New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1883-11-11
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
rup SECRET SERVICE OF THE CONFEDERATE DER IL
THE n sEEn ~ EITPOPE BY JAMES ID. BULLOCK In
SIAlE1 ~ n p Putnams Sons. PIP. 46O43S

m snh-+;tle Of this work is How the Confed-
orote Cruisers were Equipped" and TINS 1orIns INC
Ioo,n snbiect Of these two volumes. Inc author,
}oTmerly an officer in the United States Navy wen.
nth his section when the Civil war 6roKe OUT anu
was sent to Europe TO represent the Navy Deparr
,oor+ ~ the Confederate States there Ills ousi-
nass was 10 purchase and ship naval and military
srnnlies of all kinds, and he had the management
of all OF nearly all, the attempts whlch were n"'o
10 fit out Confederate cruisers Honi IIsV |" iaS''
Mr.. Bulloch writes with apparent candor ana III
partiality and he writes also very well ih0 0on-
illusions to he drawn from his book are, however,
Far from beinp in accord with the general belief
in regard TO the topics he discusses and If
l.; many resneets It viii be necessary to reconstruct
GOOD deal of what has thus far passed for history
We maintains. and what is more, undertakes 10
nrove nv authentic and official documents ana
other strong evidence, that the course OF the Eng
fish Government during the Civil War; was alinoSV
uniformly partial toward the United States tn"V
the laws of Great Britain were in fact overrlddeh
by the Government in the seizure and detehIou VI
of the " Liverpool rams" and many other VesseiS
that the United States Government was perIllt'eu
almost to dictate the course of England upon al euo
matters notwithstanding the fact that Ear
Russell, Lord Clarendon, and the p1nclpai ID"
officers of the crown repeatedly, and indeed persiS
Y.
which the Confederate Government sought 10 sup
,l,, itself with cruisers He defends the EngIlsh
Govornment AGAINST the Alabama charges, assert
10, +bot the Alabama was not EARNED and equip
ned in AN English port, but that she leIt the Hel
sew without a single article OF warllke equlphenV
ohor+ her and that according to every interpreta-
ton of the Enlistment act ever made by the law
officers of the Crown OF by any court her cOnstruc
ton and her departure were entirely legitimate lie
shows that the United States purchased all KINDS OF
warlike supplies in Great Britain, but that MI
Seward objected to the extension OF any Similar
privileges to the Confederacy. though the position
of the latter as beigerents had been recognized by
every neutral government in Europe and though
the Federal Government itself had established the
beigerent character Of it's OPPONENT by its own act
in proclaming the blockade of the Southern ports.
MIR Bulloch is an acute reasoneT, and he makes an
upouestionably strong showing for his side OF the
case The picture lie draws of the embaTassments
and difficulties of the COnfederacy is also very
graphic. Owing to the mcessant vigilance
of the United States Consuls and Mln-
listers in England and France. 1t became
more and more difficult TO procure vessels
for cruisers and the most carefully devised precau-
ton and ruses had TO be adOptedn order TO get such
vessels out of European ports. In building the
Liverpool rams, the confederate naval agent relied
ment Act in the Alexandra case, for immunity. So
far rs the law went, it was certainly held that
either beIligerent might buy or build any kind of
vessel in an English port, provided it was not
armed and equipped there 1t was distinctly held
that there was no legal difference between such
transactions and the sale of arms and ordinances ana
as the sale of arms and ordnance TO the Federal
Government was proceeding cOntinuallv it fol-
lowed that there ground for interference
with the building of the rams When it came to the
crisis however, Earl Russell, while realirming the
entire legitimacy of the construction OF these YES
sells gave orders for their detention. in response to
the demand of Mr.. Adams; and though the case
was never tried, and presumably could not
have been taken into court with
any hope that the course of the Govern
ment would be sustained, yet the COnfed-
crate agent was compelled 10 accept a compromise
by which the ships became the property of the
British Admiralty.
Mr.. BulIoch discusses at much length the untena-
biIity of Mr.. Stewards contention that the COnfed
crate cruisers were pirates or "cOrsairs' We
suppose that no sensible person at this late day
would seriously undertake to defend that
position. There can be 10 doubt that
the Alabama and her consorts occupied
idcntically the same position as was held
by Paul Jones's ship the Bonhomme Richard, and
that they were engaged i'll precisely the same work
which had been eniOined upon the cruisers of the
United States both in the War Of Independence
and that of 1912. And all the neutral powers rec
oguized and acted upon these facts they were
in duty bound to do. Had il not been for tho
strange weakness of Mr. GladstOne's Government
in retiring from the impregnable positions pre-
viously taken up by Earl RUSSELL and in permitting
the Geneva Arbitration to be based upon new rules
of international law-pOt- facto laws in word-lt
IL Al 49, .n,..1 4
have been thrown out Of court. No doubt Mr.
Gladstone was moved to make the concessions he
did make by O desire 10 remove a source of discOrd
from between the two nations. But though the
United States pTOhted pecuniaIlly by this policy,
and though one of the results was to place England
IN position alike humiliating and anomalous, pre-
cedents were at the same time created which in the
future are very likely to prove embarrassing to the
successful plaintiff in the suit. =
TWAS not TO be expected that the ex-C Confederate
naval agent in Europe should any virtue in the
policy of the United States Government during the
war but he makes gallant, though By no means al
WAYS successful effort to be dspassionae and impair
tial One Of the most curious aud interesting revea-
ton of his narrative relates to the policy of France
He asserts that the Richmond Government was given
10 understand that there would be no objection to
the building aud equipment of cruisers in the French
pOrts-all that was necessary being the employment
of some plausible fiction as excuse for the
work. Upon the strength of THIS intmatiOn con-
tracts were let for the construction of four wooden
cruisers and two ironclads French merchant
named Amman being employed as intermediary
and putative of the vessels 1t was given out
that the irOnclads were for the Pacha of Egypt
and the Minister OF Marine gave written official
authorization not only for the building but for the
arInng of them the number and weight of the guns
even being specified in the order Everything went
on smoothly until the vessels were more than half
ready, but then sudden change came. The En-
peror who had really authorized their cOnstruc-
ton, now realized that the of the South was
lost, and without hesitation he repudiated his
former assnrances. PereInntory nrders ware issned