The Sun.
London, England, 1863-04-15 00:00:00

THE AFFAIR OF THE PETERHOOF,

The subjoined communication furnishes an ex-
ample of the questions that will be forced upon our
Government by the affair of the Peterhoff, and the
general conduct of the United States' squadron
under the command of Admiral Wilkes. The point
to be determined is whether the British Cabinet in-
tend to initiate and uphold the doctrine- that any
belligerent Power may seize neutral vessels trading
between neutral ports on any pretext they may
think fit to devise. No respectable British ship-
owners would protest against the right of search or
the right of seizure on any obvious andfeatlobable
plea ; but an intimation lately given lijotiie Foreign-
office seems to indicate that in the opinion'of the
law officers of the Crown the United States' Govern-
ment, provided they "allege a legal pretext, no
matter whether it be totally unsupported by direct
proof or even rational assumption, will be fully en-
titled to carry off our vessels for adjudication in
their prize courts." it is seen by the commercial
classes that if a precedent of this kind is to be
definitely admitted it will virtually put it in the
power of any belligerent to stop and embarrass our
trade with the whole world, since there has been no
attempt to modify the doctrine by any distinctions,
such as to the effect that a voyage is illegal between
the neutral ports of England and Mexico, but not
between other neutral ports. Of course, any such
attempt would be absurd, but unless the distinction
be made it then logically follows that the United
States would be justified in seizing a vessel crossing
from Dover to Calais. Even, however, if the doc-
trine could be restricted to the trade with the
neutral ports of Mexico, we must not lose sight of
the fact that any Power that may hereafter be at
war with the United States will then be entitled to
seize, detain, and harass every ship that leaves our
shores for Nova Scotia or Canada. It will, there-
fore, be well to weigh the tremendous consequences
that may arise at some future day to our commerce
from recognising such a legal right, and placing
it as a weapon in the hands of any nation, how.
ever small or poor, that may be at war with
another nation, and may wish with impunity to
insult and to vex us. The fact that damages may
be claimed would very little alter the case. Nothing
that the owners of the Peterhoff are likely to obtain
will compensate them for the disturbance of their
arrangements, ani in cases where seizures were
effected by an insolvent Power the prospect even of
obtaining such insufficient sums as might be awarded
would be almost valueless. The feeling of the mer-
cantile public of London is as strong as ever in its
approval of the prudence of our Government in
straining every consideration to the utmost that
may allow the Washington politicians to carry the
enterprise they have in hand to an end without its
being disturbed by even a single glance of foreign
intervention ; but they have also a lively sense,
which has been greatly strengthened by the expe-
rience of our Chinese and Russian wars, that there
is no surer method of rendering peace hopeless than
that of permitting direct wrongs to pass unnoticed.
Few persons can doubt that if the Trent outrage
had be en tolerated it would have been followed by
acts which long before this would have brought us
into war, and there are many who believe that what-
ever danger may now exist is more likely to arise
from our forbearance on that occasion, in not de-
manding the removal of Admiral Wilkes, than from
any other cause :
" singular difficulty has arisen between the mer-
chants and charterers and the owners of a steam vessel on
the berth' for Matamoras in consequence of the corres-
pondence with the Foreign-office respecting the Peterhoff,
in which the law officers of the Crown appear to admit the
right of a belligerent to capture any neutral vessel on an
alleged suspicion. The owners of the steamer in question
have applied to the authorities for some assurance that their
vessel, being bound on a legal voyage, should not be de
rained on any frivolous pretence, as its predecessor had been.
Failing to obtain any such assurance, they decline to let the
vessel proceed on her voyage. The charterers and mer-
chants whose goods are on board, and who were very large
losers by the delay, insist on her leaving, and threaten the
owners with law proceedirgs and a heavy claim for dam-
ages in case they do not fulfil their contract. The owners
reply that they engaged to send the vessel to Matamoras,
believing it to be a neutral port and a legal voyage; and
that if it is, the law is bound to protect them in the prose-
cution thereof ; but the law officers of the Crown state that
the law is powerless to do so, and that therefore it cannot be
a legal voyage, consequently the law cannot enforce a con-
tract the execution of which is not legal, and cannot compel
the owner to despatch the vessel on a voyage beyond limits
to which its protection extends. Can you, Sir, elucidate this
knotty point, and tell us who is right and who is wrong ?

" I am, sir, yours faithfully,
" London, April 13.

it D2l,

LIVERPOOL, Tuesday.—The iron screw steamship
Tien-tsin, built by Messrs. Laird for service in China, left
here on Saturday night for Plymouth. This is one of the
vessels supposed, but erroneously, to be intended for the
Confederate service.

SHIPBUILDING ON THE WEAR.—The market
for new vessels, 'notwithstanding the flatness of
freights generally, continues pretty active, the recent heavy
losses not having been yet altogether replaced. Lloyd's
quarterly list of ships building on the Wear shows that on
the Ist cf April inst. there were 100 vessels on the stocks,
53 of which were sold, and 47 unsold. The state of the
trade at the same date in some former years will be gathered
from the subjoined table
Year. Building. Sold. Unsold.
1860 ...... 55 ...... 20
1861
1862
1863
There are now 13 vessels building of iron, with an aggre-
gate tonnage of 9,037, and only two of these vessels are
unsold. At the present time, when most of the private
dockyards in the country are understood to be watched by
Federal spies, it may be as well to mention that in the port
of Sunderland, the largest shipping mart in the empire,
there is not a single vessel at present in course of construc-
tion about whose future employment the remotest suspicion
can be entertained. Out of the 100 vessels on the stocks
only five are steamers, all iron, and utterly unsuited for the
sort of work that is being performed by the Alabama and
the other Confederate roYere.