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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 2, 1963)
iu u - - " CI V1LWAR rTT ps-" rWmM I;; rV ' f.il Al J I NOTE ASKS ASSURANCE On Sept. 5, 1863,. Charles Francis Adaias, the U.S. minister to Great Britain, wrote a letter to Queen Vic torias foreign minister which came close to being an. ultimatum. The note concerned two ironclad rams being built in British ship yards for the Confederate navy. If completed and delivered, they would be superior to any thing in the Federal fleet. Adams asked the foreign minister. Lord John Russell, for assur ances that, the . ships would not be allowed to sail. In the United States, the question as to what Secretary of State William Seward was doing about the situation arose. Seward learned that the British were planning to detain the rams, but he had to remain silera until the word came officially from England. The only person he told was Secretary of the Navy Gid eon Welles, who was sworn to secrecy on the matter. Shown, from left, are Welles, Adams and Seward. (UPI) fa: a r' Note Sent to Britain Bv MERTO.N T. AKERS United Press International On Sept. 5, 1863, Charles Francis Adams, the United States minister to Great Brit ain, wrote a stiff note to Lord John Russell, Queen Victoria's foreign minister, who had achieved an earldom only a few years earlier. The note came close to being an ultimatum, lacking only a time element. "It would be superfluos in me to point out to your Lordship that this is war," the note read. Adams was speaking of two ironclad rams being built in Liverpool by a British firm for the Confederates. They would be superior to any warship in the Federal Navy if and when they were 'completed, armed and in commission. Adams had learned through spies that one of the rams was about ready to put to sea. The minister had told Lord Russell 'earlier that "there is not any reasonable doubt that these vessels, if permitted to answer come. Then he learned British legation in Washington il from the London Morning Post. Her Majesty's govern ment was detaining the rams, the newspaper said. Later in which would have been notified when the decision was made rather than waiting for the offi cial announcement.) the day a note from Lord Rus- j Seward announced the Bri sell confirmed the news. i tish decision to the cabinet on Henry Adams, the Minister's : September 25 and explained son and secretary, wrote that " . . . this is a second Vicks burg, ... if we can manage to carry it through . . ." Nearly Does , For the moment, as far as that Welles had been committed to secrecy. That also explained why the navy secretary had not acted, "for I was much blam ed," Welles wrote. But there was more of the Adams was concerned, the ram ; ram crisis, crisis was nearly over. i The British government hd But not so m the UNITED i said it would prevent tne de- States. News travelled by ship in those days and had not reached Washington when the Cabinet met September la. The question of what Secre tary of State William H. Seward was doing about stopping the rams brought up by Secretary of Treasury Salmon P. Chase. President Lincoln was absent and Seward presided. He brush ed off Chases question. parturc of the ironclads but the Alabama had sailed away under cover of bad weather. Some thing like that might occur again. Nothing happened for a month. Then the Laird ship- j yards, where the ships were be-1 ing built, asked permission to take one of the rams on sea trials. On the record, title to the warships had been trans ferred to a French agent, who leave Secretary o f Navy Gideon ' ostensibly was representing tne will at once be de-1 Welles returned to his office voted to the object of carrying on war against the United States." Lord Fussell had told Adams that. "Her Majesty's govern ment, cannot interfere in any way wilh these vessels." The foreign minister's refusal to stop the rams sparked Adams' memory of the Confed erate cruiser .Alabama's "es cape" from the Britons. At thai moment the Alabama was de stroying U..S.. shipping, on the high seas. All this prompted Adams' near-ultimatum. . In the note he quoted a Confederate publica tion as saying the armored rams could not only lift the Federal blockade around the Confeder acy, but that they could enter any big northern port, and. in flict a vital blow. The publica tion added that "the destruction after the meeting and found two letters from U.S. consuls, one from Liverpool and one from Cardiff, Wales. Both said the same thing that the rams were ready to go to sea and that the British government was do ing nothing to stop them. The news sent Welles to Seward. The secretary of stale was affable but uncommunica tive. Welles pressed him. He suddenly asked me if I was a- Mason," Welles reported in his diary. "I replied I was . . . He said he wanted to tell