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to be employed for purposes hostile to the United States, I have the honor to transmit to you herewith copy of a despatch which I have received from the governor general of Canada, by which you will perceive that his excellency will cause an investigation to be made.

I have the honor to be, with the highest consideration, sir, your most obedient, humble servant,

Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, &c., &c., St.

J. HUME BURNLEY.

Viscount Monck to Mr. Burnley.

QUEBEC, December 22, 1864.

SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your despatch of the 15th instant, with its enclosures, respecting two vessels now building at Montreal, alleged to be for the naval service of the so-called Confederate States.

In reply, I have the honor to state that I will cause the suspicious circumstances connected with these vessels to be strictly investigated, and will be guided in my actions by the facts which may be elicited.

I may add, that there is no fear of any immediate danger from these vessels, as the navigation of the St. Lawrence is now closed for the season, and it is impossible that these vessels can leave Montreal for the next four or five months.

I have, &c., &c.,

J. HUME BURNLEY, Esq., &c., &c., &c.

MONCK.

Mr. Burnley to Mr. Seward.

WASHINGTON, December 28, 1864.

SIR On receipt of your note of the 6th October, in which you requested me to invite the attention of the colonial authorities at Nassau to the alleged fact that vessels were being fitted out at Nassau, New Providence, with a view to operations against the commerce of the United States, I at once transmitted a copy of that note to the lieutenant governor of the Bahamas.

I have now the honor to transmit to you a copy of a despatch which I have received from the administrator of the government at Nassau, by which it appears that no vessels are believed to have been fitted out at Nassau with a view to any such operations as those alluded to.

I have the honor to be, with the highest consideration, sir, your most obedient, humble servant,

Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, &c., &c., &c.

J. HUME BURNLEY.

Governor Nesbitt to Mr. Burnleg.

GOVERNMENT HOUSE, NASSAU, December 8, 1864. SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt, on the 3d instant, of your despatch dated Washington, the 8th of October last, with copy of a note of the 6th of that month, received by you from the Secretary of State of the United States, requesting you to invite the attention of the authorities of this colony to the proceedings of insurgent agents engaged in fitting out vessels at Nassau, New Providence, with a view to piratical operations against the commerce of the United States.

I now forward to you the copy of a communication which, on the receipt of your despatch, I at once made to the receiver general of this colony, together with a copy of that officer's report, by which latter document you will perceive that the receiver general remarks that on the first arrival of several steamers reports were circulated without the slightest foundation

as to their ultimate conversion or appropriation for warlike purposes, such, for instance, as the steamer Hope, referred to in Mr. Seward's note to you, and which steamer has since been captured off Wilmington, with a general cargo on board, by the blockading squadron of the United States, thus effectually disposing of the question of her having been fitted out here as a privateer.

You will perceive in the postscript to my communication to the receiver general of the 3d instant, that I especially called his attention to the steamer Mary, late Alexandra, now in the port of Nassau, with the view of his reporting on the character of that vessel, and, as far as practicable, preventing any violation of her Majesty's proclamation of neutrality.

In concert with the attorney general, I have had the case of the Mary, late Alexandra, under consideration, and it forms the subject of correspondence at present between the United States consul of this port and myself, copies of which correspondence will be forwarded to the secretary of state for the colonies for the information of her Majesty's government.

I have, &c., &c.,

J. HUME BURNLEY, Esq., &c., &c., &c.

C. NESBITT.

Mr. Seward to Mr. Burnley.

DEPARTMENT OF SPATE,

Washington, December 28, 1864.

SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note of the 13th instant, submitting for consideration a proposition to bring the vessel James Douglas to New York, in order that a settlement may be effected with the owners, and, in reply, to inform you that I have invited the attention of the Secretary of the Navy to the matter.

Accept the assurances of my high consideration.

J. HUME BURNLEY, Esq., &c., st., &c.

WILLIAM H. SEWARD.

Mr. Seward to Mr. Burnley.

DEPARTMENT OF STATE,

Washington, December 29, 1864. SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note of the 22d instant, transmitting, in accordance with instructions received by you from her Majesty's government, copies of Sir Rutherford Alcock's despatches in regard to the events which have recently taken place in Japan. In reply, I have the honor to state that Mr. Pruyn, the United States minister in Japan, has been intrusted with discretion which will enable him to act in harmony with the treaty powers.

I have the honor to be, with high consideration, sir, your obedient servant, WILLIAM H. SEWARD.

J. HUME BURNLEY, Esq., &c., &c., &c.

Mr. Seward to Mr. Burnley.

DEPARTMENT OF STATE,

Washington, December 29, 1864.

SIR I have the honor to acknowledge, with sincere gratification, the receipt of your note of the 24th, which is accompanied by a copy of a despatch of the 17th instant, addressed to you by his excellency the governor general of Canada, in

which, with reference to the case of the steamer Georgian, it is stated that the Canadian government is fully alive to the importance of preventing the formation of any plans hostile to the United States on British soil, and that it has taken stringent measures to that end, both of a civil and military character.

I beg you to convey to his excellency an expression of the high appreciation entertained by this government of the friendly spirit which he has manifested, and of the judicious measures which he has adopted, with a view to the preservation of the neutrality of her Majesty's provinces.

I have the honor to be, with high consideration, sir, your obedient servant, WILLIAM H. SEWARD.

J. HUME BURNLEY, Esq., Sr., sx., &c.

Mr. Seward to Mr. Burnley.

DEPARTMENT OF STATE,

Washington, December 30, 1864.

SIR: I have the honor to enclose, for the information of her Majesty's government, a copy of depositions which were communicated to me on the 22d instant, relative to the proceedings of Jacob Thompson, an insurgent enemy of the United States in Canada, and to those of one Holcombe and others, in organizing, aiding, and abetting hostile expeditions against the United States. I will thank you to communicate the information to his excellency Viscount Monck, but I must request you to cause the names of the deponents to be regarded as confidential.

