The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1807-10-29 00:00:00

AMaR ICI.

(From a tate Bermuda Paper.)
A Gentleman of the Bar has favoured us with the
fallowing note of a decision in the Prize Court of
Vice Admiralty :
JIILY 20, 1807.
THE ROSANNA, MULL. MASTER.
This was a schooner (laden with a eargo of dry
geode, and various other articles. together with a
oemidwable quantity of iron, in bars), which, in
is peeecution of a voyage from Baltimore to La-
Oro. ran on the rocks of the west end of these
islew.s, and was afterwards brought into is.-rx—
linolts time ehisrwards. it being discovered of what
her cargo consisted, both venel and cargo were
wised, by order of his Excellency the Governor, and
promedod against io this Court. A claim was
githe for Jahn Donnell, of Baltimore, s titiien of
the Umbel' States of America, as the proprietor of
both ward and cargo.
eiggie ground taken in support of the seisure
way int tbe vessel was engaged in carrying ar titles
tae=
of leer, to the colony of the enemy.
bearing, his Hower die Jr one referred
the bait Wei; which constituted a part of the cargo,
to the Ordnance Storekeeper, and the Master
Builder erf the King's Naval Yard, to report their
opinion upon its quality, and the purposes sor which
it was particularly calculated.
Their fertificate purported, that the iron, from
its 0314; and the dimensions and number of the
hart. was, in their opinion, calculated, and probably
desttutd; for bora, purposes.
• rmi report was excepted to, on the part of the
claimant, and the exceptions argued ; and this day
the Cover gave the following judgment :—The
question I have to decide in this cause is, whether
thirty tons of iron, in 1318 bars, (tom three-fourths
of an inch to one inch and a quarter square, suing
from the United States to the CgraeCU, an an
American vend, be contraband
I shall first consider the authorities. Grotius di-
vides the articles. of neutral trade into three classes,
one of thorn immediately useful in war: Otte of no
me at all : and one of n &elitist ow double nature.
As to the first, he is clear, that winsever supplies
them, becomes as enemy himself.
With the second, we have nothing to dn.
But the third has been the subjea of infinite dis-
cussion.

Amongst those things which are of a doubtful
nature, and are useful beth in peace and war, he
enumerates as examples, IVISOU, ci qua tinoams ed-
am'. •

His grand rule. however, is, that in judging of
articles of a double or doubtful sutfire, we roust be
guided by the state of tae war ; asimeendri Irth
start.

But he makes no enumeration of the articles.
The necessity of the case will, according to his opi-
nion, justify the intercepting any supplies whatever
to the enemy, if the state of the war be stub as to
make them of consequence to our defence. Sad
~erre stirrion s. nit: Wier two arrniet.
dynivershoeck condemns those things which are
adapted to the purposes of war; nor does it make
any difference, According to him, whether or not
they may be othervite useful. He rejeda the
distinSion of Giotius, concerning double or
d3ubtful nature, as leading to endless c,ntro.
verity ; and ptonounces to be contraband all
things which lie purpo.es of war; sive insdsr
Punta baits trot, nee nonrrta, per ss at& alto; hit
not seat. Pia it fon rod Mho aitepi pisrif. A nice
distiation to draw; particularly as By ketaboe:k
41t.rnon not to ass.at us by any enumeration.
licturuc:us and Zouch bald, Ileac all materials


which can be converted late instruments of war may,
be justly prohibited
Vattel speaks more difusely ; big wards are theses
4, whenever I am at war With a milieu, both my
safety and welfare prompt me to deprive it, as far
as possible, of every thiag which may enable it to
him or resist me. Here *e law of necessity
sheers its farce. If this law warrant me nn occasiva
to wise what Iselongstaenesher, shall it not likewise
warrant sae to step emery thing, relative to war,
which neutral useless are earryiug to my enemy ;
even if I should. by taltizi such measure, treader all
these neutral Daiwa ray townies I bad better
ran the hazard. than sulfur him, who is &dually at
war with me. to be thus freely supplied, to the great
increase of his power. It is therefore very proper,
and very suitable m the Law of nations, which dis-
approves of mehiplying the causes of war, not to
consider these seisaues of the goods of neutral na-
tions as ads of hostility."
" Commodities particularly used is war, and the
importation of which, to an enemy, is prohibited,
are called contraband goods. Such are arm, mili-
tary and naval stores, timber, horses, and even pro-
visions in certain junflures, when there are hopes of
reducing the enemy by famine. Here again we
find the rule of Grotius adopted; dsatrzatendss
lull eaten."

