The capture of the English steamer Labuan.
--We have heretofore had information of the seizure, by a Federal blockading vessel, of the English steamer
Labuan.
The
Havana Diario, of a recent date, gives the following account of the affair:
The English merchant propeller
Labuan, of
Hull, 723 tons burden, left this port, arrived at
Matamoras on the first of January last, and discharged her cargo of merchandize, consigned to
Messrs Droege,
Cetling & Co., merchants of that place.
As all the commercial world knows,
Matamoras is about forty miles from the mouth of the
Rio Grande — As that river has a bar, vessels of heavy draft are compelled to anchor outside.
For this reason, in the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, between
Mexico and the
United States, the neutral waters of both nations were extended a marine league north and south of said river, which is considered the port of
Matamoras.
The
Labuan had dispatched for Havana the 24th of January. She had on board 439 bales of cotton, of which 269 are the property of Messrs. Jersey & Co, of
Manchester, and the 170 remaining belong to
Don Francisco Armandacz, a Spanish merchant residing in
Matamoras.
The
Captain had gone to the mouth of the river with the rest of the cargo and $150,000 in silver.
He was detained there by had weather till the 1st of February, when arrived the
United States sloop-of-war
Plymouth, 22 guns,
Commodore Swartwout.--She took possession of the
Labuan, and on the 4th that steamer had disappeared.
The British
Vice-Consul,
Mr. Bleeker, on the 5th of February, went on board the
Portsmouth, which vessel had raised the
French flag.
In his interview with the commander, the latter refused to inform the
Consul to what port he had sent the
Labuan, telling him only that he had taken the vessel because she had cotton on board.
That he (the commander) intended to capture every vessel he should meet containing cotton, because he considered that article contraband of war, as the production of
Texas or some other rebel State.
The
Diario has two long articles denouncing the act of the
Federal officer, as a violation of the law of nations and of treaty stipulations.
