, 1866-02-02
St,alIassJallag gtatesmsE.
REBEL CRUISERS.

ofthe Secretary OF the Navy to Congress. 1t is
very severe inits tone toward the Bdtisb lauA
thOrities for their action in regard to Piratical
vessels during the late rebellion:
"Iaformation reached the De epsrtment-ib Msy
that the irou-clad ram Stonewall, a formidable
vessel built in France, had arrived in Havana
This vessel had been conditionalfy sold to Den
mark, but not proving satisfactory to that Cow
erument, she was purchased by the febsls.--
Some difficulty in procuring armament and a
crew caused a temporary slight embarrassment
In her movements, but she was 5000 met by the
English steamer City of Richmond of the coast
OF France, and her armament, which was made
in England, with supplies for a cruise and an
English crew, were transferred to the Stonewall
She remained for a short time at Ferrol, where
she was watched by the Niagara and Sacramen-
to, and leaving that place, she did not reach Ha-
vAna until after the downfall Of the rebel or
ganiiatiou. Like otheffrebel cruisers which
bad plundered our commerce, the Stonewall was
without a port
Acting Rear Admiral odon, who had received
orders to command on the Brazil station, and
was.on the point Of sailing, was directed to pro-
ceed Immediately, with force hastily collected
and placed under his commsnd, in search. Of,the
StonewaIl, which, it was understood, designed
to appear on our coast He sailed from Hamp-
ton Roads on the 10th of May, and arrived off
Havana on the 2stb, having in bis command the
Susquehanna, Chippewa, Monte 70, Fahkee,
and TWO turreted vessels, the Mohadnock and
Canonicus. Shortly after his arrival, the Stone
wall was delivered over to the Spanish authOri-
ties by her commander, and our Government
was advised that Spain would place her at the
disposal of the United States. 1t being uune-
cessary for Acting Rear Admiral GodOn to re-
main longer on this special duty, he left Havana
June 6, returned to Hampton Roads on the 18th,
and on the 2lst proceeded, in pursuance to pre-
Tious orders, to Brazil.
The English screw-steamer Sea King, built in
GLASGOW in 1868, early attracted the attention
of our officials in England as one of the class CT
rovers which, like the Alabama, Florida, and
Georgia, was destined to prey on American
commerce. But the English authorities pro-
fessed to he incapable of detecting anything
wrong in this vessel, and she finally sailed from
London on the Sth of October, 1864, with
clearance for Bombay. On the following day
the steamer Laurel sailed from Liverpool, with
officers, men, aud guns, and went to Madeira.
The Sea King soon appeared off Madeira and
Eignaled to the LAUREL when the two vessels
went TO barren island in the vicinity, ard on
the 18th of October transfer of officers, men,
and guns took place; the name of the pirate was
changed and thenceforward became known as
the Shenandoah. j. /. Waddell, a renegade
American officer, assumed the command. and
proceeded at once on piratical cruise
An official communication on the 18th of Oc-
tober informed the Department that the crew.
of the Sea King, as we'll as that of the Laurel,
were all British subjects that many of them be-
longed to the Royal Naval Reserve, and that
some forty or fifty of the Alabamas men were
among them. |. f. 81.
Throughout the whole period of the rebellion
these exhibitions of the manner in which the
English authorities exercised neutrality were
witnessed. On one occasion two persons secre-
ted themselves on the United States steamer
Tuscarora, at Queenstown, with a view, it was
suspected, Of entering our service, and the Brit
ish Government was on that occasion greatly
exercised lest some violation of neutrality or
breach of the foreign enlistment act had taken
place which would work harm to the rebels. A
less anxious solcitude appears to have been en-
tertained OF breach Of neutrality when whole
crews were enlisted for the Shenandoah and
other rebel piratiCal cruisers which sailed forth
to plunder American commerce. Before leav-
ing the Atlantic the Shenandoah succeeded in
destroying several vessels, and was next heard
of in Melbourne, Australia, where she was re-
ceiVed and entertained with great hospitality
and furnished with ample supplies and repairs
for the long cruise upon which she was about to
enter. On the Sth Of February she is reported
to have left Melbourne, and was next heard of
in the North Pacific ocean and the sea Of Ok
hotsk, where she attacked and captured twenty
nine unarmed whale ships, of which twenty-five
were destroyed and four were bonded. Although
notified by some of his victims that the rebel
armies had surrendered and that the rebellion
was suppressed Waddell gave no heed 10 the
intelligence, but continued his work of destruc-
ton until four months after the fall of Rich
moud, when he was advised By an English ves-
al NhofT La - n.
The English Government, in the exercise Of
all that neutral tenderness aud care which it had
manifested for the rebels from the beginning OF
the insurrection, when finally compelled to ad-
NIT the eItinguishment of the rebellion, made
special reservation to protect the rebel piratica
cruisers, and particularly the Shenandoah
which was an outlaw, without country or home
other than England, after the prostrktion of the
rebel Organization. Warned by neutral England
whose subjects constituted almost her entire
crew, that the organized insurrection was anni-
hilateds the Shenandoah had no alternative but
to seek the shelter aud protection Of that men
trail Power where she was built, and from which
she was armed and manned. Undsr the name
Of Sea King she had cleared and sailed as an
English vessel with an English flag and an
English crew, and as late as February She stood
on the books at the Registers Office of British
shipping in her original name, and in the name
OF her original owners. Such may have been
the case when the pirate was warned that he
mad not the Prete1t Of a rebel organization to
soften his crime, and that be was an outlaw
or all.ber captures not one was ever sent in for
adjudication, and am not aware that she ever
snterAd the port Of any country but Englapd
II was fitting. therefore, that she should return
Tor reinge TO the country OF her origin
-
Now AND THEN.-The Paris Charipar;.