310 



DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE AND FOREIGN RELATIONS. 



ports, harbors, and waters, forthwith to depart from 

 the same. 



It is with regret, however, that I hare to inform 

 you that Earl Russell's despatch is accompanied 

 by some reservations and explanations which are 

 deemed unacceptable by the Government of the 

 United States. It is hardly necessary to say that the 

 United States do not admit what they have hereto- 

 fore constantly controverted, that the original con- 

 cession of belligerent privileges to the rebels by Great 

 Britain was either necessary or just, or sanctioned 

 by the law of nations. 



The correspondence which took place between this 

 Government and that of her Majesty at an early stage 

 of the insurrection shows that the United States 

 deemed the formation of a mutual engagement by 

 Great Britain with France, that those two Powers 

 would act in concert in regard to the said insurrec- 

 tion, to be an unfriendly proceeding, and that the 

 United States therefore declined to receive from 

 either of those powers any communication which 

 avowed the existence of such arrangement. I have 

 therefore now to regret that Earl Russell has thought 

 it necessary to inform this Government that her Maj- 

 esty's Government have found it expedient to con- 

 sult with the Government of France upon the question 

 whether her Majesty's Government will now recog- 

 nize the restoration of peace in the United States. 



It is a further source of regret that her Majesty's 

 Government avow that they will still continue to 

 consider that any United States cruiser, which shall 

 hereafter be lying in a British port, harbor, or waters, 

 shall be detained twenty-four hours, so as to attbrd 

 an opportunity for an insurgent vessel, then actually 

 being within said port, harbor, or waters, to gain the 

 advantage of the said time for her departure from 

 the same port, harbor, or waters. 



It is a further source of regret that her Majesty's 

 Government have deemed it proper to make the 

 additional reservation in favor of insurgent vessels 

 of war, that for the period of a whole month which 

 shall elapse after the new orders now to be issued by 

 her Majesty's Government shall have been received 

 by the said authorities, any insurgent vessel which 

 may be found in or which may enter any port, har- 

 bor, or waters of her Majesty's dominions, and which 

 may desire to divest itself of its warlike character, 

 ana to assume the flag of any nation recognized by 

 her Majesty's Government, with which her Majesty 

 is at peace, will be allowed to do so ; and further, 

 that such vessels, after disarming themselves, will be 

 permitted to remain in such port, harbor, or waters 

 without an insurgent flag, although the twenty-four 

 hours' rule will not be applicable to the cases of such 

 vessels. Far from being able to admit the legality 

 or justice of the instructions thus made, it is my duty 

 to inform your Excellency that, in the first place, the 

 United States cannot assent to an abridgment of 

 reciprocal hospitalities between the public vessels of 

 ^he United States and those of Great Britain. So 

 long as her Majesty's Government shall insist upon 

 enforcing the twenty-four hours' rule before men- 

 tioned, of which the United States have so long, and 

 as they think, so justly complained, the United States 

 must apply the same rule to public vessels of Great 



T% t. I 



Britain. 



Again, it is my duty further to state that the United 

 States cannot admit, and on the contrary they con- 

 trovert and protest against the decision of the British 

 Government, which would allow vessels of war of in- 

 surgents or pirates to enter or leave British ports, 

 whether for disarmament or otherwise, or for assum- 

 ing a foreign (lag, or otherwise. As to all insurgent 

 or piratical vi^sels found in ports, harbors, or waters 

 of British dominions, whether they entered into such 

 ports, harbors, or waters before or after any new 

 orders of her Majesty's Government may be received 

 by any authority of her Majesty's Government estab- 

 lished there, the Government maintains and insists 

 that such vessels are forfeited to and ought to be de- 



livered to the United States upon reasonable appli- 

 cation in such cases made, and that if captured at 

 sea, under whatsoever flag, by a naval force of the 

 United States, which capture will be lawful. 



Notwithstanding, however, the exceptions and res- 

 ervations which have been made by her Majesty's 

 Government, and which have been herein considered, 

 the United States accept with pleasure the declara- 

 tion by which her Majesty's Government have with- 

 drawn their former concessions of belligerent char- 

 acter to the insurgents, and this Government further 

 admits that the normal relations between the two 

 countries being practically restored to the condition 

 in which they stood before the civil war, the right to 

 search British vessels has come to an end by an ar- 

 rangement satisfactory in every material respect be- 

 tween the two nations. 



It will be a source of satisfaction to this Govern- 

 ment to know that her Majesty's Government have 

 considered the views herein presented in a spirit 

 favorable to the establishment of a lasting and inti- 

 mate friendship between the two nations. I have, &c. 

 WILLIAM H. SEWARD. 



On the same day Mr. Seward addressed the 

 following note to the Secretary of the Navy : 



DEPARTMENT OF STATE, WASHINGTON, June 19, 1865. 

 Hon. Gideon Welles, Secretary of ihe^ Navy ; 



SIR: I have the honor to transmit for your infor- 

 mation a correspondence between Sir Frederick W. 

 H. Bruce and the department, upon the subject of 

 the withdrawal of the pretended concession of bellig- 

 erent rights to the insurgents. 



In view of this correspondence I suggest, there- 

 fore, that you communicate to the navaloflicers of 

 the United States the results following therefrom, 

 namely : 



Great Britain withdraws her concessions hereto- 

 fore made of a belligerent character from the insur- 

 gents. 



That the withdrawal of the twenty-four hours' rule 

 has not been made absolute by Great Britain, and 

 that therefore the customary courtesies are not to be 

 paid by our vessels to those of the British navv. 



The right of search of British vessels is terminated. 

 Of course this has no bearing upon the operation of 

 the existing slave-trade treaty. 



Any insurgent or piratical vessels found on the 

 high seas may be lawfully captured by vessels of the 

 United States. 



I have the honor to be, sir, 



Your obedient servant, 



WILLIAM H. SEWARD, 

 Secretary of State. 



This was soon followed by a complete resto- 

 ration of intercourse between the two countries, 

 on the same footing as before the war. Letters 

 also issued from the Governments of France and 

 other nations recognizing the close of the war, 

 but in more complete and positive terms than 

 that of Earl Russell. 



The Shenandoah. The departure from Lon- 

 don, under the British flag, of the steamer Sea 

 King, with the view of meeting near the Island 

 of Madeira another steamer, the Laurel, de- 

 spatched from Liverpool under the same flag 

 and freighted with arms, munitions of war, and 

 supplies, and having on board officers and crew 

 for the purpose of arming and equipping the 

 other vessel to carry on hostilities against the 

 United States, the meeting of the ships at the 

 point of rendevous, the formal transfer of the 

 Sea King to emissaries of the Confederate 

 States, her being declared a Confederate man- 

 of-war, under the name of the Shenandoah, and 



