Papers Relating to Foreign Affairs, Accompanying the Annual Message of the President to the Second Session Thirty-eighth Congress, Part II
Mr. Adams to Mr. Seward.
Sir: Much discussion has taken place in the public journals here of the conduct of the commander of the yacht Deerhound in the late action between the Kearsarge and the Alabama.
I send you a copy of the Daily News of the 29th instant, containing his defence; likewise a copy of the Telegraph of the 24th, upon the proposal to present a sword to Captain Semmes. As appearing in that press this article is [Page 193] exceptional and rather surprising. On the whole, that scheme has not found much favor with the public. A few sympathizers may nevertheless contribute, in private, money enough to perpetrate the folly.
Large enlistments of men are meanwhile going on. They are sent to the continent to the Rappahannock, and perhaps other vessels preparing elsewhere. The mortification at the loss of the Alabama seeks an outlet in threats of what is to be done by some substitute hereafter. The feeling that the crew was English, and the gunners had been trained in the service, forms a cord of affiliation which may lead to important consequences hereafter.
As yet we hear nothing of the Niagara. I have received news from the consul at Cape Town that the Sacramento is on her way here. It may not be a bad thing to have some such vessels at hand.
I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant,
Hon. William H. Seward, Secretary of State, Washington D. C.
The Deerhound, the Alabama, and the Kearsarge.
To the Editor of the Daily News :
Sir: As two correspondents of your journal, in giving their versions of the fight between the Alabama and the Kearsarge, have designated my share in the escape of Captain Semmes and a portion of the crew of the sunken ship as “dishonorable,” and have moreover affirmed that my yacht, the Deerhound, was in the harbor of Cherbourg before the engagement, and proceeded thence on the morning of the engagement in order to assist the Alabama, I presume I may trespass upon your kindness so far as to ask for an opportunity to repudiate the imputation and deny the assertion. They admit that when the Alabama went down, the yacht, being near the Kearsarge, was hailed by Captain Winslow and requested to aid in picking up the men who were in the water; but they intimate that my services were expected to be merely ministerial; or, in other words, that I was to put myself under the command of Captain Winslow, and place my yacht at his disposal for the capture of the poor fellows who were struggling in the water for their lives. The fact is, that when we passed the Kearsarge the captain cried out, “For God’s sake do what you can to save them,” and that was my warrant for interfering in any way for the aid and succor of his enemies. It may be a question with some whether, without that warrant, I should have been justified in endeavoring to rescue any of the crew of the Alabama; but my own opinion is that a man drowning in the open sea cannot be regarded as an enemy at the time to anybody, and is therefore entitled to the assistance of any passer-by. Be this as it may, I had the earnest request of Captain Winslow to rescue as many of the men who were in the water as I could lay hold of, but that request was not coupled with any stipulation to the effect that I should deliver up the rescued men to him as his prisoners. If it had been I should have declined the task, because I should have deemed it dishonorable— that is, inconsistent with my notions of honor—to lend my yacht and crew for the purpose of rescuing those brave men from drowning only to hand them over to their enemies for imprisonment, ill-treatment, and perhaps execution. One of your correspondents opens his letter by expressing a desire to bring to the notice of the yacht clubs of England the conduct of the commander of the Deerhound which followed the engagement of the Alabama and Kearsarge. Now that my conduct has been impugned, I am equally wishful that it should come under the notice of the yacht clubs of England, and I am quite willing to [Page 194] leave the point of “honor” to be decided by my brother yachtsmen, and, indeed, by any tribunal of gentlemen. As to my legal right to take away Captain Semmes and his friends, I have been educated in the belief that an English ship is English territory, and I am, therefore, unable even now to discover why I was more bound to surrender the people of the Alabama whom I had on board my yacht, than the owner of a garden on the south coast of England would have been if they had swum to such a place and landed there, or than the mayor of Southampton was when they were lodging in that city; or than the British government is now that it is known that they are somewhere in England.
