The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1825-10-03 00:00:00

CASE OF THE AL3fORAII.

The seittlfe of this vessel at Sydney, New South Wales,
ty the oScers of his Majesty's ship siaurv, for an alleged
infraction of the Hist India Company's charter, hat
roma a subject of great interest with the commercial world
generally; who look with much solicitude for the deeison of
this mtestion, which has been referrtd to the Prize Courts
its Calcutta. We have been desired, therefore, to make
public the following statement of the occurrence, as the
must aceurste which has vct appeared, and which is taken
from the 3rtiey Gazette of the Sitth of February :
buret theotrival of the Almorah, the public attentiun has been
=taryeeted. This vessel. with a considerable quantity of
o board, and all her tine and valuable, cargo, hap been
wised by eliptain Mitchell, of his Majesty'. ship Slaney. Some
epoch go to estimate the value of the ship stud cargo at between
OmutiOf. and iff,BooL—a tolerable prise in time of peace, could the
swoon fora moment be untenanted that such a seizure is warranted
by aoy.Act 0). Parliament at present extant. T'ie capture is said
ts har.: otcatrett under a breath of the navigarom laws, which is
alleged to migioate us an infringement on the Last India Corn.
psey's Moister We do not pretend to be acquainted with much of
the science of law, but, as he as common sense can terry us, Per-
htirs.we ;my be allowed to express our settimenis to common
wide the learned fraternity. That the Fast India Company
hare .• the sole end exclusive right of tradirg and using the hum
nem of inerchandise in, to. and from the donnr.ione of the Ern-
pryer of China, sod the whole, sole, and seclusive right of trading
us tea, in, to, and from all islands, parse, mad places between the
Caot of Good Hope and the Straits of Magellan, Fie. ," is • fact
*nit which we are necessarily acquainted ; but that the East India
Company, sal even a British man-of. war, has any right to interfere
huh, twee of a foreign port, is quite novel doctrine. If Java Is
Pita. or China is Java, then the East India Company might with
teeth be said to have some darn to " the exclusive trail fa tea ;"
but till such is proved actually to be the fact, and that Jive is in
any way connected with, or subject to, the Company's territories,
we must pronounce the seizure of the Atmore!) by the Slaney to
be an impolitic, arbitrary, and illegal act. Whilst the second
Minion of the Charter gives the Company the eaclusiee trade with
China, the eiebth Notion rens as follows :—" It shall not be law.
ftil for any moron, save only the United Company, or such as
shall obtain their special leave and license in writing. or a special i
leave and Benue in writing under their authority for that pur.
po so ship, terry, or put on board any ship in the East Indic%
or. ml lelthin'the limits aforesaid, or to import into the said
Witport
gaiTttmestilitv
(Great Britain) from any or place whatever.,
alty tea." ahosild be obliged to any one tio.t can inform us
whether the A in this instance, has imported ten into the
United .K n ' e are not now descanting upon the expe-
diency or lowa • . of the policy that has marifested itself in the
ingditent
imported°, this meglomerated cargo from a foreign post, resew.
bit such discussion to a future paper ; but it is the legality of a
spire made by a British man-of-war, in a British port. of 4
bitUAS merchant ship, chartered espressly foe thy British
Government by a British Governor, that we are iMperiously
called upon to dispute. If the act or the will of a Captain of a man
of wet is to be opposed at any and every opportunity to the act and
will of the Governor of the country in which his rusel may per.
chaste be tiring, then it would be equally as reasonable in the
Cs.nruaoder of the King's ship to come ea shore, with his crew and
a file of marines, and become at once invested with the executive
authority. The Governor-in-Chief of this colony, who is Viee.
A dottrel of the port, and whose title, either on shore of 'diet, within
the.barbour, is far ea perior to that of the Captain or arty nan-of.war,
happened to be impelled, from what were conaider,sl motives of ne-
cessity to change a vessel with the view of proceeding on to the
nearest pat, and thus bring down a timely supply of necessaries.
TO facilitate this object, as well as to render it more eirient, a
Deputy Assistant Commissary-General is directed to proceed as su-
perego. The vessel being thus chartered by the Government, and
put in possession of a King's officer, must be held by every think.
tog otac to be bona fide equal to any ship bearing the " leave
oe I:cense" of the East India Company. From whom does she
receive this license, or, more properly speaking, guarantee from
spoliation ? From the King of England, or from his repre-
sentative, which is one and the same thing ? And it may be in.
maimed, why was TSCOOOOS had to such a step? Because the
preservation of thOusands of lives were then conjectured as involved
is the measure. But it will be argued, that no authority, how.
ever potent, has the power of violating this far-famed char-
ter, which having been Infringed on, renders every hypothesis
that may be brought forward in support of the step altoge-
ther unavailing. Let us see, however, how tar this said
fetighth section ban been violated. The Government charters
the Air:loran to proceed, not to Chins, where the Company
have " the thle and exclusive trade," but to the nearest port,
which happens to be Batavia, and a foreign port I We will
insist that the Governor could under the peculiar circumstances
of the sawn have even sent the vessel on to China, and not to
the nearest port, bad such been the most advisable way to have
acted. Provisions were becoming scam, the harvest wore a for.
bidding aspect, and the Government felt compelled to charter the
Alinoralt. In the mean time, however, to the aston'shment of the
colonists, tbzumee-leoguishing fields yield a produc.ive and luxu.
nine barytes. and the famine with which we were threatened has
been providentially averted; but this moducesro variation in the case.
