* cause of surprise to find the subject rarely treated in that paper in connection with the United States without the manifestation of ill temper enough to destroy the force of its arguments. Had the statements made of the facts been true, to the extent alleged, it is not impossible that a panic might have ensued, well adapted to aggravate the difficulties in the money market here instead of alleviating them. As it is, the effect was, for the moment, to depress the price of the American securities, until buyers made their appearance on orders from Germany. And further, it has led to remonstrance and correction from so many influential quarters, that to-day the Times has been compelled to relieve itself, by trying to shift its position. It is now the probable adoption of a prohibitory tariff in the United States which is going, in spite of themselves, to save English traders from madly rushing to their own ruin. The likelihood of such a policy, in the face of the absolute necessities of the treasury to command a supply of gold for the payment of the interest on the public debt, might seem to be worth considering before assuming this new position. It is difficult to comprehend how a newspaper, no matter how strongly intrenched within the prejudices of a community, can venture to hazard such reckless representations on questions of material importance to large domestic interests, without materially undermining its authority. This has been a problem for constant study with me, during my term of residence here, without as yet an arrival at any satisfactory solution. For the rest, I am not sure that this policy, so far as it will check the extension of credits to America, may not be really most beneficial to it. For it will diminish the tendency to an unfavorable rate of exchange, and thus prevent the interposition of another block in the way to the great and most desirable of all objects a resumption of a stable basis for the domestic currency. I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant, Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS. Secretary of State, Washington, D. C. Mr. Adams to Mr. Seward. No. 1132.] LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, SIR: I have to acknowledge the reception of despatches from the department numbered from 1626 to 1644 inclusive, together with four printed copies of a paper announcing the adoption of the amendment to the Constitution abolishing slavery throughout the Union. Matters remain very quiet here. As the time approaches for the opening of the new Parliament, I find that doubts increase as to the ability of the ministry to sustain itself upon the reform bill. The selection of Mr. Goschen to fill the vacancy in the cabinet, though admitted to be in itself unexceptionable, produces more or less uneasiness among rival aspirants in the less advanced ranks of the party. What is most feared is, that sort of half-heartedness, which really betrays the cause it professes to befriend. The apparent state of indifference among the constituencies is not ill calculated to encourage this tendency among members whose real feeling is adverse to any movement at all. I learn from several sources that the uneasiness and discontent in Ireland are not thought to have been diminished by the conviction and sentence of the offenders who have been brought to trial. The Fenian organization is affirmed to be spreading in every direction, carrying with it many of the more intelligent class of the tenantry, and even compelling the acquiescence of some of the priests. Thus far the Orange party, though much alarmed, has committed itself to no overt effort at counteraction, so that things wear an appearance of calm which is not warranted by the reality. It is not unlikely that some effort will be made in Parliament to reform the ecclesiastical condition of the island, in which case the passions now latent may seek a vent in some form likely to augment the embarrassments of the ruling party. On the whole, the chances seem to be of a good deal of public agitation to follow the last few years of remarkable repose. I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant, Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS. Secretary of State, Washington, D. C. No. 1662.] Mr. Hunter to Mr. Adams. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, January 23, 1866. SIR: I enclose for your information a copy of a letter of the 30th of December last from the Secretary of the Navy, relative to the disposition of the Shenandoah. I am, sir, your obedient servant, W. HUNTER, Acting Secretary. CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS, Esq., &c., &c., &c. NAVY DEPARTMENT, Washington, December 30, 1865. SIR: I have the honor to return herewith the despatch of the 14th instant from Mr. Adams, United States minister at London, which accompanied your letter of yesterday's date. The department has not the officers or men to spare for the purpose of sending after and bringing to a port of the United States the Shenandoah. Whenever that vessel reaches a port of the United States through other means, this department will, if requested, be happy to take charge of her. Very respectfully, &c., &c., Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State, &c., &c., &c. No. 1137.] GIDEON WELLES, Secretary of the Navy. Mr. Adams to Mr. Seward. LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES. London, January 25, 1866. SIR: I have the honor to transmit a copy of a written circular received from Lord Clarendon, dated the 20th instant, requesting that information may be given to the British government in cases therein described. I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant, Hon. WILLIAM H. Seward, CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS. Secretary of State, Washington, D. C. [Circular.] FOREIGN OFFICE, January 