the Hon. A. H. Gordon to J. Hume Burnley, February 7, 1865

Mr. Gordon to Mr. Burnley

Sir: I have had the honor to receive your despatch of the 27th ultimo.

I request that you will have the goodness to thank Mr. Seward, in my behalf, for the communication of the information which has reached him as to the presence in this province of some of the parties implicated in the seizure of the steamer Chesapeake, and that you will inform him that no efforts will be spared on my part to secure their immediate arrest.

I have no doubt that the high sheriff of St. John has already, on the receipt of the information given him by the consul of the United States, taken steps to insure their capture; but in order that there may be no room on his part for any misapprehension of his duty, I have caused the letter of which I enclose a copy to be addressed to him. I have also directed a circular, of which a copy is likewise enclosed, to be issued to the sheriffs of the different counties.

I am not surprised that the amount and importance of the business in which Mr. Seward is engaged should have caused him to evince some forgetfulness of the details connected with a case which has now for many months ceased to occupy public attention; but, although the facts are for the most part recorded in my various communications addressed at the time to her Majesty’s minister at Washington, it may be convenient that I should put you, at all events, in full possession of them by a brief recapitulation. You will then perceive that the warrant issued by Judge Parker, referred to by Mr. Seward, does not in any way relate to the extradition of the parties, and was not issued under the authority of my warrant of the 24th of December, J 863, or in consequence of the requisition of the United States government for the surrender of the parties.

Previously to the discharge of the prisoners by Mr. Justice Ritchie, I had carefully considered the course which, in such an event, it would be advisable for me to pursue. It appeared to me that if it were decided by the judge that the accused parties would, if guilty of the crimes imputed to them, be amenable to the courts of this province, and not to those of the United States, the government of that country might justly expect that they should be brought to trial in this province upon the charges preferred against them. Accordingly, on Monday morning, March 7, three days before the delivery of Judge Ritchie’s judgment, I sent for the attorney general, and directed him to cause information to be laid and warrants prepared which would insure the re-arrest of the parties, should they be released by the judge’s orders. I directed the preparation of two separate warrants, of which one or other was to be used, according to the nature of the reasons assigned by the judge for the discharge of the prisoners. Should they be set free on the plea that their commissions in the confederate service rendered the acts committed by them justifiable as the acts of belligerents, I directed that such of them as were British subjects should be arrested for a breach of the foreign enlistment act. Should they be discharged because, in the judge’s opinion, their extradition could not properly be demanded by the government of the United States, I directed that the charge of piracy and murder preferred against them should be brought before the admiralty court of this province. The attorney general perfectly understood these instructions, as also their object, which was that matters might be in such a state of preparation that, in the event of the discharge of the prisoners, a very few minutes might suffice for the accomplishment of the form necessary to assure their re-arrest. On the following day I desired the provincial secretary to ascertain whether my orders had been carried out. He informed me that the necessary instructions had been forwarded to St. John. I therefore assumed, not I think without reason, that I had done all that could be reasonably looked for by the government of the United States, and given ample proof that no desire existed on the part of this government to shelter from justice the parties implicated in this transaction.

Circumstances, which I need not now detail, unfortunately prevented the due execution of these orders: and it was not until the 16th of March that Mr. Justice Parker issued the warrant, of which I now enclose a copy, and which you will perceive is not issued under the provisions of the act 6 and 7 Vict., cap. 76, but by the judge, as a member of the high court of admiralty; with a view to their being brought before which court for trial, it directs the apprehension of the parties. Immediately before my leaving this province for England in the month of April, information reached me that some of the parties were still in the neighborhood of St. John, and I directed the high sheriff to make every effort for their capture. I did not return to New Brunswick till August, and I have not since that time received any further intelligence on the subject.

I have, &c., &c.,