Cordell Hull to W. G. Bateson, February 28, 1866

Mr. Hull to Mr. Bateson.

Dear Sir: I have laid before Captain Waddell your letter of the 22d instant, and the letters and affidavit which accompanied it, and he desires through me to offer the following observations upon these documents:

Mr. Adams found in the affidavit of Temple three grounds of complaint, which may be briefly alluded to as follows:

1st. That the vessel was armed when she left London.

2d. That Captain Waddell continued to destroy American shipping after he was made aware that the war had ended.

3d. That the vessel was mainly manned by British subjects.

We deal with the last charge first. Captain Waddell assures me that he never enlisted any seamen at any British port, or within the jurisdiction of her Majesty’s government. He never asked any seaman what his nationality was, and had no knowledge whatever on the subject.

With respect to the second charge, Captain Waddell states that on the 23d of June he captured a vessel called the Susan Abigail, which vessel had sailed from San Francisco, about the 20th of April, on a trading voyage to the Arctic seas. She had newspapers on board, which contained the news of the surrender of General Lee, and also an address by President Davis to the southern people, issued from Danville, stating that the war would be carried or with renewed vigor.

Captain Waddell states that he did not destroy any vessels after the 28th June, and than he did not obtain information of the actual termination of the war until he fell in with the Barraeouta, on the 2d of August, when he at once disarmed his ship. Temple is a very young man, under twenty. He shipped as an ordinary seaman, and was at first employed as boy to wait on the officers in the steerage. He was disrated from this office, and put to duty on deck.

His affidavit contains a certain amount of immaterial truths, mixed with errors, and also every now and again a deliberate false statement. To several of these statements Captain Waddell offers the following observations. He says that he called on the governor at his official residence, but did not see him, and the governor never returned the call, nor took and notice of him; nor did Captain Waddell ever speak to him, either officially or privately Captain Waddell did not entertain any of the officials of Melbourne. It is not true that the government engineer rendered any personal assistance or advice. The inspection he mad was under the orders of his own government, as shown in the official correspondence. It is not true that the name of the Sea King was painted out before Captain Waddell took posses sion of her; it was not painted out until she had been a week or more in his possession it is not true that the Shenandoah cruised for a month off the Isle of Japan; it is not true that the vessel had on board two 18-pounders; it is not true that money and jewelry and other valuables were taken from the officers and crews of the captured vessel or that he put the captured crews in irons, in order to induce them to enlist; it is not true that Captain Waddell sent some of the marines among the men to tell them that they was all to be southerners when their names were called over before Captain Paynter. There are numerous other false statements in the affidavit of Temple, which Captain Waddell deems to be unnecessary to answer, but he denies the above, partly because some of them, if true would affect his personal character as a gentleman, and the others he denies because they are capable of being disproved by other evidence within the reach of her Majesty’s government, and will show how utterly unworthy of belief this young man Temple is.

Captain Waddell delivered up the Shenandoah to her Majesty’s government, and her Majesty’s government handed her over to Mr. Dudley. Mr. Dudley, therefore, had it in his own power to ascertain the fact that there were no 18-pounders on board the ship. When the vessel was handed over to Captain Waddell, at Madeira, she had two signal guns, which we understand were put on board her by the orders of her Majesty’s government when on her previous voyage she had carried troops for her Majesty’s government. Her Majesty’s governments have, therefore, the means of testing the correctness of this story.

With respect to Temple, I may myself add, that unsolicited he called on me on the 24th November last, and tendered his evidence on behalf of Captain Corbett. I asked him where he was born, and he said at Madras. I asked him when and where he had enlisted into the Shenandoah, and he said at Madeira. I then told him I could not with propriety accept his evidence, as it would compromise himself, as he was a British subject at the time of his enlistment. He then said he was prepared to swear that he was born at Charleston, and I declined to have anything to do with him.

I am, &c., &c.,