SIR: The President of the Confederate States has been
informed that in consequence of your assuming to act in
behalf of the government of Her Britannic Majesty on
matters occurring in the State of Mississippi, you were requested
to submit to this department your consular commission,
as well as any other authority held by you to act in
behalf of Her Majesty's government, before further correspondence
could be held with you as British Consul for the
port of Richmond. He has further been informed that you
have not acceded to this request, and that, in disregard of
the legitimate authority of the government, you have again
lately corresponded, as Her Majesty's Consul for this port,
with the Secretary of War of the Confederate States.
The President considers it as inconsistent with the respect which
it is his office to enforce towards the government, that you
should any longer be permitted to exercise the functions, or
enjoy the privileges of a consul in these Confederate States.
He has consequently thought proper by the letters patent,
of which I enclose you a copy, to revoke the exequatur
heretofore granted to you and to make public these letters
patent.
J. P. BENJAMIN,
Secretary of State.
Captain R. H. CATLETT,
Adjutant General, 1st Brigade, A. W. Va.:
CAPTAIN: The communication from the Secretary of War,
asking information respecting the conscription of Nicolas
Malony and Eugene Farrell, has been received; and in reply,
I submit the following: Nicolas Malony is a native of Ireland.
He does not know exactly how long since he came
from Ireland to this country. He has been a resident of
Greenbrier county, Virginia, for eight years. He bought
land in said county, and after the several payments were
made, he received the deed for the land, and that deed
was recorded in the Clerk's office of Greenbrier county three
years ago. From the time of purchase till he was conscribed,
he resided upon, and cultivated the land. His family still
resides upon it. He has also exercised the right of suffrage.
He was assigned (as a conscript) to this battalion in December,
1862.
Eugene Farrell is a native of Ireland. Does not know
the exact time when he came to this country. He bought
land in Fayette county, Virginia, and after the payments
were made, be received the deed for the land. That deed
was recorded in the Clerk's office of Fayette county; he
afterwards exchanged his land in Fayette for land in Greenbrier.
He afterwards sold one half of his land in Greenbrier
to his brother, and his family still resides upon the
half reserved. He has been a resident of Virginia for eight
years and has exercised the right of suffrage. He was
assigned to this battalion, as a conscript, in December, 1862.
From time of purchase to time of conscription, he resided
upon and cultivated his land.
GEORGE M. EDGAR,
Lieutenant Colonel Commanding.
RICHMOND, VA., May 5, 1863.
MY DEAR SIR: I have just received your letter of 30th
April, and I have at once addressed a letter to the Secretary
of War on the subject of Malony and Farrell, of which I
transcribe a copy herewith.
I am really at a loss to account for the dilatory proceedings
of the War Department, not to make use of any harsher
term; however, I cannot help saying to you, unofficially,
that the apparent apathy and indifference with which the
War Department seems to regard cases of the most atrocious
cruelty, quite baffle all my preconceived opinions of my own
kindred race.
I have lived thirty-two consecutive years (from 1826 to
1858 ) in despotic countries, and I am compelled to bear
witness that I have met in those foreign countries more official
courtesy and consideration from the local authorities, on
my representation of grievances, than I meet at the hands
of my own blood and lineage.
These reports, which I am obliged to send home, do not
tend to the consummation which, perhaps, some of us desire.
I will say no more, for it grieves me to write this.
(Signed,) GEORGE MOORE.
J. B. CALDWELL, ESQ., White Sulphur Springs, Greenbrier
county, Virginia.
SIR: Since my No. 24, of 6th instant, further information
has reached the Department, illustrating most forcibly
thee necessity for the action taken by the President on the
subject of Her Britannic Majesty's Consuls, resident within
the Confederacy, as explained in that dispatch.
On the 18th May, Mr. Cridland, who bad occasionally
acted as Consul in Richmond during temporary absences of
Consul Moore, sought an interview at the Department, and,
on being admitted, called my attention to an article in the
Richmond Whig of that date, which announced that Mr.
Cridland was about to depart for Mobile with the commission
of Consul, and that he was accredited to Mr. Lincoln, not
this Government. Mr. Cridland assured me that the
statement was erroneous, that he was going to Mobile as a
private individual, unofficially, to look after certain interests
of the British Government that had been left unprotected by
the withdrawal of Consul Magee. He further stated as he
was going there unofficially he had not conceived that there
was any impropriety in doing so without communicating his
intention to the Department, and hoped that such was my
own view of the matter. I informed him that all neutral
residents were at liberty to travel within the Confederacy
and to transact their business without other restrictions than
such as the military authorities found it necessary to impose
for the public safety, and that this Department saw no reason
to interpose any objection to his going to Mobile to transact
business unofficially. He then said that he had called at
the office of the Whig to make a similar explanation to the
editor of that paper, with a view to the correction of the
erroneous impression created by its article, and accordingly
on the next day an article appeared in that journal announcing
that it had received the assurance from Mr. Cridland
that he was going to Mobile "to look after British interests
in that quarter in an unofficial way," and that he was
"without commission from the Queen or exequatur from
Washington."
I was, therefore, quite surprised at receiving from the
Secretary of the Navy official communication of a telegram
received by him from Admiral Buchanan, informing the
Secretary that Mr. Cridland had been officially introduced
to him by the French Consul as Acting English Consul at
Mobile, and had shown the Admiral "an official document
signed by Lord Lyons, appointing him Acting English
Consul at Mobile." I append copies of this telegram, and
of the two articles above referred to, extracted from
the Richmond Whig.
These, however, are not the only exceptionable features
which mark this affair. Other circumstances, to which your
attention is invited, have been brought to the notice of the
Department by official communications from the Governor
of Alabama.
On the 11th November last, the Bank of Mobile, as agent
for the State of Alabama, addressed a communication to
Consul Magee, at Mobile, informing him that that State
would owe, during the ensuing year, to British subjects,
interest-coupons on the State bonds to the amount of
some forty thousand pounds sterling; that this interest
was payable in London at the Union Bank and at the
counting house of the Messrs. Rothschilds, and requesting
to know whether the Bank would be allowed to
place in the hands of the Consul, in coin, the sum necessary
for transmission to England, at the expense of the State, for
the purpose mentioned.
On the 14th November, Consul Magee replied that he had
sent to Her Britannic Majesty's Consul, at Now Orleans,
to ask if Her Majesty's steamship Rinaldo could not be sent
to Mobile, to receive the specie and take it to Havana, to be
forwarded thence by the Consul General of Great Britain to
London.
The specie was not conveyed by the Rinaldo, but by Her
Majesty's ship, "Vesuvius," and was accompanied by a
certificate of the President of the Bank stating that the
remittance of the "thirty-one kegs of specie containing
each five thousand dollars, together $155,000, * * * *
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."
The shipment was accompanied by a letter addressed by
the Bank, as agent of the State of Alabama, to W. W.
Scrimgeour, Esq., Manager of the Union Bank of London,
directing its appropriation to the payment of the interest
due to British and other foreign holders of the State bonds,
with the statement of the dates at which the several instalments
of the interest would become due and of the places
in London where they were to be paid.
So little doubt seems to have been entertained of the
propriety of this transaction by all that were engaged in it, that
the Commander of the "Vesuvius" informed the Commander
of the United States blockading squadron that the British
Consul had money to send by him, and no objection nor
protest was made. Among the papers annexed you will find
the account given by Commodore Hitchcock himself of his
conversation with the Commander of the "Vesuvius,"
written after the dismissal of Consul Magee, and, therefore,
at a period when the Commodore could certainly have no
motive for giving a coloring to his narrative, adverse to
what was then known to be the view of his Government on
the subject.
Under these circumstances, the "Vesuvius" received and
conveyed the specie which has since been received in England,
and, as stated in the public journals, paid in whole or in
part to British subjects, thus establishing the bona fides of
the conduct of all the parties to the transaction.
It now appears that no sooner was the intention of
making this remittance communicated to Her Britannic
Majesty's Minister, at Washington, than he took active
measures to prevent it, by sending dispatches to Mobile forbidding
the shipment. They, however, failed to arrive
before the departure of the "Vesuvius" with the specie,
whereupon Consul Magee was dismissed from office for
receiving and forwarding it; and the vacancy thus created
in the office of British Consul, at Mobile, was filled by Lord
Lyons by the issue of a commission to Mr. Cridland, and
his departure for Mobile under the circumstances already
explained.
These facts are of a character so grave as to have
attracted the earnest attention of the President, and it is
my duty to apprise you of the conclusions at which he has
arrived, in order that you may lose no time in laying them
before her Majesty's Government, in the hope that a renewed
examination of the subject, and a knowledge of the serious
complications which the present anomalous relations between
the two Governments may involve, will induce the British
Cabinet to review its whole policy connected with those
relations, and to place them on the sole footing consistent
with accomplished facts, that are too notorious and too firmly
established to be much longer ignored.
