BRITISH CONSULATE,
New Orleans, May 16,
1862.
Maj. Gen. B. F. BUTLER,
Commanding Department of the
Gulf:
SIR: Having been well assured that a British subject named
Samuel Nelson has been by your orders arrested and sent to Fort Jackson without
trial or proof of the charges which are said to have induced his arrest, and
that evidence could be produced which would satisfactorily prove his innocence
in the premises, in accordance with the notification contained in my
communication to you of date the 8th instant, I have, acting as Her Britannic
Majesty's consul, and in the name of Her Majesty's Government, most solemnly to
protest against the arrest and confinement of the said Samuel Nelson in the
manner set forth, and against all further and other acts done or to be done in
violation of the rights of Her Britannic Majesty's subjects residing in the city
of New Orleans.
I have the honor to
be, sir, your obedient servant,
GEORGE COPPELL,
Her Britannic
Majesty's Acting Consul.
SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of
the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series III, Volume
2 (Serial No. 123), p. 128-9
