Papers Relating to Foreign Affairs, Accompanying the Annual Message of the President to the Second Session Thirty-eighth Congress, Part I
Mr. Mason to Earl Russell.—Russell.—(Received October 2)
Mr. Mason presents his compliments to Earl Russell, and has the honor to enclose herewith two original papers pertaining to the case of the Margaret and Jessie, recently received from the parties interested.
Mr. Mason does this because of his previous knowledge that this case had been brought to the notice of Earl Russell.
[Page 812]Mr. Trenholm to Governor Bayley.
Sir: The undersigned, George A. Trenholm, a citizen of the Confederate States of North America, and a merchant of the city of Charleston, in the State of South Carolina, begs leave respectfully to submit to your excellency, and through your excellency to her Britannic Majesty’s imperial government—
That on Saturday, the 30th of May last past, the steamship Margaret and Jessie, a duly registered vessel in the said Confederate States, and the property of the undersigned, while engaged in a lawful navigation and trade between the neutral port of Nassau, in the island of New Providence, and the confederate port of Charleston, and while proceeding on her voyage, with the emblem of her nationality at her mast, within waters of her Majesty the Queen of Great Britain’s jurisdiction, at less than one mile from the island of Eleuthera, in the Bahamas, and within speaking distance of the settlement of James’s Point, in said island, after a hot pursuit and chase, was fired into with shot and shell by an armed vessel bearing the colors of the United States of America, the same being, as the undersigned verily believes, the United States ressel-of-war Rhode Island, until, being disabled by a ball which struck her on the starboard side, just above the water-line, entering her boiler and paralyzing her machinery, she became entirely unmanageable, foundered several times on the reef, and sank.
The outrage thus committed on the Margaret and Jessie, and the injury sustained by her cargo, her machinery, and her hull, constituting a tort which, by the law of nations, can only be set up and brought to reparation through the agency and under the guarantees of the friendly power within whose jurisdiction and in contempt of whose supremacy the wrong was perpetrated, the undersigned lays this his complaint and claim before your excellency that the same may be brought to the notice of her Britannic Majesty’s government, and be attended to and acted upon with the zeal and energy which that government is wont to apply to cases arising out of similar emergencies.
Appended will be found the protest and declarations taken by duly commissioned officers of the British crown residing at Nassau. To these documents the undersigned craves reference, as they will elucidate and stand in proof of the facts set forth in this memorial.
The Margaret and Jessie being on an errand of legitimate trade, she had no motive to conceal, and therefore did not conceal, either her colors or the character of her venture; a belligerent, she was entitled to all the immunities and protection due to friendly vessels on the coasts and in the ports, bays, harbors, and rivers of neutral jurisdiction.
After being chased by a federal cruiser from a distance which the evidence puts at twenty miles from land, she had, by dint of swiftness, escaped the pursuer, and was making rapidly for the island of Eleuthera, which she had neared less than 400 yards, when she was fired into, struck, and sunk, as aforesaid. That she was then within grounds where no federal vessel could lawfully commit hostilities will not be denied, as even any forbearance on the part of the neutral power, whose sovereignty and jurisdiction were thus invaded and infringed, instead of imparting legitimacy to the transgression, would not only entail upon such power a liability coextensive to the wrong suffered, but make it a party to the contest, as it would thereby have departed from the position of neutrality.
That it was an outrage of the deepest dye, fraught with all the evidences of the most unmitigated perverseness and effrontery, the declarations taken and herewith submitted but too palpably establish.
[Page 813]Charles M. Morris, who was a passenger on board the Margaret and Jessie, attests “that the firing into her by the federal cruiser commenced when running for the island of Eleuthera; she was only five miles distant from it, the war vessel continuing in pursuit, and incessantly discharging shot and shell, which fell thickly over and around the Margaret and Jessie, until the latter arrived within 500 yards of the beach, when, to prevent her going upon the land, her course was changed, and she was headed westwardly, coasting and skirting the land at a distance from 400 to 500 yards from it; she thus continued for a period of an hour and three-quarters, during all which time she was never further than 500 yards from the land.
“The war vessel continued the chase, being about a mile from the Margaret and Jessie, discharging shot and shell by broadsides, which fell thickly around the vessel, many passing over and striking the land; and so near was the Margaret and Jessie during all this time kept to the shore, that she took ground several times in passing over the reefs which lie a short distance from the land, and eventually a shell shot from the vessel-of-war struck the Margaret and Jessie, she then being not further than 400 yards from the land, and passed through into her boiler, which so disabled her that within a minute of time she took the ground and filled with water.”
This statement of Charles M. Morris is strengthened by the concordant declarations of all the other witnesses, who testify to the same effect with slight variances, which would only go to reduce to 300 yards the distance at which the Margaret and Jessie stood from the beach the whole time that she was headed westwardly, and was kept coasting and skirting the land until she was struck, disabled, and sunk.
