Mr. Burnley to Mr. Seward. WASHINGTON, March 7, 1865. SIR; With reference to my note of the 31st of January, I have the honor to transmit to you copies of a despatch, and of its enclosures, which I have received from his excellency the governor general of Canada, relative to the vessels Almandares and Pinero, alleged to be intended for the naval service of the socalled Confederate States. I have the honor to be, with the highest consideration, sir, your most obedi ent, humble servant, J. HUME BURNLEY. Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, &c., &c., &c. Viscount Monck to Mr. Burnley. QUEBEC, February 28, 1865. SIR: Referring to my despatch of the 24th of January, I have the honor to transmit to you copies of a report from the attorney general for Canada East, and of a letter from the collector of customs at the port of Montreal, relative to the vessels Alamandares and Pinero. I shall feel much obliged if you will communicate this information to the Secretary of State of the United states. The undersigned has the honor, in addition to his report of the 24th ultimo, to transmit to his excellency the governor general copy of a letter, with enclosure, received from the collector of customs at Montreal, in relation to two vessels, Almandares and Pinero, the former of which is reported as having been sold to Spanish subjects at Havana, and the latter, still lying in the Lachine canal, as having been transferred by bill of sale to a gentleman residing in the city of Montreal. ATTORNEY GENERAL, L. C. Mr. Holmes to Mr. Futroye. GEORGE E. CARTIER. CUSTOM HOUSE, Montreal, February 21, 1865. SIR: With reference to your letter dated 28th December last, requiring to be informed, for the information of the honorable the attorney general, of any facts thereafter coming to my knowledge touching the vessels El Almandares and Pinero, I beg to say, this morning's mail brought me back the registry of the Almandares, with advice of her transfer at Havana. Enclosed is copy of letter of advice. I have, &c., GEORGE FUTROYE, Esq., Clerk of Crown Law Department, Quebec, BENJ. HOLMES, Collector. P. S.-The Pinero still lying in the canal, but has been transferred by bill of sale to Joseph Tiffin, jr., of this city. B. H. Mr. Bunch to the Registrar. HAVANA, February 8, 1865. SIR: I have the honor of transmitting to you herewith the British certificate of registry of steamer Almandares, official number 46,257, of your port, sold this day to Spanish subjects for $81,340, currency of Canada. I remain, &c., The REGISTRAR, Montreal, Canada. JOHN BUNCH, Consul General. Mr. Burnley to Mr. Seward. WASHINGTON, March 7, 1865. SIR With reference to your note of the 19th ultimo, calling my attention to suspicious circumstances attending the sale of the steamer Georgiana, I have the honor to enclose a copy of a despatch which I have received from his excellency the governor general of Canada on this subject. I have the honor to be, with the highest respect, sir, your most obedient, humble servant, Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, &c., &c., &c. J. HUME BURNLEY. Lord Monck to Mr. Burnley. QUEBEC, February 28, 1865. SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your despatch of the 22d instant, and its enclosure, relative to the purchase of the steamer Georgian, or Georgiana, by Mr. Denison, of Toronto. I have the honor to state, in reply, that I had been already made aware of the change in the ownership of this vessel, and that a close watch has been kept, and will continue to be kept by the Canadian authorities, on any proceedings connected with her, in order to take the proper legal steps should any suspicious facts be disclosed. I have, &c., J. H. BURNLEY, Esq. Mr. Seward to Mr. Burnley. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, MONCK. Washington, March 8, 1865. . SIR Information, considered reliable, has been received at this department, that five blockade-running steamers, which recently cleared from Nassau to St. John's, New Brunswick, were so cleared with a view to conceal their real destination, and that they are to touch at some point on the Bahamas or elsewhere, where arms and ammunition are in readiness for them, and that upon receiving such armament they are to co-operate with iron-clads and rams expected from European ports, in committing depredations upon the cities and the property of the people of the loyal States. I will thank you to notify the authorities of the Bahamas of these facts, and I hope that such measures may be adopted as will prevent the armament of the vessels referred to being taken from the Bahamas or other British ports. I have the honor to be, with high consideration, sir, your obedient servant, WILLIAM H. SEWARD. J. HUME BURNLEY, Esq., &c., &c., &c. Mr. Burnley to Mr. Seward. WASHINGTON, March 9, 1865. SIR: With reference to your notes of the 7th and 17th ultimo, relative to the information furnished to you by the United States consul at Halifax, respecting projected raids into the United States territory, I have the honor to enclose a copy of a letter which was addressed by his excellency the governor of Nova Scotia to the United States consul, as to the necessity of giving him in the first instance the earliest intelligence of any raid into the United States contemplated by parties connected with that province, either as transient travellers or otherwise. His excellency further observes, that if there existed any similar and proved necessity for investing the governor with extraordinary powers as in Canada, the legislature would not hesitate to give them; but that, at present, from the best information which he can procure, he has reason to think that no such powers are required in Halifax. 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. Daly to Mr. Jackson. GOVERNMENT HOUSE, Halifax, N. S., February 18, 1865. SIR: The lieutenant governor, Sir R. G. Macdonnell, has this day received a letter from the British chargé d'affaires at Washington, transmitting a copy of a telegram sent by you on the 7th instant to Mr. Seward, representing that another raid into the United States from Canada is in contemplation. His excellency instructs me to remind you that on the 2d of January you had interviews with him in reference to the existence of a supposed conspiracy here by parties contemplating a raid into the United States from Canada, which you had similarly represented to Mr. Seward, who immediately transmitted, through the English embassy, a copy of that communication to his excellency. The lieutenant governor informed you on that occasion of his earnest desire to assist by all means in his power to prevent this province being made a centre for intrigues against a neighboring and friendly State. He understood, therefore, that you would not fail to communicate with