Your other correspondent says that Captain Winslow declares that “ the reason he did not pursue the Deerhound or fire into her was that he could not believe at the time that any one carrying the flag of the royal yacht squadron could act so dishonorable a part as to carry off the prisoners whom he had requested him to save from feelings of humanity.” I was not aware then, and I am not aware now, that the men whom I saved were or ever had been his prisoners. Whether any of the circumstances which had preceded the sinking of the Alabama constituted them prisoners was a question that never came under my consideration, and one which I am not disposed to discuss even now. I can only say that it is new doctrine to me, that when one ship sinks another in warfare, the crew of the sunken ship are debarred from swimming for their lives and seeking refuge wherever they can find it, and it is a doctrine which I shall not accept unless backed by better authority than that of the master of the Kear-sarge. What Captain Winslow’s notion of humanity may be is a point beyond my knowledge, but I have good reason for believing that not many members of the royal yacht squadron would, from “ motives of humanity,” have taken Captain Semmes from the water in order to give him up to the tender mercies of Captain Winslow and his compatriots. Another reason than that assigned by your correspondent for that hero’s forbearance may be imagined in the reflection that such a performance as that of Captain Wilkes, who dragged two “enemies” or “rebels” from* an English ship, would not bear repetition. Your anonymous correspondent further says that “ Captain Winslow would now have all the officers and men of the Alabama as prisoners had he not placed too much confidence in the honor of an Englishman, who carried the flag of the royal yacht squadron.” This is a very questionable assertion; for why did Captain Winslow confide in that Englishman? Why did he implore his interference, calling out, “For God’s sake do what you can to save them?” I presume it was because he could not or would not save them himself. The fact is that if the captain and crew of the Alabama had depended for safety altogether upon Captain Winslow, not one half of them would have been saved. He got quite as many of them as he could lay hold of time enough to deliver them from drowning.
I come now to the more definite charges advanced by your correspondents, * and these I will soon dispose of. They maintain that my yacht was in the harbor of Cherbourg for the purpose of assisting the Alabama, and that her movements before the action prove that she attended her for the same object. . My impression is that the yacht was in Cherbourg to suit my convenience and pleasure, and I am quite sure that when there I neither did, nor intended to do, anything to serve the Alabama. We steamed out on Sunday morning to see the engagement, and the resolution to do so was the result of, a family council, whereat the question “to go out” or “not to go out” was duly discussed, and the decision in the affirmative was carried by the juveniles rather against the wish of both myself and my wife. Had I contemplated taking any part in the movements of the Alabama, I do not think I should have been accompanied with my wife and several young children. One of your correspondents, however, says that he knows that the Deerhound did assist the Alabama, and if he does know this he knows more than I do. As to the movements of the Deer- [Page 195] hound before the action, all the movements with which I was acquainted were for the objects of enjoying the summer morning, and getting a good and safe place from which to watch the engagement. Another of your correspondents declares that since the affair it has been discovered that the Deerhound was a consort of the Alabama, and on the night before had received many valuable articles for safe-keeping from that vessel. This is simply untrue. Before the engagement neither I nor any of my family had any knowledge of or communication with either Captain Semmes, or any of his officers, or any of his crew. Since the fight I have inquired from my captain whether he or any of my crew had had any communication with the captain or crew of the Alabama prior to meeting them on the Deerhound after the engagement, and his answer, given in the most emphatic manner, has been, “None, whatever.” As to the deposit of chronometers and other valuable aeticles, the whole story is a myth. Nothing was brought from the Alabama to the Deerhound, and I never heard of the tale until I saw it in an extract from your own columns. After the fight was over, the drowning men picked up, and the Deerhound steaming away to Southampton, some of the officers who had been saved began to express their acknowledgments for my services, and my reply to them, which was addressed also to all who stood around, was: “Gentlemen, you have no need to give me any special thanks. I should have done exactly the same for the other people if they had needed it.” This speech would have been a needless, and indeed an absurd piece of hypocrisy, if there had been any league or alliance between the Alabama and Deerhound.
Both your correspondents agree in maintaining that Captain Semmes and such of his crew as were taken away by the Deerhound are bound in honor to consider themselves still as prisoners, and to render themselves to their lawful captors as soon as practicable. This is a point which I have nothing to do with, and therefore I shall not discuss it. My object in this letter is merely to vindicate my conduct from misrepresentation; and I trust that in aiming at this I have not transgressed any of your rules of correspondence, and shall therefore be entitled to a place in your columns.
I am, &c,
[Untitled]
The following correspondence between Mr. Mason and Mr. Lancaster, the owner of the Deerhound, has been forwarded to us for publication :
“24 Upper Seymour Street, Portman Square, London,June 21, 1864.
“Dear Sir: I received from Captain Semmes at Southampton, where I had the pleasure to see you yesterday, a full report of the efficient service rendered under your orders by the officers and crew of your yacht, the Deerhound, in rescuing him, with thirteen of his officers and twenty-seven of his crew, from their impending fate, after the loss of his ship.