Thus is the fact fairly established that for upwards of an hour and three-quarters the Margaret and Jessie, she being then within less than 500 yards from the island of Eleuthera, and the United States cruiser at less than a mile farther, was chased, pursued, and repeatedly fired into by the latter, without there being anything in her conduct of a nature to incur the wrath of the pursuer, or to afford him the slightest excuse for the infringement of British supremacy over grounds within which, under her Britannic Majesty’s protection, she was entitled to enjoy all the immunities of asylum, hospitality, and intercourse.
Nor could those on board the pursuing vessel have been, at any time, in error respecting the character of the waters over which they were treading. Not only was the Margaret and Jessie so close to the shore that her passengers could exchange words and converse with the people upon the beach, but the shots and shells fired from the federal cruiser could be seen falling upon the land, passing through the tenements there, and forcing the inhabitants, stricken with terror, to fly from their dwellings and seek refuge under the hills.
Clinton Johnson, a farmer of the island of Eleuthera, who lives at the town known as James Cistern, on the south side of said island, thus describes the circumstances, the time and manner of the pursuit, which brought the Margaret and Jessie to the shoals where she was stranded. Says he:
“On Saturday, the 20th of May last, I heard the reports of cannon on the north side of the island. I immediately went to the high land to the north of the town, and saw two steamships, one in chase of the other, the outer ship discharging guns very rapidly at the ship that was nearest to the shore, and both approaching at full speed to the land. The ship nearest the land was an unarmed vessel, and the vessel chasing her was a vessel-of-war. The unarmed vessel having arrived within 300 yards of the beach, changed her course, and skirted along the land, at no time being 400 yards from it. The vessel-of-war also changed her course, and having arrived within a distance of at most half a mile from the other ship, continued for at least one hour and a half to discharge without cessation shot and shell, which, from time to time, passed over [Page 814] the inner ship, and struck and exploded upon the land. Many of the shots fell within a distance of 100 yards from the dwelling-houses in the town of James’s Cistern, and caused great destruction among the trees and wood in the neighborhood; and the inhabitants of the town, fearing that their houses would be struck by the shot, and some of them be killed, quitted the town and took refuge under the hill until the firing had ceased.”
It will be noticed that the chase and pursuit of the Margaret and Jessie were being had on the north side of the settlement at James’s Point, where the island is but two miles wide from north to south.
Thomas and Samuel Mackey, together with Theodore Cuvillier and William Hanna, of the same settlement, were fishing at the time on the south side of the settlement, and here is what they state of the occurrence as by them witnessed. Says Thomas Mackey:
“I was out fishing. I heard the reports of several heavy guns. The sound came from the northeast across the island. When the boat (his fishing-boat) was about three miles from the settlement, and about half a mile from the southern shore, heard the report of another gun, and saw a cannon-shot fall in the water, about sixty or seventy yards ahead of the boat in which we were, and very near the boat in which Theodore Cuvillier was.”
How near must the chasing vessel have been to the northern shore may easily be deduced from the fact of the shot traversing the island, reaching more than seventy yards beyond the southern shore.
Theodore Cuvillier testifies that “while he was out fishing, on Saturday the 30th of May, on the southern side of the settlement of James’s Point, in the island of Eleuthera, which settlement is bounded on the north and south by the sea, the distance across being only two miles, he heard the report of several guns. He immediately went on shore, proceeded to a hill nearly oer to the northern side, and climbed up a tree that he might see from whence the guns were being fired. On looking out to sea he saw two steamers, one of them having paddle-boxes, and steering down, outside of a reef which is about 300 or 400 yards from the shore; and the other, without paddle-boxes, also steering down, outside of the reef, about 500 or 600 yards from the first steamer. The steamer further out was firing at the inner one. She would fire first from one side, and then turn and fire from the other side. He could see the shots from these guns fall upon the land, about 300 yards from where he was up the tree, about half a mile from the settlement. On seeing the shot fall so near, he jumped from the tree, ran back to the southern shore, and got into his boat to come home. While he was coming down, he heard a gun go off in the direction of the two steamers, and a cannon-ball passed his head, and fell in the sea about thirty yards from him, which caused him to fall down in the boat from the shock.”
Samuel Mackey, a planter, who resides at James’s Point, was also fishing on the southern side of the settlement, “when he heard the reports of several heavy guns from the northeast, and on returning to the shore, being about three yards from it, saw a cannon-ball fall on the land in the inside of the settlement where the houses are built, and found afterwards a portion of the shot in the place where he had seen it fall.”
William Hanna corroborates every essential statement made by the preceding witnesses, and Jane Hanna gives the finishing stroke to the stirring scene, in her clear, short, and unadorned narration of incidents, which she watched the more closely as she found herself within range of the shots fired by the federal cruiser, and in imminent peril of being killed by one of them.
