Star.
London, England, 1808-04-18 00:00:00

ZAST INDIES,

tittiM THE BOMBAY GAZET'T'E, fitTbliEttlit
Eleilliezci- Sir trilwAib PILLtWi /Ink. RearsAd:fatal eif the
Red, and Commander in Chirfy ice. &cl Ste.
Hit Majesty's ship Psychs, at sea, off Java,
Septemlief 3, 18b7.
Sitsx.l.batt the honour to acquaint you, that pro-
eeding in tfe execution of your orders f the 18th
June last, his Majesty's ships Psyche and Caroline,
on the 29th of August, reconnoitred the port of Sou-
raybaya, and by a ship from Batavia captured the
following day. aseeftained • she situatica of the
enemy'sline-of-battle ships, which are still inactive
there, Ahd fOtesenttd as being in too bad a stite.to
adrellt of repair.
As otir shccess in 6 great Measure depended on the
intelligznce the enemy might receive of our appear-
ance on the coast, not a mothent was lest in proceed-
ing to Samarang, off which part the PsYdbe wat'
enabled tb anther :tt rhidnight, the Caroline having
previously parted company in chase by signal. At
day•liz,ht I weighed and stood into the roads, whett
the boats were dispatched under the direction of Lien,
tenant KERSTEMAN, assisted by Mr: CHARLES SULU-
v to attack and bring out the enemy's vessels there.
This service Was cohipletely effected in a manner
highly creditable to the Officers and Men employetl
on it, the boats having taken possession of, and towed
out from under a heavy Ate from the batteries, a
large schooner of eight guns, and a large merchant '
brig. the early part of the morning had discovered
to us two ships and a brig at anchor outside,. and
from one of them having the appeatancb of a ship of
War, not a doubt was to be enteftained of their being
enemies. to be ready to take advantage of the first
setting in of the sea-breeze, the captured vessels were
destroyed • and before noon, his Majesty's ship Was
clear of die harbour in chace of the enemy-; Whese
vessel had weighed And stood to sea.
I soon had the satisfaction of finding that the good
sailing of his Majesty's ships afforded me a fair pros-
pect of closing with the ship of war, and at three
finding us fast coming up with them, they all bore up
and ran on shore, about nine miles to the westward
DS Smarmy, opening at the same time a well-directed
fire on us, which, on our anchoring in three fathoms
Water, was very smartly returned, though apparently
without much success, the shoal water preventing my
closing as near as I wished. In a few minutes the
armed ship struck, and at 30 minutes past four P.N.
as I was preparing to hoist the boats out, with an in-
tention to attempt taking possession by boarding, the
ship of war surrendered, the brig shortly afterwards
fired a brodside, and hauled down her colours—
on being boarded,, they proved to he the Resolttic
armed merchant ship of 700 tons, with a valuable cargo,
having on board the colours and Staff of the '2'3d Eu-
ropean Battalion in the Dutch service ; and the Ce-
res, a remarkably fine brig in the Dutch Company's
service, of 12 guns and 70 men, a month from Ba-
tavia, under the convoy of the Scipio corvette, of 24
guns and 150 men ; the brig has stistained very con-
siderable daMage, many shot having passed through
her hull, her rigging Much cut, and her Commander,
M. CARREGA, mortally wounded.
I am happy to add that they were all got afloat the
same night without injury, by the persevering activity
of my officers and men.
On the Ist, the Caroline not having joined, and the
ship's company considerably reduced by the absence
of three officers and fifty men in the prizes, I was in-
duced to accede to a proposal made by the tovernor
of Samarang for allowing the prisoners to go on shore,
the officers signing their parole, and proper receipts
being given for the soldiers and seamen.
I cannot too • highly praise the zeal and acti-
vity displayed by the officers and men I have the hot
nour to command, on the whole of this service, and I
regret that the force of the enemy did not afford a
fuller scope to their exertions. I have the honour to
be, Sir, your most obedient humble servant,
(Signed) FLEETWOOD B. R. FIILLEW%
(AtrueCopy) E. H. LOCKER, Sec. to his Excellency.

PRIZE COURT, BOMBAY.

