KIDNAPPING IN THE SOUTH SEAS.

There are few things of which, as a nation, we ought to be more desirous than of maintaining oar fair fame amongst foreign countries for humanity and justice. Any act of cruelty committed under shelter of the British flag reflects dishonour upon the whole country, and no efforts ought to be spared to bring the perpetrators of it to punishment, and to cause all possible reparation to be made to the injured parties. The weaker and more defenceless the people against whom any act of cruelty has been practised, the more anxious ought we to be to make the necessary sznends. The following particulars of a case of kidnapping, which took place in the South Seas some time since, we take from a letter which appeared in tl e Times. As the letter bssr* the signature of the chaplain and incumbent of St. Paul's Church for Seamen, there can, of course, be no doubt with respect to its authenticity. "There are now," says the writer, "in the Sailors' Home, Well-street, two natives of Tongataboo, and one of the Friendly Islands, and the circumstances under which they have come to that institution are such as reflect shame and horror on our mercantile system. It appear--, from their own narration, that in the winter of 1846— 7 a South Sea whaler, named the '"WillWatch,' called at Tongataboo for provisions and refreshments, and on the evening of her departure her captain decoyed on board, and forcibly detained, one cf those islanders, with the intention of employing his services in the whaling expedition. The si ip weighed and stood out to sea. In the morning she was still in the offing, becalmed. The other islander, who, from his acquaintance with our language, acted as interpreter to ships touching at the islands, was strongly moved by the distress of the wife and family of the kidnapped man, and hastened out in his canoe to the vessel, in the hope of prevailing on the captain to restore the man. After a long pull he gained the ship, but was refused permission to come on board. At length he boarded her, ml appealed to the captain on behalf of his friend. Soon a breeze sprung up, and the interpreter, despairing of recovering the captive, and in a tumult of enthusiasm and grief, forgetting his own wife and two children in the present wretchedness of his friend, said to "the captain, "You take that man ; he no speak English. Suppose he get sick, he die ; no one care for that man ; you write my name down ; you take me." The captain then took both men off, promising them a share in the profits, and to restore them in 4 months to their own island. After the lapse of 8 months, instead of bringing them back to their own island, the captain landed them at a placa called Saletabo, where he left them. After enduring great priv&'iin thy were at length taken on board an English ship, the George Holme, and landed in England, since which time th^y have been in the Sailors' Home." It appears ti.-st the captain who first decoyed the men, haa since died. We trust, however, that the owner of the vessel — stated to be Mr. Lyall, of Broad-street — will do something to relieve the unfortunate men, and to lecompense them to some extent for the injuries which they have suffered.

The writer of the letter states that Messrs. Lyall and Sturge — the latter the owner of the vetsel which brought the men to England — have already contributed the sum required to send the poor men back to Auckland, in New Zealand. They ought not, however, to be permitted to go back empty handed. Some greater compensation is due to them for the injustice practised towards them than a mere free passage to their native land. English Shipping. — The Jobnstone, from Sydney 15'h Mar'h, arrived in the Downs on the 28th Jun°. The Raymond, from Sydney the 1st March, arrived in the Downs on the 27th June. The Una, 699 tons, was to sail from Liverpool on the 28th June and Plymouth about the 10th July, with emigrants for Sydney. The Constant, 535 tons, J. J Coombes, was to sail from London for Adelaide and Sydney on the 21st July. The Havering sailed from London for Dublin about the 25tb June, to embark convicts for Sydney. The William & Mary, 500 tons, Peter, was to sail from London on the 23rd, and Plymouth on the 17tu July, with emigrants for Sydney.