Another Confederate cruiser has escaped from a British port, in
spite of all the efforts of Government. The Admiralty had ordered the Victor, a six-gun screw steamer of 859 tons, to be sold, and she was purchased for the China trade, rechristened the Scylla, and repaired in Chatham Dockyard. Some suspicion having been excited, the Government sent orders to stop her, but she had stolen away before they arrived, actually carrying off in her hurry a number of dockyard workmen. She made for Calais, where she hoisted the Confederate flag, and was seized by the French autho- rities, but subsequently released, under express orders from Paris. The incident is a most annoying one, and it will, we fear, be necessary to teach officers in our ports, by a few summary dis- missals, that their business is to obey orders, and not to consider foreign political questions. There is a want of willingness in some of them which hampers Earl Russell at every turn.
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