Messrs. Sinclair, Hamilton & Co. to Earl Russell, (Received January 5.).
My Lord: We have the honor to address your lordship as the agents in this country of Messrs. W. Anderson, Saxon & Co., Cape Town, Cape Good Hope, with reference to the seizure by the United States steamer Vanderbilt of the British bark Saxon, belonging to them.
We are informed that that vessel has been sent to New York in charge of a prize crew. The original crew are, we believe, now at Cape Town, except the chief mate, who is said to have been killed, but as the crew had not arrived at the date of the last advices, we must await arrival of the next mail before we can lay before your lordship the depositions of the master and crew of the Saxon.
We presume your lordship is already in possession of the information collected by the commander of her Majesty’s ship Valorous. Our information is, that the Saxon was seized while at anchor, as we believe, in British waters. The ground of the seizure is alleged to be that the Saxon had on board cargo that had been landed by the confederate vessels-of-war, and had been taken from federal prizes. We have no detailed information on this subject; but assuming the fact to be as stated, we are advised that it would form no ground for the seizure of the ship.
We have further to inform your lordship that Messrs. W. Anderson, Saxon & Co. had stored, on Penguin island, British territory, 250 tons of coals, which are reported to have been either seized or destroyed by the commander of the Vanderbilt. For the present we shall abstain from remarking further on this proceeding until we receive direct evidence of the facts; but in the mean time we have to beg that your lordship will cause such steps to be taken as may be necessary for the protection of our friends Messrs. Anderson, Saxon & Co., whose rights as British subjects have thus been infringed.
We have &c.,