The Daily Press.
HONGKONG, MAY 7th 1872.
those on board the steamer seemed to indicate the fact that something was brewing. At five minutes before five a boat pulled alongside, and Mr. Tonnochy, the Marshal, accompanied by his henchman, Sergeant Foottit, came on board, Mr. Deane remaining within signalling distance. Mr. Tonnochy was met on the quarter-deck by the Captain of the vessel, the Agent of the Messageries Maritimes, the Acting French Consul, and others, to whom one would have thought it scarcely too much to ask that notice should be sent to the Press whenever any public business is to be transacted in the Supreme Court, but although this request has been repeatedly made, it has never been complied with, except on one or two occasions, privately, and by way of personal courtesy. It is quite impossible for us to find out every day all the crooks and corkers in which the business of the Court may be transacted, and under such circumstances it would not be very much beneath the dignity of the Court to give information to the papers as to when, where, and how its proceedings on a particular day are to take place. On Saturday, it appears, a very important case was taken before the Registrar, and so far as we can ascertain proceedings with reference to the issue of the celebrated warrant against the Ava took place at that sitting. The usual application for information at the Court was met with the reply that the Court would not sit, which was true enough, though Mr. Alexander, apparently did. Now this is only one of the numerous instances in which matters that ought to be public are taken on the quiet, in Chambers, or before the Registrar, or on Mail-day, &c. Sometimes you may apply in the morning and hear that there is no business, and in the afternoon discover that the Court has been sitting all day. The simple remedy for this (which certainly cannot be of any real advantage to the Court) is that some intimation should be given to the Press as soon as it is known that a given case comes before a given officer, be he Judge or Registrar, at a given time; and we cannot understand the objection to this course. Indeed, Chief Justice Smale more than once assured us that he had given directions for such notification, but if he has done so they have never been carried out.
he communicated his authority to arrest and detain the steamer. Against this proceeding the Consul most emphatically protested, quoting from memory and documents which he held in his hand in support of his argument, that any attempt to stop a steamer belonging to the Messageries Maritimes with English and French mails on board was contrary to international law, and the compact entered into, with regard to the running of these vessels, by the two great nations. The Marshal, however, was firm, and said he must perform his duty, while the Consul declared that the steamer must not be detained, and a considerable time was spent by the parties in discussing together the facts and points at issue. While this was going on the passengers and friends who were with them stood round the speakers and evinced a lively interest in the proceedings—as was most natural, for it began to look more like detention for the night than anything else, a by no means agreeable prospect in the drizzling rain. People began to wonder whether it was proper to bid their adieux at once, or whether they ought to remain to the bitter end; when an amusing incident decided the matter. The discussion between the French and Hongkong officials on board had proceeded so far, if not very amicably, at least with characteristic politeness on both sides, but when the Captain Superintendent of Police pulled alongside and it was discovered that he wished to come on board, an evil-disposed boatswain sounded his whistle, and the companion ladder came up as if by magic. At this juncture a general desire took possession of those who were not going on in the steamer (if they could help it) to get over her side, as the Frenchman seemed determined to get under way, and that too without affording those on board, including the august Marshal himself, an opportunity of avoiding an involuntary trip to Saigon; for, if the companion ladder was again let down, Mr. Deane would most assuredly come up. Here, then, there took place a general stampede of those who had to go, and all managed to get tumbled into the boats alongside. Luckily this ludicrous scene was unattended by any immersions or other casualties, beyond the precipitate descent of one eager individual through the awning of a house-boat which the chances of war had brought under his feet.
Meanwhile, Mr. Deane, disappointed in his endeavour to get on board, tried back, and waved the blue ensign of his boat as a signal to his reserves, when suddenly there emerged from among the shipping half a dozen boats containing policemen, armed to the teeth with carbines, sword-bayonets, revolvers, and cartridge pouches. They did not at first attempt to board the steamer, and the parleying between the Acting Consul and the Marshal still continued without any desirable result. The armed boats encompassed the ship, and on the arrival of an officer, whom we presume to be the Captain of the Alma, the companion-ladder was lowered for him, but it was evident that the police would not be permitted to go on board without using force.
On Saturday afternoon May 4th, there was exhibited in this harbour one of the most exciting scenes that it has been our lot to chronicle for some time. Connected as it was with the sad collision between the Messageries Maritimes steamer Ava and the unfortunate steamer Rome, the melancholy facts of which are still fresh in our memories, it cannot but be regretted that this course of events should have followed so closely the lamentable occurrence in question.
The Ava was at first advertised to sail at noon on Saturday, but as Captain Rousseau and the officers are obliged to remain here to give evidence in the Admiralty suit which results from the collision, the substitution of other officers caused delay, and the hour of sailing was altered to 5 p.m. But even then all the forms of law, it appeared, had not been complied with, and passengers and their friends could judge from the movements of the French authorities on shore and on board, and from those of the Hongkong executive authorities, that there was a hitch somewhere. At half past four the enterprising head of the Police force was to be seen in his boat at no great distance from the Ava, where he remained in almost the same position for twenty-five minutes, braving the almost continuous rain without any awning in his boat.
The evident interest which he took in the movements of those on board the steamer seemed to indicate the fact that something was brewing...
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ARMED DETENTION OF THE M. M. STEAMER "AVA."
It would be almost impossible to describe what followed. The new arrival added his protests to those of the Consul and the Captain of the Ava. Mr. Deane had by this time come on board with what show of force he had with him, and nothing would induce this gentleman to withdraw either his own person or his guard unless an armed force were sent from the French Iron-clad Alma to remove him. The consequence of such a step would, of course, have been very serious, but to Mr. Deane's stipulation for forcible removal the French officer replied by "inviting" him to go over the side, an invitation which the Captain Superintendent did not see fit to accept.
The speculators, however, were happily spared the dangerous excitement of a naval engagement, the Colony the expense of pensions and allowances to the wives and families of fallen constables, and the Coroner probably owes his life to his happy escape from an inquest the magnitude of which he must have succumbed under.