sure that henceforth any piratical vessel fitted out by Chap. XI. or under the agency of disloyal American citizens, and cruising in pursuit of vessels of the United States, shall not be admitted into either the continental or the colonial ports of the Netherlands under any pretext whatever. If that assurance cannot be obtained in that way, we must provide for the protection of our rights in some other way. The Dutch Government was not moved by this threat, nor did the American Government attempt to enforce it, and the correspondence closed with a despatch in which Mr. Seward professed to find the instructions of October practically satisfactory.

1

On the arrival of the Sumter at Trinidad, it became the turn of Great Britain to answer complaints similar in substance, though couched in different language:

Mr. Adams to Earl Russell.

"Legation of the United States, London, September 30, 1861. "The Undersigned, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States, regrets to be obliged to inform the Right Honourable Earl Russell, Her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, that he has been instructed by the President of the United States to prefer a complaint against the authorities of the Island of Trinidad for a violation of Her Majesty's Proclamation of Neutrality by giving aid and encouragement to the insurgents of the United States.

"It appears by an extract from a letter received at the Department of State from a gentleman believed to be worthy of credit, a resident of Trinidad, Mr. Francis Bernard, a copy of which is submitted herewith, that a steam-vessel known as an armed insurgent privateer, called the Sumter, was received on the 30th of July last at that port, and was permitted to remain for six days, during which time she was not only furnished with all necessary supplies for the continuance of her cruise under the sanction of the Attorney-General, but that Her Majesty's flag was actually hoisted on the Government flag-staff in acknowledgment of her arrival.

"The Undersigned has been directed by his Government to bring this extraordinary proceeding to the attention of Lord Russell, and in case it shall not be satisfactorily explained, to ask for the adoption of such measures as shall insure, on the part of the authorities of the

1 Mr. Seward to Mr. Pike, 17th October, 1861.

Chap. XI. said island, the prevention of all occurrences of the kind during the continuance of the difficulties in America.

"The Undersigned deems it proper to add, in explanation of the absence of any official representation from Trinidad to substantiate the present complaint, that there was no Consul of the United States there at the time of the arrival of the vessel. The Undersigned had the honour, a few days since, to apprise Lord Russell of the fact that this deficiency had been since supplied by preferring an application for Her Majesty's exequatur for a new Consul, who is already on his way to occupy his post.

"The Undersigned, &c.

(Signed)

"CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS."

Earl Russell to Mr. Adams.

"Foreign Office, October 4, 1861.

"The Undersigned has had the honour to receive a complaint from Mr. Adams against the authorities of the Island of Trinidad for a violation of Her Majesty's Proclamation of Neutrality, by giving aid and encouragement to the insurgents of the United States.

"It appears, from the accounts received at the Colonial Office and at the Admiralty, that a vessel bearing a Secession flag entered the port of Trinidad on the 30th of July last.

"Captain Hillyar, of Her Majesty's ship Cadmus, having sent a boat to ascertain her nationality, the commanding officer showed a commission signed by Mr. Jefferson Davis, calling himself the President of the so-styled Confederate States.

"The Sumter, which was the vessel in question, was allowed to stay six days in Trinidad, and to supply herself with coals and provisions, and the Attorney-General of the Island perceived no illegality in these proceedings.

"The Law Officers of the Crown have reported that the conduct of the Governor was in conformity to Her Majesty's Proclamation.

"No mention is made by the Governor of his hoisting the British flag on the Government flag-staff, and if he did so, it was probably in order to show the national character of the island, and not in acknowledgment of the arrival of the Sumter.

"There does not appear, therefore, any reason to believe that Her Majesty's Proclamation of Neutrality has been violated by the Governor of Trinidad or by the commanding officer of Her Majesty's ship Cadmus.

"The Undersigned, &c.

(Signed)

"RUSSELL."