By the principles of the modern public code, debts due by a
State are not subject to the operations of the laws of war, and
are considered so sacred as to be beyond the reach of confiscation.
An attempt at such confiscation would be reprobated
by mankind. The United States alone in modern
times have courted such reprobation, and just detestation
has been universally expressed of their confiscation laws
passed during the pending war. The Government of Great
Britain on the contrary, has at all times manifested its
abhorrence of such breaches of public faith, and in the
Crimean war gave to the world a memorable example of its
own high regard for public honor by paying over to its
enemy money which it well knew would be immediately
employed in waging hostilities against itself. The States
of this Confederacy are emulous of examples of honor, and
they accordingly refrained, on the breaking out of hostilities,
from even the temporary sequestration of the dividends of
their public debt due to their enemies. It was not until
they had received notice of the confiscation law passed by
the United States on the 6th August, 1861, that they consented
to the temporary sequestration of the property of their
enemies, and even then the sequestration was declared to be
for the sole purpose of securing a fund to indemnify the
sufferers under the confiscation law of the United States.
The following clause of our law, exempting public debts
from its operation, is extracted as a proof of the sacred regard
for public faith manifested by these States under
strong temptation to retaliate and under all the exasperation
of the savage warfare then actually waged against them:
Such being the obligations imposed on States in regard to
the payment of public debts towards even their enemies, no
deeper reproach can stain their name than the refusal to do
justice to neutral creditors. The observance of plighted
public faith concerns mankind at large; in it all nations
have a common interest; and the belligerent who perverts
the weapons of legitimate warfare into an instrumentality
for forcing his enemy to dishonor his obligations and incur
the reproach of being faithless to his engagements, wages a
piratical and not an honorable warfare, and becomes hostis
generis humani. Public honor is hold sacred by international
law against the attack of the most malevolent foe, and as
susceptible of loss only by the recreancy of its possessor.
What possible lawful interest could the United States have
in preventing the remittance of the specie due to the creditors
of the State of Alabama? Blockades are allowed by
the law of nations as a means of enforcing the submission of
an enemy by the destruction of his commerce, the exhaustion
of his resources, and consequent forced abandonment of
the struggle. The remittance of the specie in the present
case, far from retarding these ligitimate objects, tended, on
the contrary, to promote them by the diversion of the money
from application to military purposes. The United States
could not have desired that the specie should remain within
the Confederacy save with one of two motives: 1st, to dishonor
the State of Alabama by giving color to the reproach
that it was regardless of public faith, and on this comment
has already been made; or, secondly, in the hope that by
the fortunes of war the money would come within the reach
of spoliation under its confiscation law. It is scarcely
necessary to observe that the desire to enrich itself, by
plunder, at the expense of neutral creditors, is as little consonant
with respect for public law and the rights of neutrals,
as the purpose forcibly to prevent the State of Alamaba
from redeeming its plighted faith.
justly entitled, it is certain that there are but two aspects
in which the State of Alabama can be regarded by Her
Majesty's Government. Alabama is either one of the States
of the former Union engaged in armed rebellion against the
legitimate authority of the United States, or is an independent
State, and a member of this Confederacy, engaged in
lawful war against the United States. An examination of
the effect of either of these relations upon the facts connected
with the dismissal of Consul Magee and the appointment
of Mr. Cridland, will now be presented in vindication
of the action which the President deems it his duty to take
on this subject.
1. If the British Government think proper to assume
(although the contrary is deemed by this Government to be
fully established by convincing reason and victorious arms,)
that the State of Alabama is still one of the United States,
then the Government of the United States is bound towards
Great Britain, as well as to all other neutral nations, to render
all legitimate aid in the collection of their just claims
against that State. Although by the Constitution of the
United States its Government may be without power to enforce
the payment of a debt due to foreign subjects or powers
by an unwilling State, none can doubt its duty to interpose
no obstruction to the payment of such debt; and no more
legitimate ground of complaint could be afforded to Great
Britain against the Government of the United States, than
an opposition made by that Government to the payment of
a just debt due by Alabama to the subjects of Great Britain.
In this aspect of the case, therefore, the British officials at
Mobile were doing a duty which ought to have been equally
acceptable both to the United States and Great Britain,
when they facilitated the transmission of funds by that State
for that purpose to England, where the debt was made payable,
and merited applause rather than a manifestation of displeasure.
2. If, on the contrary, the State of Alabama be regarded
(as in right, and fact she really is) an independent State
engaged in war against the United States, as a foreign enemy,
then the President cannot refrain from observing that
the action of Her Britannic Majesty's Minister at Washington
savored on this occasion rather of unfriendly co-operation
with an enemy than of just observance of neutral obligations.
For, in this view of the case, a minister accredited
to the government of our enemies has not only assumed the
exercise of authority within this Confederacy, without the
knowledge or consent of its government, but has done so
under circumstances that rather aggravate than palliate the
offense of disregarding its sovereign rights. His action
further conveys the implication that this Confederacy is
subordinate to the United States, and that his credentials,
addressed to the Government at Washington, justify his
ignoring the existence of this government, and his regarding
these States as an appendage of the country to which he
is accredited. Nor will Her Majesty's Government fail to
perceive that, in no sense can it be considered consonant
with the rights of this government, or with neutral obligations,
that a public minister should be maintained near the
cabinet of our enemies, charged both with the duty of entertaining
amicable relations with them, and with the power of
controlling the conduct of British officials resident with us.
Nor will the application of the foregoing remarks be at all
impaired if Her Majesty's Government, declining to determine
the true relation of the State of Alabama to the United
States, choose to consider that question as still in abeyance, and to
regard that State as simply a belligerent whose ulterior
status must await the event of the war. In this hypothesis,
the objection to delegating authority over British officials
residing with us, to a minister charged with the duty
of rendering himself acceptable to our enemies is still graver
than would exist in the case of hostile nations equally recognized
as independent by a neutral power. For in the
latter case the parties would have equal ability to vindicate their rights through
the usual channels of official intercourse, whereas in the
former the belligerent which enjoys exclusively this advantage
is armed by the neutral with additional power to inflict injury
on his enemy.
The President has, in the facts already recited, seen
renewed reasons for adhering to his determination, mentioned
in my preceding dispatch, of prohibiting any direct communication
between consuls or consular agents, residing within
the Confederacy, and the functionaries of their governments
residing amongst our enemies. He further indulges the
hope, (which Her Majesty's Government cannot but regard
as reasonable, and which he is, therefore, confident will be
justified by its action,) that Her Majesty's Government will
choose some other mode of transmitting its orders and exercising
its authority over its agents within the Confederacy,
than by delegating to functionaries who reside among our
enemies, the power to give orders or instructions to those who
reside among us.
The President is confident that Her Majesty's Government
will render full justice to the motives by which these
measures are prompted, and will perceive in them a manifestation
of the earnest desire entertained by him to prevent
the possibility of any unfortunate complications having a
tendency to impair the amity which it is equally the interest
and the desire of this government to cherish with that of
Great Britain.
The President wishes a copy of this dispatch to be placed
by you in the hands of Earl Russel.
J. P. BENJAMIN,
Secretary of State.
HON. JAS. M. MASON, &c., &c., London.
(A.)
Extract from the Richmond Whig of 18th May.
FOREIGN CONSULS.
Mr. Cridland, for some years past H. B. M.'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
Page 22
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
ante-chambers of St. James and the Tuileries; 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 motion or stir. Accordingly we make none.
Nevertheless, the creation, at this late day, of a Lincolnite
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
Page 23
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."
(B.)
Extract from the Richmond Whig of 19th May.
MR. CRIDLAND.
We desire to correct the report mentioned by us yesterday,
in connection 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.
(C.)
TELEGRAM.
MOBILE, June 4, 1862.
HON. S. R. MALLORY, Secretary of Navy:
The French Consul, Mr. Portz, in his official capacity
as acting English Consul, introduced me to Mr. Cridland,
Page 24
who has shown me an official document, signed by Lyons,
appointing him the acting English Consul at Mobile. Am
I to recognize him as such?
FRANK BUCHANAN,
Admiral, &c.
(D.)
Charles Walsh, President, to Mr. James Magee.
BANK OF MOBILE.
Mobile, November 11, 1862
DEAR SIR: The State of Alabama is very anxious to insure
to its creditors their dues to the utmost fraction, notwithstanding
the obstacles now thrown in the way by the
United States Government to prevent creditors [debtors]
in the Confederate States from meeting their obligations.
