CO885-(10-11) — Page 371

1094.

No. 301.

(BAHAMAS)

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

T། ། ། ། །

C.O.

Reference :-

885

LAW OFFICERS to_FOREIGN OFFICE.

MY LORD,

Lincoln's Inn, January 28, 1865. We are honoured with your Lordship's commands, signified in Mr. Hammond's letter of the 25th instant, stating that he was directed to transmit to us two letters and their enclosures from the Home Office, relative to a steam vessel named the "Ajar" then at Kingstown, and supposed to be intended for the Confederate Service; and to request that we would take these papers into consideration and furnish your Lordship at our early convenience with our opinion whether this vessel can be detained either at Kingstown or at Nassau, the alleged port of her destination.

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

Report

That the statements made by the men who were summoned before the magistrate at Kingstown, as reported in the letter of Superintendent Armstrong of the 15th January 1865, do not seem to amount to any legal evidence of the matters alleged by them, but they certainly appear to us to be calculated to excite suspicion, and would (if the ship had remained in British waters) have justified further inquiry. The conclusion, however, of the Government surveyors, who on the same day examined the vessel, appears to have been that she was not properly fitted for a ship of war or gunboat; their report was accepted as satisfactory by the Collector of Customs at Dublin, and the Law Adviser of the Lord Lieutenant considered that there was nothing to warrant any steps being taken by the executive in the matter. In this opinion we concur, there being in fact no evidence' either of an illegal destination of the "Ajax" for the war service of the Confederates or of any equipment, &c. within this realm with a view to that service.

The ship having now sailed, all that can be done is to report the circumstances con- nected with her to the Governor of the Bahamas, in order that she may be observed on her arrival there, and that if she should there receive any warlike equipments (and if there should be sufficient reason to believe those equipments to be for the service of the Confederate States) such proper measures may be taken as to the Governor and his legal advisers may seem necessary.

The Earl Russell, K.G.

We have, &c.

(Signed)

ROUNDELL PALMER.

R. P. COLLIER. ROBERT PHILLIMORE.

0 16978.-970. 25.-2/86.

10

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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

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