CO885-(10-11) — Page 22

3483.

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

C.O. 885

Reference :-

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH—NOT TO

MY LORD,

No. 4.

(ST. HELENA.)

QUEEN'S ADVOCATE to FOREIGN OFFICE.

Doctors' Commons, March 7, 1860. I AM honoured with your Lordship's commands, signified in Lord Wodehouse's letter of the 2nd March instant, stating that he was directed to transmit to me a letter from the Colonial Office, enclosing, for your Lordship's consideration, copies of two Despatches from the Governor of St. Helena on the subject of an application which has been made to him by the officer in command of the United States squadron on the African coast for the surrender of the master and crew of a barque called the "Orion," which was recently captured by Her Majesty's Ship "Pluto," with upwards of 800 slaves on board, but without any colours or papers to prove her nationality; and to request that I would take these papers into consideration, and report to your Lordship my opinion as to whether there is any valid ground for this application.

Lord Wodehouse was also pleased to transmit to me the further papers showing the previous history of this vessel, by which it will be seen that the "Orion was in the first instance met with off the African coast in the month of April last, with American colours and papers, by the Commander of Her Majesty's ship "Triton," who detained her, and eventually handed her over to the Commander of the United States ship of Marion," by whom she was sent to the United States for adjudication on suspicion of being equipped for the slave trade; and it will be further seen from the correspondence that has passed between Her Majesty's Government and the Govern ment of the United States that the proceedings of the Commander of Her Majesty's ship "Triton" were disavowed by Her Majesty's Government.

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Lord Wodehouse was also pleased to add that from advices which have been received privately from Her Majesty's Consul at New York it appears that the owners of the " Orion," on her arrival in America, put in bail to the reputed amount of the value of the vessel and her cargo, and that, pending her trial, which resulted in her condemnation, she was again despatched to the African coast, and that it was on this, her second voyage, that the "Orion was overtaken and captured by Her Majesty's Ship "Pluto with a cargo of slaves on board, but without colours or papers, although she had a very short time previously been overhauled and visited both by British and American cruisers, when she proved to be furnished with the documents necessary to show her American nationality.

*

In obedience to your Lordship's commande I have taken these papers into con- sideration, and have the honour to

Report

That although in the absence of any distinct statement of the specific acts charged against all or any of the persons in question of the locality where such acts occurred, of the alleged national character of the "Orion" (if such acts are charged to have occurred on board that vessel on the high seas), of the evidence adduced to prove their commission of such acts, or of their answer or defence thereto, it is impossibic for me to express a decided opinion, and although it is obvious that various legal questions of considerable nicety may ultimately arise in this matter, yet, according to my present impression, there is sufficient prima facie ground for the application which has been made to the Governor of St. Helena for the extradition to the United States of the master and crew of the "Orion on a charge of piracy, and the Governor appears to me to have acted rightly in issuing his warrant to the magistrates, and thus putting the case in train for their adjudication under the statute 6 & 7 Vict. c. 76.

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I venture to add that there seems strong ground for suspecting that the "Orion was when captured by the "Pluto" in fact owned by citizens of the United States; that, however this may ultimately turn out, it will be very desirable in the interests of justice that the master and crew should be delivered up for trial in the United States; and that if the Governor had refused to issue his warrant, be would thereby in effect have decided conclusively against the claim of the United States, and in favour of the master and crew, who would altogether have escaped any penal con-

0 16978.-4. 25.-2/80,

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