bearing upon the case now immediately
before the House. On the 4th of last
September Mr. Adams wrote a letter to
Mr. Seward, in which he said that Earl
Russell made some observations to him-
"in connection with the case of the steamer
Adela, the capture of which had given rise to some
questions at Washington. These related to three
points, the appeal to any list of suspected vessels
that might be in the hands of the officers as
ground of capture, the propriety of making a
prior examination, and the securing the contents
of mail-bags. On all of them he admitted that
you had already agreed to a plan to remedy the
difficulties for the future, which was perfectly
satisfactory.

Here was information of an arrangement
made with Mr. Seward as to the future
conduct of the Federal cruisers in the cap-
ture of British property, and yet, from the
beginning to the end of the published
papers, there was no trace of any corre-
spondence or communication on the subject,
and Parliament was left entirely in the
dark respecting a " "plan" which Earl
Russell said was perfectly satisfactory to
him.

and the United States, with a view to the adjustment aad examination of claims for the violation of neutral rights. But not a single letter was communicated to Parlia ment, or a tittle of information supplied on the subject, although the noble Lord said the Government had been engaged in correspondence, and difficulties of detail had prevented the plan from being carried into execution. Again, there appeared to have been a correspondence respecting the raising of recruits in this country. But no information was given-no correspondence was produced. Now, he maintained that upon questions which interested every man in this country, Parliament ought to have had the fullest information which it was in the power of the Government to give. Upon the face of the published papers, correspondence had been kept back which bore materially upon the very case of the Peterhoff. From Mr. Adams' despatch of September 4, it appeared that one part of the " plan" agreed upon between Earl Russell and the American Government had reference to a list of suspected vessels which might be in the hands of the officers as ground of capture." Now, in reference

That was not the position in which the House of Commons ought to be left. Upon a question so important as the security of British commerce upon the seas, the Government ought not to enter into arrangements, leaving this House and the commercial public in entire ignorance of the nature of those arrangements. Indeed, the position of the Government towards this House, as regarded the information communicated to it about American affairs, was in the highest degree unsatisfactory he had almost said discreditable. The Session was half over, and except the papers about the Alabama, and the correspondence and despatches between Mr. Mason and Earl Russell, the only information before the House regarding our relations with America was a reprint of despatches supplied by the President of the United States to Congress late last year. And yet there were some most important points on which information should have been furnished. At the end of last year, the subject of the restrictions placed upon the trade carried on in British vessels between New York and Nassau was brought before the Government. These restrictions were described by Earl Russell as a breach of agreement on the part of the United States; but Parliament was in entire ignorance of all that had passed be tween the two Governments upon that sub-gree, responsible for this. ject. He, himself, had asked a question of last year a representation was made to as to the Convention between this country Earl Russell, he did not know whether by

to this there was a curious thing. In the papers about the Alabama, Mr. Adams communicated to Earl Russell a list of suspected vessels; and, curiously enough, the last two on the list were the Peterhoff and the Springbok, which had been lately captured under exactly similar circumstances. So it was apparent, upon the face of these papers, that the Foreign Secretary had entered into some arrangement as to the capture of British vessels, of which arrangement the House knew nothing, except that there was to be a list of suspected vessels; the principal representative of the American Government himself communicated the list to Earl Russell, and upon the very face of the list appeared the name of the l'eterhoff, with the note attached "now loading for Matamoras ;" the result being that in consequence of this arrangement, to which Earl Russell was a party, a vessel engaged in an innocent and legal voyage was captured; although, upon the face of the papers, the American Government were aware that she had no intention either of breaking the blockade or of conveying any portion of her cargo for the use of the Confederate States. He thought that the Government were, to a great deIn the course

ence of an extensive trade during the war between the so-styled Confederate States and Nassau, and from the known or reputed connection of certain merchants or mercantile houses in England and at Nassau with that trade. The possibility or probability being thus arrived at that such a use may be made of some of these articles after their ar

rival at Nassau, it is concluded that the United States' Government are entitled to stop them at New York. From this conclusion her Majesty's

Government dissent."

The hon. and learned Gentleman the Solicitor General now expressed his approval of that statement; but he would ask the hon. and learned Gentleman what was the difference between the case of refusing a clearance to vessels engaged in a trade between New York and Nassau and stopping by force vessels engaged in a legiti mate trade between Liverpool and Nassau ? It is evident the noble Earl had before him the letter of the Liverpool merchants, and disregarded the complaint which it contained, though he knew it to be well found

