The Sun.
London, England, 1864-07-21 00:00:00

X 27,106,250

- -
rities (including
DeadWeightAn-
nuity) £11.092,125
Other Securities 19,231,960
Notes
Gold and Silver 715,311
Coin

X 36,500,91
shier
9l
Chief Cashier.

Outrages on British Subjects in New York.

In the House of Commons, on Friday evening, Mr Laird
asked the Under Secretary for Foreign Affairs whether he
had received any communications from Lord Lyons in re-
ference to the seizure by the customs authorities at New
York of a large amount of property, including gold coin,
bills of exchange, and other securities, belonging to Messrs
A. Wolf and Co., British merchants at Nassau, N.P.
Mr Layard said no repbrt had been received from Lord
Lyons on the subject of the seizure, but a printed statement
had been given to him (Mr Layard) by the hon. member
for Birmingham, giving an account of what had taken
place, and he had sent that statement to Lord Lyons and
requested him to make immediate inquiry into the matter.
He had also laid the statement before the law officers of the
Crown.

The following are the particulars of the case :—ln the
latter part of November, ]863, a Mr George G. Wolf, who
represented the house of Messrs A. Wolf and Co., British
merchants, residing and doing business at Nassau, N.P.,
arrived at the port of New York, direct from the former
place, on board the British steamship Corsica. He had in
his possession money, bills of exchange, and securities to
the aggregate value of 0,000 sterling. A portion of this
property was designed for direct remittance to the
correspondents of the firm in England, for the purpose
of covering bills which had been drawn upon them at Nas-
sau, and the rest was intended to be applied to the liquida-
tion of indebtedness due their commission agent in New
York, and for the purchase of merchandise for shipment to
Nassau. Before leaving the vessel, Mr Wolf was subjected
to a rigid personal search, and the whole of this property,
with every shilling of his private funds, was taken from him,
under and by direction of the customs authorities of the port.
No reason was assigned, nor was there any authority for
the act shown by the officer who made the seizure. Mr.
Wolf respectfully requested that a proper inventory should
be made, and a receipt be given for the property by the
officer, This was refused with abusive and violent language.
Immediate application was made to the Hon Edward M.
Archibald, her Majesty's Consul, who called upon the
customs authorities and requested an explanation of
the outrage. Mr Archibald carefully presented to the
notice of the collector the very serious injury which
would result to the business interests and to the
commercial credit of the parties concerned by a prolonged
retention of the property. A prompt investigation and a
definite answer were promised by the collector, in reply to
his application, either for the immediate restoration of that
property or the assigning of some good reason for its re.
tention.

More than ten days elapsed before any reply or satis-
faction could be obtained. During this time Mr Archibald
called upon the collector, and also addressed him in writing
on the subject, several times. The parties interested fre-
piently made personal application to the authorities them-
selves, and were invariably met with insult, and threats of
arrests and imprisonment in Fort Lafayette should they
persist in claiming their property. Finally it was stated
that the United States marshal had seized the property in
the name of the Government, upon the ground that it was
owned by citizens of the Confederate States. Mr. Wolf,
accompanied by his friends, proceeded immediately to
Washington, and laid the case, with all the circumstances
connected with it, before Lord Lyons, who promptly called
upon the Secretary of State, Mr. Seward, and placed him
in possession of the facts. Application was also made to
the Treasury Department at Washington by the commission
agent of the parties, who resided in New York, for the pur-
pose of ascertaining if the action of the customs authorities
was the result of instructions from or had received the ap-
proval of the Department, after the same had been properly
communicated to the Government. The Treasury Depart-
ment denied having authorised the action of the customs
authorities at New York, end promised a speedy investiga-
tion of the facts in connection with it. Four days after the
demand for the restoration of the property had been made
by Lord Lyons, it was surrendered to Mr. Wolf, by the
customs authorities in New York, without apology or a
word of explanation.
On Dec. 31, 1863, and about three weeks after the surren-
der of the property, the commission agent of the firm of A.
Wolf and Co., residing in New York, together with several
other British merchants engaged in trade with the Bahamas,
were arrested by order of the War Department and thrown
into Fort Lafayette, where they now remain imprisoned.

