Phenix Gazette

Courier Office, Charleston, August 2—4 P. M.

IMPORTANT RUMOR.—We learn from the owner of the French brig and schooner which arrived here on Wednesday last from Guadaloupe, that, previous to their sailing, a vessel arrived at Point Petre in a very short passage from Marseilles, reported that some French and English merchant vessels, attempting to pass the Russian fleet blockading the Dardanelles, were taken possession of by the Russian Admiral;—whereupon the commanders of the French and British fleets made demand for their restoration, which being refused, force was resorted to, and resulted in the destruction of the Russian fleet.

We have not been able to learn the date of the sailing of the vessel from Marseilles, upon which rests the probability of the report—but as the above brig and schooner had only sixteen days passage from Goree (Africa) to Guadaloupe, the passage of the vessel from Marseilles may have been proportionably short. The position occupied by the respective fleets at our last dates, and the excitement occasioned by the blockade, give probability to the rumor.