hing upon the face of the proceedings to invalidate it,
the Court will presume that he is duly authorized; and the commander of
a single ship may be presumed to be vested with this authority as
commander of a squadron.

_Rear-Admiral Sir B. Walker to Governor Sir P. Wodehouse. August_ 8,
1863.

I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your Excellency's letter
of this day's date, covering the written opinion of the Acting
Attorney-General of this Colony as to the legality of the so-called
tender to the Confederate States armed ship Alabama, and for which I beg
to express my thanks.

The vessel in question, now called the Tuscaloosa, arrived here this
evening, and the boarding officer from my flag-ship obtained the
following information:

That she is a barque of 500 tons, with two small rifled 12 pounder guns
and ten men, and was captured by the Alabama on the 21st June last, off
the coast of Brazil: cargo of wool still on board.

The admission of this vessel into port will, I fear, open the door for
numbers of vessels captured under similar circumstances being
denominated tenders, with a view to avoid the prohibition contained in
the Queen's instructions; and I would observe that the vessel Sea Bride
captured by the Alabama off Table Bay a few days since, or all other
prizes, might be in like manner styled tenders, making the prohibition
entirely null and void.

I apprehend that to bring a captured vessel under the denomination of a
vessel of war, she must be fitted for warlike purposes, and not merely
have a few men and two small guns put on board of her (in fact nothing
but a prize crew) in order to disguise her real character as a prize.

Now this vessel has her original cargo of wool still on board, which
cannot be required for warlike purposes, and her armament and the number
of her crew are quite insufficient for any services other than those of
a slight defence.

Viewing all the circumstances of the case, they afford room for the
supposition, that the vessel is styled a "tender" with the object of
avoiding the prohibition against her entrance as a prize into our ports,
where, if the captors wished, arrangements could be made for the
disposal of her valuable cargo, the transhipment of which, your
Excellency will not fail to see, might be readily effected on any part
of the coast beyond the limits of this Colony.

My sole object in calling your Excellency's attention to the case is to
avoid any br