61 what measures, if any, have been taken to restrain their unjustifiable conduct. * * * * Mr. Marcy to Mr. Buchanan. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, SIR, Since my dispatch of the 9th ultimo, in relation to the recruiting soldiers within the United States for the Bri62 tish army, information has been received here that the 63 business is not only continued, but prosecuted with increased vigor and success, and there is no doubt that it is carried on by the efficient aid of the officers and agents of the British Government. It was expected, after the attention of Her Britannic Majesty's Minister near this Government was directed to this subject, and after he had presented Lord Clarendon's note of the 12th of April last to this Department, and given assurance that steps had been taken. to arrest the illegal procedure, that we should have witnessed no further participation by British functionaries in the attempt to invade our sovereignty and defy our laws. The notification of the Governor of Nova Scotia (a copy of which accompanied my dispatch of the 9th ultimo,) is unrevoked; agents in our principal cities are now busily engaged in making contracts with persons to go into the British Provinces, and there to complete their enrolment in the British army ;(31) liberal advances still continue to be made as an inducement for entering into such engagements, and a free passage to the British Provinces is provided for being given to this country by the over-zeal of the subordinates of the British Government, had done far more than could have been required, viz: abolished the recruiting establisnment at Halifax for the enlistment of persons coming from the United States. Note 31.-This letter, like the preceding one from Mr. Marcy, assumes the ground of offence to be the making of contracts here to go into the British Provinces, thereto be enlisted, and he says that on arriving there the parties are "treated as under obligation to perfect their enlistment." them. The facts that these persons receive compensation 64 for their engagements, are taken to the provinces free of charge, and there treated as under obligation to perfect their enlistment in the British army, show that what has been done in the United States was set on foot by the British officers in the provinces, and that this scheme was not abandoned after the presentation of Lord Clarendon's note of the 12th of April, 1855, but is continued down to the present time, and is prosecuted with more vigor and effect than at any previous period. * * If an apology, grounded upon an alleged ignorance of our laws, could be offered for introducing this scheme for recruiting the British army by men drawn from the United 65 States, that excuse could not be available after the provisions of these laws were first made known to those engaged in the scheme. As recruiting for the British army, in the mode alluded to, is still prosecuted within the United States by officers and agents employed for that purpose, the President instructs you to say to Her Majesty's Government that he expects it will take prompt and effective measures to arrest their proceedings, and to discharge from service those persons now in it who were enlisted within the United States, or who left the United States under contracts made here to 66 enter and serve as soldiers in the British army. These measures of redress cannot, as the President conceives, be withheld on any other ground than the assertion of a right, on the part of Great Britain, to employ officers and agents to recruit her military forces within our limits, in defiance of our laws and our scvereign rights. It is not anticipated that any such pretext will be alleged; it cer tainly cannot be permitted to be a subject of discussion. The President instructs you to present the views contained in this dispatch to Her Britannic Majesty's Government. 4 67 Lord Clarendon to Mr. Buchanan. FOREIGN OFFICE, July 16, 1855. The undersigned, Her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, has the honor to acknowledge the receipt of the note which Mr. Buchanan, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States, addressed to him on the 6th instant, respecting attempts stated to have recently been made to enlist, within the limits of the United States, soldiers for the British army. The undersigned must, in the first instance, express the regret of Her Majesty's Government if the law of the United States has been in any way infringed by persons 68 acting with or without any authority from them; and it is hardly necessary for the undersigned to assure Mr. Buchanan that any such infringement of the law of the United States is entirely contrary to the wishes and to the positive instructions of Her Majesty's Government. The undersigned, however, thinks it right to state to Mr. Buchanan that some months ago Her Majesty's Government were informed, from various sources, that in the British North American possessions, as well as in the United States, there were many subjects of the Queen who, from sentiments of loyalty, and many foreigners who, from political feel69 ing, were anxious to enter Her Majesty's service, and to take part in the war. Her Majesty's Government, desirous of availing themselves of the offers of