Mr. Seward to Mr. Adams
Sir: It has been ascertained that the number of American merchant ships which were built and armed in the United States, and which in the year 1858 were transferred to a British registry, was 33, and their tonnage was 12,684; that the number of that class which was so transferred in 1859 was 49, and their tonnage was 21,308; that the number in 1860 was 41, and their tonnage 13,683; that in 1861 the number rose to 126, and the tonnage to 71,673; that in 1862 the number reached 135, and their tonnage was 64,578; that in 1863 the number was no less than 348, and the tonnage 252,379; and that in 1864 the number fell to 106, and the tonnage to 92,052. It thus appears that from the beginning of our civil war until the 1st of January last, the number of our merchant ships which assumed a British registry was 715, or thereabouts. We do not know what number of our merchant ships have sought safety by acquiring other registry than that of Great Britain; and, therefore, we do not assume that any have done so. You are instructed to submit the foregoing statements to Earl Russell, and to say to him that they are regarded as illustrating the great disturbance and derangement of our national commerce; that it is our opinion that this derangement is a necessary and legitimate result, not of our domestic civil war, but of the intervention in it of piratical cruisers built in British ports, and issuing from them to devastate our trade on the high seas, in violation of municipal laws, treaties, and the law of nations; and that the ability of these cruisers, when once afloat, to commit such devastations, is vastly increased [Page 246] by the recognition accorded to them as belligerent vessels, which recognition has, with greater or lesser reservation, been extended to them in courts and ports of the British realm and its dependencies.
The government of Great Britain has concurred with that of France in attributing a belligerent character to the piratical Vessels of which mention has been made. I need not repeat here that the President has always protested equally against the departure of such piratical vessels from British ports, and the recognition of them before mentioned. Still insisting on that protest, you will inform Earl Russell that, in the opinion of this government, all previous justification of a continuance of that recognition has now failed, by a practical reduction of all the ports heretofore temporarily held by the insurgents. The President, therefore, now looks to the Emperor’s government for an effectual removal of the evils complained of, so far as depends upon France, in order that the foreign commerce of the United States may hereafter be carried on in peace and safety.
There is a kindred subject to which you will also be expected to invite the attention of Earl Russell. British armed ships have continued during the whole civil war to enjoy free pratique in the United States waters, while our vessels have been jealously excluded from British waters. We think the time has come when we may not only with strict right, but also with entire comity, reclaim a full reciprocity of hospitalities for our naval marine. We are expecting to augment our naval force in European waters about the 1st of May next, and we desire, therefore, to know what reception our vessels may then expect in the ports of Great Britain.
I am, sir, your obedient servant,
Charles Francis Adams, Esq.,&c., &c., &c.[
[Same to Mr. Bigelow, (No. 70 bis,) mutatis mutandis.]