That they made strict and private inquiry, and found that the above named vessel was built at Glasgow, and came direct from that port to Liverpool. She left the London Graving dock on Thursday last, and removed to the Bramley Moore dock, when she took in cargo, consisting of six hundred cases of brandy, about fifty chests and half chests of tea, six bales of woollen goods, a quantity of miscellaneous goods, and medicine. During the time she was taking in cargo it was in the usual way inspected by officers of her Majesty's customs. The customs authorities assert that no guns or ammunition were put on board, and she does not appear in any way fitted out for warlike purposes. She is only a screw steamer of 407 tons register. Her crew consists of the captain and forty hands, who were shipped by Messrs. J. & F. Johnson, merchants, Walmer Buildings, Water street. They have shipped from Liverpool to Nassau; afterwards to any port in the United States or British America, the voyage not to exceed two years. She went into the river Mersey on Saturday last, and had she not lost one of her anchors she would, before now, have proceeded to sea. The agents are Messrs. A. E. Byrne & Co., Tower Buildings, Liverpool. F. J. GREIG, H. C. [Telegram.] The Town Clerk of Liverpool to the Secretary of State, Home Department. Since the mayor's message sent, I have seen the American consul at this port, who says he has information that small-arms are on board, and perhaps rifled cannon; that the ship has two port-holes on each side, and there are rings in the deck for the gun-ropes; that the crew consists of nearly fifty men, and more officers than usual, and double crew of engineers and their assistants. The Mayor of Liverpool to Mr. Waddington. TOWN HALL, Liverpool, January 21, 1863. SIR: I have to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of yesterday's date, and to inform you that I caused further inquiries to be made as to reliable evidence of any intention to fit out the Georgiana as a vessel-of-war for the use of the Confederate States of America, or to be used otherwise contrary to the provision of the "Act 59, George III, chapter 69." The town clerk having informed me of the statements made to him by the American consul yesterday, which were communicated to you by his telegram after I had despatched mine, I directed the chief superintendent of the detective department, with another officer of great intelligence, previously employed in this case, to wait upon the consul this morning, and to inform him that the authorities here were prepared to give every possible assistance to prevent any infringement of the act above quoted, but that the magistrates could not act unless upon precise evidence sufficient to satisfy them that an offence had been committed against the law. He stated to the superintendent that he had obtained certain information, which, however, he could not disclose, the same having been given him in confidence; but he suggested that an examination of the ship should be made, for the purpose of ascertaining whether she was in any way fitted for a vessel-of-war, and especially in relation to ports for guns having been made here, and rings placed in the deck for the gun-ropes. I directed that the officers should visit the ship, but she this day proceeded to sea. Our police have made every inquiry, especially in reference to the points mentioned by the consul. They verbally report to me that they found the ship was built in great haste in Glasgow; that she came here in a very unfinished state; that the ports were made here, inasmuch as it was found that in a heavy sea, from her great speed, much water would be shipped, and that these ports were intended for the escape of such water; and that she is very slightly built, and is not calculated to carry any armament, or to be used as a fighting ship; and they are of opinion that she is built for speed only, and very probably intended to run the blockade, if possible. I have directed the officers to communicate to the American consul the information they have obtained. I have, &c., H. WADDINGTON, Esq., &c., &c., &c. R. C. GARDNER, Mayor. The examination of Mr. James Webb, acting assistant surveyor for rummaging clearing vessels, and seeing that the out-door officers who perform the water-guard duty correctly and faithfully discharge the same. I have been in the service of the customs nearly twenty-seven years. I entered the service as a tide-waiter. Yesterday morning (Sunday) the surveyor, Mr. Morgan, called at my house (for it was my turn off duty) about 7.30, and asked me if I knew where the Georgiana was lying. I told him she had gone into the river on Saturday, and was then lying in the Mersey, opposite the watch house. I then accompanied him towards the boarding station at the Prince's Dock pier-head. As we were going down we met the captain, Davidson. He said he was going to the ship. Mr. Morgan then desired me to go to the ship in the river, while he turned back with the captain to see his papers. I went on board the Georgiana at about 9.30 a m. She was about half a mile off the great landing stage. I went on board, and had the hatches removed in order to examine the cargo. She was not above half full. She appeared to have a quantity of tea and bale goods on board; also, oil, tallow, and provisions, which I saw. There was no objection made to my going into any part of the vessel. I have seen the vessel several times before, both while she lay in the Sandon