on Monday morning. When we left the Alabama she was all ready for fighting, and steering to sea. I heard Captain Semmes say he was going to cruise in the track of the ships going from New York to Liverpool, and Liverpool to New York. The Alabama never steamed while I was in her more than eleven knots, and cannot make any more. We signed articles while in Malfre Bay for Nassau or an intermediate port. Captain Butcher got us to sign. The provisions were put on board at Laird's yard before sailing; they were for six months. When we left her she had about ninety men, and eight guns mounted, three on each side and two pivots. HENRY REDDEN. Declared and subscribed at Liverpool aforesaid, the 3d day of September, 1862, before me, WILLIAM G. BATESON, Notary Public and a Commissioner to administer oaths in Chancery. FOREIGN OFFICE, September 22, 1862. SI: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 4th instant, inclosing a copy of a letter from the United States consul at Liverpool, together with the deposition of Henry Redden, respecting the supply of cannon and munitions of war to the gunboat No. 290. You also call attention to the fact that you have not yet received any reply to the representations you have addressed to her Majesty's government upon the subject. I had the honor, in acknowledging the receipt of your letter of the 23d of June, to state to you that the matter had been referred to the proper department of her Majesty's government for investigation. Your subsequent letters were also at once forwarded to that department, but, as you were informed in my letter of the 28th of July, it was requisite, before any active steps could be taken in the matter, to consult the law officers of the Crown. This could not be done until sufficient evidence had been collected, and, from the nature of the case, some time was necessarily spent in procuring it. The report of the law officers was not received until the 29th of July, and, on the same day, a telegraphic message was forwarded to her Majesty's government, stating that the vessel had sailed that morning. Instructions were then dispatched to Ireland to detain the vessel should she put into Queenstown, and similar instructions have been sent to the governor of the Bahamas, in case of her visiting Nassau. It appears, however, that the vessel did not go to Queenstown, as had been expected, and nothing has been since heard of her movement. The officers of customs will now be directed to report upon the further evidence forwarded by you. I shall not fail to inform you of the result of the inquiry. 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. 136.] * * Mr. Dudley to Mr. Seward. ** [Extract.] UNITED STATES CONSULATE, * * * * * SIR: A man by the name of King, who was on this steamer, came to my office two or three days ago. Deeming his evidence important, showing, as it does, how the steamer received her armament, I took down his statement, and as a matter of great precaution, as well as to enlighten that functionary, took him before the collector of the port, had it read and declared to before him. I hope this may be of some service in the investigation which I understand has been ordered by the government relative to the building and fitting out of this vessel. * I * inclosed a copy to Minister Adams, and now send a copy to you, marked No. 2.* No. 230.] Mr. Adams to Mr. Seward. LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, SIR: I regret to be obliged to state that accounts are coming in of the ravages committed by the gunboat 290, now called the Alabama, which has been cruising off the Azores. So long ago as the 5th of last month I felt it my duty to apprise the consul at Gibraltar of the position of that vessel, and to warn him, and through him the vessels on that station, to be on the alert. I now learn from him, as well as from Mr. Harvey, at Lisbon, that they have just sailed. The probability is that the Alabama will next turn up somewhere in the West Indies, or on the coast of South America. There are rumors from Liverpool of the preparation of several steamers to sail as privateers. They find some corroboration from the report just received of the proceedings at Richmond in regard to letters of marque. There is no doubt that the presence of one or two fast United * For this affidavit, see inclosure to Mr. Adams's dispatch to Mr. Seward, No. 230, October 3, 1862, post. States steamers, commanded by efficient officers, would be of use in the European waters. I transmit the copy of another note which I have addressed to Lord Russell, upon my receiving from Mr. Dudley a fresh and strong deposition to add to those already accumulated in the case of the gunboat 290. It will be a little difficult for this government to justify its want of energy in enforcing the provisions of the law in regard to that vessel. I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant, Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS. Secretary of State. Mr. Adams to Earl Russell. LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, London, September 30, 1862. MY LORD: I have the honor to submit to your consideration the copy of another deposition taken at Liverpool before the collector of the port, which, in connection with the papers heretofore presented, goes to establish, beyond reasonable doubt, the fact that the insurgents in the United States and their coadjutors at that place have been engaged in fitting out vessels at that port to make war on the United States, in utter contempt of the law and of her Majesty's injunctions in her proclamation. I expect to be in possession of some stronger evidence of the same nature in relation to past transactions, which I hope to be able, likewise, to submit in a few days. The injuries to which the people of the United States are subjected by the unfortunate delays experienced in the case of my remonstrance against the fitting out of the gunboat 290, now called the confederate steamer Alabama, are just beginning to be reported. I last night received intelligence from Gibraltar that this vessel has destroyed ten whaling ships in the course of a short time at the Azores. I have strong reason to believe that still other enterprises of the same kind are in progress in the ports of Great Britain at this time. Indeed, they have attained so much notoriety as to be openly announced in the newspapers of Liverpool and London. In view of the very strong legal opinion which I had the honor to present to your lordship's consideration, it is impossible that all these things should not excite great attention in the United States. I very much fear they will impress the people and the government with a belief, however unfounded, that their just claims on the neutrality of Great Britain have not been sufficiently estimated. The extent to which her Majesty's flag and some of her ports have been used to the end of carrying on hostile operations is so universally understood, that I deem it unnecessary further to dwell upon it. But in the spirit of friendliness with which I have ever been animated towards her Majesty's government, I feel it my duty to omit no opportunity of urging the manifestation of its well-known energy in upholding those laws of neutrality upon which alone the reciprocal confidence of nations can find a permanent basis. 