In a subsequent conversation with Lord Lyons, Mr. Seward said "that France and, he thought, all the other Powers of Europe, refused to allow privateers to

remain for more than twenty-four hours in their ports.1 Chap. XI. He could hardly conceive that England wished to stand alone as the only Power which admitted the enemies of the United States without restriction into its harbours. He supposed that the matter could hardly have presented itself in this light to Her Majesty's Government." "I observed," proceeds Lord Lyons, "to Mr. Seward, that I supposed that in this matter each Power had looked back to precedents, and taken the course which had been usual with it on similar occasions in former times. In one point the English rule was, I said, more stringent than that of France and many other Powers, for armed vessels were not allowed to carry their prizes into British ports for any time, however short. Mr. Seward did not pursue the conversation; he merely said that he had wished to mention the matter to me in the hope that I might do something towards getting it satisfactorily settled." A few days afterwards the conversation was renewed, and the American Secretary of State, in Lord Lyons's words, "seemed to wish now to be understood as requesting me positively to suggest to Her Majesty's Government to adopt the rule which had, he said, been adopted by all the other Powers of Europe. He seemed to desire to make the suggestion through me rather than in a more formal manner through the United States' Minister in London."3

2

The Orders of January 1862 complied, as we have seen, in this respect with the desire of the American Government. These Orders required every ship-of-war

1 This is not a correct statement of the French regulation. It ran thus::

“Il ne sera permis à aucun navire de guerre ou corsaire de l'un ou de l'autre des belligérants d'entrer et de séjourner avec des prises dans nos ports ou rades pendant plus de vingt-quatre heures, hors le cas de relâche forcée."

2 Lord Lyons to Earl Russell, 4th November, 1861.

3 The same to the same, 9th November, 1861.

4 See Note to Chap. VI, p. 137,

Chap. XI. or privateer of either belligerent which should enter

British waters to depart within twenty-four hours afterwards, except in case of stress of weather or of her requiring provisions, or things necessary for the subsistence of her crew, or repairs. In either of these cases she was to put to sea as soon after the expiration of the twenty-four hours as possible, taking in no supplies beyond what might be necessary for immediate use, and no more coal than would carry her to the nearest port of her own country, or some nearer destination. Nor, after coaling once in British waters, was she to be suffered to coal again within three months unless by special permission.

The pressure of these Orders, it need hardly be said, bore chiefly on the handful of cruisers which roved about under the Confederate flag. Cut off from returning, except at great risk, to any port of their own, and tracked from place to place by Federal ships of heavier metal and superior force, it was to them of vital consequence to be able to keep the sea as long as possible, while their comparatively small dimensions allowed them little stowage for fuel. The Federal cruiser, on the other hand, able to go where she pleased, and sure in due time to be relieved from home, felt the restraints but little. It is not to be supposed, however, that these considerations had weight with the British Government, nor could they have been urged by way of objection to the Orders themselves. It is the right of the neutral, remaining at peace, to shut out war altogether from his own shores and his own waters, to repel its first approaches, no matter in what shape it may come or under what insidious disguise, and to prohibit belligerent ships from making his ports and roadsteads a station whence they may watch for and attack the enemy. It is his right to make, for that purpose, any regulations he thinks fit, provided he applies them to both belligerents alike. It is not for him, as I have before observed, to handicap, as it were, by any regulations of his own, belligerents

between whom there is a disparity of force; nor is he Chap. XI. under any obligation at all to refrain from enforcing a prohibition which he judges convenient, because its incidence will be made unequal by their inequality of strength or circumstances. If a long cruise at the present day require repeated supplies of coal, it must be remembered that to assist either party to maintain a long cruise is not the business of the neutral.

This general right to keep neutral territory inviolate was called into action towards the close of the year by the arrival at Southampton of a Confederate armed ship (the only one that ever entered a port within the United Kingdom, unless to be dismantled or surrendered), speedily followed by a Federal cruiser. The ✓ Nashville, a large paddle-wheel steamer formerly engaged on the New York and Charleston line, had been designed to carry the Confederate agents to Europe-a service which, as it turned out, she would have performed successfully; but she drew too much water, it was thought, to be relied on for running the blockade, and they were accordingly transferred to the Theodora, and sent by the West India route-with what consequences we have already seen. The Nashville, lightened to diminish her draught, armed with two guns and commanded by an officer who had served with some distinction in the Federal navy, slipped out from ✓ Charleston on the night of the 26th October, unseen, although it was moonlight, by the blockading ships, but nearly grounding on the bar. She touched at Bermuda, coaled there, and arrived at Southampton on the 21st ✓ November, having captured and burnt an American merchantman near the entrance of the Channel.2

1 Coal from the Government stores was refused. The Duke of Newcastle, referring to this in a despatch to the Governor of Bermuda, wrote: "I have further to state that both you and Captain Hutton showed a very proper discretion in declining to furnish supplies to a war-vessel of one of the belligerent parties from public stores belonging to the British Government."

2 The master and crew of the ship thus destroyed, the Harvey