e name is Conrad; that she has never been condemned as a prize by
any legally constituted Admiralty Court; and that I am _ex officio_ the
legal agent of the owners, underwriters, and all others concerned. I
have not yet learned the result of that application, and fearing that
delay may allow her to escape, I would respectfully urge you to detain
her in port until the proper legal steps can be taken.

I am well aware that your Government has conceded to the so-called
Confederate States the rights of belligerents, and is thereby bound to
respect Captain Semmes' commission; but having refused to recognize the
"Confederacy" as a nation, and having excluded his captures from all the
ports of the British Empire, the captures necessarily revert to their
real owners, and are forfeited by Captain Semmes as soon as they enter a
British port.

Hoping to receive an answer to this and the preceding letter as early as
possible, and that you will not construe my persistent course throughout
this correspondence on neutral rights as importunate, or my remarks as
inopportune, I have, &c.

_Mr. Rawson to Mr. Graham. August 12, 1863_.

I am directed by the Governor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter
of this date, and to acquaint you that it was not until late last
evening that his Excellency received from the naval Commander-in-chief
information that the condition of the Tuscaloosa was such as, as his
Excellency is advised, to entitle her to be regarded as a vessel of war.

The Governor is not aware, nor do you refer him to the provisions of
international law by which captured vessels, as soon as they enter our
neutral ports, revert to their real owners, and are forfeited by their
captors. But his Excellency believes that the claims of contending
parties to vessels captured can only be determined in the first instance
by the Courts of the captor's country.

The Governor desires me to add that he cannot offer any objection to the
tenor of the correspondence which you have addressed to him on this
subject, and that he is very sensible of the courtesy you have exhibited
under such very peculiar circumstances!!! He gives you credit for acting
on a strict sense of duty to your country.

_Mr. Graham to Sir P. Wodehouse. August_ 17, 1863.

I have delayed acknowledging the receipt of your last letter, dated the
12th August, on account of events transpiring, but which have not yet
culminated so as to form the subject of correspondenc