There was no claim of neutral property among the papers of either of these ships, except in the case of one Allen Hay, who was the shipper of five cases of crackers, and ten barrels of butter, on board the Union Jack.  In this case, a Thomas W. Lielie made oath before the British Consul at New York, that the said articles were shipped “for and on account of Her Britannic Majesty.”  This certificate was of no force or effect, for its indefiniteness, as decided in other cases.  A claim of property must point out the owner or owners, and not aver that it belongs to the subjects of a nation generally.  There must be some one designated who has a right to the possession of the property under the bill of lading.  The certificate was accordingly set aside, and the ship and cargo condemned.

Besides the women and children, the Union Jack furnished also another prisoner of a somewhat unusual character, in the person of the Rev. Franklin Wright, late editor of a religious paper, and newly-appointed consul at Foo Chow.  The worthy clergyman’s entry, however, upon his new duties was for the time indefinitely postponed by the confiscation of his appointment, along with the other public papers in his charge.  So, for a time, Foo Chow had to exist without the advantages arising from the presence of a functionary from the United States.

* * * * *

Monday, May 11th.—­Showed the United States colours to a Spanish brig.  In the afternoon ran in and anchored in the harbour of Bahia.  A Portuguese steamer, the only vessel of war found here.  No Yankee man-of-war had been here for some months.  The health officer came on board, just at nightfall.  The Agrippina not here, and I begin to fear that some disaster has befallen her.

Tuesday, May 12th.—­This morning the President sent a messenger to me with a copy of the Diario de Bahia of the 8th May, in which appears a sort of proclamation or request, addressed to me by the President of Pernambuco, desiring that I should leave Fernando de Noronha in twenty-four hours after the receipt of the same.  This paper seems to be based on certain false statements carried to Pernambuco by the Yankee prisoners whom I had sent to this place.  It is alleged that I violated the neutrality of the island, &c.  I replied to the President, that there was no truth in this statement; but that, on the contrary, I had paid respect to the neutrality of Brazil.  In reply to my communication, the President informed me that I should be admitted to the usual hospitalities of the port; but the bearer of his despatch took occasion to say that he hoped I would not stop more than three or four days, as the President was afraid of being compromised in some way.  The master of an English barque came on board and informed me that he had coal and provisions for the Confederate steamer Japan, which was to meet him here on the 6th instant.