Mr. Ryrie asked, the other day, when ther the Government had received any an othcial Informativun of the occurrence on board the Massageries Maritimes' steamer Calédonien. This incident, as we see it is termed in the colony, was briefly described in our columns soon after it happened. A person who had incurred debts in Hongkong was strongly suspected by one of his creditors of an intention to leave by the French mail steamer without paying the accounts he owed. A warrant was procured for his arrest and was backed by the French Consul. But the Captain of the Calé- donien refused to allow the warrant to be executed, claiming that his ship was French soil. Finally an officer from the French man-of-war Turenné, which happened to be in harbour, came on board the Calédonien and after a consultation with the Captain the passenger was taken on shore. HE. the Governor replied that the reports which had appeared in the newspapers were in the main correct, and acknowledging that the French Consul had done all that could be required of him, went on to say that such blame as there may be in the matter rests with the regulations under which the captains of the Mes-sagenes Maritimes are instructed or guided, or in the mode of carrying them out adopted by this particular captain. What the Captain of the Calédonien did with the warrant was, as two Hongkong papers say, to crumple it up in his hand and refuse to allow it to be served. Now, if this is the case itis very evident that this particular captain is not the man to command a man-of-war, which is the status that the Colonial ordinance which the Legislative Council was compelled by the Colonial Office to pass, gives to French and German mail steamers. However high this captain's opinion of his own position and that of his ship may, be this treatment of a warrant issued by the Colonial Court and backed by the Consul of his own nation was, to say very little, indecorous. It may have been nothing more than one of those bumptious acts which some Captains of steamers of all nations are apt to indulge in, proceeding from a very exaggerated view of their position and of the almost sanctity of their decks. We know nothing whatever of the Captain of the Calédonien, but his rash conduct contrasts unfavourably with the discretion displayed by the Captain or officer—the two accounts before us differ as to his rank—from the Twrenne, under whose advice the guard which had been placed at the door of the cabin of the absconding debtor was removed, and the latter allowed to be taken on shore.
The incident will have done good service if it leads the Colonial Office to order the repeal of the Acts under which French and German mail vessels have the status of men-of-war in our Colonial ports. It brings out, Governor Des Veeux says, in a very strong light the inconveniences suffered in the Colong by the passing of these Acts we should think that all merchants in Hongkong and China hope, with him, that the Act will be allowed to lapse in the future. The Governor further said that if this were not done certain arrangements might be made with the French Government, that will at all events prevent the laws of the Colony failing in the harbour; but it is evident this would not be nearly so efilcient in preventing misunderstanding, asthe repeal of the Act. In this case if there had been no French man-of-warm Hongkong at the time, the Calédonien would we suppose, have gone to sea carrying with her a passenger for whose arrest a warrant of the Court had been issued, which warrant was backed by the French Consul. Such a proceeding would probably have led to a tiresome correspondence between the Colony, the Colonial office, the Foreign office, and the French government, and in the meantime the debtor would have escaped. Now it is manifestthatan Act which makes it necessary that a warrant from the Court should be backed by the French Consul, as we presume the Ordinance or Act conferring the status of men-of-war on these foreign mail steamers does, is a mischievous instrument. It puts Hongkong and other colonies on the same footing as those districts of Ireland, in which the Queen's writ did not run until late it might prevent justice being done if the Consul of a power whose mail steamers call at Hongkong were a capricious or wrong-headed person, or one who on a sudden emergency could not be induced to act. Such men have filled Consulates of all nations in China. j Hongkong has suffered enough from Macao and Manila being cities of refuge for absconding debtors, but it would be much worse off if it were possible that a mail steamer could cary them away in safety to Europe. In the present case this would have been done had there been no French man-of-war' at hand; had there been none, as happens, Sir W. Des Veeux says, about nine-tenths of the year, the law would not have been allowed to take its course. We suppose the Captain of the Calédonien appealed to the Captain of the Turenne as his superior officer, and if so here is another authority sought to be interposed between the law of the Colony and French mail steamers, Such a state of affairs would be derogatory to the Queen's Government; and it s to he hoped that in view of the position to which its maintenance might reduce the Colony, the Government at howe will lose no time in ordering the repeal of an Ordinance which makes it possible of occurrence. The Ordinance sprang from the feeble desire of the British Governments of ow time to be conciliatory in their conduct with other nations, a very good principle in itself, but dangerous when it is worked by weak Secretaries of State. We got nothing and are never likely to get anything in return for this Ordinance from the powers which it favoured. "The Duke" said of a conciliation which was offered to the French in his time, that it would not conciliate them and would do no good, and, applying to it. his favourite measure of value, added that he did not care a twopenny damn whether it did or not. And The Duke was nearer right than many ministers of our time have been and are.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.