These instances of searching our vessels are now becoming so frequent that we have thought it advisable to call your attention to the above, with the hope that you will take steps to remedy this grievance. Some of these American cruisers are not content with ordering our vessels to heave to, to be searched, but in some instances (as in the case of the brigantine Dart, Conrad, master,) have fired into our vessels. The conduct of the boarding officers also being particularly offensive. In this instance our vessel was detained at an unreasonable hour in a bad position, and at some considerable risk to ship and cargo, and might have proved of serious loss to us. Trusting that you will take some steps to prevent the recurrence of these most annoying, unlawful, and insulting acts of these American cruisers in the gulf, We remain, &c., &c., Sir A. MILNE, K. C. B., &c., &c., &c. MURPHY & TWINING. Mr. Stuart to Mr. Seward. WASHINGTON, September 2, 1862. SIR: Having forwarded to Earl Russell a copy of the note which you did me the honor to address to me on the 23d of July last, respecting the case of the Will-o'-the-Wisp, I have been instructed to inform you, with reference to the observations therein contained relative to the inconvenience sustained by neutrals engaged in honest trade with Matamoras, that when Great Britain was at war with Russia her Majesty's government did not enforce the blockade of a port near to the Russian frontier in order not to interrupt neutral commerce. I have the honor to be, with high consideration, sir, your most obedient, humble servant, Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, &c., &c., &c. W. STUART. Mr. Seward to Mr. Stuart. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, September 4, 1862. SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note of the 2d instant, with the accompanying extract of a letter from Commodore Edmonstone to Rear Admiral Sir Baldwin Walker, on the subject of the African slave trade, and to inform you in reply that you are entirely correct in supposing that I would learn with satisfaction that the present suspension of that obnoxious traffic may be ascribed to the measures which have been taken in this country towards punishing those engaged in it. I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant, Hon. WILLIAM STUART, &c., &r., &c. WILLIAM H. SEWARD. Mr. Seward to Mr. Stuart. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, September 5, 1862. SIR: I have received the papers remitted to you from Canada, and informally communicated by you to this department in my absence. It affords this government the greatest satisfaction to know that the British authorities in Canada are so earnestly and judiciously employed, as these papers show they are, in preventing and allaying irritation on their side of the frontier. You have rightly expected that the civil authorities of the United States on the frontier will be cautioned to practice the utmost justice, forbearance, moderation, and courtesy towards British subjects in executing the duties relating to American citizens confided to them by the War Department. I have the honor to be, with high consideration, sir, your obedient servant, WILLIAM H. SEWARD. Hon. Wм. STUART, &c., &c., &c. Mr. Seward to Mr. Stuart. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, September 6, 1862. SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note of the 2d instant, in which you state that you have been instructed to inform me, with reference to the observations contained in my note to you of the 23d of July last, in the case of the Will-o'-the-Wisp, relative to the inconvenience sustained by neutrals engaged in honest trade with Matamoras, that when Great Britain was at war with Russia her Majesty's government did not enforce the blockade of a port near to the Russian frontier in order not to interrupt neutral commerce. I have the honor to be, with high consideration, sir, your obedient servant, WILLIAM H. SEWARD. Hon. Wм. STUART, &c., &c., &c. Mr. Stuart to Mr. Seward. WASHINGTON, September 6, 1862. SIR: The painful nature of the letters which have reached me by this day's post from British subjects residing in the United States renders it absolutely necessary that I should request you to have the kindness to take prompt and energetic measures for their protection. I shall proceed to state, as briefly as possible, a few of the cases which have been brought to my notice, and which, although I cannot for a moment believe that such extravagant threats as those to which allusion is made would be carried into execution, are sufficient to show that a system of intimidation is being established in some places which may lead to most disagreeable results. Mr. Christopher Cleburne, a British subject, with a consular certificate of his nationality, writes that he was imprisoned at Newport, Kentucky, by the provost marshal, for refusing as an alien to report for military duty. His mother, writing on the 4th instant, informs me that on that morning the option had been tendered to him of falling into the ranks or of being shot. Mr. Robert McMillan writes from his place, near Whitewater, in Wisconsin, that his