Pollaky had received no reply from Sanford. Unable to withhold his bitterness, he nevertheless encourages Sanford to continue employing him, saying that he has more information (but not saying what that information is).
Tuesday
I wrote You a letter Friday last but up to this day no reply – Could I suspect the silence, as Your desire to break off the Correspondence I should no more trouble You and end the mater [sic] a wiser man – Knowing that American Diplomatists are the same as European – Promise when they require You, and a kick overboard after they have done with you. […]
The feeling here is very warlike, and I think that the time is come for You to employ me rather than dispense with me –
I have tolerable interresting [sic] information, my source I let You guess[.] Expecting Your reply[.]
After a carelessly scrawled initial as signature he writes the following postscript:
I cannot wish more times may be troublesome but will meet You on any point in England or Continent You may desire[.]
One cannot help wondering why Pollaky did not feel that it would be better to cut his losses since everything was being made so difficult for him. But then it is necessary to reflect that he had a reputation at stake, as he was certainly already intending to start out on his own account, separating himself entirely from Field’s office. The kudos that he must have expected from being employed by a government (not for the first time if he himself was to be believed) may have been enough to keep him doggedly following the same path as long as he could. When combined with his own self-pride and the fact that he was newly married and needed the work, one may understand his motives better.
HSS.139.14.37. Pollaky to Sanford
This letter is quoted in full, and shows the depths of Pollaky’s feelings:
15th Xbr 61 [Sunday]
Private
Always supposing that my frequent letters have been miscarried and that You therefore could not have answered them, I again adres [sic] You – Mr M. writes that he is ill and cannot see anyone. I have a very important communication to make to You but how can I write – if I cannot satisfy my mind that you receive my letters. Or is it possible that You do receive my letters and thro’ them into the fire without answering them but than [sic] pray say so, in two words – ‘don’t write’ and You may depend upon it I will trouble You no further.
I cannot believe that You have forgotten all the lavishing promises held out to me – and now that I am 15£ out of my pocket turn away for that reason – This 15£ are spent in consequence of the 2th [sic] Grimsby & Hartlepool journey which was undertaken by Your peremptory orders.
But I easily understand that in the present state of affairs You will not nor need not disquiet Yourself about a vanload more or less of Arms being shipped – neither is it in that direction that my information point.
Let me know in what light I have to consider our relation, on or off.?
Yrs Sunday
Should I receive no answer to this letter I will draw my own conclusion and try to reimbourse [sic] me the best I can.
Pollaky was by now thoroughly fed up with the treatment he had received from Sanford and Morse, and was determined to try another tack. On 27 January 1862, he went over Sanford’s head and wrote directly to Seward:
WHSP Pollaky to Seward
Private (Continental) Inquiry Office
14 George St. Mansion House
London 27th January 1862 [Monday]
Strictly Private & Confidential
Sir !
I beg to apologise for addressing You this but I do so in hope that You will give me a patient hearing – I shall not enter into details, and confine myself strictly to facts – I don’t adress [sic] You as a stranger, since my former reports must have made You familiar with my name and handwriting.
This [sic] said Reports I sent to You through Mr. Morse here, and through Mr Sanford Your Ambassador in Belgium – The Reports signed Brennan will be still in Your possession relating to the ‘Fingal’ – ‘Thomas Watson’ ‘Cheshire’ I have worked hard for the interests of the Government of the United States.