This State will owe the coming year, in payment of its
interest-coupons on bonds due British subjects, some forty
thousand pounds sterling, which coupons are payable at the
Union Bank, and at the counting house of the Messrs. Rothschilds,
in London. The State is not only anxious, but determined,
if possible, to continue to protect its credit, and
promptly meet its obligations as heretofore; also to
fulfil, strictly, its promises to its foreign creditors, both
in regard to the payment of its dues, as well as to its promised
places of payment. With this view, will you allow me to
invoke your kind aid in behalf of the State and this Bank,
which has acted as the fiscal agent of the State for many
years past in the payment of its foreign interest, to fulfil its
obligations, which is of the utmost importance in every
point of view, both to the State of Alabama and to its foreign
creditors. I have now to ask the favor of your ascertaining
from the British Minister at Washington. (or through any
other channel,) if this Bank can be allowed to place in your
hands, the sum necessary, in coin, for transmission to England
by the first favorable opportunity, at the expense of
the State, for the purpose mentioned.
Page 25
I must ask you kindly to give me as early a reply to this
communication as your convenience will permit.
I am, very respectfully,
Your obedient servant,
CHARLES WALSH,
President.
(E.)
MOBILE, November 14, 1862.
CHARLES WALSH, ESQ., President, &c.:
SIR: Your favor of the 11th, current, duly received, and,
referring to its contents, I beg leave to inform you, that I
sent yesterday, by an opportunity, to New Orleans, a dispatch
to H. B. M. Consul there, stating the gist of your
desire, and asked if H. M. S. "Rinaldo," Captain Hewitt,
now at New Orleans, could not be sent to this place, in order
to receive from you the specie, take it hence to Havana,
and allow the Consul General of Great Britain to forward
it per steamer to London.
If I fail here, I will invoke the aid of Lord Lyons at
Washington.
I am, &c.,
JAMES MAGEE,
Acting British Consul.
(F.)
Mr. Walsh to Mr. Magee, Acting Consul.
DEAR SIR: I do hereby certify that the thirty-one kegs of
specie, marked B. M., containing each five thousand dollars,
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
Page 26
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,
Your obedient servant,
CHARLES WALSH,
President.
(G.)
MOBILE, January 3,1863
.
W. W. SCRIMGEOUR, Manager Union Bank of London:
DEAR SIR: This institution deposited in the French Consul's
hands, for safe-keeping, in May last, thirty-one kegs
of specie, containing each five thousand Mexican dollars,
together $155,000, appropriated by the State of Alabama
to pay the British and other foreign holders of State bonds,
the interest due on sums as follows:
1863.
- June 1st, £9,380 17 7 Payable at Union Bank
- July 1st, 3,215 11 9 Payable at Union Bank
- July 1st, 465 17 3 Payable at Messrs. Rothschilds.
1864.
- January 1st, 3,215 11 9 Payable at Union Bank.
- January 1st, 465 17 3 Payable at Messrs. Rothschilds.
- June 1st, 9,380 17 7 Payable at Union Bank.
- July 1st, 3,215 11 9 Payable at Union Bank
- July 1st, 465 17 3 Payable at Messrs. Rothschilds.
- £29,806 2 2
The arrival of H. B. M. ship "Vesuvius," Lieutenant
Crooke, affords the opportunity of sending this forward;
and the said specie has been turned over to H. B. M. acting
Consul here, James Magee, Esq., who has shipped it by said
vessel to James G. Crawford, Esq., H. B. M. Consul General
Page 27
at Havana, and who is requested to ship the same by the
British mail steamer to your consignment, for the purpose
of paying it over to the parties holding the said interest-coupons
under such arrangements as have heretofore existed
with you by this Bank.
The charges for freight from this port, and all expenses
belonging thereto, you will please pay to the debit of this
Bank.
I remain, very respectfully,
Your obedient servant,
CHARLES WALSH,
President.
B. M. 31 kegs specie, $5,000 each, together $155,000.
(H.)
U. S. STEAMER SUSQUEHANNA
Pensacola Bay, April 8, 1863.
JAMES MAGEE, Esq., Late Acting British Consul, Mobile, Ala.:
Sir: Your communication of the 4th instant, has this moment
been received by flag of truce.
In relation to your connection with the transaction of
shipping specie from Mobile, I know very little. The commander
of the "Vesuvius" told me he came to transact
government business with the British Consul, and that he
believed he (the Consul) had some money to send by him.
To which, I replied "We cannot examine an English man-of-war.
We trust all you do will be right and proper. You
could go up to the city, if you wished, where we do not go."
Further than this, I have no knowledge.
Very respectfully,
Your obedient servant,
N. B. HITCHCOCK,
Commander, Commanding Div. U. S. B. Squadron.
(I.)
Circular to Foreign Consuls.
DEPARTMENT OF STATE,
Richmond. June 10, 1863.
SIR: It becomes my duty to inform you that the President
has determined to permit no direct communication
Page 28
between consuls or consular agents of foreign countries
residing within the Confederacy, and the functionaries of
such foreign governments residing in the enemy's line. The
passage in future of consular couriers, messengers, or of
consuls or consular agents themselves, through the Confederate
lines to the enemy is accordingly prohibited, and foreign
officials will be allowed to communicate with their governments
only directly or through neutral countries.
With great respect, &c.,
J. P. BENJAMIN,
Secretary of State.
Mr. Mason to Earl Russell.
24 UPPER SEYMOUR STREET,
Portman Square, July 24, 1863.
The Right Honorable EARL RUSSELL, &c., &c., &c. :
MY LORD: I have the honor to transmit to your lordship,
herewith, a copy of the despatch of the Secretary of State
the Confederate States of America to me, dated the 11th of
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 the honor to be, &c.,
(Signed,) J. M. MASON,
Special Commissioner, &c.
Mr. Mason to Earl Russell.
24 UPPER SEYMOUR STREET,
Portman Square July 29, 1863.
The Right Honorable EARL RUSSELL, &c., &c., &c.:
MY LORD: As promised in my letter of the 21st of July,
instant, I have now the honor to communicate, herewith, to
your lordship, a copy of the dispatch of the 6th of June,
Page 29
ultimo, from the Secretary of State of the Confederate
States to me, with copies of the documents accompanying
it, They relate to the matter of the dismissal of Mr. Moore,
late British Consul, at Richmond.
I have the honor to be,
Your lordship's very obd't serv't
(Signed,) J. M. MASON,
Special Commissioner, &c.
Earl Russell to Mr. Mason.
FOREIGN OFFICE, August 19, 1863.
J. M. MASON, Esq., &c., &c. :
SIR: In reply to your letters of the 24th and 29th ultimo,
I have to state to you that Mr. Acting-Consul Magee failed
in his duty to Her Majesty, by taking advantage of the
presence of a ship-of-war of her Majesty at Mobile, to transmit
specie to England. This transaction had the character,
in the eyes of Her Majesty's Government, of aiding one of
the belligerents against the other.
Laying aside, however, this question of the conduct of
Mr. Acting-Consul Magee, of which Her Majesty is the sole
judge, I am willing to acknowledge that the so-styled Confederate
States are not bound to recognize an authority derived
from Lord Lyons, Her Majesty's Minister at Washington.
But it is very desirable that persons authorized by Her
Majesty should have the means of representing, at Richmond
and elsewhere in the Confederate States, the interests
of British subjects, who may be, in the course of the war,
grievously wronged by the acts of subordinate officers.
This has been done in other similar cases of States not recognized
by Her Majesty, and it would be in conformity
with the amity professed by the so-styled Confederate States
towards Her Majesty and the British nation, if arrangements
could be made for correspondence between agents
appointed by Her Majesty's Government, to reside in the
Confederate States, and the authorities of such States.
I have the honor to be, sir, your most obedient, humble
servant,
(Signed,) RUSSELL.
Page 30
Mr. Mason to Earl Russell.
24 UPPER SEYMOUR STREET, Portman Square, September 4, 1863.
The Right Honorable EARL RUSSELL,
Her Majesty's Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs:
MY LORD: I have had the honor to receive your lordship's
letter of the 19th August, utlimo, in reply to mine of the
24th and 29th July, ultimo. I shall transmit a copy of your lordship's
letter to the Secretary of State at Richmond.
These dispatches of Mr. Benjamin, full copies of which I
have, by his direction, furnished your lordship, certainly
evince no disinclination to permit any persons accredited by
Her Majesty's Government as its consular or other agents
to reside within the Confederate States, and as such to be in
communication with the government there. They explain
only (and certainly in terms of amity,) how it has resulted
that the Government of the Confederate States has felt itself
constrained to prohibit, in future, any direct communication
between such agents and Her Majesty's Minister resident at
Washington, a prohibition, which I understand from these
dispatches, is equally extended to all like agents of foreign
powers and their Ministers at Washington. All communications
to or from such agents are, in future, to be made
through vessels arriving from or dispatched to neutral ports.
