Papers Relating to Foreign Affairs, Accompanying the Annual Message of the President to the Second Session Thirty-eighth Congress, Part I
Mr. Seward to Mr. Adams.
Sir: I transmit the copy of a despatch of the 5th of December last, from Mr. W. R. G. Mellen, the consul of the United States at Port Louis, Mauritius, relative to the capture of the American ship Sea Bride, by the piratical steamer Alabama. When you have sufficient information you will represent it to the British government.
I am, sir, your obedient servant,
Charles Francis Adams, &c., &c., &c.
Mr. Mellen to Mr. Seward.
Sir: In my despatch No. 15, dated November 5, 1863, I stated what I knew, and had sufficient reasons for believing of the fate of the American ship Sea Bride. This vessel, it will be remembered, was captured by the Alabama in or off Table bay. Whether she was first taken, as reports affirm, to some point on the west coast of Africa, I know not, but it is certain, as was stated in my despatch above referred to, that she was subsequently brought to Foule Pointe, Madagascar. Her cargo was then shipped on board the brig Reward, of and for this port; but the brig soon after putting to sea, sprang a leak, was forced into St. Mary’s, a French port, where she has been condemned; while another vessel has been despatched from this place to bring forward what was originally the Sea Bride’s cargo. A citizen of the island, who is the master of a small vessel trading between here and Madagascar, stated boastfully, in the presence of two American shipmasters, a few days since, that he had been several times on board the Sea Bride; that the man who had bought the cargo would make $60,000 by the transaction; that he himself had bought the ship at the merely nominal price of $6,000.
After gathering what information I could, and with the hope of eliciting more, I addressed a letter to the colonial government, stating the facts, and dwelling particularly upon the confession of the buyer, and asking, as I am certified was done in an exactly similar case at Cape Town, that the said shipmaster, one A. Baillon, be examined under oath as to his knowledge of and complicity with these improper transactions. This request General Johnstone, the officer administering the government, saw fit to refuse, on the two-fold ground that “no action, whether civil or criminal, is competent to the government in any court of the colony” in the premises; and that if any proceedings could be instituted, Mr. Baillon could not be examined, as he might thereby commit himself.
Immediately after the reception of this letter I addressed another one to the colonial government, in which I endeavored to show that, by aiding in the disposal of a captured uncondemned ship and cargo, some of her Majesty’s subjects at Mauritius had, to all intents and purposes, been levying war against the United States; for the disposal of the property in question was but the completion of a hostile act—as much a part of that act as the capture of the vessel, or the placing of a prize crew on board. Still further, that, according to British decisions, the disposal of such a captured, uncondemned ship and cargo, whatever might be said of the original seizure, was simply piracy—that it was just for such an offence as this that the notorious Captain Kidd was hung. If, therefore, what Baillon confessed, what I could easily prove he had confessed, were true, which I thought there would be little difficulty of showing by other evidence, it followed that he was in collusion with pirates, if he had not himself been guilty of piracy. I therefore renewed my request for his arrest and examination, remarking that it would be strange if in a British colony a British subject could openly boast of piracy, and yet the government be unable to visit him with its displeasure; and that it would be still more singular if his open confession of the offence were to bar proceedings against him!
In reply, a poor attempt was made to convict me of some verbal inconsistencies. I was assured the government had seen no reason to change its determination, and that inasmuch as the British government had recognized the confederates as belligerents, it could not regard them or their cruisers as pirates; entirely overlooking the fact that it was on the disposal of the uncondemned property, which no commission can justify, and not on its original capture, that I based the charge of piracy.
[Page 131]Since the reception of the last-named letter, I have not had time to prepare a reply. I shall do so in a very few days, and bring the subject to the attention of his excellency Sir Henry Barkly, who has just entered the gubernatorial office here. True, Baillon has now left the colony, though he may soon return; while the cargo of the Sea Bride will probably reach him in two or three weeks.
In accordance with the purpose intimated to you in my despatch of November 5, I addressed, soon after, a letter to the minister of foreign affairs of the Malagash government, in which I briefly stated the condition of affairs in the United States, rehearsed the facts which had come to my knowledge concerning the Sea Bride, and strongly remonstrated against any consent to, or connivance with, such transactions, warning the Malagash government that no such disposal of captured, uncondemned American property in that island would be tolerated, but that the property would be reclaimed, and reparation demanded at the earliest opportunity. I also requested that the Sea Bride, if still within Malagash jurisdiction, should be seized by the authorities of that government and held subject to my order, as the nearest representative of American interests. Sufficient time has not yet elapsed to show what the effect of this letter will be. I trust it will be good.
The relation of these things illustrates still more clearly what I have several times before had the honor of bringing to your notice, the importance of having some recognized agent of the United States in Madagascar, and also the very great importance of having some armed force to protect our interests in these waters. Not, so far as trustworthy intelligence has reached me, that any confederate cruisers are east of the Cape of Good Hope, though a report, to which I give no credit, makes two of them in the Bay of Bengal.
Supposing, from what I learned about three weeks ago, that a portion of the cargo of the Sea Bride would be landed on the island of Reunion, where we have no consul, I took the liberty, for reasons similar to those which induced me to write the Malagash government, to address a letter to his excellency the governor of that island, relating the facts concerning the Sea Bride, so far as I had then learned them, remonstrating against his allowing said merchandise to be sold in Reunion, and requesting his good offices to enable me to get possession of either vessel or cargo, if either or any portion of the latter should arrive at Reunion. His reply gives no intimation of what course he would adopt under the circumstances; it is feared not a very friendly one.
I have thus, sir, given you an account of what I have done, or what I have attempted to do, to hinder the disposal of this uncondemned American property, and to protect the rights of my countrymen hereabouts. If I have erred in any respect, the error has not been one of intention. If my conduct in these respects meets approval, I shall be glad to know it. At the same time I respectfully solicit instructions for the future.
I have the honor to be, sir, your very obedient servant,
Hon. William H. Seward Secretary of State, &c. &c.