son, Andrew McMillan, whilst on his way to fulfil an engagement in Canada, was arrested and kept in prison at Cleveland, Ohio, for fifteen days, when he was induced to enlist by a captain who told him that he must either do so or be sent to Columbus and put to hard labor. The young man is at present serving in Captain Vale's company, 103d regiment Ohio volunteers, Cleveland, and his father reports him to demand his discharge. Mr. James Brown, writing from Cincinnati, (197 Vine street,) alleges that after examination before the provost marshal, he was assured that as being an alien his name would be removed from the military list, but that three soldiers subsequently came to his house, and refusing to pay any attention to his pro'testations that he was a British subject, they would have dragged him out had he not happened to have a sore arm, on account of which they respited him for a few days. They, however, took out by force a British subject who was with him, a young man named Andrew Hardie. Mr. Alexander Mettwen, another British subject, informs me from Cincinnati, that on the 4th instant he had been forced to join a company, and that he wishes to be restored to his wife and children, who are in Clay county, Illinois. As such proceedings are in direct violation of your own declaration that aliens are exempt from military service, I need not represent them to you on any other grounds, knowing that you will at once see that reparation is made in each of the cases to which I have alluded. It is probable, however, that the evil will increase and be extended to other places, unless measures are promptly taken to check it in its infancy, and I would therefore suggest that a circular from you to the different governors of States, as well as to the federal military authorities or provost marshals, defining the rights of aliens in the present emergency, might be the means of preventing much injustice, intimidation, and hardship. Lest you may suppose that in calling your attention to the subject in question I have not sufficiently considered the difficult and exceptional circumstances in which this country is unfortunately placed, I shall state, in conclusion, that I have no desire that British subjects should be exempted from all the obligations ordinarily incident to domicile, such as service in the local police, where imposed by the municipal law, or in companies formed exclusively for the maintenance of internal peace and order and for the protection of property. But no further military service can be required of them without compelling them to violate the Queen's proclamation of neutrality by taking part in the war, and I must therefore appeal to you to afford them proper protection against any compulsory service beyond that which I have admitted above to be properly due from aliens to the locality in which they are domiciled. I have the honor to be, with high consideration, sir, your most obedient, humble servant, Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Sr., Sr., &c. W. STUART. Mr. Seward to Mr. Stuart. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, September 11, 1862. SIR: In a letter to this department of the 29th ultimo General Shepley, the military governor of Louisiana, represents that he is doing everything in his power towards increasing the exports of cotton from New Orleans. He adds that there are now no restrictions of any kind on the part of the military or civil authorities of the United States which impede the receipts of cotton at, or its shipment from, that port. The obstacles interposed are entirely those of the insurgents, and these he would use all proper and loyal means to overcome. I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant, Hon. WILLIAM STUART, &c., &c., &c. WILLIAM H. SEWARD. Mr. Seward to Mr. Stuart. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, September 11, 1862. SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note of the 9th instant, which relates to the complaint of Francis Carroll. I must be permitted to say that, through inadvertence, you seem to me to have somewhat misunderstood his case. You assume that his confinement has been directed by the War Department, in order to gratify the revenge of an individual with whom he has a quarrel. On the contrary—although I see in the letter which was written by Carroll to Mr. Paca provocation to revenge-I do not find any evidence in the case that he has given indulgence to that passion or to any vindictive sentiment. The letter shows that Carroll is a public enemy. Certainly a presumption of good instead of bad motives arises when, in an hour of danger, a loyal citizen gives warning against a public enemy. So it can hardly be believed, without some evidence, that the military authorities of the United States, in deciding to arrest Carroll, sympathized at all with any retaliatory feelings on the part of Mr. Paca, even if they were entertained by him. It is not perceived how they could have overlooked the complaint. The city of Baltimore and the State of Maryland are well known to contain a seditious class of persons who are connected with an armed and open insurrection in other States to subvert the