This woman lives on the same settlement of James’s Point. On Saturday, the 30th May last, says she, “I was in my house at James’s Point, when I heard guns firing from the sea. I looked out of the door of my house to the north. The house is on a hill, about two miles from the shore, on the northern side of [Page 815] the settlement. I can see the sea from the door. I saw a steamer passing up along the shore firing guns; I left my house and went on a hill near, when I saw another ahead, at which the other was firing; I watched them for some time, when the inner steamer turned and came down; I then saw the steamer that had been firing also turn and commence to fire at her. Several of the shots I saw fall on the land. I entered my house, when I heard another report of a gun, and something that struck on the roof of my house; I looked out of the door and saw the steamer that had been firing before opposite my house, and clouded in smoke. I went over to the northern side in the evening and saw one of the steamers on shore, and the other, the one that had been firing the guns, lying outside of her with a flag flying.” (The United States flag, as attested by other witnesses.)
The facts stated by these witnesses require no comment, and lose nothing by retaining the unstudied style in which they are told. Unless there be no virtue in the principles which regulate the relations between belligerents on the one side and neutrals oh the other, they cannot fail to impress themselves upon the mind as being of the most grave significance and import. The recognition by the great powers of Christendom of the existence of civil war between the Confederate States and the States that still retain the name of United States of America, and the avowed determination of those powers not to part in the mighty conflict for independence on the one side, and for subjugation on the other, in which said States are engaged, has imparted to them not only the character of belligerents possessing the sovereign rights of war, and entitled to be respected in the exercise of those rights, but also those attributes which are inherent to friendly powers, and invest them incontestably with equal rights of asylum, hospitality, and intercourse in neutral territories.
Confiding in the immunities arising out of the relations created by that recognition and that avowal, and reposing unbounded faith in the ability of the powers thus committed by their own declarations to vindicate and uphold those immunities when invoked within their respective jurisdiction, the undersigned, with other of the Confederate States, selected the port of Nassau, in the Bahamas, as one of the points where might be centred what of commercial intercourse and trade might find a channel to and from the confederate ports, notwithstanding the difficulties and perils which the blockade of said ports was likely to entail upon such intercourse and trade.
The selection and the traffic proving highly profitable to both her Britannic Majesty’s subjects and the citizens of the Confederate States, there came to be established between Nassau on the one side, and Charleston and Wilmington on the other, a regular uninterrupted communication, through the steady voyages of upwards of twenty steamers carrying openly, and without serious hindrance, to and from the said ports, the commodities interchanged in each of them respectively.
Of seven steamers which the undersigned alone has kept plying on the sea between said ports, and which have performed no less than thirty-two round voyages within these twelve months just elapsed, aggregating a return cargo of over 21,000 bales of cotton, not one has ever been stopped in her trade or in any manner impeded in her progress by the interference of the blockading force; all of them have carried out successfully their adventure, with the exception of the Kate and the Stonewall Jackson, which were lost by mere accident, the one as she ascended the river near Wilmington, and the other by being stranded on the bar at Charleston.
Among the said steamers was particularly distinguishable the Margaret and Jessie for the precision and steadiness of her voyages, having performed in less than five months five complete trips, with a full return cargo of cotton to Nassau, aggregating 3,714 bales, as may be seen by the sworn declaration of J. B. Lafitte, and the certified statement of the custom-house collector at this port hereto annexed.
[Page 816]It was not until the Margaret and Jessie fell in with a federal cruiser, on grounds of her Britannic Majesty’s jurisdiction, and there was chased, pursued, and fired into by said cruiser within voice-hearing distance of land, near by and in sight of an inhabited settlement, and in defiance of the protection which she had an unquestionable right to enjoy, being within neutral waters, and far beyond the line assigned as the ultimate terminus for such hostilities, that a vessel of the undersigned was interfered with and assailed.
The undersigned therefore now files here, with a condensed statement and evidence of the loss which he has sustained in consequence of the piratical course pursued by the federal cruiser towards the Margaret and Jessie, respectfully requesting your excellency to submit the same, with this memorial and the accompanying documents, to the consideration of her Britannic Majesty’s imperial government, that it may please said government, under the pledges, obligations, and guarantees of its declared neutrality, to press the same to a speedy recognition and settlement.
I have, &c.,
GEORGE A. TRENHOLM, By his agent, JNO. B. LAFITTE
[Untitled]
Claim of George Alfred Trenholm, of Charleston, South Carolina, against the government of the United States of America, through the agency and under the plighted guarantees assumed by her Britannic Majesty’s government in its recognition of the Confederate States as belligerents, and its avowal of neutrality in the contest between the said Confederate States and the said United States.
| £ | s. | d. | |
| Amount of salvage and expenses paid by Messrs. Henry Adderly & Co., as per their account marked A | 11,198 | 17 | 7 |
| Actual loss on cargo, as shown by statement marked B and the accompanying documents | 17,532 | 5 | 0 |
| Cost of repairs as estimated by board of surveyors, as shown by certificate copy of survey | 14,000 | 0 | 0 |
| Loss of freight for one round voyage, as shown by statement marked C and accompanying documents | 26,407 | 4 | 2 |
| 69,138 | 6 | 9 |