these volunteers, adopted the measures necessary for making generally known that Her Majesty's Government were ready to do so, and for receiving such persons as should present themselves at an appointed place in one of the British possessions. The right of Her Majesty's Government to act in this way was incontestable; (32) but at the same time they issued stringent instructions to guard against any violation of the United States law of neutrality; the importance and sound policy of which law has been so well expounded by Mr. Buchanan, in whose remarks upon it, as well as upon the foreign en Note 32. It is not contested in the previous letters of Mr. Marcy and Mr. Buchanan but is fully admitted by implication. The denial of the right is an afterthought. listment bill of this country, Her Majesty's Government 70 entirely concur. It can scarcely be matter of surprise that when it became known that Her Majesty's Government was prepared to accept these voluntary offers, many persons in various quarters should give themselves out as agents employed by the British Government, in the hope of earning reward by promoting, though on their own responsibility, an object which they were aware was favorably looked upon by the British Government. Her Majesty's Government do not deny that the acts and advertisements of these self-constituted and unauthorized agents were, in many instances, un71 doubted violations of the law of the United States; but such persons had no authority whatever for their proceedings from any British agents, by all of whom they were promptly and unequivocally disavowed. (33) With respect to the proclamation by the LieutenantGovernor of Nova Scotia, inclosed in Mr. Buchanan's note, the undersigned can assure Mr. Buchanan, with reference both to the character of Sir Gaspard Le Marchant and to the instructions he received, as well as to his correspondence on these instructions, that that officer is quite incapable of intentionally acting against the law of the United States; and in proof that he did not in fact do so, the undersigned begs leave to refer Mr. Buchanan to the legal decision given on the particular point adverted to by Mr. Buchanan, by Judge Kane, on the 22d of May last, in the United States Circuit Court at Philadelphia. The Judge says: "I do not think that the payment of the passage from this country of a man who desires to enlist in a foreign port, comes within the act." (The neutrality act of 1818.) "In the terms of the printed proclamation, there is nothing conflicting with the laws of the United States.(34) A person may go abroad, provided the enlistment be in a foreign place, not having accepted and exercised a commission. There is some evidence in Hertz's case that he did hire and retain, Note 33.-This is actually treated by Mr. Marcy (folio 128) as an admission that the authorised agents of the British Government had violated the law! Note 34.-See Mr. Cushing's argument contra with comments thereon, post folio 218. 72 73 and therefore his case would have to be submitted to a jury. In Perkins' case, there was testimony upon which a jury might convict. In Bucknell's case, it appears that there was a conversation at which he was present, but there was no enlistment, or hiring, or retaining. The conversation related as to the practicability of persons going to Nova Scotia to enlist. If the rule I have laid down be correct, then the evidence does not connect him with the misdemeanor. Mr. Bucknell is therefore discharged, and Messrs. Perkins and Hertz are remanded to take their trial." 74 1 As regards the proceedings of Her Majesty's Government, the undersigned has the honor to inform Mr. Buchanan that Mr. Crampton was directed to issue strict orders to British Consuls in the United States to be careful not to violate the law; and Mr. Crampton was enjoined, above all, to have no concealment from the Government of the United States.(35) In the absence of Mr. Crampton from Washington, Her Majesty's Charge d'Affaires placed in Mr. Marcy's hands a dispatch from the undersigned on this subject, expressly stating that "Her Majesty's Government would on no account run any risk of infringing this (the neutrality) 75 law of the United States." The undersigned has, however, the honor, in conclusion, to state to Mr. Buchanan that Her Majesty's Government -having reason to think that no precautionary measures, with whatever honesty they might be carried out, could effectually guard against some real or apparent infringement of the law, which would give just cause for complaint to the Government of the United States-determined that all proceedings for enlistment should be put an end to, and instructions to that effect were sent out before the undersigned had the honor to receive Mr. Buchanan's note, as the undersigned need hardly say that the advantage which Her Majesty's service might derive from enlistment in Note 35.-In a recent debate in the Senate it was contended by one of the Senators that the fact that Mr. Crampton corresponded by telegraph with various persons in cipher was conclusive proof that he was concealing something from the Government of the United States, as if he were bound to let all the details of his correspondence be known to the clerks of the telegraph offices! |