the Chamber of Commerce of Liverpool, or by a meeting of merchants of Liverpool, called for the specific purpose, that the Federal Government had established a blockade of their legal and legitimate trade between this country and Nassau. It was represented to the noble Earl that their trade was stopped because the Federal Government had assumed to itself the right of capturing vessels on their voyage from one neutral port to another neutral port. What was the reply of Earl Russell? He said, Nassau had been made a depôt for cargoes intended to be conveyed to the Confederate States; and he recommended the merchants who applied to him, as the best means of avoiding the capture of their vessels, to abstain from engagiu in that trade. The noble Earl's letter seemed written rather in a spirit of insult than as an answer to a proper and well-grounded complaint. It had nothing to do with the matter of which the Liverpool merchantsed; knowing, at the same time, that the complained, and had reference only to the illegal contraband trade between Nassau and the Confederate States. It entirely omitted to answer the complaint of the merchants that their legitimate trade had been interfered with. He would ask, was the noble Earl aware of the law when he wrote that letter? Was he aware that in setting up that pretension the American Government was putting up a most illegal pretension, and that it had no more right to stop a vessel between Liverpool and Nassan than it had to stop a vessel between Liverpool and Bordeaux? He must have been aware of it, because in a document written by him on the 22nd of September he adopted a very different tone from that which characterized his letter to the Liverpool merchants. I refer now to a case which was brought under the notice of the noble Earl with respect to a power assumed by the authorities at New York of refusing clearances to British vessels engaged in transporting goods from New York to Nassau. What does the noble Earl say with reference to that assumption of a right?—

pretension set up by the United States was absolutely contrary to international law. Had the Foreign Secretary, knowing that his countrymen were complaining that their legitimate trade was being interfered with by unjust detentions on the part of the United States Government, instead of lecturing the Liverpool merchants, replied that the pretensions of the American Government was an illegal one, and would be resisted by the Government of this country, did any one suppose that those repeated cases in which British vessels had been captured in the lawful pursuit of their trade would have occurred, and that we should now have to call upon Her Majesty's Government to afford efficient protection to our countrymen, and not allow outrages of this kind to be perpetrated on British vessels passing between one neutral port and another neutral port, and the trade to which no suspicion was attached to be interfered with by the violent and illegal conduct of such men as Commander Wilkes ? The House would no doubt be told by Her Majesty's Government that in this serious case of the Peterhoff they had called for redress-that they had acted with the greatest energy. He did not doubt this, because he believed no Government could hold their seats if in so grave a case they refused to give protec tion to British commerce. But it would have been far better to prevent such occurtrade in similar articles carried on between New York and Nassau in former times and the amount rences by the adoption of a different course during the present war, from the notorious exist- than that taken by the noble Lord in his

"The inference that the articles, though having really and bona fide a British destination, are likely to be afterwards used for the purposes of the trade between Nassau and the so-styled Confederate States, is drawn, as explained by Collector Barney, from the magnitude of the consignments, from a comparison between the amount of the

The owners of the ship, and the gentleman engaged in loading the ship, placed in his hands the ship's manifest, and other documents showing the nature of her cargo. It was a cargo of a most miscel laneous description. The Mexican law required, in the case of cargoes sent to her ports, that full particulars of every package, with its contents, measurement, and weight should be distinctly stated; and he therefore had the opportunity of satisfying himself by perusing the manifest as to the goods she was carrying; and he put this question pointedly to the gentleman who waited on him:-"Is there anything in the description of the goods of a colourable character? Is there anything in the nature of hardware' intended as a cover to rifles or muskets?" The answer was that there was nothing contraband in the ship

reply to the Liverpool merchants. He done so.
had no doubt, that when this particular
case was brought under their notice, the
Ministry replied in the stereotyped form
of all Governments, "The matter should
have the immediate attention of Her Ma-
jesty's Government;" but it would have
been better to give such an assurance be-
fore cases of such gravity had arisen. He
hoped that Her Majesty's Government
would give an assurance to the House that
they would make the views of the British
Government so well known that cases of
this kind should not occur again. In con-
clusion he would say, in reference to those
papers to which he had before alluded-
with reference to the despatch which the
noble Lord at the head of the Government
had alluded to the other night, and to
papers which were referred to in the pub-
lished correspondence, but which had been
kept back
- he trusted Her Majesty's
Government would lose no time in pro-
ducing them.

