e.

Your decision that the Tuscaloosa is a vessel of war, and by inference a
prize, astonishes me, because I do not see the necessary
incompatibility. Four guns were taken from on board the Talisman (also a
prize), and put on board the Conrad (Tuscaloosa), but that transfer did
not change the character of either vessel as a prize, for neither of
them could cease to be a prize till it had been condemned in an
Admiralty Court of the captor's country, which it is not pretended has
been done. The Tuscaloosa, therefore, being a prize, was forbidden to
enter Simon's Bay by the Queen's Proclamation, and should have been
ordered off at once; but she was not so ordered. Granting that Her
Majesty's Proclamation affirmed the right of Captain Semmes as a
belligerent to take and to hold prizes on the high seas, it just as
emphatically denied his right to hold them in British ports. Now, if he
could not hold them in Simon's Bay, who else could hold them except
those whose right to hold them was antecedent to his--that is, the,
owners?

The Tuscaloosa remained in Simon's Bay seven days with her original
cargo of skins and wool on board. This cargo, I am informed by those who
claim to know, has been purchased by merchants in Cape Town; and if it
should be landed here directly from the prize, or be transferred to
other vessels at some secluded harbour on the coast beyond this Colony,
and brought from thence here, the infringement of neutrality will be so
palpable and flagrant that Her Majesty's Government will probably
satisfy the claims of the owners gracefully and at once, and thus remove
all cause of complaint. In so doing it will have to disavow and
repudiate the acts of its executive agents here--a result I have done
all in my power to prevent.

Greater cause of complaint will exist if the cargo of the Sea Bride is
disposed of in the same manner, as I have reason to apprehend it will be
when negotiations are concluded; for being originally captured in
neutral waters, the thin guise of neutrality would be utterly torn into
shreds by the sale of her cargo here.

The Georgia, a Confederate war-steamer, arrived at Simon's Bay
yesterday, and the Florida, another vessel of the same class, has
arrived, or is expected hourly at Saldanha Bay, where she may remain a
week without your knowledge, as the place is very secluded. The Alabama
remained here in Table Bay nearly four days, and at Simon's Bay six
days; and as the Tuscaloosa was a