The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1807-08-19 00:00:00

LAN ItiVlLLwirm.

AMUR kI.TY C94.litf, -Amin 0.
•
THE siNe •-
Sentenr:: was pronounced this dal iu this in-
teresting cans,. It was a case of skew between
the captor., who were Englids, and the American
owners of the American ship Seenne., The ship
had sailed from Baltimore as a neutral trader, and
was captured off the coast of Spain by &French
privateer ; and as the captors wore concluding their
prize to the enemy's port, one of our crtisers re-
captered the American, and brought her into an
English port, to which country she was originally
bound. The captors contended, that they were en-
titled to salvage from this neutral vessel, inasmuch
as the re-capture took piece sabseonent to the lit-
cree of time French iimperor, issa.d is November
last, against all persons on the' Continent who
should carry on ant commerce with England, until
the Government of England should be brpugbt to
their meows, and induced to Abandon their system of
despotism over the ocean, and their claim to the
power 3nl prailiee of violAting the laws of natior.s,
&c. Tuffs decree was stated, on behalf of the owners,
to be a nullity, and not intended awagainst certain
Powers, and mire especi shy as not intended against
American ships. as the Government of France had
iesneil into orda, fcr fitting out privateers to alt
under the decree. _ _

Sir W Lt.l All SCOTT laid down the law generally
and specially upon such cas•s. hie said, in general.
neutrals, by the law of nations, were not liable
to salvage, without particular orders or dire lions
from the respektive powers, grounded upon pecu-
liar circumstances, which excepted thale special
cases, a s‘ :.ich he did (nit most mature delibera-
tion) consider the cast tur ju.lgm.rut now before
him to be one. Tim decree of the French Govern-
ment was, in worth and meaning, such an uopr,-
cedented decree, as must Strd(ot every mind
with coneinion, as an unqualified hostility against
the maritime commerce and constitution of Eng-
land. It required no explanation, nor admitted cf
any doubtful crinstruaion or interpretation. Or-
den bad been issued to all t)t Maritime Prefeers
of the French Empire, and t,:e Allies and States
under its dominion and influence, to execute the
decree; and General Armstrong had remanstrated
with M..nstear Andresio. the French Minister for

Commerce, and from 'jot could obtain nu mote
sat istadory expla-ration or information on this sub.
jed, than jai pease, I think t.ach or sx;h should
be the proper construdion. This j.s ',Lille WAS
not Au explanation, or An offic.ll
proper to issue iruM any G •t:r:,rent, or Sc. be ...t
all regarded by any other Governmeat in tie
world, and least of by E.r.gl.tad ; which, by this
strange dca,e, was prlncra Led to be thencetor.h
in a state of unive;sal blo:i:ade. an idea never
before entertained by any nation in such ur-
gualif.rd and unlimited terms. This decree was
not intended as a nulttty ; it was nothing like to a
brats 11 fawn ; And AS the naptsrrin this case had
rescued the s:cip from danger, audits so doing had
tendered the owners essential setviee, he should
adjudge the owners to pay the captorilalvage. He
WWI ti.t adingsvjthout a precedent, for it came fully
within his judgment upon the Ship from. Denmark,
where, in stonier circumstances, he granted *savage
to the captors.

THE SHIP JASON.
T.,is was a capture, mane under the Order of
Council, .-at2d the 7th of January last. commAndit g
th captive of all neutral ships trading between the
enemy's pr•rts; which order was in answer to the
ee►e`a►ateJ decree of Bonaparte. &timing this king-
d'qn ,n A of of tck tae, as above Alluded to.

