Mason to [For enclosure in No. 12, Mr. Benjamin to Mr. Mason, June 11, 1863, see “North America, No. 13, (1864,)” page 25.], July 24, 1863

Mr. Mason to Earl Russell.–(Received July 24.)

My Lord: I have the honor to transmit to your lordship herewith a copy of the despatch of the secretary of state of the Confederate States of America to me, dated the 11th June ultimo, with copies of the documents accompanying it.

The instructions of the secretary to me being confined to the duty of furnishing this copy to your lordship, I refrain from any further act than to say, should it be the desire of the government of her Majesty to express any views on the matter contained therein, I will be happy in being the medium of communicating them to the secretary of state at Richmond.

I have, &c.,

Annexes.

Foreign Consuls.—Mr. Cridland, for some years past her Britannic Majesty’s vice-consul at Richmond, is about to leave this city for Mobile, having in his pocket the commission of full consul. So runs a common report, which has not yet been denied.

Mr. C.’s promotion will give great pleasure to his numerous friends in this city, where he is sincerely respected and warmly esteemed. But he is accredited to Mr. Lincoln, not to Mr. Davis, and his credentials bear recent date. This intelligence, so long as it remains uncontradicted, will not give pleasure to any one in the south. To be sure, we know that we have no national existence outside of our own fond imaginations, and that in the eyes of Great Britain we are still part and parcel of the United States, and destined, for all she cares, so to remain forever. We know, further, that sundry private citizens of the south, nicknamed ministers, are cooling their heels to no earthly purpose in the antechambers of St. James and the Tuilleries, and this useless refrigeration of the ossa calcis of Messrs. Mason and Slidell has been going on for above a year. Nor are we ignorant that some remote intimations of these things have reached the “so-called confederate government” without exciting the least stir or movement on the part of the “so-called.”

Knowing all this, our duty as good citizens and believers in that sound political dogma, “the government is in the possession of facts,” is to imitate the “so-called,” and make no stir. Accordingly we make none.

Nevertheless, the creation at this late day of a Lincoln consul at Mobile by the English secretary of foreign affairs, and the acceptance of such a commission by that consul, may well excuse, if it does not excite, a tendency on the part of the southern people to take the liberty of making a remark. There is a certain newness about the thing, which might, under other circumstances, occasion surprise; and, so to speak, a rawness in the matter that might, in ordinary times, produce a sensation bordering on the disagreeable. But these contingencies are remote. We are quite sure that there is not a man in the confederacy who feels the slightest inclination to make any remark until the war is over, and the public, as well as the “so-called confederate government,” is in possession of those awful facts on which the unofficial mind would be justified in basing an opinion, and in the absence of which the private citizen is dutifully and reverently dumb.

So far as Mr. Cridland is concerned, the statements made above may be unfounded. We shall be glad to hear it, if gladness be compatible with good citizenship and the facts possessed by the “so-called.”

It is possible, though not probable, that there are no British consuls accredited to the United States in this confederacy or elsewhere. If such be the fact, we may venture to be agreeably surprised so soon as the war terminates and the mysterious possessions of the “so-called” are generally distributed. Pending the war, however, we shall esteem it a great privilege to be permitted by the “so-called” to be as indifferent to the dignity and honor of the country as we are ignorant of the appalling facts in possession of the aforesaid “so-called.”

[Untitled]

Mr. Cridland.—We desire to correct the report mentioned by us yesterday in connexion with this gentleman, so far as to state that he goes to Mobile without commission from the Queen or exequatur from Washington, but simply at the request or order of Lord Lyons, to look after British interests in that quarter in an unofficial way. Of this we are assured by Mr. C. himself, who leaves the city this morning. In the capacity in which he goes he will, we are sure, receive from the hospitable and polished people of Mobile the consideration and courtesy to which he is entitled.

(F.)—Mr. Walsh to Mr. Magee.

I do hereby certify that the thirty-one kegs of specie, marked B.M., containing each $5,000, together $155,000, handed over to you by this institution for the purpose of having the same delivered to H. Bell, consul general at Havana, and to be transmitted thence to England to the consignment of the Union Bank of London by the British mail steamer, is for the purpose of paying dues to British subjects from the State of Alabama, and is the property and belongs to the subjects of her Britannic Majesty.

Very respectfully, &c.,