Star.
London, England, 1801-03-09 00:00:00

NEUTRAL SHIPPING.

The ti ' hito.,tmg cat,: cceurred in the
Court of Admiralty of England, befOre
XVILLIAM SCOTT The Jonge /'row IVilltelmina,
a neutral veila, engaged in a courfe of trade on
the coad of Holland, perfenly confonant to the
laws of nations, was flopped and boarded by the
Ajax, a Guernfey privateer. The Captain of the
prt-,ateer, through the medium of an interpreter,
intimated to Captain Jacobus, that he had good
realm to think he was engatled in a contraband
commerce, which the infpe6t%mit of his thip's papers
would cxpofe ; but that if ha would give him a
certain fum of money he would relzide hi., (hip.—
The Captain of the Wilhelmina, alarmed at the
cirettmitance of having his chip boarded, and ep-
prehentive of his voyage being delayed, contented
to the demand, in order to get ofF, and paid the I
Captain of the Ajax What be thought proper to ex-
tort. No former had this tranta&ion been concluded
than the Ajax made prize of the neutral (hip, and
carried her into Guernfcy, where the Prize-Com-
miffioners condemned her. The ground of the
condemnation was that the pretence by which the
Captain of the Ajax obtained a fum of money to
releafe the (hip, was an inn went Ilratagem to make
the Captain of the neutral (hip enacts the truth,
and that the payment of it by the latter was an ab-
!Mute admiiiion of his carrying on an illicit corn-
merce. The matter was brought into the fuperior
Court, and upon taking the depofitions of the neu-
tral Captain, and examining his papers, it appear-
ed he was in the rrofecution of a legitimate cons-
merce. To anfwcr this, the affidavit of the Corn-
sniffioners, which appeared to have been irregu-
larly procured, was produced, Rating that they
had proceeded on the ground, that the Ilratagem
of the Captain of the Ajax wax an innocent one,
and that the compliance of Captain Jacobus decid-
ea the queftion of his illegal trading.
Sir WILLIAM SCOTT pronounced judgment. He
expatiated upon thi general Laws of Nations with
regard to Neutral Powers, and then applied them
to the particular cafe in queftion. He expreffed
kimfelf in unqualified terms of indignation at the
caudal not only of the Captain oithe Gucrnfey
privateer, but of the Commillioners who had lane-
boned it ; he feared fuch praftices were but too pre-
valent : it was a (pecks of conduit difgraceful to
the Britifh flag and to the national charaaer. He
%jibed he could have .ufed Colter terms; but, in
(peaking of fuch an aft, he could no otherwife de-
Icribe it, than as oppre (live, unj nit, and fraudulent ;
an infraCtion of the rights of Neutral Nations ; a
difgrace to the juftice of our own, and a violation.
of its *Wye laws. The innocent ftratagem, as it
was called, and the undue advantages attempted
to be made of.it, were, in his opinion, as oldie
higheft atrocity, and.deferving the fevereft animad-
verfion and punilhment. All the fatisfaCtion he
could make to the injured Neutral Owners, they
Mould receive at his. hands ; and to that effea he
decreed, that the Wilhelmina fhould be reftored
to them, and all the lots, damages. cxpences and
coils, occatioued by her detention, he fully paid
by the Captain of the privateer, or by h:s owner/.
• We need only quote the above trial to thew to
foreign 'rations the jußice of our tribunals, and the
purity of thole who prefidy over them.