That it should have become necessary to impose this
restriction is, I am sure, a matter of regret to the President
of the Confederate States; but the circumstances which
have called it forth are under the control of foreign governments,
and not under the control of the President.
In regard to the suggestion in your lordship's letter, that
it would be "very desirable that persons authorized by Her
Majesty should have the means of representing at Richmond,
and elsewhere in the Confederate States, the interests of
'British subjects,' which, as your Lordship states, 'has
been done in other similar cases of States not recognized
by Her Majesty,' " under arrangements for correspondence
between agents appointed by Her Majesty's Government to
reside in the Confederate States, and the authorities in such
States, I can only say, that if it be your lordship's pleasure
Page 31
to make this proposition in such form as may be agreeable
to Her Majesty's Government, and riot at variance with the
views expressed in the dispatch of Mr. Benjamin, I do not
doubt it would receive the favorable consideration of the
government at Richmond; and I should be happy in being
the medium to communicate it.
I have the honor to be your lordship's very obedient
servant,
(Signed,) J. M. MASON,
Special Commissioner, &c.
(No. 25.)
Mr. Benjamin to Mr. Slidell.
DEPARTMENT OF STATE,
Richmond, Oct. 8, 1863.
SIR: The conduct of the British Consular Agents in the
Confederacy has compelled the President to take the decisive
step of expelling them from our country, and it is deemed
proper to put you in possession of the causes which have
produced this result, that you may have it in your power to
correct any misrepresentations on the subject. To this end,
it is necessary to review the whole course of the British
Government, and that of the Confederacy, in relation to
these officials.
When the Confederacy was first formed, there were in our
ports a number of British Consuls and Consular Agents,
who had been recognized as such, not only by the Government
of the United States, which was then the authorized
agent of the several States for that purpose, but by the State
authorities themselves. Under the law of nations, these
officials are not entitled to exercise political or diplomatic
functions, nor are they ever accredited to the sovereigns
within whose dominions they reside. Their only warrant of
authority is the commission of their own government; but
usage requires that those who have the full grade of Consul
should not exercise their functions within the territory of
Page 32
any sovereign before receiving his permission in the form of
an exequatur; while consular agents of inferior grade simply
notify the local authorities of their intention to act in
that capacity. It has not been customary upon any change
of government, to interfere with these commercial officials,
already established in the discharge of their duties, and it
is their recognized obligation to treat all governments which
may be established, de facto, over the ports where they reside,
as governments de jure. The British Consular officials gave
no cause of complaint on this score, and the President interposed
no objection to the continued exercise of their functions.
On other grounds however, various causes of complaint
subsequently arose, and, in the case of Consul Moore,
it was found necessary to revoke his exequatur, for his disregard
of the legitimate request of this department that he should
abstain from further action as consul until he had submitted
his commission for inspection, and because of his offensive
remarks touching the conduct of the Confederate authorities
in relation to two enlisted soldiers, as fully explained in a
published dispatch of this government. Attention was also
called in that dispatch (which was communicated to the
British Cabinet,) to the objectionable conduct of British
functionaries in the enemy's country, who assumed authority
within the limits of the Confederacy, thereby implying
that these States were still members of the Union to which
those functionaries were accredited, and ignoring the existence
of this government within the territory over which it
was exercising unquestioned sway. Notwithstanding the
grave character of this complaint, the President confined
himself to reprehending this conduct and to informing the
British Government that he had forbidden, for the future
any, direct communication between British Consuls here and
British officials in the United States. And here it may not
be improper to observe that although this dispatch was published
at the time of its date, and, was communicated to the
Foreign office in London, Her Majesty's Ministers made the
strange mistake of asserting in the House of Commons that
Mr. Moore's dismissal was connected, in some way, with
alleged cruelties committed on one Belshaw, of whose existence
the department was ignorant till the publication of the
debate, and concerning whom no representation exists on its
files.
Soon after that dispatch was forwarded, the President was
apprised by the Governor of Alabama that Her Majesty's
Page 33
Government had visited with severe displeasure and had
removed from office the British Consular Agent at Mobile,
because he had received and forwarded from Mobile, on an
English man-of-war, money due by the State of Alabama to
British subjects for interest on the public debt of the State;
and that the British Minister at Washington, after failing in
active efforts to prevent the remittance of this money had
assumed the power of appointing a consular agent within
the Confederacy to replace the officer at Mobile, who had
incurred censure and punishment for the discharge of a plain
duty to British subjects, which happened to be distasteful to
the United States. A copy of the dispatch on this subject
communicated to the British Government is enclosed, and
you will perceive the action of the President was marked
by extreme forbearance, and that he confined himself to refusing
permission that Mr. Cridland should act under Lord
Lyons' instructions, and to expressing the confident hope
that Her Majesty's Government would, in the future, choose
some other mode of transmitting its orders and exercising
its authority over its agents within the Confederacy, than by
delegating to functionaries, who reside among our enemies,
the power to give orders or instructions to those who reside
among us.
In his answer to this dispatch, (of which a copy is also
enclosed,) Earl Russell, while acknowledging the justice of
our remonstrance against the assumption of authority by
Lord Lyons, defends the action of the British Government
in the matter of the Mobile Consulate by maintaining that
the transmission of the specie by Consul Magee, under the
circumstances above explained, "had the character, in the
eyes of Her Majesty's Government, of aiding one of the
belligerents against the other." This Statement clearly
assumes that the transmission of specie from one of these
States to Great Britain in payment of a public debt to British
subjects is an act of hostility against the United States,
which British officials cannot promote with due regard to
neutral obligations, because it "aids, one of the belligerents
against the other." No reason is given for this conclusion,
which appears to us at variance with all received notions of
international law. The States of the Confederacy have
under the most adverse circumstances made great efforts and
sacrifices to effect punctual payment of their debt to neutrals,
these efforts do not seem to us to be properly characterized
as being belligerent acts against our enemies. We
Page 34
can but regret that Her Majesty's Government have determined
so to regard them, and to discourage the discharge of
a duty in which British subjects are so deeply interested.
Within the last few days the President has been informed
by communications addressed to the State and Confederate
authorities by two out of the three British Consular Agents
remaining here, that they had received instructions from
their government to pursue a course of conduct in regard to
persons of British origin now resident within the Confederacy,
which it has been impossible to tolerate. It seems
scarcely probable that the instructions of Earl Russell have
been properly understood by his agents, but we have no
means of communicating with the British Government for
the correction of misunderstandings. You are aware that
Great Britain has no diplomatic agent accredited to us, and
that Earl Russell having declined a personal interview with
Mr. Mason, the latter, after some time spent in an unsatisfactory
interchange of written communications, has been
relieved of a mission which had been rendered painful to
himself, and was productive of no benefit to his country.
The President was, therefore, compelled to take the remedy
into his own hands.
A brief statement will suffice for your full comprehension
of the matter. In April, 1862, Congress passed a law
directing a draft for the army of "all white men who are
residents of the Confederate States, between the ages of
eighteen and forty-five years, and not legally exempted from
military service." The draft was made, as stated in the law,
in view of the absolute necessity "of placing in the field a
large additional force to meet the advancing columns of the
enemy now invading our soil;" in other words, all residents
capable of bearing arms were called on to protect their own
homes from invasion, their own property from plunder, their
own families from cruel outrage. You will observe, that
the call was not made until after a year of war, during which
it had been entirely within the power of all foreigners to
depart from a country threatened with invasion, if they preferred
not to share the common lot of its inhabitants.
Upon the promulgation of this law objection was made by
several foreign consuls to its application to the subjects of
their sovereigns, and the President directed that its provisions
should not be so construed as to impose forced military
service on mere sojourners, or temporary residents, but only
on such as had become citizens of the Confederacy de jure,
Page 35
or had rendered themselves liable, under the law of nations,
to be considered as citizens de facto by having established
themselves as permanent residents within the Confederacy,
without the intention of returning to their native country.
To this very liberal interpretation of the law in favor of
foreign residents, it was not supposed that objection could
be taken, but on the 12th November, 1862, Consul Bunch,
at Charleston, wrote to the department as follows:
"I have now received the instructions of Earl Russel to signify to you
the views of Her Majesty's Government on this subject:
"I am desired to lose no time in remonstrating strongly against the
forcible enlistment of British subjects, and to say that such subjects
domiciled only by residence in the so-called Confederate States cannot
be forcibly enlisted in the, military service of those States by virtue of
an ex post facto law, when no municipal law existed at the time of their
domicil rendering them liable to such service.