that there was nothing but what was fairly set down on the manifest. It therefore was clear that the vessel was engaged in carrying legal goods, under legal cirMR. CRAWFORD said, that having cumstances, to a legal port. The circumbeen alluded to by the hon. Member for stances of the seizure would, no doubt, enHorsham (Mr. S. FitzGerald) he wished to gage the attention of the Law Officers of the offer a few remarks. They would not, Crown. There were in the City gentlemen however, be an attack on Her Majesty's with Northern proclivities as well as SouthGovernment for, seeing that the case of ern, and there were gentlemen who said the Peterhoff was only two days old, he that the ultimate destination of the goods should be well contented to leave it in the was probably for the Southern States, and hands of the Government, and especially that that was a sort of reason for the stopso after hearing to-night the opinion of the page of the vessel by Northern cruisers on hon. and learned Gentleman (the Solicitor its way to Matamoras. That was a legal General), by whom the Government would question. But there was one point coube influenced in their proceedings in the nected with this matter worthy of observacase, and in whom every Member of the tion at the present time. A very large House had the utmost confidence in ques- trade was carried on in American vessels tions of international law. The principal between New York and Matamoras, of facts of the case had been placed before precisely the same kind as that of the the House; but there were still a few Peterhoff. Therefore, evidently there must others which he wished to state in illustra- be some other reason for the seizure of the tion of the bona fide character of the trade vessel than the particular trade she was of the Peterhoff. The vessel was adver- engaged in. Apparently the North had tised in the newspapers in the usual way no objection to the trade being carried on for a general cargo to Matamoras. She for their own benefit; but they had an obcarried a mail; that is to say, she carried jection when anything was to be got out of a usual ship letter-bag, made up at the it by the merchants of this country. The General Post Office; and she had made material point for the consideration of merher arrangements for coaling in the West cantile men was this. Here was a vessel Indies; the nature of her preparations captured on a legal voyage. There were throughout being of such a character as to other vessels bound to the same destinasatisfy any one that her intention was to tion from England, loading with similar perform as speedy a passage as possible cargoes, and the owners were in a state of to the port of her destination. The hon. complete doubt as to what they should do. Member for Horsham had stated that he He had no doubt that the question would (Mr. Crawford) had taken the pains of receive the earliest attention of Her Mamaking himself acquainted with the cha-jesty's Government, in order that the racter of the goods on board. He had minds of the owners of these vessels might

He

[Mr. SEY

in the hands of the noble Lord at the head themselves issued to their own cruisers. of the Government. It was true that Her Majesty's GovernMR. LAYARD rose to make a brief ment had objected to those arrangements, reply to the Questions addressed to the The Government of Washington then isGovernment by the hon. Member for Hor- sued amended orders to their cruisers, sham (Mr. Seymour FitzGerald) and the which, as far as he remembered, were hon. Gentleman who had just sat down. published in the American papers, and The hon. Member for Horsham had made Lord Russell considered that the new two or three observations in the course of arrangements thus made were more satishis speech which required a distinct con- factory than those which had existed tradiction from the Government. The before. But these arrangements were facts which he had stated, with regard to not made in conjunction with Her Mathe Peterhoff, had been already submitted to jesty's Government. The list of suspected the Government, but they were the ex parte vessels was merely an inclosure from Mr. statements of the owners of the vessel; and Adams, with which the British Governthough, of course, it was not for him to ment had nothing whatever to do. call in question the accuracy of those distinctly denied the fact of any arrangestatements, it was clear that as they were ment such as that described by the hon. ex parte the Government could not take Gentleman having been made between the immediate action on them. What they had British and the American Governments. done was what had been done in all similar His hon. Friend, as was sometimes his cases; the statements of the owners had wont, dealt rather largely in strong epibeen referred without a moment's delay to thets, and said that the Government had the Law Officers of the Crown; and when been guilty of a very discreditable protheir opinion had been given, such represen- ceeding in regard to the papers which had tations would be made to the Government been laid before the House. of the United States as Her Majesty's Go- MOUR FITZGERALD: I did not say that]. vernment might think desirable. The hon. I am glad my hon. Friend withdraws the Member complained of the delay which words. [Mr. SEYMOUR FITZGERALD I had taken place; but it was difficult to never used them.] Three or four sets see what more could have been done. The of papers had been presented to Parliafacts had only been brought to the notice ment; and when his hon. Friend placed of the Foreign Office two days before, his Motion on the paper, he communiand they had at once been referred to cated with him on the matter, and told the Law Officers. But the hon. Mem-him that he should lay on the table ber had travelled beyond the case of the Peterhoff, and had referred to some arrangement which he seemed to think had been made between Her Majesty's Govern ment and the Government of the United States with regard to the proceedings of American cruisers, and he read a list of vessels which he assumed that Lord Russell had admitted to be suspected and liable to be seized and searched. The hon. Member was labouring under an entire delusiou. The Government had never heard of any such arrangement, nor, as far as he knew, had any such an arrangement ever been proposed. The hon. Gentleman had alluded to certain papers published by the United States Legislature. Papers had certainly been laid before the American Legislature -which had been reprinted for the House of Commons at the hon. Gentleman's request-in which allusion was made to cer tain orders issued by the American Go vernment to their cruisers; but those allusions are to certain arrangements which the United States Government had

all the papers which he thought might be interesting; and he begged him then, if there were any papers which he considered of importance not included in the correspondence, to ask for them, and he should be most happy to furnish them. It was treating the Government, therefore, rather unfairly to say that they had acted discreditably in the manner in which they had laid the papers before the House. The hon. Member had asked, why were not the papers relative to vessels running the blockade laid before the House? The printing of all those documents would be of no use to any one, and would only unnecessarily add to the printing expenses of the House; he would be ready, however, to present papers connected with any particular case which the hon. Member might designate.

With regard to the hon. Member for Devizes (Mr. Darby Griffith), that hon. Member's sources of information in the public press of all countries were SO inexhaustible that it was impossible to keep pace with him. He had already