“Captain Semmes reports that, finding the Alabama actually sinking, he had barely time to despatch his wounded in his own boats to the enemy’s ship, when the Alabama went down, and that nothing was left to those who remained on board but to throw themselves into the sea. Their own boats absent, there seemed no prospect of relief, when your yacht arrived in their midst, and your boats were launched; and he impressively lold me that to this timely and generous succor he, with most of his officers and a portion of Ms crew, were indebted for their safety. He further told me that on their arrival on board the yacht every care and kindness were extended to them which their exhausted condition required, even to supplying all with dry clothing.
[Page 196]“I am fully aware of the noble and disinterested spirit which prompted you to go to the rescue of the gallant crew of the Alabama, and that I can add nothing to the recompense already received by you and those acting under you in the consciousness of having done as you would be done by; yet you will permit me to thank you, and, through you, the captain, officers, and crew of the Deerhound, for this signal service, and to say that, in doing so, I but antici pate the grateful sentiment of my country and of the government of the Con federate States.
“I have the honor to be, dear sir, most respectfully and truly, your obedient servant,
“John Lancaster, Esq., Hindley Holly Wigan”
[Untitled]
“Dear Sir: I am in due receipt of your esteemed favor of the 21st instant, and am gratified to find that the timely aid we rendered with the yacht Deer-hound to the gallant captain and officers and crew of the Alabama has met with your approval. 1 shall always look back to that event with satisfaction, however much we may regret the result which necessitated my interference.
“Yours, very respectfully,
Hon. J. M. Mason.”
[Untitled]
To the Editor of the Daily News :
Sir: The royal yacht squadron, to which Mr. Lancaster, it appears, belongs, are bound, as a court of honor, to examine the accusation of the captain of the Kearsarge, “that the yacht was bound to surrender the men saved from the sea as prisoners to the United States ship.”
The royal yacht squadron has the privileges (signified by the right of flying a special burgee and the white ensign) of a British man-of-war in British ports. The same were conceded in French ports (as I recollect) by King Louis Philippe. The ships, when the Alabama was sinking, were either at sea or in French waters. The Alabama had sent a boat to say she had struck, but no boat had come in return to take possession. The naval history gives similar facts in the days of Nelson and Colling wood. With this state of things it seems the yacht was a part of England, and could with honor give refuge to drowning men. As the prize was not taken possession of, she could not have been adjudicated upon by any court, for the res ipsa or corpus was not in the possession of the court or captor whence it could come to the court. The Queen in council has given the rights of belligerents to the south. It seems, then, clear, that as belligerents the crew could swim, or by boats reach the yacht, as they could have swum to the English or French shore. Mr. Lancaster need not, if this reasoning is correct, appeal to humanity, but law, to justify himself. On the contrary, had a boat’s crew been sent on board to take possession of the prize, and the Alabama ship’s company then have jumped overboard (as they did by order) and swum on board the yacht, the individuals on the Alabama’s muster-roll could have been claimed.
Lawyers would call this an inchoate possession; but Nelson and men of his profession would never have accepted a captain’s sword in such a case, or any other, where a possession was not effected by superior force. Whether Captain Semmes, having sent his boat to announce the striking, was bound to stay on board and sink with his ship, is a question the yacht had nothing to do with any more than the deciding if Captain Semmes was a belligerent or a pirate. The [Page 197] British government may have the United States minister claim him as a prisoner of war, if it pleases, just as well as the owner of the yacht. The simple fact is, the captain of the Kearsarge dared not take possession of the Alabama, knowing she was sinking, and therefore never had a right to her, or any man or thing on board of her.
I am, &c,
P. S.—Humanity may well rejoice that, instead of moving with a “ full head of steam” and half to a quarter of a mile of distance, the ships were not brough. within one hundred yards, as they would have been at the Nile or Trafalgar A concentrated fire (easily effected) would have sunk them both.
Captain Semmes.
Sir: It will doubtless gratify the admirers of the gallantry displayed by the officers and crew of the renowned Alabama in the late action off Cherbourg, if you will allow me to inform them, through your influential journal, that it has been determined to present Captain Semmes with a handsome sword, to replace that which he buried with his sinking ship. Gentlemen wishing to participate in this testimony to unflinching patriotism and naval daring will be good enough to communicate with the chairman, Admiral Anson, United Service Club, Pall-mall, or, sir, yours, &c,
N. B.—In order to give a larger number of friends the opportunity of contributing, the subscription is limited to a guinea.