It may be competent for a State in which a domiciled foreigner may
reside to pass such an ex post facto law, if at the same time an option
offered to foreigners affected by it to quit, after a reasonable period, the
Territory, if they object to serve in the armies of the State; but without
this option such a law would violate the principles of international law,
and even with such all option, the comity heretofore observed between
independent States would not be very scrupulously observed.
"The plainest notions of reason and justice forbid that a foreigner
admitted to reside for peaceful and commercial purposes in a State forming
a part of the Federal Union should be suddenly and without warning
compelled by the State to take an active part in hostilities against other
States, which, when he became domiciled, were members of one and the
same Confederacy; which States, moreover, have threatened to treat as
rebels, and not as prisoners of war, all who may fall into their hands.
"To these considerations must be added the fact that the persons who
have been the victims of this forced enlistment are forbidden under
severe penalties by the Queen's proclamation, to take any part in the
civil war now raging in America, and that thus they are made not only
to enter a military service contrary to their own wishes, and in violation
of the tacit compact under which they took up their original domicil, but
also to disobey the order of their legitimate sovereign.
"I am directed by Earl Russell, to urge these several considerations
upon you, and to add that Her Majesty's Government confidently hope and
expect that no further occasion for remonstrance will arise on this point."
No reply was deemed necessary to this dispatch, (nor to a
similar one from Consul Moore dated on the 14th November,)
notwithstanding the very questionable assumptions,
both of law and fact, contained in it, because there seemed
to be no substantial point at issue between the two governments,
and discussion could, therefore, serve no useful purpose.
Earl Russell was not understood to insist on anything
more than that British subjects, resident within the Confederacy,
should be allowed a reasonable time to exercise the
option of departing from the country, if unwilling to be
enrolled in its service; and, in point of fact, this option had
Page 36
never been refused them, and many had availed themselves
of it. Nor was it "believed that Her Majesty's Government
expected a very favorable response to their appeal to this
government for the exercise of the comity between "independent"
States supposed to be involved in this subject,
whilst Great Britain was persistently refusing to recognize
the independence which alone could justify the appeal.
Since the date of these two letters, numerous requests
have been made by British Consular officials for the interposition
of this government in behalf of persons, alleged to
be British subjects, wrongfully subjected to draft. Relief
has always been afforded when warranted by the facts, but
it soon became known that these gentlemen regarded their
own certificates as conclusive evidence that the persons
named in them were exempt from military service, and that
these certificates were freely issued on the simple affidavit of
the interested parties. Thus, Consul Moore was deceived
into claiming exemption for two men who were proven to
be citizens of the Confederacy, and to have been land-owners
and voters for a series of years prior to the war.
Much inconvenience was occasioned before these abuses
could be corrected, but they afterwards assumed a shape
which forbade further tolerance. The correspondence of the
acting British Consuls at Savannah and Charleston, already
referred to, asserts the existence of instructions from their
government, under which, instead of advising British subjects
to resort to the courts of justice, always open for the
redress of grievances, or to apply to this government for
protection against any harsh or unjust treatment by its
subordinates, they deem it a duty to counsel our enlisted
soldiers to judge for themselves of their right to exemption,
to refuse obedience to Confederate laws and authority, and
even exhort them to open mutiny in face of the enemy.
This unwarrantable assumption by foreign officials of
jurisdiction within our territory, this offensive encroachment
on the sovereignty of the Confederate States, has been
repressed by the President's order for the immediate departure
of all British Consular Agents form our country, as
you will perceive by a perusal of the enclosed copy of the
notice addressed to one of them, Acting Consul Fullarton.
But a few months have elapsed since the utmost indignation
was expressed by the British Government against the
United States Minister at London, for issuing a safe conduct
to be used on the high seas by a merchant vessel; and the
Page 37
ground of this denunciation was his exercise of direct
authority over subject-matter within the exclusive territorial
jurisdiction of the Queen. It is difficult, therefore, to conceive
on what basis Her Majesty's Government have deemed
themselves justified in the much graver encroachment on the
sovereignty of these States, which has been attempted under
instructions alleged to have emanated from them.
It is not my purpose here to discuss the nature and extent
of the claims of the Confederacy on the allegiance of persons
of foreign origin residing permanently within its limits,
(easy as would be the task of demonstrating the obligation
of such residents, under the law of nations, to aid in the
defence of their own homes and property against invasion,)
because, as already observed, the liberal construction of the
law in their favor which has been sanctioned by the President
dent, and the indulgence of the Government in permitting
them, for many months to exercise the option of avoiding
service by departing hum the country, deprive the discussion
of any practical interest. I have been induced to place the
whole subject fully in your possession, by reason of a statement
made by Consul Fullarton to the Governor of Georgia,
that in the event of the failure, of his remonstrances to produce
the exemption of all British subjects from service, he
is instructed to state that "the governments in Europe,
interested in this question, will united in making such representations
as will secure to aliens this desired exemption."
The menace here implied would require no answer if it
were not made professedly under instructions. It is scarcely
necessary to say to you that the action of the President in
repelling with decision any attempt by foreign officials to
arrogate sovereign rights within our limits, or to interfere of
their own authority with the execution of our laws, would
not be affected in the slightest degree by representations
from any source, however exalted. This is the only point
on which the President has had occasion to act and on this
point there is no room for discussion.
The exercise of the Droit de renvoi is too harsh, however,
to be resorted to without justifiable cause, and it is proper
that you should have it in your power to explain the grounds
on which the President has been compelled to enforce it.
Lest also the Government of His Imperial Majesty should
be misled into the error of supposing that the rights of
French citizens are in any manner involved in the action of
the President which has been rendered necessary by the
Page 38
reprehensible conduct of the British Consular Agents, you
are requested to take an early occasion for giving such
explanation to M. Drouyn de L'Huys as will obviate all risk
of misapprehension.
I am, sir, respectfully, your obedient servant,
J. P. BENJAMIN,
Secretary of State.
HON. JOHN SLIDELL,
Commissioner, &c., &c., Paris, France.
(A.)
Mr. Benjamin to Mr. Fullarton.
DEPARTMENT OF STATE,
Richmond, October 8th, 1863.
SIR: Your letters of the 1st and 3d instants, have been
received. You inform this Government that, "under your
instructions you have felt it to be your duty to advise British
subjects that whilst they ought to acquiesce in the service
required so long as it is restricted to the maintenance of
internal peace and order, whenever they shall be brought
into actual conflict with the forces of the United States,
whether under the State or Confederate Government, the
service so required is such as they cannot be expected to
perform."
Your correspondence with the Governor of Georgia leaves
do doubt of the meaning intended to be conveyed by this
language. In that correspondence you state that "under
instructions, you have felt yourself compelled to advise
those drafted to acquiesce until called from their homes or
to meet the United States forces in actual conflict; but, in
that event, to throw down their arms and refuse to render
a service directly in the teeth of Her Majesty's proclamation
and which would incur the severe penalties denounced
in the neutrality act."
In a communication from the acting British Consul, in
Charleston, to the military authorities, he also has informed
them that, "he has advised the British subjects generally
to acquiesce in the State militia organizations, but at the
same time he informed them that in the event the militia
should be brought into conflict with the forces of the United
Page 39
States, either before or after being turned over to the Confederate
Government, the services required of them would
be such as British subjects could not be expected to perform."
It thus appears that the Consular Agents of the British
Government have been instructed not to confine themselves
to an appeal for redress, either to courts of justice
or to this Government, whenever they may conceive
that grounds exist for complaint against the Confederate
authorities in their treatment of British subjects, (an appeal
which has in no case been made without receiving just consideration
but that they assume the power of determining
for themselves whether enlisted soldiers of the Confederacy
are properly bound to its service; that they even arrogate
the right to interfere directly with the execution of the
Confederate laws, and to advise soldiers of the Confederate
armies to throw down their arms in the face of the enemy.
This assumption of jurisdiction by foreign officials within
the territory of the Confederacy, and this encroachment on
its sovereignty cannot be tolerated for a moment, and the
President has had no hesitation in directing that all Consuls
and Consular Agents of the British Government be notified
that they can no longer be permitted to exercise their functions
or even to reside within the limits of the Confederacy.
I am directed, therefore, by the President to communicate
to you this order, that you promptly depart from the Confederacy,
and that in the meantime you cease to exercise any
Consular functions within its limits.
I am, sir, respectfully, your obedient servant,
J. P. BENJAMIN,
Secretary of State.
A. FULLARTON, Esq., &c., Savannah, Ga.
Page 41
APPENDIX.
Correspondence between Governor Brown and Consul
Fullarton.
BRITISH CONSULATE,
Savannah, July 22, 1863.
