THE GOVERNMENT AND THE PETERHOFF.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XX, Issue 1111, 4 July 1863, Page 2

THE GOVERNMENT AND THE PETERHOFF.

There can hardly be more than one opinion mpor the course taken by our Government in the case «' the Peterhoff. The present war has been fruitful in puzzles for international lawyers, but this is no: one of them. It is as certain that we are bound to await the judgment of the Prize Court at Key W«; on the capture of this vessel, as it is that Admiral Wilkes was not justified in ordering her to be taken. According to the evidence before us, which seems too strong and complete to be materially shaken, a great injury has been done, and probably done wilfully, to her owners and passengers, but that injur, has been done in compliance with the forms of law, and a legal remedy, however inadequate, is provided for it. Until that remedy shall have been refusei and justice denied by the tribunals of the United States, it is the clear duty of the Foreign Office to abstain from anything like peremptory intervention. ! This country must never allow itself to be placed in the wrong, and at a time when great irritation is known to prevail among the merchants nf the North, and the very impartiality of our attitude as neutrals cannot but seem unfriendly to a belligerent who demands sympathy rather than neutrality, it is better to err on the side of moderation. We cannot, indeed, afford to be generous as a nation at the expense of individual rights, and the obligation of a Government to obtain redress for its subjects aggrieved by the unjust decision of a foreign Prize Court is emphatically laid down by the American jurist, Wheaton. But to presume beforehand, as Mr. Seymour Fitzgerald and the owners of the Peterhoff would have us, that the decision will te "absolutely contrary to all law and justice." would be monstrous in itself, and would give a great advantage to those who seek a quarrel with usTimes, April 8.

At first sight the seizure of the Peterhoff appears to have been illegal; and assuming as true the statements which have been made by her owner;, is undoubtedly was so. But whether those statement! are true or false is exactly the point which it is the special province of a Prize Court to decide. Her Majesty's Government cannot claiui to exercise functions which do not belong to them, since to so would virtually be to assume the jurisdiction which, by the law of nations, is reposed in the court; of admiralty to which captured vessels are carrier for adjudication. If a Prize Court pronounced a judgment manifestly inconsistent with the evidence adduced before it, or having pronounced a seizure to be illegal, the captors refused to liberate the ship and to make compensation to the owners, then it would clearly become the duty of the State to which such captured ship belonged to enforce redress. have no reason, however, at present to assume that the American Prize Court at Ivey West will I!0 ' 1 administer impartial justice. In the case of tho Peterhoff the most that can be done by the Government is to communicate with our Minister at Washington with the view of demanding the release of the vessel if no legal ground of capture is alleged. This course the Secretary for Foreign Affairs has stated it to be the intention of the Government to adopt. If, however, a legal ground of capture alleged, the facts must then be inquired into in t' ll ' usual manner before a prize court. —Morning April 8.

Carrying the Mails in* the Hebrides.— accident of a very alarming nature took place at lona lately, which threw the inhabitants of the yillap-' into a state of the utmost consternation. Wliilt? tht' letter-carrier was crossing the Sound of lona to Mu in his boat it was upset by a heavy breaker on banks. It was a calm morning, but the swe.l tremendous, and the boat was only about across when the accident occurred. The postmaster, who was watching it all the time in the ease of a" accident, gave the alarm, and got a boat and manned. The boatmen pulled nobly over tliL large breakers in good style, until they reached t r boat, which was bottom upwards, and the carrier and his comrade, its occupants, were holdup on by the keel, which must have been hard work, owing to the heavy swell washing over them. Ahou 20 minutes elapsed from the time the boat until the other boat reached them, and brought ashore in a very exhausted state; but after beint, properly attended to they soon recovered. The pos - master saved the life of the letter-carrier una similar circumstances, on the same banks, some - years ago, before the post-office was estabhshei the island; and we understand it is the fourth " the letter-carrier has had a hairbreadth escape 1 drowning. The Keason Why,—A friend of ours only reason why his house was not blown during the gale was because there was a heavy m gage upon it.