E
to.
Y
the
of Sept. 1856.
Snow do myself honour of communicating
E. the substance of the information which I have
M. received from H. this Secretary of State for the Colonial Dept in
regard to this
unfortunate affair.
On the ... of May last the Governor of Hong Kong having previously telegraphed home a brief statement
of the occurrence in question, reported as follows: that a collision having taken place between the Messageries Maritimes Steamer
"Ave" and a commercial
Steamer named the "Mona",
by which the latter was sunk and many lives lost, the owner of the latter vessel instituted legal proceedings against the agents of "Ave" in the Vice Admiralty Court at Hong Kong. As the result of these proceedings,
the Registrar of the Court,
before whom evidence
was being taken, issued a warrant for the detention
of the Steamer "Ave", and it appears that the marshal of the Court proceeded accordingly, with the aid of armed police, to effect the seizure of the vessel, notwithstanding, as