To his Excellency Governor BROWN, Marietta:
SIR: My attention has been called to your proclamation,
and to General Wayne's General Order, No. 16, attached
thereto, ordering a draft on the 4th of August, from persons
between the ages of sixteen and forty-five years, including
British subjects, in each county which does not furnish its
quota of volunteers to complete the number of eight thousand
men required for home defence.
I am informed that this force, when organized, is to be
turned over to the Confederate Government. British subjects,
if drafted, will then be forced to become Confederate
soldiers, a position which Her Majesty's Government have,
since the commencement of the war, contended they ought
not to be placed in, and from which Her Majesty's Consuls
have been instructed to use every means at their command
to preserve them.
Her Majesty's Government acknowledge the right of a
foreign State to claim the services of British subjects resident
within its limits for the purpose of maintaining internal
order, (in other words, to act as a local police force,) and
even to a limited extent, to defend against local invasion by a
foreign power the places of their residence, but they deny the
claim to services beyond this and accordingly I have given
advice in the following sense to British subjects who have
applied to me on the subject of this draft; that militia duty
is in general an obligation incident to foreign residence, and
that, therefore, they must not object to render the service
required, so long as the law requires a militia organization
for the maintenance of internal peace and order. But if it
shall so happen that the militia, after being so organized,
shall be brought into conflict with the forces of the United
States, without being turned over to the Confederate States,
so as to form a component part of its armies, or if it should
Page 42
be so turned over, in either event the service required would be
such as British subjects cannot be expected to perform; in the
first case, in addition to the ordinary accidents of war,
they would be liable to be treated as rebels and traitors, and
not as prisoners of war, and in the second case, they would
be under the operation of a law requiring them to take up
arms against the United States Government, which had no
existence when, for commercial purposes, they first took up
their residence in this country, and would, moreover, be
disobeying the order of their legitimate sovereign which
exhorts them to an observance of the strictest neutrality,
and subjects them to severe penalties. For all local service,
however short of the service I have endeavored to describe,
I have advised them that the militia organization is lawful
and should be acquiesced in by resident British subjects.
Nearly all British subjects have, besides, taken an oath
that they will not, under any circumstances, take part in
the contest raging in this country, by taking up arms
on either side.
I hope, sir, you will, therefore, so modify the general
order in respect of British subjects who have certificates
from me, as to release them from a position, which, in the
the event of a draft, will certainly render them liable to all
the penalties denounced by their own sovereign against a
violation of their neutrality, calling upon them at the same
time to render service as a local police for the maintenance
of internal peace and order.
On a former occasion, Mr. Molyneux advised you that the
consulate was placed under my charge during his absence.
I recently submitted my authority to act as Her Majesty's
Consul to Mr. Benjamin, who duly accorded to me his
approval and recognition.
I am, sir, your most obedient servant,
(Signed,) A. FULLARTON,
Acting Consul.
MARIETTA, August 8, 1863.
Mr. A. FULLARTON, Acting Consul of Great Britain:
DEAR SIR: Your letter of 22d July reached these headquarters
during my absence, which has caused delay in my
reply.
Page 43
Judging from your communication, I am obliged to conclude
that you have not correctly understood the objects of
the government in organizing the eight thousand men for
home defence.
You admit the right of the State to claim the services of
British subjects resident within its limits, for the purpose of
maintaining "internal order," and even to a limited extent,
to defend the places of their residence against local invasion
by a foreign power. In view of this correct admission on
your part, I do not deem it necessary to quote authority to
show the obligation of Her Majesty's subjects to render the
service now called for. To maintain "internal order," and
to defend, to a limited extent, "against local invasion by a
foreign power" are the sole objects of the proposed military
organizations.
While the men are to be mustered into service for the
purpose of affording them the rights and privileges of prisoners
of war, in case of capture by the enemy, and to enable
the government to command them without delay in case of
sudden emergency, it is not proposed to take them from
their homes, or to interrupt their ordinary avocations, unless
it be a case of sudden emergency or pressing necessity for
the defence of their homes, or such localities as command
their homes, when in the hands of the enemy.
The Government of the United States, in violation of the
usages of civilized warfare, is now resorting to every means
within its power to incite servile insurrection in our midst.
It is not only stealing our slaves, which are private property,
or taking them by open robbery, mustering them into its
service and arming them against us, but it is doing all it
can by secret agencies, to stir up and excite the angry
passions of the mass of ignorant slaves in the interior whom
it can neither reach by theft nor robbery, to cause them to
rise in rebellion against their masters, with whom they are
now comfortable and happy, and to set fire to our cities,
towns, villages, and other property. It is needless for me
to add, that in case they should be successful in inciting
insurrection to this point, the butchery of helpless women
and children would, doubtless, be the result.
As a means of accomplishing this object, as well as of
destroying public and private property, the enemy is now preparing
to send cavalry raids as far as possible into this and other
States of the Confederacy. These robber bands will, no doubt,
burn and destroy property where they go, carry off as many
Page 44
slaves as they can, and attempt to stir up others with whom
they come in contact, to insurrection, robbery and murder.
It is not expected that the eight thousand men called for
by my proclamation and the general order to which you
refer, will be used against the regular armies of the United
States. The provisional armies of the Confederate States
have shown themselves fully able to meet the enemy upon
an hundred battle-fields, and to drive them back with severe
chastisement wherever they have not had the advantage of
their navy as a support. But it is expected that this home
organization, while it may be but little of its time in actual
service, will, in case of sudden emergency, assist in repelling
the plundering bands of the enemy which evade contact
with our armies, and make predatory incursions to our very
homes for the purposes already mentioned, and that they will
assist in suppressing any servile insurrection which these
plundering parties may be able to incite.
Many who claim to be Her Majesty's subjects in this State
are large slaveholders, whose danger of loss of property, and
of insult and injury to their wives and children, in case of
insurrection, is as great as the danger to the citizens of this
State, and their obligation to protect their property and
their families against the local aggressions of the United
States forces is no less.
While Her Majesty's Government has constantly refused
to recognize the existence of the Government of the Confederate
States, her subjects have enjoyed its protection.
And while she refuses to hold any diplomatic relations with
us, you, as her representative, are permitted to represent her
interests here, and to be heard for the protection of her
subjects and their property. In this state of things, British
subjects, who still elect to remain in the Confederacy, should
not expect to do less than the service now required of them;
and while free egress will in no case be denied them, should
they desire to depart from this State, less than the service
now required will not in future be demanded, in case they
choose to remain in the State and enjoy its protection.
Experience has convinced the government at Washington of
its inability, by armed force in the battle-field, to combat
Southern valor, and compel us to submit to its despotic
tyranny. It has, therefore, in connection with that above
mentioned, adopted the further policy of destroying agricultural
implements, mills and provisions, wherever its armies
penetrate into our country, with a view of effecting by starvation
Page 45
that which it cannot accomplish by the skill and
courage of its troops.
As a further auxiliary to the accomplishment of this
object, it drives from the territory overrun by its armies, the
men, women and children who are true to the government
of their choice, and compels them to seek safety and support
in this and other interior States. It thus taxes the productions
of the interior States with the support not only of
their own population and the armies of the Confederacy, but
of a large number of refugees. With the blessings of
Divine Providence, which, thanks to His name, have been
so abundantly showered upon us, we are, by abandoning the
culture of cotton, making ample supplies for another year.
While we are surrounded by such an enemy, the British
Government cannot fail to see and appreciate the reason
why we cannot afford to retain and protect among us a class
of consumers who produce none of the necessities of life,
and who refuse to take up arms for interior or local defence,
but claim the privilege of remaining as subjects of foreign
powers, engaged in commercial pursuits, in ports with which
their government recognises no legal commerce.
But you insist that there was no law in existence requiring
British subjects to take up arms against the United States
Government, when, for commercial purposes, they first took
up their residence in this country. You must not forget,
however, in this connection, that, at that time, the State of
Georgia was, by her own sovereign consent, a component
part of the Government of the United States, and that, since
that time, she has, for just cause, withdrawn her consent to
further connection with the aggressive States of the North,
and now, with her Southern sisters, forms the Government
of the Confederate States, upon which the States which
remain united under the name of the United States, are
waging a cruel and unjust war. With this change in the
political relations of the country, new obligations are imposed
upon the subjects of foreign powers resident within this and
other Southern States, which make it their duty to aid in the
maintenance of internal order, and in the protection of their
domicils and the localities where they are situated, when
assailed by the troops of the United States Government, or
to depart from the State, and seek protection elsewhere.
Again, the commercial reasons which, you say caused Her
Majesty's subjects to take up their residence here, ceased to
exist when Her Majesty's Government refused longer to
Page 46
recognize the existence of legal commerce between her subjects
and the citizens of this State, and warned them of the
loss of her protection, if they attempted to carry on commercial
relations with us through our ports.
