into the yard. On the occasion of the trial trip made last Thursday week no one was admitted without a pass, and these passes were issued to but few persons, and those who are known here as active Secessionists engaged in sending aid and relief to the rebels. I understand that her armament is to consist of eleven guns, and that she is to enter at once, as soon as she leaves this port, upon her business as a privateer. The vessel is very nearly completed; she has had her first trial trip. This trial was successful, and entirely satisfactory to the persons who are superintending her construction. She will be finished in nine or ten days. A part of her powder canisters, which are to number 200, and which are of a new patent, made of copper with screw tops, are on board the vessel; the others are to be delivered in a few days. No pains or expense have been spared in her construction. Her engines are on the oscillating principle, and are 350 horse-power. She measures 1,050 tons burthen, and will draw fourteen feet of water when loaded. Her screw or fan works in a solid brass frame casting, weighing near two tons, and is so constructed as to be lifted from the water by steam-power. The platforms and gun carriages are now being constructed. When completed and armed she will be a most formidable and dangerous craft, and if not prevented from going to sea will do much mischief to our commerce. The persons engaged in her construction say that no better vessel of her class was ever built. I have, &c. (Signed) THOMAS H. DUDLEY. Earl Russell to Mr. Adams. Foreign Office, June 25, 1862. Sir, I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 23rd instant, calling attention to a steamvessel which you state is now fitting out at Liverpool, with the intention of carrying on hostilities against the Government of the United States; and I have to acquaint you that I have lost no time in referring the matter to the proper Department of Her Majesty's Government. I am, &c. (Signed) RUSSELL. Earl Russell to Mr. Adams. Foreign Office, July 4, 1862. Sir,-With reference to my letter of the 25th ultimo, I have the honour to enclose a copy of a Report from the Commissioners of Customs, respecting the vessel which you have been informed is being built at Liverpool for the Government of the so-styled Confederate States, and in accordance therewith I would beg leave to suggest that you should instruct the United States Consul at Liverpool to submit to the Collector of Customs at that port such evidence as he may possess tending to show that his suspicions as to the destination of the vessel in question are well founded. I am, &c. (Signed) (Inclosure.) RUSSELL. The Commissioners of Customs to the Lords Custom House, July 1, 1862. Your Lordships having referred to us the annexed letter from Mr. Hammond, Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, transmitting, by desire of Earl Russell, copy of a letter from the United States Minister at this Court, calling attention to a steamer reported to be fitting out at Liverpool as a Southern privateer, and inclosing copy of a letter from the United States Consul at that port, reporting the result of his investigation into the matter, and requesting that immediate inquiries may be made respecting this vessel, and such steps taken in the matter as may be right and proper: We report That immediately on receipt of your Lordships' reference we forwarded the papers to our Collector at Liverpool for his special inquiry and report, and we learn from his reply that the fitting out of the vessel has not escaped the notice of the officers of this revenue, but that as yet nothing has transpired concerning her which has appeared to demand a special report. We are informed that the officers have at all times free access to the building-yards of the Messrs. Laird at Birkenhead, where the vessel is lying, and that there has been no attempt on the part of her builders to disguise, what is most apparent, that she is intended for a ship of war; and one of the Surveyors in the service of this revenue, who had been directed by the Collector personally to inspect the vessel, has stated that the description of her in the communication of the United States Consul is correct, with the exception that her engines are not constructed on the oscillating principle. Her dimensions are as follows:-Length, 211 feet 6 inches; breadth, 31 feet 8 inches; depth, 17 feet 8 inches; and her gross tonnage by the present rule of measurement is 682.31 tons. The Surveyor has further stated that she has several powder-canisters on board, but as yet neither guns nor carriages, and that the current report in regard to the vessel is that she has been built for a foreign Government, which is not denied by the Messrs Laird, with whom the Surveyor has conferred; but they do not appear disposed to reply to any questions respecting the