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. 4 A C-VOL. III Deposition of George King. George King, of 91 Clarence street, Edge Hill, Liverpool, states that about the 12th August last he was engaged by Mr. Barnett of Liverpool to go on a secret expedition at 47. 10s. a month. Was not told where he was going to, but understood he was going to the screw-steamer 290 to run the blockade. Was ordered to be at the landing-stage at 12 the next night, to go in a steamer. Asked where they were going to, and was told they were going to have some fun; that was all he was told. Went to the stage on the next night as ordered, and about midnight went off in a tug-boat to screw-steamer Bahama, lying off the Rock. Sailed about 6 the next morning. When we got to Terceira we found the 290 there with a bark alongside. Don't know the bark's name, but saw Bristol on her stern. As soon as we got there Captain Semmes told us the 290 was a confederate gunboat, and was going on a three years' cruise; that every vessel she took or destroyed would be valued, and one-half go to the confederate government and the other half to the crew of the gunboat. Only about fifteen or sixteen signed then. Captain Bullock was present when this was done. This was on board the Bahama. Subsequently other men signed. I and about eight others refused to go when we found what the 290 was going for. The first night, in the dark, the three cases were discharged from the Bahama into the gunboat. She had no guns fitted then. The Bristol bark was lashed alongside, and I saw them take guns, shot, and shell, out of her into the gunboat. Saw one of the boxes taken out of the Bahama opened, and it contained the machinery for the swivel guns. I saw the same machinery fitted for the swivel guns on the gunboat. I saw the guns taken from the bark fitted on the gunboat. I did not see the other boxes from the Bahama opened, but know they contained guns, and saw them fitted on board the 290. Saw Captain Bullock superintending the fitting and arming the gunboat 290. Captain Butcher was also there, and managed the vessel while she was being armed. She kept sailing about during the day with the bark alongside, and at night anchored in some of the bays. They worked day and most of the night. The three vessels flew the British flag all the time the 290 was arming, and until the Sunday we left her outside Terceira Bay. About 1 o'clock on that day, I think about 24th August, the 290 fired a gun, hauled down the British flag, and hoisted the confederate flag at the peak, the St. George's cross at the fore, and a pennant at the main. She was then just outside the bay, steering to sea. Captain Bullock and Captain Butcher were still on board of her. We kept company with her until about 12 that night, when Captains Bullock and Butcher left her and came on board the Bahama, and came back with us to Liverpool. When I was engaged by Mr. Barnett he gave me a note payable six days after the Bahama sailed, at an office in Water street. My brother received the money for the note. I never signed any articles or agreement of any kind. GEORGE KING. Signed and declared before me, at the custom-house, Liverpool, this 27th day of September, 1862. J. PRICE EDWARDS, Collector. No. 238.] Mr. Adams to Mr. Seward. LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, London, October 10, 1862. SIR: I have the honor to transmit copies of further notes that have passed between Lord Russell and myself in regard to the outfits in behalf of the insurgents made from the ports of this kingdom. I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant, Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS. Secretary of State. Earl Russell to Mr. Adams. FOREIGN OFFICE, October 4, 1862. SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 30th ultimo, inclosing a copy of another deposition, taken before the collector of the port of Liverpool, with reference to the proceedings of the gunboat 290, and further expressing a belief that enterprises of a similar kind are in course of progress in the ports of the United Kingdom; and I have to state to you that, much as her Majesty's government desire to prevent such occurrences, they are unable to go beyond the law, municipal and international. I have the honor to be, with the highest consideration, sir, your most obedient, humble servant, CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS, Esq., &c., &c., &c. RUSSELL. Mr. Adams to Earl Russell. LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, London, October 9, 1862. MY LORD: I now have the honor to transmit to your lordship a copy of an intercepted letter which I have received from my government, being the further evidence to which I made allusion in my note to your lordship of the 30th of September, as substantiating the allegations made of the infringements of the enlistment law by the insurgents of the United States in the ports of Great Britain. I am well aware of the fact to which your lordship calls my attention in the note of the 4th instant, the reception of which I have the honor to acknowledge, that her Majesty's government are unable to go beyond the law, municipal and international, in preventing enterprises of the kind referred to But in the representations which I have had the honor lately to make, I beg to remind your lordship that I base them upon evidence which applies directly to infringements of municipal law itself, and not to anything beyond it. The consequence of an omission to enforce its penalties is, therefore, necessarily that heretofore pointed out by eminent counsel, to wit: that "the law is little better than a dead letter," a result |