government of the United States. These seditious persons have once actually raised the standard of civil war in Baltimore. A large national force has for more than a year been kept up in Maryland to overawe and repress this sedition. Francis Carroll was denounced to the military authorities as an active partisan of this class. His letter written to Mr. Paca proves that the denunciation was probably just. So far as we know, he has not denied the authenticity of the letter, nor given any sign of any change of sentiment, or any assurance of amending his course, even if he should be set at liberty. Is the government of the United States to be expected to put down treason in arms, and yet leave persons at liberty who are capable of spreading sedition, and who deliberately write to a loyal citizen that he "is a spy of an alien and miscreant government?" Certainly the government could not expect to maintain itself if it allowed such mischievous license to American citizens. Can the case be different when the dangerous person is a foreigner living under the protection of this government? I can conceive only one ground upon which his release can be ordered, and that is that he may be too unimportant and too passionate a person to be heeded in his railings against the government. But you will bear in mind that the times are critical, and that sedition is easily moved now by evil designing men who, in times of peace, might be despised. It would seem to belong to the War Department to decide whether Francis Carroll could, in the existing condition of military affairs in Maryland, be set at liberty consistently with the public safety. At least before the President could decide to accede to your wishes on that subject, it will be proper for him to have the opinion of the Secretary of War upon the question, and I shall with pleasure consult him upon the subject. I have the honor to be, with high consideration, sir, your obedient servant, WILLIAM H. SEWARD. Hon. WM. STUART, &c., &c., &c. Mr. Stuart to Mr. Seward. WASHINGTON, September 13, 1862. SIR: I have been instructed by Earl Russell to communicate to you the accompanying copy of the instructions which it is intended to furnish to the commanders of her Majesty's cruisers who may be employed in carrying out the provisions of the treaty recently concluded between her Majesty's government and the government of the United States for the suppression of the African slave trade. I have the honor likewise to enclose lists of the several ships employed on the African, North American, and West Indian stations, whose commanders will be authorized to act under the treaty, stating also the names of the commanders and the force of each vessel; and I am to request that you will furnish me with a similar list of United States cruisers. I am at the same time desired to inform you that her Majesty's government have already mixed commission courts established at Sierra Leone and the Cape of Good Hope, and that by the first mail from England in the present month the officers in those courts were to be authorized and instructed to adjudicate in the cases of any vessels that may be brought before them under the provisions of the treaty. As regards the court to be established at New York, Mr. Archibald, her Majesty's consul at that city, is to be appointed to the office of her Majesty's judge, and Mr. Ryder, now her Majesty's arbitrator in the mixed commission court at the Havana, is to be appointed in the same capacity at New York. In making known these appointments to the United States government, I am to state to you that her Majesty's government are only now waiting the appointment of officers on the part of the American government to the courts to be established at the Cape of Good Hope and Sierra Leone, in order to issue the necessary instructions to her majesty's cruisers to carry out the stipulations of the treaty between the two countries. An officer, in whose discretion and judgment her Majesty's government have every confidence, was to be appointed in a few days after the date of Lord Russell's despatch to me (which was of the 30th ultimo) to the command of her Majesty's naval forces on the west coast of Africa, and it is expected that that officer will take his departure from England towards the end of this month. As it is considered important that he should take out with him the instructions for the squadron to act under the treaty, I am further instructed to ask you whether there will be any objection on the part of the United States government to the necessary instructions being sent out by him, or whether they would wish that the operations of the squadrons should be delayed until they are assured of the arrival at their post of the officers appointed on the part of the United States government to the mixed commission courts on the African coast. I shall accordingly feel obliged to you if you will make me acquainted with the decision of the United States government on this matter with as little delay as possible. I avail myself of this occasion to renew to you consideration. Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, &c., &c., &c. the assurance of my highest WILLIAM STUART. |