At the time English subjects took up their residence
among our people for commercial purposes, our ports were
open to the commerce of the world, and foreign governments
which had commercial treaties with us, had a right to claim
for their subjects engaged in commerce, the usual commercial
privileges and protection while domiciled here.
Now, the Government of the United States claims that it
has our ports blockaded, and while the whole civilized world
knows that the blockade is not effective, and that vessels
enter and clear almost daily at our ports, the Government of
Her Majesty chooses to recognize it as a legal blockade, and
to acquiesce in the paper prohibition, which excludes English
subjects with their commerce from our ports. If the British
Government adopts the pretensions of the Government of the
United States, and holds that Charleston and Savannah are
still ports belonging to the United States, it must be admitted
that the blockade of these ports by the United States Government,
is a palpable violation of the commercial treaty
stipulations between the two governments, as the United
States Government has no right, under these treaties, to
blockade her own ports against English commerce. If tested
by the laws of nations, to which the British Government is
a party, it is no blockade, because not effective. Under
these circumstances, if the government of Her Majesty
consents to respect the orders of the United States Government,
which forbid British subjects to enter our ports for
commercial purposes, that government has no right, while
this state of things continues, to claim commercial privileges
for its subjects within the ports, where it admits the
existence of a legal blockade, but it must expect those subjects
to depart from these ports, and if they refuse to do so,
it has no just cause of complaint when the government
having the possession of these ports compels them to take
up arms to defend their domicils against servile insurrection
or the attacks of the troops of a hostile power.
I learn from your letter that "nearly all British subjects
have taken an oath that they will not, under any circumstances,
take part in the contest now raging in this country,
by taking up arms on either side." In reply to this, permit
me to remind you that no such self-imposed obligation can
Page 47
free the subjects of Her Majesty who choose to remain in
this State, from the higher obligation, which, by the laws of
nations, they are under to the State for protection while they
remain within its limits.
While I beg to assure you that it is the sincere desire of
the Government and people of this State, to cultivate the
most friendly relations with Her Majesty's Government and
people, I feel it my duty, for the reasons already given, to
decline any modification of the order to which you refer in
your communication.
With high consideration and esteem, I am, very respectfully,
your obedient servant,
(Signed,) JOSEPH E. BROWN.
BRITISH CONSULATE,
Savannah, August 17, 1863.
To His Excellency Governor BROWN, Marietta:
SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your
Excellency's letter of the 8th instant. I perfectly understood
the intentions of the Government in organizing the
force of 8,000 men for home defence, but I am obliged to
conclude that you have misunderstood me when I admitted
the right of the State to claim the services of British subjects,
resident within its limits, for the purpose of maintaining
internal order, and even, to a limited extent, to defend the
places of their residence against local invasion by a foreign
power. Such service might be rendered by them in the
event of a war by a foreign power, but not in a civil war
like that which now rages on this continent.
Her Majesty's Government consider that the plainest
notions of reason and justice forbid that a foreigner, admitted
to reside for peaceful purposes in a State forming part of a
Federal Union, should be compelled by that State to take an
active part in hostilities against other States, which, when
he became a resident, were members of one and the same
confederacy. While acknowledging the right of the State,
under present circumstances, to the services of British subjects
for patrol or police duty, Her Majesty's Government
object to any further extension of such service. I have,
consequently, under instructions, felt myself compelled to
advise those drafted to acquiesce in the duty until they are
Page 48
required to leave their immediate homes, or to meet the
United States forces in actual conflict; in that event to
throw down their arms and refuse to render a service, the
performance of which would run directly in the teeth of
Her Majesty's proclamation, and render them liable to the
severe penalties denounced against a violation of the strict
neutrality so strongly insisted on in that document, trusting
to my interference in their behalf with the Government at
Richmond, under whose command they will be. In other
States, British subjects, imprisoned for following this advice
have already been discharged from custody and service by
order of the War Department.
Your Excellency is pleased to inform me that, with the
change in the political relations of the country, obligations
are imposed on the subjects of Her Majesty, resident
in the South. I do not see why this should be so, seeing
that they, by reason of their being aliens, had no voice
whatever in the council which brought about the present
state of affairs. With regard to the protection afforded by
the State to an alien, it appears to me to extend little beyond
the safety of life, a guarantee which every civilized community,
for its own sake, extends to every sojourner in its
midst. You need not be told that the law of Georgia forbids
an alien to hold certain kinds of property, and I cannot see
how a thing can be protected, which is not suffered to exist.
I have nothing to do with British subjects who hold such
property in violation of law; but I do protest against the
compulsory service, in a civil war, of those who have never
contravened the law in this respect.
It is satisfactory to know that the option of leaving the
country is allowed to British subjects, and that no obstacles
will be thrown in the way of those who prefer to do so,
rather than violate the Queen's imperative orders, by meeting
in warfare the United States forces. If compelled to
take this course, however, I may be permitted to say that
the comity usually observed between foreign States is not
very scrupulously observed.
I have reason to know that many, who have not hitherto
been molested, are, in consequence of Your Excellency's
proclamation preparing to leave, not a few among them
being mechanics, worth little or no property, of whose
inestimable services at this crisis, the Confederacy will be
deprived. Am I to understand that those already drafted
may avail themselves of this alternative?
Page 49
The dispatches which I have received from the British
Government, relative to compulsory service, are strong. I
am instructed to remonstrate in the strongest terms against
all attempts to force British subjects to take up arms.
Should these remonstrances fail, the "governments in
Europe, interested in this question, will unite in making
such representations as will secure to aliens this desired
exemption."
It has hitherto been in my power to report to Her
Majesty's Government, that her Subjects have not been
called upon take up arms in this war. I regret that Your
Excellency's decision makes it impossible to do so hereafter;
the more so, as the course contrasts so strongly with the
conduct of the United States Government, who have conceded
the claim of bona fide British subjects to exemption
from any military service whatever, and also with that of the
Governors of other Southern States, who, upon representation,
ordered the discharge of British subjects, forcibly
detained in service.
I am, sir, your most obedient servant,
(Signed,) A. FULLARTON,
Acting-Consul.
MARIETTA, August 26, 1868.
Mr. A. FULLARTON,
Acting Consul of Great Britain:
DEAR SIR: In your letter of the 17th inst., now before me,
you conclude that I misunderstood you when you admitted
the right of the State to claim the services of British subjects
resident within its limits to defend, to a limited extent, the
places of their residence against local invasion by a foreign
power. You are pleased to say that such service might be
rendered by them in the event of a war by a "foreign
power," but not in a civil war, like that which now rages on
this continent. Then you still admit that, by the laws of
nations, Her Majesty's subjects, resident in this State, may
be compelled to render the service now required; in other
words, to defend the places of their residences against local
invasion by a foreign power. And it follows, you being the
Page 50
judge, that the claim now made upon Her Majesty's subjects
for service, is in accordance with the laws of nations,
if the Confederate States, of which Georgia is one, are at
war with a foreign power. But in your attempt to escape
the just conclusion, which results from your admissions, you
virtually deny that the United States is a foreign power, and
claim that Georgia is still a component part of the government
of the United States. You have probably been
influenced in your persistence in this error by the forbearance
of the government and people of the Confederate States
in permitting Her Majesty's Consuls to remain among us,
in the exercise of the functions of a position to which they
were originally accredited by the government of the United
States. As it is no part of my purpose to enter into an
argument to convince you that the United State is a hostile
power foreign to Georgia, I will dismiss this part of the
controversy with the single remark that, if your pretensions
be correct, your appeal for the protection of British subjects
resident within this State, should have been to the government
at Washington, and not to me.
You are pleased to inform me, that you have felt compelled
to advise those drafted to acquiesce in the duty until
they are required to leave their immediate homes, or to meet
the United States forces in actual conflict, in that event to
throw down their arms, and refuse to render a service, the
performance of which would run directly in the teeth of
Her Majesty's proclamation, &c. It is worthy of remark,
that the language you employ is, "to leave their immediate
homes, or to meet the United States forces in actual conflict."
Your advice, then, to British subjects, if I correctly
understand it, is that when the United States forces attack the
immediate lacality of their homes or their own houses they
are not to defend them, as required by the laws of nations,
against such local invasion; but they are to throw down their
arms, and refuse to fight for the protection of their domicils.
