The Sun.
London, England, 1868-04-02 00:00:00

dated Feb. 23, 1865, enclosing full accounts of the
arrival of the Shenandoah at Melbourne and her
proceedings on her way to Australia. Mr. Seward
observed that the capture of numerous United
States whaling vessels in the waters N.W. of this
hemisphere by the Shenandoah has excited in this
country generally, and particularly among the
worthy persons interested, great dissatisfaction.
Her course from her departure from England, and
particularly the aid and comfort extended to her in
Melbourne, warrant us in regarding her as substan-
tially a British vessel, for whose acts her Majesty's
Government might lawfully and justly be held ac
countable. Mr. Blanchard said, "Itis my painful
duty to inform you that an armed steam-ship,
flying the flag of the so-styled Confederate
States now called Shenandoah, but in reality the
British vessel Sea King, entered Port Philip on the
26th January, 1865; that said vessel was allowed to
repair, to go upon a dry dock, to coal, and that she
was allowed to depart about seven p.m. on the 18th
February, 1865, notwithstanding my continued
protests." The despatch of the Consul ought to be
read dispassionately by the English people, if they
wish to ascertain the provocation repeated again
and again which almost drove the United States
into a declaration of war. The Republic had many
reasons for indignation ; but we doubt whether any
more provoking cause was given than Mr. Blanchard's
treatment in the town of Melbourne, where, as the
representative of the United States, he energetically
protested against the reception accorded- to the
Shenandoah. She had come from one British port
to another with the marks of her identity still upon
her. Yet she was recognized as a war vessel of a
belligerent Power, into one of whose ports she never
entered. She had arrived from committing piratical
depredations on the commerce of a friendly Power,
and after being patched up and repaired, coaled, and
remanned, she was despatched on the same mission,
and this in spite of the clearest evidence, to which
the authorities shut their eyes. Mr. Blanchard,
instead of being assisted, was baffled, and the im-
munities he enjoyed as Consul were, as he described,
of a peculiar nature. Well might he indignantly
ask—Were these proceedings in accordance with
international law and treaty obligations, and her
Majesty's Neutrality Proclamation ? Having sailed
on her devastating cruise, she was next heard of, as Mr.
Adams anticipated, in the Northern Pacific. From
San Francisco Messrs. Merrill and Co. wrote to Mr.
Seward, August 16, 1865 :—" The English pro-
peller Sea King, alias Confederate steamer Shenan-
doah, has made her appearance in the Arctic Ocean,
and threatens the destruction of the entire whaling
fleet. Twenty-five whaling vessels have already
been burnt by her, and four others captured, and
bonded to bring the crews to this port and the
Sandwich Islands." Then follows alittle bill for the
barque William (7. Nye for $280,212-50c. against
the English GovernMent, which, multiplied by 25,
gives an approximate value of the work for the per-
formance of which the Shenandoah, after being
feted, was despatched from Melbourne. On Sep-
tember 14 Mr. Adams forwarded to is Govern-
ment a copy of the Times, of Sept. 11, containing
an article on the depredations of the Shenan-
doah. " So late as the end of June," it says, " when
the surrender of Generals Johnston and Taylor was
already known throughout the ports of the Pacific,
Captain Waddell was still burning and plundering
American merchantmen in the name of the Con-
federate States. He professed to disbelieve the
ruin of the Confederacy on the ground that he had
no information of it except from Northern papers.
The commander of a vessel like the Shenandoah
carries his life in his hand; his enterprise at the
best is only distinguished from piracy so far and
so long as it is authorized by a sovereign, or at least
belligerent state. If he chooses to prolong his cruise
after being positively informed of facts which make
his commission waste paper and render him a
subject of the United States he can expect no
presumptions to be made in his favour." The
Milo entered San Francisco towards the end
of July, with the crews of the whalers de-
stroyed. On the Ist of August the General Pike
brought in the crews of six or seven more, consist-
ing of no fewer than 252 persons, who were