It was me who traced BullocK Hughes Anderson BlacKley Yancy & Mann – I had a whole staff working admirably until the whole got wind into the english papers through the indiscretion and bad tact of Messrs Morse and Sanford, I gave way before the public outcry, and declined to go on further; now that the matter has blown over and the Confederates renew their worK with double energy, it would be desirable to begin the surveillance afresh – I am willing to do it by Your direction, under Your immediate guidance, without being compelled to confere [sic] with Mr. Morse who confers again with Mrs Morse, before giving a reply – As regards Mr. Sanford he is more of a Diplomat, but very impulsive and utterly unfit to direct such delicate manoevres – There is now arrived in England (Bristol) a Mr Muir who purchase[d] large quantities of gunpowder (100 Tons) with army Clothing and Apothecary wares, which will all be shipped via Havanna to some Southern ports. – The vessel will escape as did the Bermuda & Fingal – I gave Mr Morse timely information about the Bermud[a] and her Cargo, Mr Sanford at that time being in Italy with the Garibaldi business, and it is owing to Mr Morse that the Bermuda got away.
I offer my services, the past will be sufficient guarantie [sic] for my tact talent and sincerity, I enclose You a letter of Mr Sanford which will speak for itself – and will do away with the necessity of referring with to him about my Capabilities and will on the other hand enable You to employ me without the Knowledge of any other person in this Country – which would be the most practicable, sure, and in fact only mood and condition, under which I would undertake this most delicate and difficult task of surveillance as I do not know if this letter will ever reach Your hands I confine myself to what I have stated[.] Should you desire to utilise my services in this country in the direct manner I have stated, it would be necessary to give me an adress [sic] less conspicuous than Your name under cover of which I may write to You with full confidence – Mr Morse by the direction of Mr Sanford paid me weeKly a considerable sum for the execution of said services – and it would therefore be advisable if You remit per ‘BanKers order’ under my name the monies so required –
As I have ceased for the last 6 weeKs to worK in this affair it will therefore require that I should employ in the beginning more men than it would otherwise necessitate after the surveillance has been Kept up for some time –
I have great means at my disposal[.] You require them, and if You can afford to pay You will be well served. I speaK plain and will be glad to hear from You soon. Remit me 500 Dollars which will be sufficient for Strict Surveillance, and other incidental expenses for 3 months – I will report to You weekly not only about ships and blankets but something more interesting – which neither Mr. Adams nor Mr Morse nor Mr Sanford can furnish You with[.] I am Your obd Servant
Ig. Pollaky
He enclosed the letter written by Sanford to himself the previous year which he had already quoted back to Sanford the previous November, and annotated it at the foot of the page, ‘Mr Sanford’s own Handwriting to Mr Pollaky’:
WHSP Sanford to Pollaky [Sent on by Pollaky to Seward]
[August 1861 ?]
Dr Sir:
Yours of yesterday recd. It has good news & you are deserving of great credit for your activity & intelligence in the matter. I sent you yesterday name of London Agents of the Liege manufacturer Lemaire for B & Co, Moss Brothers & [?] A. Franklin [?]
Yours
Wednesday
Though he was hopeful that this letter would do the trick of maintaining his employment by hiring himself out directly to Seward, he did not yet want to cut all ties with Sanford in case Seward did not take the bait. He was somewhat naïve if he thought his blatant criticism of Sanford and Morse to Seward would further his prospects. Unable to refrain from further pressuring Seward, he sent another letter to him two days later:
WHSP Pollaky to Seward
14 George St. Mansion
House
London 29th January [1]862 [Wednesday]
Private
Sir !
Enclosed I respectfully beg to hand You, copy of a letter I received to day from the American Legation in this town.
I remitted yesterday into the hands of Mr Moran a communication adressed [sic] to You, with 2 enclosures[.] a. letter from Mr. Sanford to me, b. a paragraph from a ministerial paper. – I trust You will receive them in speed and Safety; and beg to say that it will be of the utmost importance no[w] that Messrs Mason & Slidell have arrived, to have an eye upon passing events here – all I require is money and a safe channel of Communication with You. Of course it would be the safest to communicate through Mr Adams. but I fear that Gentleman will object to it – as it is a great favour that he has agreed to forward this communication.