The stand of jays being under the dominion of the Dutch author
ritiemeannot possibly be subject to the rule of the East India COM.
psay, and the latter, therefore, dare not, we should presume, think
ofbiocking up a friendly port. By the present charter it would ap-
weerthet • it is not lawful for any person to ship, carry, or put on
bowl. any ship in the East Indies, any tea." The absurdity of such
1 clause oust be obvious to the most shallow understanding, if it is
to he received in an indefinite settee. In the event Odds clause ob-
soloing universal sanction, It must follow that the British Perlis-
meat lua she power of shutting up all foreign ports, in these
bakoop days, even to is own distressed Govetnmests. This
would be profound legislation with a vengeance ! Has not the
Governor of this or any other colony, in eases of emergency, equal
right with that of the American skipper, who can run to any port,
men Is China, end take home a cargo of tea 1 Then why should
K not.bc premised that a British Governor is armed with sufficient
autbosity to despatch a vessel, for needful supplies, to the first port,
alio:tilting that to be a foreign port? We ehould hope, for the.
borour of the British Crown, that the very high authority of a
Govertice.in-Chief has not yet dwindled away to the level of a
Liostenant In the navy, however respectable we may hold such
wink ; for, if it should turn out that the present seizure be a lawful
eMze, then most decidedly his Majesty's representative comes
under the surveillance of a Post-Captain or Commander.
"...Isis may hare been within the limits of the authority of the
'East India °moony, and while it so continent the clause Pri
duestion would bell good, except in the present peculiar rase t but
stow, that it is without the llmita of the authority of the East India
Compeer, most probably the lawyer will find no Mel difficulty
it adjatigiog the AIMOTAii to be a lawful prise, whereas, upon the
other hand. considerable comprehension is not requisite to penetrate
ir to the only judgment tint can follow err act so Inauspicious and
ueyustillthiel
.• Foe the information of the public, it would be as well to ascertain
soon what authority the Stoney bait attempted this overt act of
leelence, within the harbour of Port Jackson? It mop be answered,
that the authority of the men-of-war is very great—ray, almost on.
Iforlted ; bat yet, it is to be recollected, for the ends of public
judos, that there are certain lines of demarcation, beyond which
seen the bulwarks of old England dare not obtrude. The civil law,
thanks be to the wisdom and energy of our forefathers, assumes
to itself the precedence of the military and maritime laws--there
valet bow to the sovereign &clam of our civil cede. We have
ritsimaits.inn, therefore, in rendering public the enun cation' that
Gagtain Mitchell had no power to make any prise of the Almorab,
anther can he be warranted in retaining poasewion, within the
bode of Port Jackson ! There might have been a glimpse of a
withessful issue ie. a legal contest, had the Shiner fallen in with
the Almorah at sea ; but the supposition must not for a moment
be fostered, that which would mandate a lawful prise at sea
must necessarily hecome a rightful seizure in per.. In illustration
of sthich doctrine we beg to lay before the public the following
coula, one rather ut point:—ln the year 1819, a tine ship of 1,200.1
WIN belonging to Seen and Co. of Java, took in cargo at the
fillohnithis ; her nun* is wonted to have been the Shaw.
an& The Masieleane frigate' Captain Purvis, was then riding
lo , Put Louis. When the Shawfield set sail the frigate
elm weighed. A. soon as Captain Purvis observed that
test lhavileid wu without the reach of the batteries, he bore down
Open arid *cited her at his lawful mire, returning to port with his
booty. else WWI condemned by a Court of Vice. Admiralty for a
bruise of the navigation laws, in haying taken on hoard goods in
direct. contravention to else spirit of the East India Company's
ukarter, and was mid. A reversal, however, of the judgment of
the Court took place, bat not before the house had been ruined by
etas unjustifiable met of a British commander ! in this ewe Captain
barge was well aware of the deoger he would incur in outsogiog
the Mumma, in tuts-taming a seizure in port; and even when the
utters was made on lawful ground ; yet by a court tit justice the
egrohtee of Cameos Purvis appeared In the most d'sativantageous
Ligi.g, at least as far as legality was included.