crowded into this small barque, and who reported
that nothing could be more brutal than Captain
Waddell's language and behaviour towards his pri-
soners. Two officers of the Abigail got away in a
fog, as the vessel was on the point of falling into
Captain Waddell's hands, and warned a number of
whalers then near the Gulf of Anadyr, on the north-
east of Siberia, of their danger, and they escaped
into the fields of ice. The Shenandoah proceeded
towards Behring's Straits, where most of the
Arctic fleet were cruising, of which twelve or
fourteen were captured. Mr. Adams wrote to
Earl Russell on the 21st October, 1865, en-
closing certain papers relative to the destruction
of the whaling barque William C. Nye by the
Shenandoah, of whose career he gives an account.
This enterprise, he says, " seems to have been the
last of the series conceived, planned, and exe-
cuted exclusively within the limits of this kingdom.
It emanated from persons established here since the
beginning of the war as agents of the rebel autho-
rities, who have been more effectively employed in
the direction and superintendence of naval opera-
tions than if they bad been situated in Richmond
itself. In other words, so far as the naval branch
of warfare is concerned, the real bureau was fixed
at Liverpool, and not in the United States.
The vessels were constructed or purchased, the
seamen enlisted, the armament obtained, the
supplies of every kind procured, the
cruises
projected, and the officers and men regularly paid
here—in other words, all the war made on the
ocean has been made from England as the starting
point. The principal person engaged in the direc-
tion of this bureau was J. D. Bullock,
expressly
dispatched from Richmond to organize it. Yet, in
spite of the evidence I had the honour to submit
to your lordship, Mr. Bullock appears to have been
permitted to conduct his operations, and especially
to shape the outfit and entire crews of the Shenan-
doah without the smallest interference from any
official quarters. Not a single individual directly
connected with the rebellion, and sent here to con-
duct the operations, has ever been molested in any
manner. The director of the Alabamas, Floridas,
Georgias, and Shenandoahs was left wholly undis-
turbed, and it was impossible to put a stop to the
damage which has ensued to the people of the
United States from the ravage and depredation
committed upon them by the operations carried on
from this kingdom. Prosecutions have been in-
stituted, indeed, against a few persons who were
alleged to have been acting in contravention of the
provisions of the Enlistment Act. Mr. Rumble,
after escaping from justice by the leniency of a
jury, received a decided censure from the Govern-
ment. Captain Corbet, the officer commanding the
Sea King, though prosecuted, appears never to
have been brought to trial. But all these and a few
minor cases were exclusively those of British subjects
who appear to have been acting merely as instruments
of a power above their heads." Mr. Adams con-
cludes his letter with the acknowledgment, un-
officially, "of the gratifying intelligence that her
Majesty's Government had decided to detain the
Shenandoah if she came into any of her Majesty's
ports, and to capture her if found on the high seas."
Mr. Adams wrote to Mr. Seward, Nov. 10, that at
one o'clock on Monday, the 6th inst., he had received
a telegram from the Vice-Consul at Liverpool,
stating that the steamer Shenandoah was then com-
ing up the Mersey, and he was subsequently in-
formed that she had been taken possession of by
her Majesty's steamer Donegal; and that Captain
Payuter, conjointly with the collector of her
_ _

Majesty's Customs, in compliance with instructions
from the Government, desired to hand over the
privateer, as surrendered by Capt. Waddell to the
United States Constil. The vessel was accepted by
direction of Mr. Adams, and she passed into the hands
of the United States Government officers. She entered
the port flying the Confederate flag, but lowered it

shortly after getting into the river. She had a
crew of 138 men, and the question arose how they
were to be regarded as the ravages of the vessel

continued long after she ceased to have a belligerent
character (as 21r. Adams wrote to Earl Clarendon)
even in the eyes of her Majesty's Government. On
the 15th November Mr. Adams forwarded the cor-

respondence on this subject to his Government,