Hoping to hear from You by Return of post
Yours truly
Pollaky
[Postscript]
Mason & Slidell went yesterday evening to Yancy 31 Bury St. This morning Slidell leaves for Paris. Dr Holland who left here by the Fingal, and who was connected with the Honduras Railroad – had several interviews with Sanford at Morley’s Hotel and it is through Holland that the whole affair of the Fingal was spoiled –
The above letter was written on 29 January. Pollaky sent it to the United States Legation in London, and received a letter of acknowledgement from Benjamin Moran who forwarded it to Seward in Washington DC where Seward received it on 13 February. Dr Henry Holland was, according to Bulloch’s description, ‘a spirited Texan who had served in the United States army during the Mexican War’, who was ‘requested to prepare a big medicine-chest and a case of surgical instruments to take with him’. How Dr Holland spoiled the affair of the Fingal is not clear.
HSS.139.14.38. Pollaky to Sanford
On Friday, 31 January 1862, the indefatigable Pollaky sent another letter to Sanford. Written on his own headed paper, now that he was established properly with his own business address, he still tried to maintain an interest in Sanford’s activities by writing a brief letter indicating that there had been large preparations: ‘100 Tons of powder 30,000 Rifles, 10 privateers’. As a postscript he writes, ‘please remit that trifle (15£)’. But it was no good. Pollaky’s association with Sanford was almost done.
HSS.139.13.6. Pollaky to Sanford
London Coffee House
Sunday
Yancy has returned. The Doctor has seen him this morning – Messrs Mason [&] Slidell are hourly expected at Liverpool – please to see me as soon as possible as many arrangements have to be made, as I intend to go to Liverpool tonight
WHSP Pollaky to Seward
Pollaky writes of a meeting between Slidell and Édouard Thouvenel, French Minister of Foreign Affairs with the intention of gaining the sympathies of the French Government. As a gesture of goodwill he gave Thouvenel a letter from the President of the Confederate States of America.
George St. Mansion House
London 11th Febry 62 [Tuesday]
Private
In an audience which Mr Thouvenel gave to Mr Slidell yesterday the question of the ineffective Blockade was freely discussed[.] Slidell handed to Thouvenel an authograph [sic] letter from Jeff. Davis.
I am informed that Mr. Thouvenel did no more than promise to lay the facts before the Emperor; but this said that the policy of the French Governemt [sic] will shape itself after that of England – with this they parted.
As You will see by the enclosed (which is in Mr Thouvene[l’s] own handwriting, I could if You wish be of some service to You in that quarter. But I would require larger means than quoted in my first[.] Please return to me Mr Thouvene[l’s] letter.
The english Gov. will now strictly adhere to the principle of ‘non intervention’
Pollaky
The following day, Pollaky wrote a letter to Seward which seems to show that he desperately needed to remain in charge of surveillance: perhaps for financial reasons after all he not only had a new business, but Mary Ann was now expecting their first child. He had undoubtedly felt that with work such as this, he could afford to start out on his own account, and for his business to fail so early was unthinkable. The letter contains a half-hearted threat, indeed it amounts to attempted blackmail, and is a rare example of any shady dealings on Pollaky’s part, another being the bribing of the postman mentioned above. He was playing a dangerous game. That it was out of character is shown by the evident agitation in his handwriting:
WHSP Pollaky to Seward
12th February [1862 – Wednesday]
Private
I bg [sic] to enclose Your Excy the last Rpt from Bristol the news contained therein are authentical [sic] and it would be all to watch the weasels when they arrive at the American Coast[.]
I forwarded to You yesterday through Mr Miller the Dept agent a letter containing a communication with a letter from Mr Thouvenel Mr Sanford & Mr Morse – All I want is money enough to carry on the Surveillance, and I can assure You it will be done effectually, as I understand the work well [.] You will also perceive by Mr Morse Rpt that they are only Duplicates to my Repts, and that it is in my power to stop his supply of information at any time[.] My means at present are nil, and I have spent upwards o[f] 30£ out my own pocket besides 15£ Mr Morse owes me a balance of former service – but I have now nothing to do with him – I want to serve you honestly and energetically a why [?] the letter of Mr Sanford I had the honnor [sic] of sending to You in my Communication through Mr Adams, he expressed himself highly satisfied – but through incompatibilty [sic] of temper we could not agree, have I through this to be debarred from serving my adopted Country when I have the means and Capacity for doing so.