20, 1866. SIR: As it would be a very great convenience to her Majesty's government to have an assurance that vessels evidently calculated for warlike purposes and alleged to be building in the private ship-building yards of this country, on account of foreign governments, are really intended for the service of such governments, whereby all questions and suspicions in regard to their possible destination would be obviated, I have the honor to request that you will have the goodness to obtain from your government authority to make known to her Majesty's government, as occasion may exist, the mere fact that any such vessels are constructing or are ordered to be constructed in this country, on its account. You may safely give an assurance to your government, that the object in seeking this information is not for the purpose of instituting any inquiry or of exercising any influence or control in regard to the orders which it may give for building ships of war in this country, but solely that her Majesty's government may know that any such ships which may be in course of construction are really destined for the service of a foreign power not at war with any other foreign power friendly to her Majesty. I have the honor to be, with the highest consideration, sir, your most obedient, humble servant, CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS, Esq., &e., &c., &c. CLARENDON. Mr. Adams to Mr. Clarendon. LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, MY LORD: I have the honor to acknowledge the reception of your circular of the 20th instant, requesting me to obtain authority from my government to make known to her Majesty's government any case in which a vessel or vessels calculated for warlike purposes may be building for the service of the United States in the private ship-building yards of this country. I shall take great pleasure in complying with your lordship's desire, by at once transmitting to my government, for its consideration, a copy of your note. I pray your lordship to accept the assurances of the highest consideration with which I have the honor to be, my lord, your lordship's most obedient servant, CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS. Right Honorable the EARL OF CLARENDON, &c., &c., &c. Mr. Adams to Mr. Seward. No. 1138.] LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, SIR: In connection with my despatch No. 1129, of the 5th instant, reporting to you my note to Lord Clarendon relative to the deposition of Temple, I have now to transmit a copy of his lordship's commentary on that deposition, dated the 19th instant, and also of my reply. I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant, Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS. Secretary of State, Washington, D. C. Lord Clarendon to Mr. Adams. FOREIGN OFFICE, London, January 19, 1866. SIR: Her Majesty's government having had under their consideration in communication with the proper law advisers of the Crown, your letter of the 28th ultimo and its enclosures, respecting the case of the Shenandoah, I have now the honor to state to you that these papers contain the first evidence which has been submitted to her Majesty's government, bearing on the alleged piracy of Captain Waddell, and on the alleged breach of the foreign enlist. ment act on the part of persons forming part of the crew of the Shenandoah, when she arrived at Liverpool. With respect to the charge of piracy, Temple, who shipped on board the Sea King, according to his affidavit, as an ordinary seaman in the port of London, in October, 1864, certainly states that on some day of June last, Captain Waddell was told by the captain and crew of a vessel which he had captured, that General Lee had surrendered, and that the war was over. It does not appear that this statement of the captain and crew, if actually heard by Temple, was at the time confirmed by anything written or printed, such as newspapers, letters, &c., and the truth of Temple's statement may be greatly doubted from the entire silence of the master of the William C. Nye, it is to be observed, as appears from the protest of which a copy was forwarded by you to Lord Russel, on the 21st of October last, was captured on the 2th of June. Captain Waddell continued to make prizes after this; but after the receipt of the next information, the date of which is not given, further than that it was before the 6th of July, Temple does not assert that any further prizes were made. The next date which he gives is the 2d of August, when Captain Waddell made further inquiries of the Barraconta, an English vessel, and upon receiving from her confirmation of the intelligence, determined to sail to England. Her Majesty's government are advised that upon this evidence there would not be such a reasonable probability of obtaining a conviction on the charge of piracy as to warrant a prosecution. Temple's statement as to the first communication of the cessation of the war to Captain Waddell would probably be contradicted by witnesses on Captain Waddell's behalf; but even if it were uncontradicted, the jury might well doubt whether Captain Waddell really believed the information, or what he may reasonably have regarded as highly improbable, until it was subsequently confirmed, and if he did not believe it, the guilty knowledge necessary to his conviction would not be established. With respect to the nationality of some of the crew of the Shenandoah, her Majesty's government think that the statements of Temple, although he does not show what means he Eas of knowing that any of the persons described as British subjects in his list are naturalbern subjects of her Majesty, are such as to make further inquiries necessary. Endeavors will, therefore, be made to ascertain the present residence or whereabouts of those whom he describes to be British