docks and in the Graving dock. She is an ordinary iron screw steamer, i. e., not built stronger than the ordinary merchant vessel. She is brig-rigged, and not fore and aft. She has no port-holes, and no places fitted for mounting guns. It is impossible that she could have port-holes without a total change in the bulwarks, there being no support to sustain the recoil of the guns. There were eighteen or nineteen iron plates on board, lying on the top of the cargo; they were of the same thickness as the hull of the vessel- that is, the ordinary thickness for merchant vessels. I am satisfied, from the construction, general fittings, and adaptations of the ship, that she is in no way fitted for a privateer. I specially noticed the vessel after she came to the port, and have seen her almost daily since; and on her arrival made several inquiries about her, and so satisfied was I then, and still am, that she was not intended for warlike purposes, that I did not consider myself called upon to make any report concerning her. T. WEBB. Signed and declared before me, at the custom-house, Liverpool, this nineteenth day of January, 1863. S. PRICE EDWARDS, Collector. Report of Major Greig, head constable. LIVERPOOL CONSTABULARY FORCE, Central Police Office, January 22, 1863. Detective Officers Laycock and Patrick have the honor to report, for the information of Major Greig, head constable, relative to a communication from Sir George Grey, home secretary, to his worship the mayor of Liverpool, respecting the screw steamer Georgiana, said to have been fitted out for the service of the Confederate States of America That from further inquiries made, officers found that she sailed yesterday from the river Mersey, between 11 o'clock a. m. and 12 noon. Officers afterwards went to Messrs Grayson's ship-building yard, Regent road, they having executed the repairs of the above vessel whilst in the Sandon Graving dock. Saw Mr. Brough, their foreman, who superintended the work, who stated that he had pierced two port-holes on each side of the vessel, which would answer when she shipped much water, or for guns for her own protection. He also stated that she is so slightly built that, if a gun was fired on board of her, it would shake her from stem to stern. She was built at a very light expense for the purpose of running the blockade. She has neither gun swivels nor ring-bolts on deck for firing cannon. J. J. GREIG, H. C. Mr. Adams to Earl Russell. LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, MY LORD: I have the honor to acknowledge the reception of your notes of the 17th, 18th, 19th, and 24th of this month, together with certain papers relating to the case of the Georgiana. I return the manifest and copy of the victualling bill, as requested. The Georgiana has departed on her voyage, and therefore I deem it unnecessary to pursue the subject further. But I regret to say that I am not entirely convinced of the incorrectness of the information upon which my representation of the 16th instant was based. After the experience had in the instances of the Oreto and of No. 290, I hope I may be pardoned for distrusting the result of any investigation arrived at in similar cases at Liverpool when conducted by the same parties. On the other hand, the further evidence which I have obtained since writing my note tends to confirm me in the impression first received, that the vessel was pierced for four port-holes at Liverpool, and she sailed carrying both cannon and small arms, as well as iron plates in her hold, to be hereafter put on to protect her sides. Time will show which view of the subject is the true one. In any event I feel safe in asking of your lordship the favor to take such measures as may at least prevent the possibility of completing the outfit and armament of this vessel at Nassau, if such a proceeding should prove to have been contemplated. I pray your lordship to accept the assurances of the highest consideration with which I have the honor to be, my lord, your most obedient servant, CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS. Right Hon. EARL RUSSELL, &c., &c., &c. Earl Russell to Mr. Adams. FOREIGN OFFICE, January 27, 1863. SIR: With reference to my letter of the 24th instant. I have the honor to transmit to you, for your information, a copy of a further report which has been received through the mayor of Liverpool from the head constable of that borough, relative to the screw steamer Georgiana. I have the honor to be, with the highest consideration, sir, your most obedient, humble servant, CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS, Esq., &c., &c., &c. RUSSELL. No. 313.] Mr. Adams to Mr. Seward. LEGATION OF the United States, SIR: Owing to the delay of the steamer Asia, I did not receive until last evening despatches from the department, numbered from 445 to 448, inclusive. There seems to be nothing in them calling for particular notice. I transmit herewith a copy of this morning's Star, which gives the fullest account published of the great meeting last night at Exeter Hall. It seems to have been a most significant indication of the popular sentiment of the middle classes. Some gentlemen tell me that there has been nothing like it here since the time of the anti-corn law gatherings. At the same time a similar meeting was held at Bradford, in Yorkshire, and one at Stroud, in Gloucestershire, with the same results. I likewise transmit a copy of the Bristol Daily Post of yesterday, giving a report of a meeting held in that place the previous evening. I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant, Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS. Secretary of State, Washington, D. C. No. 462.] Mr. Seward to Mr. Adams. