The Norfolk post. [volume] (Norfolk, Va.) 1865-1866, 1865-06-26
Our Relations with England.

The further" correspondence which
has passedsbetween your Government
ana England on the subject of the Ala
Cama has been published. It commence
at point where, it would have been SUD
posed, all diplomatic correspondence ii
respect to that celebrated privateer would
have of necessity terminated, namely: a.
the period of her destruction.
Your readers have long since beer
made acquaintedwi With the protests enter
ed by the United States Government
against the departure from English ports
of vessels, which, when equipped in
neutral waters, or on the high seas, were
enable to inflict us little injury on the
mercantile marine of the United States,
and also with the replies which these
protests elected. The English Govern
ment endeavored to point out that every
possible effort was made to prevent the
evasion of the Foreign Enlistment act,
and stated that though they had sue
ceeded in OBTAINING the Alabama, such
detention would have been illegal.
The correspondence which is now pub
lished, with the exception of passing
allusion, by Mr.. Adams to the alleged
neutrality of Her Majesty's Government
in permitting Confederate privateers to
leave its shores, is confined to the consid-
Grafton ofthe circumstances under which
the Alabama was sunk in the English
channel, and q portion of her crew res
cued by an English yacht, and of the re-
spective rights and obligations of the
American and British Governments, as
arising out of that occurrence.
The first dispatch of the series is adj
dressed by Mr.. AamstO Earl Russell, and
contains the official report by Captain
WinslOw of the circumstances under
which the Alabama was sunk, anda pOr-
ton of her crew, including Captain
Semmes, rescued by the yacht Deer
hound.
1t is scarcely necessary to refer here to
the particulars of the naval encounter
which took place on Sunday morning
within few miles of Cherbourg, in
which as gallant and as successful pri-
vateer as ever secured the ocean was sunk
in single combat with an adversary
whom she had voluntarily left ina neu-
trail port to meet.
The result of the engagement is known
to all. The Alabama had sunk, and the
owner of the Deerhound, by the express
desire of Captain Winslow, bore down
ON the sinking ship in order to assist in
saving her crew. The Confederate ves-
sci disappeared beneath the waves, and
left her crew struggling in the water,
and of them large number was rescued
by the Deerhound, which Immediately
afterwards left for the English coast, and
landed them in safety.
1t was Il question mooted at the time
whether or not the crew of the Alabama,
that vessel having surrendered, werenot
prize of war, and whether, however his
conduct might have been in rescuing
them from watery grave, the English
yachtsman was justified in bearing them
away to England, instead of surrender
ing them to the captain of the Kearsage,
However this might be, Mr.. Adams was
instructed to demand from the English
Government the surrender of these men
and the correspondence now published
contains the grounds on which this de
mand was based, and also those on which
the noncompliance with it is justified.
In his first, as well as subsequent dis
patches, Mr.. Adams rests his claim fO
the surrender of the rescued crews on the
ground that they were, in truth, at thu
| time of being saved by the captain Of thu
Deerhound constructively the prisoners
of the Kearsarge, and that, as such, ,
member of neutral State was not JUST
fled in aiding them to escape. This, how
ever, Is metby Earl Russell by the ex
preston of an opinion that Mr.. Lancas
ter of the DeerhOund chad performed .
praiseworthy act of humanity in saw
ing the drowning men, and that undo
all the circumstances of the case, Mr.
Lancaster was not under any obligation
to deliver to the Captain OF the Kear
sarge the officers and men whom he ha,
rescued from the waves" Irrespective
however, of the legality or illegality o
| the conduct of the owner of the Deer
hound, the Foreign Secretary remind
Mr.. Adams that, even supposing the res
cued men to be escaped prisoners of waI
"there is no obligation by internationa
law which can bind the government O
q neutral State to deliver up toa belliger
ent such prisoners, and that even if He
Majestys Government had any power t.
comply with the aforementioned de
mand, they could not do sowithout bein.
pitality." Not discouraged by this refu
sal, Mr.. Adams rejoins, 'that Captain
Semmes and his companions, after bein,
saved from drowning by British sub
ject, did not reach the limits of thi
kingdom as refugee claiming the RICH
of hospitality, so much as in the position
of belligerent determined to make hi,
escape from capture or death to a ne,ltra
territory, useful to himself and his cause
by initiating further proceedings agains1
his enemy in the very place where
he claimed hospitality"
10 this argument Lord Russell REPLIES
by stating that Her Majesty's Goyern-
ment have neither the inclination no,
the power to comply with the demands
of Mr.. Adams, and closes the controversy
by reminding your Minister ''that the
municipal laws of this kingdom gave the
| Government no power or authority tf
deliver up to the United States CAPTAIN
Semmes, his officers and men; that the
Ilaw of nations does not impose upon the
Government of the United Kingdom Tho
duty of delivering up to the U. States
persons in the condition of Captain
! Semmes, and such ofhis officers and mel
| as had taken refuge in this country"
That such request as this, made by
the United States, should have been Sc
riously advanced, has Occasioned consid
cradle comment here, and that it was
met by prompt refusal by the Foreign
Secretary, is considered to have been ,
natural consequence. The more impor
tant portion of the correspondence, how
ever, between the two Governments, il
which, as is supposed, specific demands
are made for compensation for the depre
dations committed by the privateers
which left the English ports, still re.
mains to be published.