We are still without full details of this capture of our Ministers, Messrs. Mason and Slidell, but are able to supply a few additional particulars:
The vessel from which they were taken, is the British mail steamer Trent. This steamer when only one day out from Havana, on her voyage to England, was arrested by the U. S. Screw Frigate, San Jacinto. The particular circumstances of the removal of Messrs. Mason and Slidell from her decks, we do not know, save that it was by exhibition of force against protest. These gentlemen and their attaches were then brought to Fortress Monroe, which place they reached on the 16th.—The next day they were started to New York, which city they probably reached on Monday last.
Our government, we believe, have received no direct communication from the Ministers.—The notification of their arrest was communicated by Gen. Wool, commanding at Fortress Monroe, to Gen. Huger, commanding at Norfolk. What prompted Gen. Wool to give this information, we have yet to learn.
Of the effect which the capture of these prisoners has had on the New York populace, and the Northern people generally, we shall soon be informed. The foreign power which has been assailed and provoked being absent, and the fruits of the exploit being before them, we should not be surprised if they surrender themselves to paroxysms of joy. We should not wonder if New York has been illuminated, and if Com. Wilkes has been numbered among the immortals. The old merchants and the reflecting men will have other feelings, but the mob will not share the fears that will influence them.
Which Lincoln will most fear to offend?—the English Government or the Northern mob, remains to be seen. Whether Wilkes’s act was authorized or not, we do not know. That, however, would make small difficulty with Seward. He is a proficient in the art of not allowing facts to stand in the way of statements which it may be convenient to him to a make. It would thus be a small thing for Seward to make the diplomatic disclaimer; but it would be an agony to the North to be compelled to let our ministers go; nay to send them by a Government vessel, deliver them aboard a British ship, and salute the British flag. If they rejoice over Mr. Mason’s capture with a special joy, as doubtless they do, his restoration would be to them a special humiliation.
But we still see no alternative left to the Northern Government except to apologise and make restitution, or fight. It is morally impossible for England to submit to the open, palpable disgrace with which her flag has been visited. The circumstances make the insult as gross as a slap in the face. She has been braved, not merely by outraging a trading vessel, but a mail steamer, sent on Government errand, and bearing by authority the Government flag, was the subject of the indignity. She is called upon, therefore, not simply to resent an insult to subjects, but her sovereignly itself has been assailed and humiliated.
Of the right of the Lincoln Government thus to act, there can be no defence. If Messrs. Mason and Slidell are acknowledged as ambassadors, Vattel holds that they were not subject to arrest on neutral territory. If they were political offenders only, England has always refused, and so have we, to withhold from such, a sanctuary. Nay, when England asked of us a provision in our treaty of extradition for the delivery of parties charged with treason, we expressly refused. And if our ministers had been chargeable with ordinary crime, the extradition treaty between the two countries provides another mode for the recovery of fugitive offenders. In short, there is no way of escape for the North from a war with England, unless Wilkes acted without authority, or unless Seward shall say so.
Richmond Enquirer, Richmond, VA