me a secret, which I must not com municate to any living per son. . ." Then Seward told Welles of the British order to retain the rams "but you must not know this fact, nor must any one else know it. Mr. Adams is not aware Pasha of Egypt. Earl Russell acted this time. On ' October 9 British warships surrounded the Laird yards and officials formally look over the armored ships. Ships Srrveil The rams eventually were completed and became a art of the British navy as Ihe Scor pion and the Wivcrn. Both ships served until Ihe turn of the century. The rams were formidable warships. Each was 230 feet I long with four and a half inch armor on the hulls, backed with teak. Each had two turrets to carry j two nine-inch rifled guns. One ! was equipped wilh the then new tripod masts which gave a wider area of firing while under sail and which offered less of a tar gel than a conventional mast. Bulwarks around the turrets reared in Ihe profession and un derstood the ins and outs of Brit ish statecraft Breakfast Set lo Launch Campaign' A breakfast to launch a racm-. bcrship campaign, which is ex ported to bring 100 new mem bers into the Medford Chnmnrr of Commerce, will he held al 7 a.m. Thursday. Sept. S. at the Rogue Valley Country club. lion McNeil, chamber manager! h.is announced Dwight Houghton, chairman of the membership Vlrive, will he asristed by six team leaders or captains, who are William Longmore: 'Bob Taylor,' Man ville Heisel, W illiam Howe, Ger ald Lathnn and Boyd Budge. Each caplain 'will' have- fire men on his team and the win ning team will be treated to a steak dinner at the close of the two weeks campaign The teams will be given the names of 30 prospective mem bers to contact. The campaign is based on a new program, developed hy the chamber of commerce board from ideas submitted by iow-bers. AT STARK'S TUES. & WED. 2-DAY SALE WARRANTED USED ELECTROLUX VACUUM CLEANERS BIO MODEL 30 VACUUM CLEANERS COMPLETE WITH SEVEN WORK SAVING ATTACHMENTS College EnrollrtlM Tofos 261 Students Weed Some 261 students were enrolled for the fall semester at the College of the Siskiyous here during the first four days of registration at the campus last week. The total includes 174 new stu dents and(-ji7 who returned. mm ,0 FULL PRICE OrHY HAW WITH ATTACHMENTS FREE TRIAL NOTHING DOWN LIBERAL TRADE-IN PAYDAY TERMS EXCHANGE PRIVILEGE COME IN OR PHONE FOR FREE HOME TRIAL-. o " .... y. I J. J I .7 . ... m man, m rri,, v i.m. 10 9 p.m, Orhtr 07 i.m. to 6 p.m. Incl. Sit. STARK'S Unt Ttr rr Low Prict 6 622 N. Riximlt of 11. (He was however.) No of Boston alone would be worth j one. but vou and the President, wnro hinm-H anri rmilri he dnin. a hundred victories in the field." and I must know it here, and it pcd during firing. Raised, they That quotation struck home j ,s best he should not know that fended off heavy seas, to Adams, for . he was a Bos-jyou know it." j The contract price was about toman. No Precautions ; half million dollars each. The American minister was a Reluctantly Welles agreed lo When the British took them skilled dilomat. He was a son j keep quiet but having nothing over they paid slightly more of President John Quincy jn writing he worried about the ' than a million dollars "for the Adams and a grandson of Pies-1 reaction when he took no pre- i two. ident John Adams. He had been . cautions to combat the escape Naval experts agree that if his father's secretary when the , 0f the rams. So tar as his col-! these rams had escaped into older Adams was in the U.S. di-j leagues knew the rams might action thev would have plaved piomauc service ne nan oeen sail any day and Chase w is t havoc wilh Ihe Federal fleet pressing for action. and perhaps damaged big (Seward's advance knowledge S northern ports. Of the riei-kifin In hnlrl lin th i Mmicl,,, A,l.,mc h:irl cin,-oH me nme sem, ui.ims .mcii : rams probably came from the ; a notable diplomatic victory. IlI lilt (IMMftl'l. It (II III JL'll-i:. Not until September fl did the BMalUlRlQ L BENDER ffi2g$l open" ZIPPER TYPE TT Jf' if s-3vV' VT,- 9 A.M. to 9 P.M. C'10 )m f J1 'v j?' X'"' $ J DAYS WEEK OrTtO $4.98 PLUS TAX T" (W l&l CRAYOLflS pcM 4 $m count II, r '-'"tr.a! , w ' 3eL girls if PENCILS 4 pHbppiNGj bouffant f ( k Regular 29c U W j j m Bill I CD DADCD r Ml-"1 ffitii Reg. a nr vmvtiii&n isyyy bTim i r m &n COTTON BOUFFANT GIRLS SHOPPING BOUFFANT rcviTTAJ 7K'.Y With Lace m tyif4i s GIRLS' BACK-TO-SCHOOL SPECIAL! 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BAG Cantaloupe WW' SIIS BAKED BEANS 30P 5 Tin 5nn CAMPBELL'S TOMATO (T soup't,v H ALEY'S GRAPEf RINK i ORANGE DRINK "v;1 O $100 ) FLYING CLOUD CANNED MUSHROOMS Z 4 $1 " lor $100 OVEN FRESH WHITE BREAD ";.r 2-LB. 6-OZ. HERSHEY S INSTANT COCOA 6 69 4,99 o MELONS Cauba Persian Crenihaw Honeydew FOR $I0 JUICE SIZE 0 tlOO oranges?3 Dm $100 CRISP -URM O pClft-l LETTUCE 2 Hdl 29 'RED lt 9
