Posted on 12/11/2021 7:33:27 AM PST by Homer_J_Simpson
UNITED STATES STEAMER, SAN JACINTO, AT SEA, Nov. 16.
SIR: In my dispatch by Commander TAYLOR, I confined myself to the reports of the movements of this ship and the facts connected with the capture of Messrs. MASON, SLIDELL, EUSTIS and MACFARLAND, as I intended to write you particularly relative to the reasons which induced my action in making these prisoners.
When I heard at Cienfuegos, on the south side of Cuba, of these Commissioners having landed on the Island of Cuba, and that they were at Havana, and would depart in the English steamer of the 7th of November, I determined to intercept them, and carefully examined all the authorities on international law to which I had access, viz.: KENT, WHEATON, VATTELL, besides various decisions of Sir WM. SCOTT, and other Judges of the Admiralty Court of Great Britain, which bore upon the rights of neutrals a their responsibilities.
The Governments of Great Britain, France and Spain, having issued proclamations that the Confederate States were viewed, considered, and treated as belligerents, and knowing that the ports of Great Britain, France, Spain and Holland, in the West Indies, were open to their vessels, and that they were admitted to all the courtesies and protection vessels of the United States received, every aid and protection being given them, proved clearly that they acted upon this view and decision, and brought them within the international law of search and under the responsibilities. I therefore felt no hesitation in boarding and searching all vessels of whatever nation I fell in with, and have done so.
The question arose in my mind whether I had the right to capture the persons of these Commissioners --whether they were amenable to capture.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
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Topographical Maps of Virginia – 2-3
The Mason-Slidell Affair: Report of Capt. Wilkes to the Navy Department – 4
Diplomacy of the War: Secretary Seward’s Letters to our Ministers Abroad – 4-10
Brother Bennett Inflating his Well-Known First-Class, A No. 1 Wind-Bag, Herald – 10-11
News from Washington: Important Dispatches Received from Our Ministers in Europe – 13-15
Editorial: Wilkes on Mason and Slidell – 15
Editorial: Exchange of Prisoners-Precedent of the Revolution – 15
The Rat-Hole Squadron and Southern Rivalries – 15-16
Editorial: The Theatre of War in Virginia – 16
Editorial: Mr. Seward’s Correspondence – 16-17
How to Scatter the Rebels – 17
Expected News from Europe-Relief to Nervous Sufferers – 17
The Grand Union Debating Society of the Potomac – 17
The Canvass for Mayor – 17
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