DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 



351 



them, in manner or form as by said informa- 

 tion is charged. 



The case came on for trial June 22d, in the 

 Court of Exchequer, sitting at Nisi Prius, at 

 Westminster, before the Lord Chief Baron and 

 a special jury. 



The Attorney General, in opening the case, 

 said the present proceeding was so far singular 

 that, although the act of Parliament upon 

 which it was founded had been passed so far 

 back as 1819, and though it was true that va- 

 rious proceedings were commenced from time 

 to time under that act, he was not aware until 

 to-day that any question like this had ever 

 been brought to trial. This information was a 

 proceeding on the part of the Attorney Gen- 

 eral calling for the forfeiture of a vessel called 

 the Alexandra. He should mention that the 

 present case had arisen out of hostilities which 

 were now being carried on between the United 

 States and certain States which were formerly 

 willing members of the Union; he meant the 

 Confederate States. Those being the belliger- 

 ent portion out of which or with respect to 

 which the present proceedings had arisen, he 

 might mention that, previous to the passing of 

 the Foreign Enlistment Act in this country, the 

 Government of the United States of that day 

 had devised means to the same end ; for in 1794, 

 and again in 1818, by acts of Congress, pro- 

 visions were made similar to those contained in 

 the Foreign Enlistment Act; therefore, in pass- 

 ing our act of 1819 we may be said to have fol- 

 lowed the example of the United States. In 

 June, 1861, the Southern States, now familiarly 

 known as the Confederate States, determined 

 to recede or secede from the Union with the 

 Northern States, and a war broke out, which 

 had now unfortunately raged for two years. 

 The war, however, having broken out, it soon 

 became apparent that, although it was on the 

 part of the seceding States a revolt against the 

 government under which they had formerly 

 lived, yet the orgmiization and the power of 

 self-defence and carrying on of military oper- 

 ations, according to the regular rules of war, 

 were such as regarded states not involved 

 in hostilities; although a recognition of the 

 Confederates as an independent power was 

 out of the question, yet it was right they 

 should be admitted by other nations within 

 the circle of lawful belligerents that is to 

 say, that their forces should not be treated as 

 pirates, nor their flag as a piratical flag. There- 

 fore, as far as the two belligerents were con- 

 cerned, on the part of this and other govern- 

 ments,.they were so far put on a level that each 

 was to be considered as entitled to the right of 

 belligerents the Southern States as much as 

 the other. On the 13th of May a proclamation 

 was issued. The Attorney General read the 

 proclamation, which stated that Great Britain 

 being at peace with the United States, the sub- 

 jects of Great Britain were required to pre- 

 serve a neutrality in the hostilities being carried 

 on by the Northern and Southern States. The 



Attorney General went on to say, as to the 

 American war, one was a regular Government, 

 long since recognized by the Government of this 

 country, and still at amity with Great Britain. 

 The character of the other was of a different kind. 

 The consequence was, that the position of the 

 Confederate States as belligerents having been 

 conceded, it followed that all the provisions of 

 the Foreign Enlistment Act went to render as- 

 sistance given to the Confederate States liable 

 to the same punishment as if it had been given 

 to those they opposed ; he meant the Govern- 

 ment of the United States. This brought them 

 up to May, 1861. The seizure of the Alexandra 

 took place at Liverpool, a commercial resort, 

 before the war, of the traders from all parts of 

 the Union and the South. She was lying at 

 the time at the Toxteth dock, Liverpool. She 

 had been launched from the building yard of 

 Messrs. Miller the month before. At the time 

 of the seizure Miller's men were on board of 

 her. She was a vessel of no great size, being 

 about 120 tons burden. She was strongly built 

 of teak wood, and was in many respects differ- 

 ent from vessels employed in the merchant ser- 

 vice; and! it would be for the jury to say by 

 and by, having regard to the vessel itself and 

 its materials, whether the vessel had been fit- 

 ted for the merchant service or for warlike 

 purposes. The Attorney General then describ- 

 ed from a photograph the position of the ship 

 at the time of her seizure and the appearance 

 she presented. The Attorney General went on 

 to say the vessel had proceeded so far as to 

 leave no reasonable doubt that the destination 

 of the vessel, in whatever quarter of the world 

 she was to be employed, was a warlike desti- 

 nation. The charge against the defendants 

 was that the Alexandra was fitted out or equip- 

 ped, or permitted to be equipped, to harass 

 and be hostile to the Government and citizens 

 of a State with whom her Majesty was at 

 peace. There were many persons intimately 

 mixed up with the seizure and forfeiture be- 

 sides those who had put in their claim. Miller 

 & Sons were the builders, and were in actual 

 possession of the vessel up to the time of her 

 seizure, although the defendants had claimed 

 her. The claimants were engineers, and sup- 

 plied the vessel with engines and guns, and 

 other materials that would be required for the 

 completion of the vessel. There was one gen- 

 tleman who had interfered in the matter, a 

 Captain Bullock, an officer in the naval service 

 of the Confederate States, and the evidence 

 would go to show that he was, for particular 

 purposes, an agent of the Confederate States. 

 The same remark would apply to a Captain 

 Tessier, who was in the service of Frazer & Co., 

 merchants at Liverpool, who were very much 

 mixed up in the interest of the Confederate 

 Government. There was also a Mr. Hamilton, 

 a naval officer in the Confederate States, stand- 

 ing in the same position as Captain Bullock. 

 All these persons had more or less interfered 

 with the building of the Alexandra. Assuming 