In reply to this, it is my duty to inform you that I can
neither be bound by your pretensions that the United States
is not a foreign power to Georgia, nor can I admit the right of
Her Majesty, by proclamation, to change the laws of nations,
and insist upon maintaining her subjects here, and exempting
them from the performance of the duties imposed upon
them by the laws of nations. When the troops now drafted
have been turned over to the Government of the Confederate
States, to be held in readiness to repel local invasion, if
Page 51
they should, upon the approach of a hostile force, follow
your advice and throw down their arms, that government
will have the power to pardon for such conduct, or to strike
their name from its muster rolls, if it chooses to do so; but
if an attack should be made by the enemy upon the immediate
locality of their homes, while I control and command
the forces to which they are attached, and they should be
guilty of conduct so unnatural and unmanly as to throw
down their arms and refuse to defend their domicils, they
will be promptly dealt with as citizens of this State would
be, should they be guilty of such dishonorable delinquency.
In another part of your lettter you take occasion to say
that you do not see why the change in the political relations
of this country has imposed new obligations upon the subjects
of Her Majesty, as they had no voice in the councils
which brought about the present state of affairs. With the
same reason you might say, that you cannot see why the
laws of nations require British subjects in any case to
defend their domicils, when located in a foreign country,
against the local invasion of another foreign power, when
they had no voice in the councils which formed the government
in which they are permitted to reside. I insist that
British subjects, resident within its limits, though they had
no voice in the formation of the new government, owe the
same service to it, when established, which they owed before
its formation to the government whose power originally
extended over its territory, and embraced their homes; and
that they are bound to conform their conduct to the new
order of things, or to seek homes and protection elsewhere.
But I am informed by your letter that with regard to the
protection afforded by the State to an alien, it appears to
you, to extend little beyond the safety of life. And as the
laws of Georgia forbid an alien to hold certain kinds of property,
you cannot see how a thing can be protected which is
not suffered to exist.
Upon the first point I need only remind you that our
courts are at all times open to aliens belonging to friendly
powers for the redress of their wrongs, and that the same
protection is extended to their persons, and all the property
they legally possess which is enjoyed by citizens of this State.
I trust a re-examination Of the laws of your own country
would satisfy your mind upon the other point, as you will there
find that the laws of Great Britain forbid an alien to hold
"certain kinds of property," and it is the boast of that
Page 52
government, that it protects aliens who reside within its
jurisdiction. The laws of Great Britain in reference to the
rights of aliens to hold certain kinds of property, while
domiciled in that kingdom, are certainly not more liberal to
the citizens of Georgia, than the laws of Georgia are to the
subjects of Great Britain.
While I am unable to perceive the justice of your complaint
in the particulars last mentioned, it is gratifying to
know that there is no law of nations or of this State which
throws any obstructions in the way of the removal of any
British subject from the State, who is not satisfied with the
the privileges and protection which he enjoys. You remind
me, however, that not a few of them are mechanics, of whose
inestimable services at this crisis, the Confederacy will be
deprived, in case of their removal. These mechanies have
no doubt, remained in this State because they felt it their
interest to remain. And, in reference to them, this State
will very cheerfully adopt the rule which generally controls
the British Government. She will consult her own interest,
and will exempt from military service for local defence such
mechanics, who are aliens, as choose to remain, and as will
be more serviceable in that capacity.
I reply in the affirmative to your inquiry, whether aliens
already drafted may avail themselves of the alternative of
leaving the State in preference to rendering the service.
While an alien will not be permitted to evade the service by
leaving the State temporarily during the emergency, and
then returning, his right to leave permanently, when he
chooses, will not be questioned. I do not insist that an alien
shall remain here to serve the State, but I contend that,
while he chooses to remain under the protection of the State,
he is bound by the laws of nations and of this State to obey
her call to defend his domicil against insurrection or local
invasion.
This, I apprehend, is all that is intended to be claimed by
your government in the instructions which you quote.
While the British Government has a right to demand that
its subjects shall not be detained here against their will and
compelled to take up arms on either side, it certainly would
not place itself before the world in the false position of
insisting on the right of its subjects to remain in another
State, contrary to the wish of the government of such State,
and to be exempt from the service which, by the common
nations, such State has a right to demand.
Page 53
You conclude your letter by informing me that my decision
contrasts strongly with the conduct of the United States
Government, who have conceded the claim of bona fide British
subjects to exemption from any military service whatever.
As the United States Government is the invading party
in this war, and can but seldom need the services of British
subjects to defend their domicils, which are scarcely ever
subject to invasion; as it has no right, under the laws of
nations, to compel them to bear arms in its invading armies;
as it is not in a condition to be compelled to economize its
supply of provisions, and as it is reported that it has, by the
use of moneys, drawn large numbers of recruits for its armies
from the dominions of Her Majesty, in violation of the laws
of her realm, it may well afford to affect a pretended liberality
which costs it neither sacrifice nor inconvenience. But
you say that my decision also contrasts strongly "with that
of the Governors of other Southern States, who, upon representation,
ordered the discharge of British subjects forcibly
detained in service." In a former part of your letter,
when speaking of the advice given to British subjects, to
throw down their arms, in case they should be required to
meet the forces of the United States in actual conflict, you
use this sentence: "In other States British subjects imprisoned
for following this advice have already been discharged
from custody and service by order of the War Department."
Excuse me for remarking that these two sentences contrast
so strongly with each other that I am unable to understand
why it become necessary for the War Department to interfere
and discharge British subjects imprisoned in other
States for throwing down their arms and refusing to fight,
if the Governors of those States bad, upon representation,
in all cases ordered the discharge of British subjects forcibly
detained in service.
Trusting that my position is fully understood by you, and
that it may not be necessary to protract this discussion, I
am, with high consideration and esteem,
Very respectfully,
Your obedient servant,
(Signed,) JOSEPH E. BROWN.
Page 54
BRITISH CONSULATE,
Savannah, September 12, 1863.
To His Excellency, Governor BROWN, Marietta:
SIR: In your letter of the 26th ultimo, your Excellency
informed me that aliens already drafted may avail themselves
of the alternative of leaving the State in preference to rendering
service. I have now the honor, therefore, to request
your Excellency to issue orders to your officers, to grant J.
D. and F. M. Rieley, two drafted British subjects, residents
of Rome, Georgia, leave to quit the State, and permission
to remain unmolested in Rome thirty days to settle their
affairs in that city.
I am, sir, your most obedient servant,
(Signed,) A. FULLARTON,
Acting Consul.
MARIETTA, September 14, 1863.
Mr. A. FULLARTON, Acting Consul of Great Britain:
DEAR SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt
of your communication of the 12th instant, in which you
request me to issue orders to the commanding officers to
grant J. D. and F. M. Rieley, two drafted British subjects,
residents of Rome, Georgia, leave to quit the State, and
permission to remain unmolested in Rome thirty days to
settle their affairs in that city. This permission will be
cheerfully granted upon the production to me of sufficient
evidence that the persons named are British subjects.
By an ordinance of the Convention of this State, representing
her people and her sovereignty, passed on the 16th
day of March, 1861, it is declared:
"That all white persons resident in this State it the time of the secession
of the State from the United States, with the bona fide intention of
making it the place of their permanent abode. shall be considered as citizens
of this State without reference to their place of birth: Provided,
That any person not born in this State can except him or herself from
the operation of this ordinance by a declaration in any court of record in
the State, within three months from this date, that he or she does not
wish to be considered a citizen of this State."
The ordinance of secession referred to in the above quotation
was passed on the 9th day of January, 1861.
Page 55
If the Messrs. Rieley were resident in this State on the
19th day of January, 1861, and did not file their declaration
in a eourt of record in this State within three months
from the 16th day of March, 1861, that they did not wish
to become citizens of this State, they accepted the privileges
and obligations of citizenship offered to them by the
State, and ceased to be British subjects, and, are consequently,
not entitled to the leave to quit the State, for which you ask
under my letter of 26th ultimo. If, however, they became
residents of this State at any time since the 19th day of
January, 1861, or if they were then residents, and filed
their declaration as required by the ordinance, within three
months after the 16th day of March, 1861, they will be
allowed the thirty days to arrange their affairs, as you
request, and permitted to depart from the State at the expiration
of that term.
With high consideration,
I am, very respectfully,
Your obedient servant,
(Signed,) JOSEPH E. BROWN.
STATE OF GEORGIA,
Executive Department,
Milledgeville, October 19,1863.
I, Henry H. Waters, Secretary of the Executive Department,
do hereby certify that the above and foregoing twenty-seven
manuscript pages embrace a full and complete copy of
a correspondence between His Excellency, Joseph E. Brown,
Governor of Georgia, and Mr. A. Fullarton, Acting Consul
of Great Britain, resident at Savannah, on the subject of the
obligation of British subjects, resident in this State, to do
military duty in this State, which correspondence is on file
in this department.
Given under my hand, and the seal of the
Executive Department, the day and year first
above written.
(Signed,) H. H. WATERS,
Secretary Executive Department.
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