subjects, and to ascertain what further proof can be obtained on this subject. Mrs. Marshall cannot give evidence against her husband, but other evidence against him may possibly be obtained. Prosecutions under the second section of the foreign enlistment act will be instituted against any British subject, as to whom Temple's evidence can be confirmed by trustworthy testimony. With respect to that part of your letter which refers to two eighteen-pounder guns being mounted on the deck of the Shenandoah when she left England, her Majesty's government have to observe, that if this were true, it would be immaterial, inasmuch as you do not assert that either you or her Majesty's government had information of it. And further, that the total silence of all witnesses in the case of the Queen vs. Corbett, who had been examined by the United States consul on the subject of these guns, throws some doubt, to say the least, on this part of Temple's story. Independently of which, it is clear that the general armament and equipment of the Shenandoah, with the necessary munitions of war, were provided by the Laurel, and there is nothing to render it probable that without such equipments, and in the state in which she left this country, the Shenandoah, even if she carried the two guns alleged, was in the condition of an armed vessel, capable of committing hostilities against the United States. Among other statements in the depositions of Temple, which appear to require notice, are some relating to the conduct of the governor and officers of the government at Melbourne, in Victoria. Copies of your letter and its enclosures have accordingly been sent to the Colonial Office for inquiry as to the conduct of the authorities at Melbourne, as well as to the Home Office, with a view to prosecutions being instituted under the foreign enlistment act, if sufficient evidence can be obtained to warrant proceedings being taken against any parties. I have the honor to be, with the highest consideration, sir, your most obedient, humble servant, CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS, Esq., &c., &c., &c. CLARENDON. Mr. Adams to Earl Clarendon. LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, MY LORD: I have the honor to acknowledge the reception of your lordship's note of the 19th instant touching the evidence furnished in my letter of the 28th of December to certain facts connected with the cruise of the steamer Shenandoah. Whatever may be the weight attached to that evidence in a court of law, I have no reason to presume that, after the expe rience of preceding trials under the enlistment act, my government would desire to be understood as furnishing it in the expectation of such use. The present object is, if possible, to establish the truth, so far as it may be obtained from the best sources, and to place it on record in a permanent form. Fully believing that this may prove of eminent use to a comprehension of the precise nature of the obligations of neutral nations hereafter, I shall be happy to receive, myself, as well as furnish to your lordship, any further elucidation of the actual facts attending this extraordinary case that may appear, and that without any regard to the bearing which it may be supposed to have on any particular view of the questions thought to be involved. I pray your lordship to accept, &c., &c., &c., CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS. Right Honorable the EARL OF CLARENDON, &c., &c., &c. No. 1667.] Mr. Hunter to Mr. Adams. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, January 27, 1866. SIR: Your despatch of the 11th instant, No. 1131, relative to the recent articles in the Times upon the subject of the expansion of the British export trade to this country, has been received, and the matter is conceived to be of such importance that I have submitted your interesting communication to the Secretary of the Treasury, in order that he may become acquainted with its contents. I am, sir, your obedient servant, W. HUNTER, Acting Secretary. CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS, Esq., &c., &c., &c. No. 1669.] Mr. Seward to Mr. Adams. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, January 29, 1866. SIR: I transmit to you a copy of a communication of the 23d instant, which I have received from the Secretary of the Treasury, in regard to a report that a Mr. Waterhouse has just embarked to Liverpool with a view to the disposal of eighty steam vessels belonging to the late insurgent government, which vessels are said to be at present in the above-mentioned port. I will thank you to communicate with Mr. Dudley, at Liverpool, upon the subject, although little credit is given by the department to the report in question. I am, sir, your obedient servant, CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS, Esq., &c., &c., &c. WILLIAM H. SEWARD. TREASURY Department, January 23, 1866. DEAR SIR: Enclosed I hand you a copy of a letter just received from William James, collector of internal revenue at Richmond, Va., and I respectfully suggest that the substance thereof be communicated either to Mr. Adams or to the United States consul at Liverpool. I am, very truly, yours, Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State. H. MCCULLOCH, Secretary. U. S. INTERNAL REVENUE COLLECTOR'S OFFICE, FIRST DISTRICT OF Va., SIR: I have the honor to forward a report, which appears to me to be true, that a Mr. Waterhouse has just embarked to Liverpool, England, in order to dispose of eighty (80) steam vessels belonging to the so-called southern confederacy, which vessels are said to be lying in that port. Being impelled by a sense of duty to give this information, that your action may be taken in the case, Very respectfully, your obedient servant, Hon. HUGH MCCULLOCH, WM. JAMES, Collector. Secretary of the Treasury U. S. |