Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1869-04-28

she Law i'm British waters from halt
past Seren o'clock p. M, Jt,ly %, to
about three O'Clock a. 8a, JL,Iv 81.
being upward of thirty-six hours, and
| during this time she was supplied
with men from the British steamtug
| Hercules. which followed her from
Liverpool. These SO hours were al
| lowed TO elapse without any attempt
to stop her. Here was another stage
of "gross negligence" Thus was
there negligence in allowing the
building to proceed, negligence in
allowing the escape from Liverpool,
and negligence in allowing the final
escape from the British coast. Lord
Russell, while trying to vindicate his
government and repelling the COM
plants of the United States, more
than once admitted that the escape of
the Alabama was a scandal and re-
proach," which, to my mind, is very
like a eOnfessisn. Language could
not be stronger. Surely such an act
can not be blameless. If damages are
awarded to a friendly power for in
juries received, it is difficult to see
where they could be more strenuously
claimed than in q case which the first
minister of the offending power did
not hesitate to characterize so strongly.
The enlistment of the crew was not
less obnoxious to cenSure than the
building of the ship and her escape.
1t was a part of the transaction. The
evidence is explicit. Not to occupy
too much time, / refer only to the
affidavit of William PasSmOre, who
sxr f1anf 1nn nr,n.aara1 H.,
express understanding that the ship
was ''tO fight for the government of
the Confederate States of America :"
that he joined her at Laird's yard at
Birkenhead near Liverpool, remain
ing there several days; that he found
about thirty old man-of-war's men on
board, among whom it was "well
known that she was going out as a
privateer for the confederate govern
ment to fight under a commission
from Mr.. Jefferson Davis.n' In list
of the crew now before me there is 4
large number said to be from the
royal naval reserve" / might add
to this testimony. The more the case
is examined the more clearly do we
discern the character of the transac-
ton. The dedication of the ship to
the rebel service, from the very laying
of the keel and the organization of
her voyage with England as her
naUdI base, from which she drew
munitions of war and men, made her
departure as much hostile eEpedi-
ton as if she had sailed forth from
her Majesty's dock yard. 1t was in
no just sense commercial transac-
ton, but an act of war.
The case is not complete. Mark
now a new stage of completely. Com
stantly the pirate ship was within
reach of British cruisers, and from
time to time within the shelter of
British ports. For six days, unmo-
Tested, she enjoyed the pleasant
hospitality of Kingston, in jamaica,
obtaining freely the coal and other
supplies so necessary to her vocation.
But no British cruiser, no British
magistrate, ever arrested the offending
ship, whose voyage was a continuing
scandal and reprOach" to the British
government. The excuse for this
strange license is n curious technicali-
ty, as If technicality could avail in
this case at any stage. Borrowing a
pm ~ AAOAAA NhlO nldSlCI Vi
Jurisprudence, Sir William Scott, it is
said that the ship deposited" her
original sin at the conclusion of her
voyage, so that afterward she was
blameless. But the Alabama never
concluded her voyage until she sank
under the guns of the Kearsarge,
because she never had a port of her
own. She was no better than the
Flying Dutchman, and so long rs
she sailed was liable for that original
sin which had impregnated every
plank with an indelible dye. No
British cruiser could allow her to
proceed, no British port could give
her shelter, without renewing the
completely of England. Thus at
three different stages the British gov
ernment is compromised first, in the
concession of ocean belligerency, on
which all depended; secondly, in the
negligence which allowed the evasion
of the ships in order to enter upon
the hostile expedition for which she
was built, manned, armed and equip
ed ; and thirdly, in the open compile
ity which, after this evasion, gave her
welcome hospitality and supplies in
British ports. Thus her depredations
and buInings, making the ocean blaze,
all proceeded from England, which,
by three different acts, lighted the
torch. To England must be traced,
also, all the widespread consequence
which ensued. / take the case of the
Alabama because il is the best known,
and because the building, equipment
and escape of this ship were under
most obnoxious to
Judgement; but it will not be forgot
ton that there were consort ships,
built under the shelter of that fatal
proclamation, issued in such an
eclipse of just principles, and, like
the ships it unloosed, "rigged with
curses dark" One after the other,
ships were built; one after the other,
they escaped on their errand; and,
one after the other, they enjoyed the
of British ports. Audac-
ity reached its hight when irOn-clad
rams were built, and the perversity of
the British government became still
more conspicuous by its long refusal to
arrest these destructive engines of war,
designed to be employed against the
United States. This prOtracted hesi-
tatiOn, where the consequences were
so menaeing, is part of the case. 1t
is plain that the ships which were
built under the safeguard of this i'll
proclamation, which stole
forth from the British shores, and
afterward enjoyed the immunities of
British ports, were not only British in
origin, but British in equipment, Brit
ish in armament, and British in crews.
They were British in every respect,
except in their commanders who were
rebel, and one of these, as his ship was
sinking, owed his safety TO a British
yacht, symbolizing the omnipresent
support of England. British sympa-
thies were active in their behalf. The
cheers of a British passenger ship
crossing the path of the Alabama en-
cOuraged the work of piracy, and the
cheers of the House of Commons en-
the builder of the Alabama,
while he defended what he had done
and exclaimed, in taunt to him who
is now an illustrious member of the
British cabinet, John Bright, that he
'would rather be handed down to
pOsterity as the builder of a dozen AL
abamasn than be the author of the
speeches of that gentleman "crying
up" the institutions of the United
States, which the builder of the Ala
bama, rising with his theme, declared
'as of no value whatever, and as re-
ducing the very name of liberty to an
utter absurdity," while the cheers of
the House of Commons echoed back
his words. Thus from beginning to
end, from the fatal proclamation to
the reiOicinO of the accidental shin