The Peterhoff.
--It is nearly time that we had heard of the reception of the news of the condemnation of the
English screw steamer
Peterhoff, and the sale of both that vessel and her cargo by the
Federal authorities.
The
Peterhoff was arrested twice in her voyage from the
English port of
Falmouth to the neutral port of
Matamoras — the first time by the
United States steamer
Alabama, in
Danish waters, in the
West Indies, and the second by the
United States steamer
Vanderbilt, just outside the port of
St. Thomas, under the orders of
Admiral Wilkes.
Her
Commander,
Captain Jarman, had a commission in the
English Royal Naval reserve, had charge of her Majesty's mails, and the cargo of the vessel was of goods, it is alleged, not contraband of war. The manner of the seizure was rude and offensive, and the circumstances were such, in the opinion of those persons who understood the law of nations bearing upon the case, as to demand the prompt interference of the
British Government to protect her own rights, as well as those of her citizens.
The British Government, however, chose to defer the matter to the investigation and decision of the
Federal Government, the Ministry in the meantime evading the questions of those members of Parliament whose indignation was very naturally aroused at the high-handed act of
Capt. Wilkes in arresting and holding the
Peterhoff to answer the charges against her. At last the case is settled, and the
Peterhoff and her cargo are wiped out by sale, and the proceeds passed to the
Federal Treasury.
There can, of course, be no room for further delay by the Ministry, if they mean not to leave the whole question of British rights on the sea to the unopposed dictum of the
Federal courts.
The next foreign intelligence will inform us on this point.
We shall learn whether they intend to take up the affair of the
Peterhoff at all, and we shall hear what is the popular sentiment of
England with regard to it. The popular impulse, we doubt not, would be to demand immediate indemnity for the outrage of the seizure and confiscation of the vessel and her cargo; but we shall probably see the Ministry, under their timid and war-fearing policy, taking some slow and cautious steps which opens the way for concession and compromise and crawfishing on both sides.
Honor or no honor, there must be no war!