Hoping that ere this reaches You to have Your reply to former Communications
Yours
Pollaky
Whether his claim that he could easily spoil the surveillance by stopping the supply of Morse’s information at source was taken seriously or not is hard to say. Pollaky seems to have regretted his rashness in sending this letter, and three days later sent another. More conciliatory in tone it gave advice and information, and praised Francis Adams, the US Ambassador:
WHSP Pollaky to Seward
George St. Mansion House London
Saturday 15th Febry [1862]
Private
Strictly Confidential
I just receive [sic] the enclosed Rpt and I hasten to forward the same without delay as I can hardly save the post.
You will see the necessity of strictly watching the movements of this ports [sic].
There is now talk about Slidell having gained a strong friend in Prince Nap. and of the later [sic] accepting the propority [sic] of the crown of the Southern Confederacy – all this although freely spoken off [sic] is good informed society here lacks every evidence, and the [unreadable] of Prince Nap. who showed Slidell’s letter to a friend expresses his Conviction to the contrary
There is a great deal of speculation in all this which is sold here to Morse and Sanford for ready Cash, but which is mere trash and not worthy of one moments consideration –
Mr. Adams here is a man of too good sound sense to attach the slightest value here to this talk and he is therefore little troubled by the number of Dollar Hunters which reap such rich harvest with Mr. Morse
Yours truly
Pollaky
This seems to be his last letter to Seward. He had one more try at raising Sanford’s interest in March:
HSS.139.14.39. Pollaky to Sanford
14 George Street
Mansion House
London 12th Ma[rch] 62
Pollaky wrote to Sanford that he had ‘some nice bits of information’. He mentions a figure of £1,000, but it is unclear whether this is the value of goods he wishes to tell Sanford of, or whether it is the value of the information he has. If the latter, it would have been a simply enormous amount of money. He asked to meet Sanford, but no meeting was forthcoming. As late as 14 February 1862,
Ed Brennan was still reporting to Pollaky, this time from Bristol where he had observed three ships, the Robert Bruce, the Gambia, and the Windward all apparently about to head for the Southern States and attempt to run the blockade. Pollaky forwarded this report, but it did him no good; his association with the American Civil War and the activities of the Confederate agents in London was at an end.
He had not been helped by the fact that even though Morse had been fully aware of his work, Morse and Adams had set up a rival surveillance operation, which had been spotted by the Confederates as early as September 1861. Sanford had not been pleased, particularly when he discovered that Morse and Adams had paid the other team the sum of £270 for the same information about the Fingal which had already been supplied by Pollaky; his lack of contact with Pollaky may have in part been due to embarrassment. Sanford himself had complained to William H. Seward, but to no effect. Indeed, Seward had written to Sanford as early as 4 November 1861 informing him that Morse should take charge of the surveillance using his own agents.
The war in America finally ended in 1865, but does not seem to have figured in Pollaky’s life any further.
Perhaps the end of Pollaky’s association with Sanford was just as well. He had found it very difficult, and it must have taken a huge amount of his time. In addition, Morse’s oft-made excuses that he was ill and therefore couldn’t communicate with (or pay) him must have seemed very suspicious. Pollaky had spent several nights away from his home and his new wife, and that must have created something of a strained atmosphere, particularly in the light of Mary Ann’s condition. One can, however, understand his great anxiety over financial matters, especially if he was not being paid what was owed him. Now he would be free to concentrate on his private practice as an investigator. How successful this was we shall see.
Paddington' Pollaky, Private Detective Page 10