destination of the vessel after she leaves Liverpool, and the officers have no other reliable source of information on that point. And having referred the matter to our Solicitor, he has reported his opinion that at present there is not sufficient ground to warrant the detention of the vessel, or any interference on the part of this Department, in which report we beg to express our concurrence. And with reference to the statement of the United States Consul, that the evidence he has in regard to this vessel being intended for the so-called Confederate Government in the Southern States is entirely conclusive to his mind, we would observe that, inasmuch as the officers of Customs at Liverpool would not be justified in taking any steps against the vessel unless sufficient evidence to warrant her detention should be laid before them, the proper course would be for the Consul to submit such evidence as he possesses to the Collector at that port, who would thereupon take such measures as the provisions of the Foreign Enlistment Act would require. Without the production of full and sufficient evidence to justify their proceedings, the seizing officers might entail on themselves and on the Government very serious consequences. We beg to add that the officers at Liverpool will keep a strict watch on the vessel, and that any further information that may be obtained concerning her will be forthwith reported. (Signed) THOS. F. FREMANTLE. GRENVILLE C. L. BERKELEY. Mr. Adams to Earl Russell.-(Received July 8.) Legation of the United States, My Lord, I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your note of the 4th instant, covering a copy of the Report from the Commissioners of Customs respecting a vessel presumed by me to be in course of preparation at Liverpool to carry on hostile operations against the United States. In accordance with your Lordship's suggestion I shall at once instruct the Consul of the United States to submit to the Collector of Customs at that port such evidence as he possesses to show that the suspicions he entertains of the character of that vessel are well founded. I pray, &c. CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS. (Signed) Copy of a Letter from the Collector, Liverpool, to the Commissioners of Customs. Custom House, Liverpool, Honourable Sirs,-I have this morning received the enclosed communication from the American Consul, Mr. Dudley, which I respectfully submit for the consideration of the Board; I annex the copy of my letter to the Consul acknowledging his communication, and I beg a reference to the enclosed report of this day's date, from Mr. Morgan, the surveyor, showing the state which the vessel is now in; if she is for the Confederate service, the builders and parties interested are not likely to commit themselves by any act which would subject them to the penal provisions of the Foreign Enlistment Act. (Signed) S. PRICE EDWARDS. Copy of Surveyor's Report referred to. Surveyor's Office, July 10, 1862. Sir,-I beg to report that agreeably with your directions, I have this day inspected the steamer lying at the buildingyard of the Messrs. Laird at Birkenhead, and find that she is in the same state, as regards her armament, as on the date of my former report. She has no guns or carriages on board, nor are her platforms fitted to the deck. Very respectfully, (Signed) E. MORGAN. Copy of a Letter from the United States Consul to the Collector of Customs, Liverpool. Liverpool, July 9, 1862. Sir,-In accordance with a suggestion of Earl Russell in a communication to Mr. Adams, the American Minister in London, I beg to lay before you the information and circumstances which have come to my knowledge relative to the gunboat now being fitted out by Messrs. Laird at Birkenhead, for the Confederates of the Southern United States of America, and intended to be used as a privateer against the United States. 6 On my arrival, and taking charge of the consulate at Liverpool in November last, my attention was called by the acting Consul and by other persons to two gunboats being or to be fitted out for the so-called Confederate Government; the Oreto,' fitted out by Mr. Miller and Messrs. Fawcett, Preston, & Co., and the one now in question. Subsequent events fully proved the suspicion with regard to the Oreto' to be well-founded; she cleared from Liverpool in March last for Palermo and Jamaica, but sailed direct for Nassau, where she now is receiving her armament as a privateer for the so-called Confederate Government; and my attention was called repeatedly to the gunboat building by Mr. Laird, by various persons, who stated that she also was for a Confederate privateer, and was being built by the Messrs. Lairds for that express purpose. In May last two officers of the Southern privateer 'Sumter,' named Caddy and Beaufort, passed through Liverpool on their way to Havannah and Nassau, and |