William Stuart to William H. Seward, September 13, 1862

Mr. Stuart to Mr. Seward..

Sir: I have been instructed by Earl Russell to communicate to you the accompanying copy of the instructions which it is intended to furnish to the commanders of her Majesty’s cruisers who may be employed in carrying out the provisions of the treaty recently concluded between her Majesty’s government and the government of the United States for the suppression of the African slave trade. I have the honor likewise to enclose lists of the several ships employed on the African, North American, and West Indian stations, whose commanders will be authorized to act under the treaty, stating also the names of the commanders and the force of each vessel; and I am to request that you will furnish me with a similar list of United States cruisers. I am at the same time desired to inform you that her Majesty’s government have already mixed commission courts established at Sierra Leone and the Cape of Good Hope, and that by the first mail from England in the present month the officers in those courts were to be authorized and instructed to adjudicate in the cases of any vessels that may be brought before them under the provisions of the treaty. As regards the court to be established at New York, Mr. Archibald, her Majesty’s consul at that city, is to be appointed to the office of her Majesty’s judge, and Mr. Ryder, now her Majesty’s arbitrator in the mixed commission court at the Havana, is to be appointed in the same capacity at New York.

In making known these appointments to the United States government, I am to state to you that her Majesty’s government are only now waiting the appointment of officers on the part of the American government to the courts to be established at the Cape of Good Hope and Sierra Leone, in order to issue the necessary instructions to her majesty’s cruisers to carry out the stipulations of the treaty between the two countries.

An officer, in whose discretion and judgment her Majesty’s government have every confidence, was to be appointed in a few days after the date of Lord Russell’s despatch to me (which was of the 30th ultimo) to the command of her Majesty’s naval forces on the west coast of Africa, and it is expected that that officer will take his departure from England towards the end of this month. As it is considered important that he should take out with him the instructions for the squadron to act under the treaty, I am further instructed to ask you whether there will be any objection on the part of the United States government to the necessary instructions being sent out by him, or whether they would wish that the operations of the squadrons should be delayed until they are assured of the arrival at their post of the officers appointed on the part of the United States government to the mixed commission courts on the African coast.

I shall accordingly feel obliged to you if you will make me acquainted with the decision of the United States government on this matter with as little delay as possible.

I avail myself of this occasion to renew to you the assurance of my highest consideration.

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Sir: With reference to your letters of the 5th June last and 14th instant, I am commanded by my lords commissioners of the admiralty to acquaint you, for the information of Earl Russell, that warrants have been prepared for transmission to the several officers in command of her Majesty’s cruisers engaged in the suppression of the slave trade on the coast of Africa and in the North American and West Indian station, to act under the treaty recently concluded between Great Britain and the United States of America. An act of Parliament necessary for carrying the treaty into effect, viz: the 25th and 26th Vic., cap. 40, has now passed, and, in accordance with my letter of the 13th June last, warrants, with copies of the treaty, are ready for transmission to the officers as soon as my lords are informed that the mixed courts of justice are established and ready to take cognizance of captures made by virtue of the said treaty.

A list of the ships, with their force, to which these warrants will be sent, is, at present, as stated in the enclosed list.

I am, &c.,

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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

By the commissioners for executing the office of lord high admiral of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

Whereas a treaty between Great Britain and the United States of America, for the suppression of the slave trade, was signed at Washington on the 7th April, 1862, instructions for cruisers, marked A, and regulations for mixed courts of justice, marked B, being annexed thereto, and declared to form an integral part thereof, and the ratifications of the same were exchanged at London on the 20th of May, 1862 ; and whereas the high contracting parties mutually agreed thereby that ships of their respective navies, furnished with the instructions contained in annex A to the treaty, might visit, search, and send in for trial, merchant vessels of the two nations suspected on reasonable grounds of being engaged in the illegal traffic in slaves; and whereas we think fit that her Majesty’s ship under your command should be one of those authorized to act under the treaty—

We furnish you with a copy of the said treaty, and of its annexed, marked A and B; and you are hereby expressly authorized, empowered, and ordered to act in the suppression of the traffic in slaves according to the said treaty.

List of her Majesty’s ships employed in the suppression of the slave trade at Cape of Good Hope and West Coast of Africa.

List of her Majesty’s ships employed in the suppression of the slave trade at North America and West Indies.