The Sun.
London, England, 1861-11-28 00:00:00

shot and then a shell across her bows, and thus

brought her to.

An officer of the war steamer,

Lieutenant Fairfax, thereupon put off in a boat
with ten men, boarded the Trent, and demanded
her list of passengers, which was of course refused.
He then stated that he had reliable information

that Mr. Slidell and Mr. Mason, with their secre-

taries, Mr. Eustace and Mr. M.Farlane, were on
board, and demanded that they should be given up.

This request Capt. Moir, of the Trent, peremptorily
rejected, utterly denying the right of the Federal
officers to take any person from under the British
flag. It is very likely that, had Lieut. Fairfax re-
ceived no assistance in this conjuncture, he would
have been without the means of identifying the
objects of his search, and would have had to depart
unsatisfied. The Confederate Commissioners, how-
ever, preferred to announce themselves, and having
done so, formally claimed the protection of the
British flag. Had Lieut. Fairfax now desisted from
his attempt, a gross outrage would have been com-
mitted; but he went further. Waving his hand to
his ship, ho summoned a force of 30 marines and 60
sailors, who leaped on board the Trent cutlass in
hand, and seized the Commissioners by main force.
Against this violent and arbitrary act Commander
Williams, of her Majesty's navy, acting as Admi-
ralty agent of the Trent, protested in solemn terms :
"In this ship," he said, " I am the representative
of her Majesty's Government, and I call upon the
officers and passengers present to witness, that, in
the name of the British Government, I distinctly
denounce this as an illegal act, an act in violation
of international law, an act, indeed, of wanton
piracy, which had we the means of defence you
would not dare to attempt."
The remote consequences of this act we shall not
attempt to predict. Enough for the present that it
is one which will make it the duty of our Govern-
ment to insist on ample, complete, and immediate
satisfaction. Its wanton folly bids us hope that
Lieut. Fairfax was acting without instructions,
and that the Washington Cabinet will no sooner
learn what has taken place in the Bahama
Channel than it will disavow the act, restore
Messrs. Mason and Slidell, and tender the
fullest apology: Nothing short of this repara-
tion can be accepted. Until there has been time
to receive news from Washington, we feel bound to
believe that the seizure of passengers on board the
Trent was an act as much in excess of duty as it was
in violation of public law. No Government should
know better than that of the United States the
lines which separate the rights of belligerents and
neutrals respectively. While this war lasts we
must submit to have our mercantile vessels stopped
on the high seas by bath parties in search of con-
traband. Had Lieutenant Fairfax confined himsel
mustl‘ir have acquiesced in hisa viildtsaitkeans
S ldisagreeableid e loccurrences incident e
t') a
to ohn
eedmeo demanding atffnh, de
wi neg
voyage in the neighbourhood of contending foes.
But the seizure of persons stands on a different
footing. In the eyes of Mr. Seward, Messrs. Slidell
and Mason are rebels ; in our eyes they aro simply
passengers. And the Washington Government may
rest assured we shall no more permit it to take its
rebels out of our vessels than we should concede a
similar right to Austria or Russia.
The circumstances of this event still more strongly
compel us to disbelieve, in the absence of direct evi-
dence, that this aggression was ordered by the United
States Government. The Cabinet at Washington
known perfectly well that it cannot act in this
fashion with impunity. In fact at this moment
cause lies at our mercy. We could with ease re-
move that severe pressure which it exerts on the
South by means of its blockade, and on which, far
more than on the sword, it relies for success. We
could open all the Southern ports at once to receive
gold, and commodities, and munitions of war, in
return for cotton. And if need were, we could at
small cost find abundant occupation for all the San
Jacintos they could muster, and for half the army
of the Potomac into the bargain. We have given
no provocation for this outrage, The course of our
Government has been uniformly forbearing and
considerate, Lord Palmerston's high spirit has
manifested itself only in magnanimity. No Mini-
ster could have avoided more anxiously all that
could fairly give offence, or when occasions for
remenstranco have arisen, as in the recent impri-