Charles Francis Adams to Right Hon. Earl Russell, March 25, 1862

[Enclosures.]

1. Copy of Mr. Adams’s note of March 25, to Earl Russell, on the Oreto, &c.

2. Copy of Mr. Consul Dudley’s note to Mr. Adams, of March 22, about the arming of the Oreto.

Mr. Adams to Earl Russell.

My Lord: I have the honor to submit to your consideration the copy of a letter received from the consul of the United States at Liverpool, touching the case of the steam gunboat Oreto, which I have already made the subject of a communication some time ago. It is with great reluctance that I am driven to the conviction that the representations made to your lordship of the purposes and destination of that vessel were delusive, and that though at first it may have been intended for service in Sicily, yet that such an intention has been long since abandoned in fact, and the pretence has been held up only the better to conceal the true object of the parties engaged. That object is to make war on the United States. All the persons thus far known to be most connected with the undertaking are either directly employed by the insurgents in the United States of America, or residents of Great Britain notoriously in sympathy with and giving aid and comfort to them on this side of the water.

It is with the deepest regret that the President directs me to submit to her Majesty’s government a representation of the unfortunate effect produced upon the minds of the people of the United States from the conviction that nearly all of the assistance that is now obtained from abroad by the persons still in arms against their government, and which enables them to continue the struggle, comes from the kingdom of Great Britain and its dependencies. Neither is this impression relieved by the information that the existing municipal laws are found to be insufficient, and do not furnish means of prevention adequate to the emergency. The duty of nations in amity with each other would seem to be plain, not to suffer their good faith to be violated by ill-disposed persons within their borders merely from the inefficacy of their prohibitory policy. Such is the view which my government has been disposed to take of its own obligations in similar cases, and such, it doubts not, is that of all foreign nations with which it is at peace. It is for that reason I deprecate the inference that may be drawn from the issue of the investigation which your lordship caused to be made in the case of the Oreto, should that vessel be ultimately found issuing safely from this kingdom and preying on the commerce of the people of the United States. Not doubting myself the sincerity and earnest desire of your lordship to do all that is within your power to fulfil every requirement of international amity, it is to be feared that all the favorable effect of it may be neutralized by the later evidence of adverse results. It is no part of my intention to imply the want of fidelity or of good-will in any quarter. I desire to confine myself closely within the pale of my duty, a representation of the precise causes of uneasiness between the two countries, and an earnest desire to remove them. Firmly convinced that the actual position of things in connexion with the hostile equipment in British waters by no means does justice to the true disposition of her Majesty’s government, I am anxious to place the matter before your lordship in such a light as to obtain the evidence more perfectly to establish the truth.

I am further instructed to say that, well aware of the embarrassment and losses sustained by the nations with which the United States are in amity, through the operation of the restrictive measures to which the government has felt itself obliged to have recourse in its efforts to suppress the insurrection within its borders, it has ever been its desire to hasten the moment when it might be practicable to rescind them, consistently with the attainment of its great object. But to that end much must necessarily depend upon the degree in which co-operation with its policy, or the contrary, may be experienced from without. It is obvious that just in proportion to the success of the efforts made by the ill-intentioned people of foreign countries to violate the blockade must be the endeavors to enforce it with increased stringency. So also in proportion to the success of such persons in supplying, by violation of law, the insurgents with the means of continuing their resistance must be the delay in restoring to all honest people the customary facilities of trade and intercourse to which they are justly entitled. It has not been without great regret that the government has been compelled to observe the extent to which her Majesty’s flag has been abused to subserve the purposes of the disaffected, and thus to continue the present depressed condition of legitimate trade. A very great proportion of the vessels which attempted to violate the blockade appear to be fitted out directly from Great Britain or some of her dependencies. The effect of permitting such violations of good faith to go unnoticed by government is not merely to create an unfortunate degree of irritation in America, implicating many far beyond the sphere of the unworthy parties concerned in producing it, but to postpone proportionately the prospect of bringing about a better state of things. It is for this reason, as well as from a desire earnestly felt by the President to maintain unbroken all the customary relations of amity with Great Britain, that I have been directed to make the present representation. Any suggestion of the means best adapted to remedy the evils complained of is deemed a matter exclusively within the competency of those in whom the decision to act is vested. Disclaiming every wish to solicit more than my government would in its turn be prepared under similar circumstances to concede, and entertaining full confidence in the disposition of her Majesty’s ministers on their part to act to the utmost of their ability in the same spirit, I pray your lordship to accept the assurances of the highest consideration with which I have the honor to be, my lord, your most obedient servant,

Mr. Dudley to Mr. Adams.

Sir: The Oreto is still in the river. A flatboat has taken a part of her armament to her. A part of the crew of the steamer Annie Childs, which came to this port loaded with cotton, have just left my office. They tell me that Captain Bulloch is to command the Oreto, and that four other officers for this vessel came over in the Childs with them. The names of three are Young, Law, and Maffet, or Maffit; the fourth was called Eddy. The two first are lieutenants, and the two last named midshipmen. They further state that these officers during the voyage wore naval uniforms; that they came on the Childs at a place called Smithville, some twenty miles down the river from Wilmington; that it was talked about and understood by all on board that their object in coming was to take command of this vessel which was being built in England for the southern confederacy. They further state that it was understood in Wilmington before they left that several war vessels were being built in England for the south. As they were coming up the river in the Childs as they passed the Oreto she dipped her flag to the Childs. I have had this last from several sources, and the additional fact that the same evening after the arrival of this steamer a dinner was given on the Oreto to the officers who came over in the Childs. I understand she will make direct for Madeira and Nassau.

I have the honor to be your obedient servant,