Minerva, Frederick Hussey, Master.---,On Friday,
the 11th ult. Sir JANIES MACKINTOSH gave judgment
in this case.
This was a case of an American ship, taken on
the 3d of December, 1808, going from Manilla to
Batavia. The ship had left Providence in August,
I WS, had touched at the Isle of France, from which
place she, sailed to Bataria, thence she went to Tegall
and Manilla, and on her voyage from this last place
back again to Batavia, she was detained. Her cargo
consisted chiefly of indigo and dollars. It appeared
that she was under the direction of a supercargo on
hoard, as to her employment in trade, both in respect
of the cargo and the intermediate ports to which she
was to trade, previously to her return to Providence,
or some other port in America, where her voyage was
to end.
For the Captors, it was ccnitended, that she was
trading between enemies' colonies, and therefore act-
ing.in direct violation of the letter and spirit of his
Majesty's instructions of June 1803, which command
the commanders of ships of war and privateers, to
seize any neutral vessel which should be carrying on
trade directly between the colonies of the enemy and
the nentral country to Whkth the vessel belongs.
For the Claimants, it was insisted, that neither
Manilla or Batavia, nor the Isle of France, were
enemies' colonies of such a nature as to render the
t tiling thereto by a neutral in time of war illegal, in-
a ;much as the trade to those places was open to fo-
reigners in the time of peace.
The Court, on a f urmer day, had directed tommis.,
sior.s to be sent to Bengal and Madras, to ascertain
whether the ports of Batavia and Manilla were, dur-
ing the last peace, open to all or any foreigners from
the ports of India, Europe, and America ; and if
open, whether under any and what restrictions; and
also to inquire into the state of those ports in these re-
spects before the War which broke out between Great
Britain and Spain in 1796. These commissions be.'
ing in part returned, and it appearing that there Rot",
were open to all foreigners during thelast
.peacc,
without any restrictions, except as to opium and spe-'
t e, a' the port of Batavia ;
S;r Macaixtosit pronounced a I eat of res.
tirltion. The captors, he said, were fu ly justified in
d':taining this vessel,beesitise in so doing they. were
acting in obedience :ea the letter of ir.stractions of
June 1803. Batavia mut Iht.milla awe veetainly co-

levies ot the enemy, and this vessel ads cefrainitinet
trading directly between Atneries and such eolonsigr
Brit though the officers in his *jetty's lervite woe
bound to obey thew instinctioni, he did not Conceive
himself, sitting as Judge of prise hi 3 Court Whose
decisitnis were to be regulated by the late of nations,
as bound and concluded by them. He ktsetwol, indeed,
that he Was the first and on& Judge Wtho kaeltehthretl to
prcnounee such a dotrine. in every prise court, in Arty
rountry, by all writers oh the tubjett, and all earniiiistra-
tors of the law, the instructions of the Sovereign *ere re.
gaided at a law to MI Judges BUT nz CONSITARRD
TRH LAW OF NATIONS AS PARAMOUNT TO Slk/i IN-
sTxuctioxs ; and the ging' as havirif indeed a right to
trultente with such law, but not a right to extend itri=
As fu-, therefore, as any of his Majesty's instrualoos
were a relaxatioon of the law of nations in favour of
neutrals, lie should considef himself bound by them i
but if he saw in such instructions any attempt to ex-
tend the law to the prejudice of neutrals, he should
not obey them, but regulate his decision according to
the known and recognized law of nations. In the
I present case, after great deliberation and minute in-
quiry, lie felt himself bound to say, that neither Ba.
tavia nor Manilla were Such colonies as to tender any
' trading thereto, by neutral nations ih time of war,
illegal. ft Is not theif being called colonies that will
tender sucTt a trading unlawful, notwithstanding the
iletter of the instructions of 1803 ; something farther
is necessary, and that is, that the trade to and with
I these colonies was prohibited to such neattals In tithe
rof peace.

FORT WILUAM, OCTOBEIIt 17.
Tbt Honourable Company's yacht, the Chatibtie, !
ittived from Sangor, early this morning, having on
board his Excellency. Lieutenant General Hewitt, ap-
pointed Commander in Chief of his Majesty's and of
all the Hon: Company's Forces in India, and a Meth.
ber of the Supreme Couticil of tort William in Ben-
gal. At six o'clock Lieutenant General Hewitt lan-
ded, and was receiVed with the uSttal honours.
At half past seven o'clock, his Excellency Liettre-
nant General Hewit took the oath and his seat as one
of the Counsellors of the Presidency of Fort William,
tinder a salute of seventeen guns.