to repair her condensing apparatus.

4. From conversation with Captain Semmes, I find that he has been off
this Cape for the last five days, and as the Vanderbilt left this on the
night of the 11th instant, it is surprising they did not see each other.

_The Duke of Newcastle to Sir P. Wodehouse. November 4, 1863_.

I have received your despatch of the 19th August last, submitting for my
consideration various questions arising out of the proceedings at the
Cape of Good Hope of the Confederate vessels Georgia, Alabama, and her
reputed tender, the Tuscaloosa.

I will now proceed to convey to you the views of Her Majesty's
Government on these questions.

The capture of the Sea Bride, by the Alabama, is stated to have been
effected beyond the distance of three miles from the shore--which
distance must be accepted as the limit of territorial jurisdiction,
according to the present rule of international law upon that subject. It
appears, however, that the prize, very soon after her capture, was
brought within the distance of two miles from the shore; and as this is
contrary to Her Majesty's orders, it might have afforded just grounds
(if the apology of Captain Semmes for this improper act, which he
ascribed to inadvertence, had not been accepted by you) for the
interference of the colonial authorities upon the principles which I am
about to explain.

With respect to the Alabama herself, it is clear that neither you nor
any other authority at the Cape could exercise any jurisdiction over
her; and that, whatever may have been her previous history, you were
bound to treat her as a ship of war belonging to a belligerent Power.

With regard to the vessel called the Tuscaloosa, I am advised that this
vessel did not lose the character of a prize captured by the Alabama,
merely because she was, at the time of her being brought within British
waters, armed with two small rifled guns, in charge of an officer, and
manned with a crew of ten men from the Alabama, and used as a tender to
that vessel under the authority of Captain Semmes.

It would appear that the Tuscaloosa is a barque of 500 tons, captured by
the Alabama, off the coast of Brazil, on the 21st of June last, and
brought into Simon's Bay on or before the 7th of August, with her
original cargo of wool (itself, as well as the vessel, prize) still on
board, and with nothing to give her a warlike character (so far as is
stated in the papers before me), except the circums