The Express. — 1864-02-29 (London, England)

LONDON, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 29.  THE " Correspondence respecting the capture of " the Saxon by the United States ship Van " derbilt," which has just been published, throws light on the circumstances attending the seizure of the British barque, as well as on that more painful one, the violent death of the first mate at the hands of an American officer. With regard to the first point, the capture of the Saxon, the Correspondence supplies the evidence on which the English Government has decided that there is no ground for withdrawing the question of its legality from the jurisdiction of the Prize Court to which it has been referred. The seizure of the vessel appears to have involved no violation of British or neutral territory, and one of the owners of the Saxon virtually admits that she was engaged in conveying to market part of a prize cargo belonging to Captain SEMMES, of the Alabama. The second point, the alleged murder of the first mate in cold blood, is one of wider and more urgent interest, one that comes home to the feelings of every Englishman, of every member, indeed, of any community sufficiently civilized to regard the rights of the person and the security of life as supreme interests. On this vital question the information contained in the official Correspondence just issued is full and detailed. The papers supply, indeed, in the shape of statements made by the master, the second mate, and the crew of the Saxon, all the evidence that can at present be obtained on the subject, and this evidence certainly supporta the allegations respecting the murder of the first mate. It must of course be kept in mind that we have at present only one side of the case, the depositions of officers and men belonging to the captured barque, and it may be added that on one material point the testimony of those witnesses does not perfectly agree. Still in the main it carries an air of almost unmistakeable truth, and on the supposition of its trustworthiness the British Government was bound to urge on the American Government the immediate trial of the officer who shot Mr. Guay, as well as to ask for reparation. The American Government immediately complied with the first request, and Mr. DONOHOE, the incriminated officer of the Vanderbilt, is now on his trial before a Court of Inquiry assembled at the Navy Yard, Boston. It appears, indeed, from the papers that apart from any application from the British Government, this officer would have been brought to trial immediately on the return of his vessel to America, the captain of the Vanderbilt' having placed him under arrest on hearing the circumstances connected with Mr. GRAY'S death. . . _  It is satisfactory to know that the whole case is now being legally investigated before the proper tribunal, and will be judicially decided on the fullest evidence. Meanwhile it is important to the interests of international justice that the material facts, so far as they already depend, should be accurately known and kept in view on this side of the Atlantic. They are brought out most fully in the detailed statements of DANIEL Air, HISON, is‹ e ind mate, and HORACE CARREW, seaman, on board the Saxon—both of whom were within about half-alozen yards of Mr. GHAT, the first mate, when he fell. From these statements, confirmed in every essential particular by the evidence of STEPHEN SHEPPARD, the master of the barque, it appears that the Saxon sailed from Capetown early in September, with a cargo for Ascension, and having landed the cargo, proceeded to Angra Pequefia, on the west coast of Africa, arriving there about the middle of October. Here, on the 27th of that month, she commenced taking in a cargo of skins and wool, which had been discharged there a few days before from the Tuscaloosa, the Federal merchant ship taken by the Alabama and subsequently converted into a privateer. Three days later, just as the crew had finished loading and the Saxon was ready for sea, the Federal war-ship Vanderbilt rounded Angra Point, anchored abreast of Penguin Island, and sent off a boat's crew, with two officers, armed, to board the barque. The senior officer--a Mr.