QUESTION. (Hansard, 7 February 1862)

THE EARL OF CARNARVON
said, he was anxious to ascertain the truth, or rather to obtain from the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs a contradiction, of a story which had been in circulation during the last week or ten days. That story seemed to him to be so monstrous in the shape in which it reached this country that he was almost confident it must be full of exaggerations, but it, would be very satisfactory to hear from Her Majesty's Government what ground there was for the story. 90 It was to this effect—that a Canadian gentleman, a British subject, whilst travelling on an American railway, was arrested by order of Mr. Seward, Secretary of State of the United States; that he was taken to the guard-house, stripped and searched, and subjected to the grossest indignities, on the pretence that he was implicated ill some conspiracy with persons engaged in the war with the Confederated States. Nothing was found to criminate him or to inculpate him in the slightest degree; but he was taken to a prison at New York, where he was immured for several weeks, whilst typhus fever was raging in the prison, and carrying off its victims daily. There he was detained without being brought to trial—without, in fact, a charge being made against him. Communication was by some means opened with Lord Lyons, who represented his case to the United States Government, but without obtaining any redress. During that time he received several letters from the British Legation; but time seals were broken and the covers torn. The most extrordinary part of the matter, however, was, that at length, when he was offered his liberty, it was on the condition that he should forswear his own nationality and swear allegiance to the Northern States. He (the Earl of Carnarvon) could hardly believe that such a state of things was possible, but this was the story. It was said that this gentleman, with very great courage and constancy refused to accept any such conditions. He preferred, at the risk of his life and at great personal inconvenience, to remain in prison rather than accept such a discharge. He was, afterwards, removed to another prison; and after a time it was said that Lord Lyons having interposed he was offered his liberty on a condition only one degree less extraordinary than the former—namely, that he would not travel to the Southern States, nor hold any communication with the inhabitants. He refused this condition, and remained in prison from the 5th of October till the 6th of January, when he received an unconditional discharge. It was stated also that other British subjects had been subject to various restrictions, and had been treated in a manner which was in violation of international rights and privileges. He would not make any comments on this story, because he could not bring himself to believe that the facts were as they had been stated.

§ EARL RUSSELL
said, it was true that 91 Mr. Shaver, a British subject, had been for many weeks confined in Fort Lafayette and in another American prison. On the 29th of October, this gentleman wrote to Lord Lyons, and stated that he was travelling on the Grand Trunk Railway of Canada, that on the arrival of the train at Detroit he was arrested and sent to prison, and that, though a British subject, he had been asked to take an oath of allegiance to the Government of the United States, which he had refused to do. Lord Lyons, upon receiving this letter, made a representation thereupon to Mr. Seward; who, on the 15th of November, wrote to say that he had at first supposed that Mr. Shaver was a United States' citizen; that it was in that belief that Mr. Shaver had been asked to take the oath of allegiance; but that, though compliance with this condition could not be expected from a British subject, he could give no order for the prisoner's release, as Mr. Shaver was accused of conveying arms to the Confederate States, and was, in fact, a spy employed by the Government of those States. Mr. Shaver was then asked to enter into other conditions, one of which was that he should not enter the Southern States during the rest of the war. But he would not agree to these conditions, and he was subsequently released. Their Lordships ought to understand that Mr. Seward assumed to himself the right to arrest any person within the United States, not, perhaps, at his own pleasure alone, but with the sanction of the President, no matter whether that person was an American citizen or a foreigner. It was contended, he believed, by the lawyers of the United States that at a time of emergency such a power was intrusted to the President. Her Majesty's Government had remonstrated with the Government of the United States upon the treatment to which Mr. Shaver had been subjected, and he had no objection to produce the correspondence which had passed upon the subject.

THE EARL OF CARNARVON
said, he was sorry to find that facts, as he had stated them, and which at the time he could scarcely bring himself to credit, were really borne out by the statement of the noble Earl. Whatever might be the state of Government or the condition of society in the United States, the pretensions put forward by Mr. Seward in respect of British citizens seemed to override all the principles which regulated 92 the intercourse of one friendly nation with another. Now, he thought not only that British subjects had a right to appeal to their own Government for protection, but that it was the duty of the Sovereign to afford such protection. Allegiance by the subject to the Crown, and protection from the Crown to the subject, were reciprocal duties. He should certainly move for this correspondence, because the matter was one which the House ought clearly to understand. Meanwhile, he hoped that when Her Majesty's Government had remonstrated on account of this extraordinary proceeding they had also asked for compensation to Mr. Shaver. That gentleman had been detained in prison for ten or twelve weeks, his life being thereby put in jeopardy, and yet not one single charge had been proved against him. The noble Earl then moved an Address for Copy of the Correspondence with Her Majesty's Government, on the Arrest, Imprisonment, and Ill-treatment of Mr. Shaver, a Canadian Subject, under Order of Mr. Seward.