpool. She came out of dock last night and steamed down the river between 10 and 11 a. m. We have reason to believe she has gone to Queenstown. Yours, obediently, J. G. GARDNER, Esq., DUNCANS, SQUAREY & BLACKMORE. Secretary to her Majesty's Commissioners of Customs, Custom-house, London. |