I have the honor to be, with the highest consideration, sir, your obedient

servant,

J. HUME BURNLEY, Esq., &c., &c., &c.

WILLIAM H. SEWARD.

Mr. Burnley to Mr. Seward.

WASHINGTON, December 30, 1864.

SIR: On the 19th instant you did me the honor to forward to me certain intercepted correspondence from persons hostile to the United States residing in Canada, and which I communicated without delay to his excellency the gov ernor general of Canada.

His excellency now requests me to state to you that it appears both to himself and to the legal advisers of the Crown in Canada that this correspondence might be made the ground of an indictment against the persons implicated in it if the clue afforded in some of the letters to their identification could be followed up.

Whatever information can be procured on the subject will be gladly received. by the governor general, who will lose no time in putting in operation the necessary means for the detention and punishment of persons who have been plotting on Canadian soil against the neutrality of her Majesty's dominions should it be found possible to reach them by legal process.

I have the honor to be, with the highest consideration, sir, your most obedient, humble servant, J. HUME BURNLEY.

Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, &c., &c. &c.

Mr. Burnley to Mr. Seward.

WASHINGTON, December 31, 1864.

SIR: With reference to my note of the 12th of December, and to previous correspondence on the subject of an alleged military organization in Canada of fugitives from the United States, I have now the honor to transmit to you copies of a note, and of its enclosure, which I have received from the governor general of Canada on this subject.

You will observe that upon the strictest inquiry no traces of such an organization could be discovered.

I have the honor to be, with the highest consideration, sir, your most obedient, humble servant,

Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, &c., &c., &c.

J. HUME BURNLEY.

:

Mr. Mc Donald to Mr. Godley.

DEPARTMENT OF ATTORNEY GENERAL FOR UPPER CANADA,
Quebec, December 24, 1864.

SIR With reference to your letter of the 6th instant, transmitting a copy of a despatch from Lord Lyons, with its enclosure, and of the reply of his excellency the governor general, relative to the organization and drilling in county of Prince Edward of fugitives from the United States, I have the honor to inform you, for the information of his excellency the governor general, that immediately on receipt of your letter a telegraphic despatch was transmitted by me to the county Crown attorney of the county of Prince Edward, desiring his immediate attention to the matter.

I have further to state that that officer immediately proceeded to make inquiries into the allegations made, and that he has since reported that though such inquiries were made in different quarters he can discover no traces of any such organization, and that he feels confident that the county of Prince Edward is free from any such illegal combinations, and that others with whom he has communicated on the subject concur in that opinion.

I have, &c.,

D. GODLEY, Esq.

Viscount Monck to Mr. Burnley.

I. A. MCDONALD.

GOVERNMENT HOUSE, Quebec, December 26, 1864. SIR: With reference to your despatch of November 30, on the subject of an alleged military organization in Canada of fugitives from the United States, I have the honor to transmit to you, for the information of the government of the United States, a copy of a letter from Mr. Attorney General McDonald, in which he states the steps that were taken for investigating the matter. You will observe that upon the strictest inquiry no traces of such an or ganization could be discovered.

I am, &c.,

J. HUME BURNLEY, Esq., &c., &c., &c.

MONCK.

Mr. Burnley to Mr. Seward.

WASHINGTON, December 31, 1864.

SIR: With reference to my note of the 6th instant, and to previous correpondence relative to the case of the Night Hawk, I would beg to represent to the

attention of the Secretary of the Navy the situation of the captain and officers of this vessel who are still detained as witnesses.

The navy regulations say that when testimony is secured they, the witnesses, are to be unconditionally released, and I would therefore urge whether it might not be advisable to secure such testimony with as little delay as possible and let them go free; otherwise, by long detention, they would appear to be placed on the same footing as regular prisoners of war.

Mr. McArthur, the agent at New York, proposes that they should be liberated on bail, and I would recommend it as coming nearer to the spirit of the instructions of the Navy Department in cases of bona fide British subjects captured on board British ships.

Captain Smiley and his officers have been now full three months in close confinement, which, I am convinced, would never meet with the sanction of her Majesty's government, even under the plea of their testimony being necessary. I have the honor to be, with high consideration, sir, your most obedient, humble servant,

Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, &c., &c., &c.

J. HUME BURNLEY.

Mr. Burnley to Mr. Seward.

WASHINGTON, December 31, 1864.

SIR: I have the honor to transmit to you herewith a copy of a general order issued by his excellency the governor general of Canada on the occasion of his sending troops to be stationed along the frontier line between Canada and the United States.

I have the honor to be, with the highest consideration, sir, your most obedient, humble servant,

Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, &c., &c., &c.

J. HUME BURNLEY.

[From the Canada Gazette of December 24, 1865.]

MILITIA GENERAL ORDERS.

HEADQUARTERS, Quebec, December 23, 1864.

GENERAL ORDER.]

VOLUNTEER MILITIA.

1. Referring to the General Order of December 19, his excellency the commander-in-chief is pleased to call out for actual service the following companies of the volunteer force.

2. These companies will be formed into three administrative battalions, which shall be composed, respectively, of the following companies and such others as may be added to each battalion by any further General Order.

WESTERN BATTALION.

No. 1. Company, from 3d battalion volunteer militia rifles, Montreal, Captain J. Bacon. No. 2. Company, York rifles, Captain Davis.

No. 3. Brockville rifles, Major Crawford.

No. 4. Company, from 8th battalion volunteer militia rifles, Quebec, Captain Alleyn. No. 5. Brantford rifles, Captain Grant.

No. 6. Belleville rifles, Major Levesconte.

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