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, January 30, 1863. SIR: I transmit a communication made by the Secretary of the Navy to this department, which shows that the insurgents in this country have instructed James Spence, a confederate of their own, who is a British subject residing at Liverpool, to effect, if he can, an arrangement by which gold which they have collected and are preparing to use in Great Britain to buy and fit out three shipsof-war to be used against the government of the United States, shall be conveyed from ports which are in the possession of the insurgents, but are blockaded by the United States naval forces, to their agents and confederates in Europe, in the British vessels which are permitted to enter those ports in virtue of the treaties existing between the United States and Great Britain. So much care has hitherto been practiced by the British authorities in regard to the proceedings of such vessels that the discovery of the designs of the insurgents, to which I have alluded, would have excited no apprehension on the part of this government, had there not appeared some ground to believe that one British ship-of-war, as well as one Spanish vessel of the same kind, has already been engaged in carrying gold of the insurgents from such ports to such insurgents. This ground, so far as the British man-of-war is concerned, is found in a statement of a newspaper published at the Bahamas, a copy of which is appended to the communication of the Secretary of the Navy. It is sincerely believed by this government that the statement of the Bahama paper is erroneous and untrue. The gravity of the matter, however, requires that you shall bring the subject as early as possible to the attention of Earl Russell, and ask for such investigation and such instructions to the naval officers of Great Britain as the occasion seems to require. It is hardly necessary to say that, in the opinion of this government, the plan of the insurgents could not be carried out except by practices which would be a fraud against the treaties which secure admission of British vessels into the ports of the United States, such as the British government would be the last to lend its sanction to, or even its toleration. I am, sir, your obedient servant, CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS, Esq., &c., &c., &c. WILLIAM H. SEWARD. Mr. Seward to Mr. Adams. No. 466.] DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, February 2, 1863. SIR: Herewith I enclose, for presentation to the British government, a copy of a memorial just received at this department from the New York Mutual Insurance Company, of the city of New York, relative to losses sustained by it on account of the destruction of the ships Brilliant and Manchester on the high seas by the piratical steamer Alabama. I am, sir, your obedient servant, CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS, Esq., Sr., &c., &c. WILLIAM H. SEWARD. No. 467.] Mr. Seward to Mr. Adams. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, February 3, 1863. SIR: Your despatch of January 16 (No. 299) has been received, and I have submitted to the President the resolutions which were presented to you by the executive committee of the Emancipation Society. The President approves of the address which you made on that occasion, and authorizes you, in any proper manner, to make known to the gentlemen of the committee his high appreciation of the liberal and friendly sentiments towards this country which they have expressed in their resolutions. I am, sir, your obedient servant, CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS, Esq., Sr., &c., &c. WILLIAM H. SEWARD. Mr. Seward to Mr. Adams. No. 468.] DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, February 3, 1863. SIR: Your despatch of January 16 (No. 298) has been received, and I thank you for giving me a copy of the significant proceedings of the Emancipation Society at Manchester. Your despatch describes, as enclosures, certain papers which were not found within the envelope, namely: 1st, Address to President, Sheffield, 31st December, 1862; 2d, Resolutions of same meeting; 3d, Resolutions of Sheffield meeting, 10th January, 1863; 4th, Copy of Mr. Clegg to Mr. Adams, 15th January, SIR: Your despatch of January 15 (No. 296) is received only now, after a lapse of nineteen days. The results of military operations during the last three months are sufficiently manifest to have a determinate value. The reverses were the repulse at Fredericksburg and the repulse at Vicksburg. Each of these reverses was practically fruitless to the insurgents. The successes were the battle at Murfreesboro' and the capture of the Post of Arkansas. Each of these not only weakened the insurgents, but enlarged the field of federal authority. It is understood that the expeditions at Charleston and Vicksburg are now in full activity, and we shall not long wait for important results. It is never easy to know what value to put upon popular expectations and popular fears as omens of ultimate success. It could not be concealed that there has been a season of deep anxiety since the reverse at Fredericksburg. It is apparent that there is now a measured return of public confidence. The last |