't'ne owners of the ship in cprestion were mer-
chants, at Emden, and it appeared, upon the depo-
sitions before the C 'tat, that she sailed from the
port en Vign, in Spain, on the Itnla of kebreAry
last, bound tar the port of -Civet:* Vecchia, in Italy,
and laden with a carp of Sardinias. From the
protest of the master it appeared, that about the
1.5-h or 16th of March, meeting wish some heavy
gales of wind, and the ship being much damagA,
he was obliged to make for the nearest port, and
put into Barcelona, where he repaired the ship, dis-
oosed of his cargo, and took in a cargo of wines.arld
was proceeding on his voyage ao Lis destined purr,
when le was captured.
On the part of the Captors. Donors Laweawcz
and Seeress, 1., contended, that this was a ttaudulent
prosecution of a voyage from one of the enemy's
vets to another, in violation of the above Order of
Conne I. and therefore the Captors were entitled to
the judgment of he Court. They argued from the
ship's journal and other document; on board, com-
pared pith the protest of the Captain, and other
circomstances, that the Owner. and Captain ta part
owner), had full knowledge of such Order, and
stied in tiered violation thereof, and that the slop's
real destination at the time of her sailing from
Vigo, was not Civita Vecchia (then considered as a
neutral port), but Barcelona direa ; and this they
adduced from the ship's journal, which, Atli nigh it
noticed heavy gales of wind about the 15th and
16th of March, did not mention any particular cla-
msge done to the ship at that time, sa as to obltme
her to put into the nearest port; besides, it there
that necessity, she was at that time about 330
leagues from Barcelona, and within a much leis
distance of ..then ports, where she could have pat
in ald refi:ted ; her cargo also being of a per.sh-
able nature, and not calculated for so long a voyage,
and by a letter from the Owners to the Captain, di-
felting him in case of necessity, to make for Bar-
celona, the Learned Advocates contended, that
this letter, if not intended as a fraud upon the Cap-
tors, was at least an anticipation of the bad weather
that ensued, and clearly sh -*el that the parties h
full knowledge at the time of the ship's sailing irons
Vigo, of the Order of Council before attuned to,
and had prosecuted a fraudulent veysge with a view
to elude such Order.
the Learned Advocates, Dodors Bowes.* and
Buss a .on behalf of the Owners, on the other
side contended, that that. was nothing in the pro.
test incongruous with t:‘,..1 soip's joatiial and other
documents; thakit appeared that the sny's n ;Renal
destination was Ciraa Vecchia; that she met bad
weather, and was mach damaged in ma.:s. bull,
and rigging ; ond welt obliged, for these reasons, to
put into Baiceloira, where having reAtted, she was
about to prosecute her voya. e to !,-r de,tiited port,
when, upon examining be. ono, it will 10,294 as.

elssary io divine of it, and take to smother. The
learned A ,ivocates also argued up :no the p•nhaisiti,.y
of the Master not being accitinted wit 'he Order •f
Council at the time of sailing from Villa, trrla t
delay which oecessarily attends the stoking of the
Lisbon Packet, by which tae knowledge of it wail*
be conveyed. the difficulty of c-tnimOniclftiPas ;big -
obscurity of the port of Vign itself. and the abort.
time which had elaYscJ between isming rho Cifs!Or
and the period at which the ship sage.: from, that
port. . .
After a reply of some length by Dr L•ww after,
the Learned Judge, Sir Wrat.JA AI SCOTT, cibste v; et.
that as the Ord*: i^ questimt was a matter Of r-
tremenotoriety, n 2.! %ilia lie of great haportance
with retire& to fhe commercial relatior.s of this
country with the Continent, there could be little
doubt of its being weft known, in -Itno.t every trad•
ing port on the Continent before the sailing of Vies
ship from Vigo. Had she, • therefore, sailed frbrn '
any of the principel enturnerc,al ports of the Cor.ti-
nent, he should not tiesitrc to say, that die mu,t,
olnecessity,hare,salied wit' full knowtllge of sat- ft
Order. and consequently in violation of it ; tu:
Vigo beihg a very eels. are place, little known in the
commercial world, and the Decree of the French
Government. prohibiting the conveyance of any cor-
respndence between this Kingdom and the Conti-
nent. rendering she communication of such Order
very difficult at that time, he thought there WAS si
probability that the Captain nr Master of this ship
might have sailed from Vigo in total ignorance
its existence; and therefore he wished, before he fi-
nally decided the cause, to have more evidence upon
this part of the case, and &retied that the Capta:n
should be further examined to it. With respell to
the vessel joins to BarceimA, instead of prosecuting
her veyar,e theca to Civiti Vecchia. he did nit
think that that altered the cat at all ; for whether
she went to the one port or the other. he should,
consider her equally within tie operation of the Or-
der of Council of the 7th of January last.
Judgment deterred.

WEIGinT MATCH.

1

Two men, weighing at least twenty cones Limb.
inhabitants of Hatumersniiith, the one. Mr. Cloud.
a stage coach master, the other, Mr. Lingard, a ,
publican at Turnham Green, will start this morning.
at sit o'clock, from Turnham C:een, for Bath, fi r a
wager of one hundred gUIMAS. Each has his choice
of any mode of travz:ltog he pleases, whether on ,
horsebacc or .n a carrier, and with any number of
horseq, or sort of carnage he lilt.. .".:d he who
reaches Bath first is to win the wager.

IJLIAL.

On Fri,lay evening, about eight o'clock, a duel
was fought in a field at the Grange, near Stroud, in
Gloucestershire, betwem Lieut.l4—s—, of the 31
regiment of Buffs, and Lieut. U—, of the 112 d
regiment of foot, both stationed at Stroud, upon Oke
recruiting service. The latter Gentleman received
the shot of his antagonist (Lieut. H.) thimigh the
arm and body, and was carried from the field by a
spedlator 1 He yet survives, although th re are but
faint hopes entertained of his recovery. Lieut. H.
and his second immediately absconded. It is very
sinvisr, t: at only one second (Capt. S.) attended
this unfortunate err\ ir.