Case of the seizure of the southern envoys

the long version

"A screw-steamer of war, the San Jacinto, belonging to the North American States, waylaid the English Royal West India Mail steamer in the Bahama Channe...on the 8th of November, and brough her to by firing a rount shot across her bows. A lieutenant from the San Jacinto boarded her, and afterwards, aided by a large force of sailors with cutlasses, forcibly took possession of Mr. Mason and Mr. Slidell, envoys supposed to be accredited by the Southern States to Great Britain and to France...and claimed the envoys as under the protection of England. The American lieutenant disregarded the protest, seized the men, and suffered the Royal Mail Steamer to pursue her voyage."--P. [3].