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London, England, 1807-06-02 00:00:00

onboard ; that there was nut any resistarce made
at the time the vessel was takcm. The captor found
the Appellant's, the Master of the vessel, paper.
endorsed by the Lieutenant of the Prosoftln,, occu-
pied in the blockade, and that he was not to enter
any port of Holland.
The following is the Order of Council for the
Blockade, under which authority the Respondent
atted _ _ _

" The unilersigned Secretary of State of His Britannic
Majesty has re,:e.ved milers to inform Count Wediff J..rtsbeig,
Hu Dnush Msiesty's Envoi. Extraordinary, and Minister
Plenipotentiary, that the Ki.ig has tho..glit proper, without
delay, fur the defence of his States, and the *cunt! of his
subjeas, to make use of all th • means which the superiority of
his navy puts in his power, a id fin that purpose to UMW tile
Inlet of the Port at the Te:m to be striftly blockaded, which
shall be maintained and exe!.sted in the rno‘t exact manner,
according to all the cuitoins of war, sad in such a =aunts as
has always hash done un like 3CCIPIOII6.
" In conformity whereto, Criunt Wedirl 'mistier' is re-
quested that lie will be please! to inform tlie Danish Consuls
and Merchants who r. tide in Billow!, that the ate—menthe.-
ed Port at the Texcl is and shall be looked upon and retarded
as blockade 1, and that, front this day's date, no neutral ships
vial be at liberty to pit im there, on any account, or under
any pretext whatever, and that all the measures which the
Law of N.,tion;, and the Treaties subsisting between His Ma-
jesty snit the different Powers authorise, shall in future be
taken and executed, with respell to such ships as are destined
to the afure.ael Port, or after the publication of these present;,
may endeavour to run in there.
" Downing-street, 11th June, 1798. GRENvILLL."
The Appellant, on his voyage, did not alter his
course upon the appearance of His Majesty's lug-
ger, the Phenix ; and his course was, at all times
when weather would permit, dire led for Vlie; and
she was distant from thence about six or :,:ven
leagues, and her course was not altered, at any time,
to any other port or place, except when she put into
Torgersoen, by stress of weather. She was boarded,
on the 9th of August, by an officer belonging to
His Majesty's ship the Prosereinn, who warned the
Captain, and told hima he mus: nap into any Port
in Holland. on account of their being blockaded.
The officer examined the ship's papers, and
found that she was bound generally to some port
in Holland, and that the w:lole of the cargo be-
longed to Magdalen.: Elisabeth St. Holster, ex-
cept twelve dozen of there, which belonged to
Johan Wolff, of Dranpuen,' in Mu way, the Master
of the vessel. After the otfic..r had examined the
bill of lading, he put the following endorsement
upon it :
. .

"August 9, 1718.

Warned off the Fly I,land, and all other weo.ts;:nti Inlet;
in the %%oder Sea, by II:. Rntautue Nteje•lfS ship Prowrpiote."

After which, on the Ilth instant. in the evening,
the WAS stopped, and detained, in going into the Fly
Panne, by the Phtaarz lugger.
Several witnesses proved, that the Patricia+ was
built at Drammen. in the year 1783, and that the
cargo was to be sold in Holland. at a mar ket, to the
highest bidder, and it an immediate sale could not be
procured, it was to be lett in the custody of Jacob
rhyman Laakeman. art Agent. The whole was
proved to be Danish property.
At the bearing before the Judge of the Admi-
ralty, the claim and proofs were read, and Advo.
cat:. and Proctors on both rides. thereon. by in-
terlocutory decree. rejected the claim fur the ship,
add the Afas,es's private adventure, and pro.
noooced the rase to have belonged, at the time
of the capture and seizure 'bettor. to enemies
of the Crown of Great Britain, and as such, or
othet vr:Sc. subject and liable to confiscation,
and condemned the same as good and law-
Int prize, taken by His Majestyis hired lugger
Pie Nix, Lieutenant Henry Hawes, Commander ;
and in resped to the catri, dirt:Or:El a CtkifiCAte to
be exhibited by the captors, as to the time when the
blockade of the port of Amsterdam Ras publicly
notified by Hes NI j•stl's Ministers. and reserved
the adjudication of the cargo till such certificate
should have been exhibited.

On the t'td of February, 1799, the case came be-
fore the Court again, for a further bearing, when a
certificate, that the blockade of the Tezel was noti-
fied to Count Jarlsberg, His Danish Majesty's Mi-
nisw at the Court of Great Britain, on the 11th of
June, 1798, signeeby George Hamm:rad, Esq. the
Under Secretary of State. The Advocates and
Prodors on both sides were hear,i upon the produc-
tion of the certificate t after which, rejeeted the
claims for the cargo, and, by interlocutory decree,
pronounced the said cargo to have belonged, at the
time of the capture and seizure thereof, to enemies of
the Crown of Great Britain, and as such, or other-
wise, subjeft and liable to confiscation ; and con-
demned the same as good and lawful prize, taken by
His Majesty's hired armed cutter the Phenix, Henry
Hawn, Comm inder.

From this deice :he Appellants appealed.
Sir John Nichols, the King's Advocate, was heard
by their Lordships for wear two hours, in support of
the Dec, re. Ile argued in favour of the notifica-
tion of the blockade, and that the bill of lading
merely stated that the Parry:en was bound gene.
rally to Holland, w:thoat mentioning any parti-
cular port ;laid that the cargo being eventually con-
signed to .lacob Thymen Laakeman, without stating
his residence, was evidently a deception ; and there
was proof of the Commander being informed of the
blockade ; he therefore prayed their Lordships to
confirm the Decree of the Court of Chancery.
1)r. Lawrence was heard for upwards of two hours
for the Appellants. Learned Doctor corn-
nsented with stating the very great importance of
the question whittt their Lordships were called
upon that day to decide, which had been looked
forward to by F'oreien Ministers, end the mercantile
world, for tour years, for a full board of the Privy
Council to decide, as to this day it remained unde-
fined what a blockade meant; it was, therefore,
an entire rear question. He stated, that blocked's
had originated from the military system of warfare,
bniegiag towns; bet, in a military siege, an ene-
my knew the force they had to contend with ;
but, in modern blockades of ports, the Commander
of a logger boards and attacks a poor neutral, tells
him the port to which he is bound is blockaded,
and he must not enter it. The poor foreigner pro.
bably hears it, for the first time, and alter all does
not understand the language sufficiently to be
aware of the conseqnences. The blockade of the
Texel was certainly too general a term for any Mall
to understand. It never could have been the inten-
tion of the Government to have blockaded every
little port in the nyder Sea. Foreign Courts had
no: •uthcirnt notice of a blockade before they could
- "ad to go as far as Copen-
Sic. To construed a block.