him on receipt of any reliable information connected with illegal associations in this province, intended to disturb the peace or assail the property of the neighboring States. His excellency, therefore, desires me to suggest, that there is something incongruous and inconvenient at his continuing to receive from Washington information which, if it concerns any persons in this province, might obviously be more usefully communicated to this government, than by a circuitous route, and a delay of nearly a fortnight. In all such matters promptitude of action is the thing most needed. The lieutenant governor would, therefore, feel obliged by your taking an early opportunity of waiting on him, and fully explaining the nature of the proceedings contemplated by parties hostile to the United States; that he will endeavor to counteract such plots on British ground, so far as any action for that purpose can be taken by this government. I have, &c., M. BOWES DALY, U. S. Consul JACKSON, &c., &c., &c. Mr. Burnley to Mr. Seward. WASHINGTON, March 9, 1865. SIR: With reference to my note of the 4th November last, and to your reply of the 14th December, relative to John Warrington, who was then a convalescent patient at the general hospital at Fortress Monroe, I have the honor to enclose copy of a letter from Mr. Adderly, which has been transmitted to me by her Majesty's principal secretary of state for foreign affairs, in which it is stated that the parents of the young man are willing to give any sum up to fifty pounds for his discharge, which Mr. Adderly will guarantee. I am accordingly instructed to inquire upon what terms John Warrington's discharge can be effected, and shall feel obliged by your favoring me with this information. I would also beg to be informed whether his present address is the one given in the enclosure from Mr. Adderly, as a letter is lying for him at this legation. 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. Adderly to Mr. Layard. THIRTY-FIVE, EUTIN PLACE, DEAR MR. LAYARD: I enclose a letter to the man in the federal army of whom I spoke to you, which you were so good as to say you would have forwarded. His parents are ready to give any sum up to £50 for his discharge, which I will guarantee. The man received $300 on the 2d of March, 1864, as half of his bounty-money, and $13 a month's pay ever since. He enlisted for three years. His address is as on the enclosed letter. A. H. LAYARD, Esq., &c., &c., &c. Mr. Burnley to Mr. Seward. G. B. ADDERLY. WASHINGTON, March 9, 1865. MY DEAR SIR: In response to your official note of the 7th instant, and referring to Mr. Gordon's despatches of the 7th and 18th ultimo, communicated to you on the 15th and 25th ultimo, about Linus Seely, of the Chesapeake, you may depend upon it that the lieutenant governor of New Brunswick will do what he properly can, in conformity with the laws of the province, either to surrender the criminal or to bring him to trial in the province. Everything, however, must depend upon the nature of the evidence to be produced against him, and, as in your private letter of the 23d ultimo you inform me that measures were being taken to meet the requirements of the provincial law, I presume that the United States consul at St. John's has already received his instructions accordingly. It may, however, be well to observe here that this same man was, with the other captors of the Chesapeake, examined before the police magistrate last year and committed for extradition; but that committal was overruled by a judge of the supreme court on the ground (among others) that the offence was cognizable by the courts of New Brunswick, and this ruling has since received the sanction of of the English judges, who, in a precisely similar case of the Joseph L. Gerrity, pronounced this summer a similar judgment. I am, therefore, inclined to think that if Seely is committed by Judge Parker it will not be for extradition, but for trial in the province of New Brunswick. Believe me to remain, my dear sir, yours, very faithfully, J. HUME BURNLEY. Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, &c., &c., &c. Mr. Burnley to Mr. Seward. WASHINGTON, March 11, 1865: SIR: I communicated to the governor general of Canada a copy of your note of the 23d of February, relative to alleged plans of persons residing in Canada for making hostile incursions into the United States, and I have now the honor to transmit a copy of his excellency's reply. 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. SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your despatch of the 25th February, covering copies of a note and enclosures from the Secretary of State of the United States respecting the alleged formation by persons residing in Canada of plans for making hostile incursions into the United States. I beg that you will inform the government of the United States that I shall continue to use every exertion to prevent the execution of such projects. I have, &c., J. HUME BURNLEY, &c., &c., &c. MONCK. Mr. Seward to Mr. Burnley. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, March 13, 1865. SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note of the 9th instant, which relates to the proceedings in the case of Linus Seely, one of the pirates of the Chesapeake. I accept with pleasure the assurance you give me that this offender will be dealt with according to law. I am aware of the two important facts mentioned in your note, namely, that Seely was once before arrested in New Brunswick, and was released by a provincial judge, and that a similar discharge of the pirates of the J. L. Gerrity was affirmed by the court of Queen's Bench in England. It must not, however, be understood that this government assents to the constructions of the extradition_compact which the colonial judges and the judges of the realm thus adopted; that ques. tion must abide the test of further examination. In the mean time I have to remark, that in the case of Seely, as well as that of the pirate of the J. L. Gerrity, extradition was denied because the culprits were amenable to the municipal laws of New Brunswick and of Great Britain, respectively; and yet the first and only points of the decision in each case were that the culprits should be set free from all duress, or rearrest, or prosecution, to renew their crimes upon the ocean. We protested against that course of proceeding in each of the cases as an absolute denial of international justice most unfriendly to the United States. It is, moreover, a sincere satisfaction to have your assurance that the precedents thus set will not be followed by the authorities of New Brunswick on the present occasion. I have the honor to be, with high consideration, sir, your obedient servant, WILLIAM H. SEWARD, J. HUME BURNLEY, Esq., &c., &c., &c. |