•• A nation." continues Vette', " that without
any other motive, than the prospea of gain, is em-
ployed in atte-giliening my enemy, without re-
garding how tat I may safer, is certAinly far from
being my friend, and gires me a right to consider
and treat it as an assochme of en•
Such are the sentimen• s of Vittel, the greatest
champion for neutral tights. of all the regular Ju-
risprudent, of the last and preceding centui y.
I use the term regular ; for it would be List time
to consider the wild the net of snmr later waters ;
to, controvert the absurd Opidons of I labu-r ; to ra-
ce-vie the couradiaions of healeg .1 ; or even to
notice the vile corttynn :wire of the French Minis-
ter Genet.

We now engine to consider under what head iron
is to be ranked.

Iron. wrought into domestic utensils. is clearly
innocent ; wrought into instruments of war, clew Is.
contraband; but here we have it in the bar. capable
of being worked into the mo.l opposite forms; like
hemp, which may be were into *arks for grain, or
sails for ships; which may be spun into common
twine. or twisted into cabins far s4ips of war. Still,
however, iron is s• avatersa, per w, kilo ephi," as also
maieria, es yea grid leUo eptisri 'Hut." It has also
,been. called by very high authority •' etali owns-
tshd."

Bar iron, then, being of such doubtful and ambi-
games use, the quality and dimensions of the bars,
and the particular state of the port of destination
afford the criterion to enable us to tietermine on the
legality or illegality of transporting it to the enemy ,
(let whether as the native produce of the country
which reports, it would be entitled to any farther
favour or not, is of no moment here, as it IS DOS pre-
tended to be Americas iron.)
The filet pin I referred to the master builder
and ordnance storekeeper ; and there Can be no
doubt, frees their certificate, bat this iron may be
fairly celled • naval and asilltory store.
Now, that iron when so formed, is to be consi-
dered as contraband, may be el-arty interred, from
the case of the Reglad' Jee,l, Ist Rolinson;
otherwise, what reason could there be for sending
the matter to the inspection of the officers of the
King's Yards
*The United States themselves seem aware, that
unwrought iron may be, in some cases. considered
contraband.and therefore recopied it in their Treaty
with Great Britaiss, which Treaty would undoubtedly
prnted the present cargo. were it in force.
But a Treaty is conclusive to the patties contract.
ing, only so lone as it continues in force, and no
longer ; nor can a Treaty between any two nations, '
are& a third; for nations are only to be governed
by what is established by general law, unless where
they agree to the contrary Oa the second point,
namely. the paricular elate of the port of destina-
tion, it is no secret that the Caraccas are mi.naced
from many quarters. Not only the forces of Great
Britain ate ready to attack this Colony, but a for-
midable expedition, not long ago, sailed from the
port of New-Yoek, for the purpose of freeing the
inhabitants from the Spanish government; that this
expedition did not meet with success, we know
well ; but whether or not the ()Ned of it is altoge-
ther abandoned, is more than I can say. At any
rate, the executive of the Colony, must, or ought,
to be very much on the alert, and I doubt not, but
every exertion is now making there, to put the place
in a state of complete defence, both by sea and land.
Whether ships of war are built there, I am not in-
formed, but I suppose that they may be armed And
fitted, or at least repaired and refitted there. What
then is the highly probable destination of this iron,
not assorted, but ail of the Um* description, so far
exceeding in qaantity what seems necessary tor plant-
ation purposes, and the Teat nag of the cocoa nut ?
Why, most surely. to military and naval use; and
if so, is it not subject to confiscation ? Clearly, it is.
This was the distinction of Sir Wm. Scott, in the
Jerrie Margeretta. And if cheeses, under such
circumstances, could be adjudged contraband ;
iron. which barn ever been accounted one of the
chief sinews of war, must assuredly be so.
One remark I hall not omit ; which is, that
though the claimant had sufficient time, between
the produetios of the certificate, and the last bear.
ing, to file any affidaviu he might think meaner,
either respecting the quality of the iron, Use pur-
poses for which it WAS particularly adapted, or
likely to be applied. or the actual state of the port.
at which it was to be delivered : he has altogether
neglected to do so ; and I mutt Impute this neglect
to his having nothing satisfactory to allege, and not
to any disregard of his own interests. I reject the
claim for this vessel and cargo, belonging to the
same proprietor ; and I reserve the question, to
whom they are to be condemned.

On Tursiay se'oniglit, a steeple chase was run
from liallybrophy, iu the Queen's Cututy, for Ili
miles across toe country. between Mr. WMITeS
horse "'tram and Mr. Wsis's horse aware, for 90
guineas aside p. p. Mr. Beans mode 'brat**, slr.
Weis his own bane. At starting 5 to 4in favour
of Mr. WRIT'. who won easy. though carrying 71b.
a►er his waiebt. This race was run in 20 minutes
arc! 11 PlaWidle