Tho customs authorities took immediate possession of the
office:of this gentleman, seized all his books and oorrespon-
dence, stopped his business, and a few days afterwards cut
cpen his iron safe and removed from it a large amount of
property, among which was gold coin, bills of exchange, and
other securities to the value of £B,OOO, belonging to Messrs
A. Wolf and Co., of Nassau. This sum embraced a large
portion of the funds previously seized from Mr G. G.Wolf,
and subsequently given up ; and also remittances after-
wards made to him by the firm at Nassau.

:Application for redress was again made to Lord Lyons by
the owners of their property through their counsel. The
matter was presented to the attention of the State Depart-
ment by Lord Lyons, who was assured by Mr Seward that
an investigation would be shortly made, and that an injus-
tice growing mat of the retention of the money, without
good and sufficient reason, would be carefully avoided.
This application was made about the 12th of last January.
Lord Lyons continued to press the matter upon the
attention of the State Department from time to time, and
was assured that the great pressure of business had pre-
vented the promised investigation.
In an interview between the counsel for the parties into,
rested and Lord Lyons, about the 25th day of May last, the
former were assured by his lordship that another formal
application for redress would be made, and that in the event
of the United States Government refusing either to deliver
up the property or consenting to institute legal proceedings
before the courts for its condemnation upon some alleged
f
that their
ground, so that the owners might have the opportunityo
legitimate
being heard, through their counsel, in its defence, lord-
ship would make it the subject of a special communicationehieoetrspdtresoion;pmetarhintayygt
to her Majesty's Government.
It is proposed to state that the
seised allege, and are abundantly
.abol
fe
itieoororstprria.:crfveteit.y.
business at Nassau and elsewhere is
eatorbamnaanmeddeannt regulations adopted
caused to be
they have never shipped, or
attempt character;
to run
rthat
thethey l
blockade
ea to
fntohtei time
Confederate
reantgeapg
shipped, from
ports in the United States, any
war • that they have
for the control of
undertastrictlyde t
between hceo dmepsliigendatlv:
of
ftdhe Bahamas ; that
by the United States
moderately and respectfully urged their
, have repeatedly solicited a proper ju-
rights, and
of
ju-
dicial investigation facts, expressing their
they have
willingness to acquiesce in the result ; and that up
entire
to the present time all the efforts of their counsel at New
York, with the customs authorities and the action of Lord
Lyons with the Government at Washington, have been uni-
formly met with promises of attention which were never
intended to be kept, or with direct evasion, and with an ap-
parently persistent determination to refuse any satisfaction
whatever in the matter.
tinrh otfhp
customs

FATAL FALL FROM THE ROOF OF A HOUSE.--
Yesterday Isaac Cooper, aged 16, of White Horse-yard,
Poplar, was amusing himself with some pigeons at the top
of the house when he fell from a height of 60 it. He was
taken to the hospital, but before his arrival be was found to
be dead.
LACORDAIRE AND THE LITTLE CHILDREN.—The
gaiety of the little ones and their evident affection
for the Pere were a pretty sight. As we went out of the
chapel, one of them, a little fellow of 10 or 11, ran from
behind us, snatched with a laughing t ace Lacordaire's
hand, and kissed it. Lacordaire smiled and patted his
head. When I read the other day in M. de Montalem-
bert's book how Lacordaire had said ehortly before his
death, "I have always tried to serve God, the Church, and
our Lord Jesus Christ. Besides these I have loved—oh,
dearly loved—children and youn
in g people,"
incident. —Mathew .Arnold"Xacitaillan'g Jlaga, .
zne, •Septemkr, 1563." I thought of