Alexandria gazette & advertiser. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1822-1824, 1822-06-27

supercargo, owners Of the yes..I' u
property, were on shors.-por.'.a
wing been made, the accused Sa w.. b.
rested and secured by the Goves. T.
of Hayti, which, with proper cosl!
delivered him up to the Amer;.s vl't!
thorities, and he was brought hs Il. y /
one Of our national vessels. '
Mr.. Rogers, young eentlem,.
responsibility, actuated by public =
rit and an honorable sense Of AZ p
came hither from Portsmouth, N Iq'a
| give evidence in support of the M. ~
cution, which he accordingly did r'n W.
evidence included the confession q ~ :,
accused. on whom was found ,csoo s
the money carried off.
The facts being clearly establi,h., |
| and not disputed, the counsel f., y
prisoner, Mr.. Holmes very ingeuion ~
urged the following points of dsfs1.
LIST. He contended that the offence m
committed within the territorial inv; :"
diction of Hayti, in one of the hay, S'''
of St. Domingo; and that as it WA ' ~,
q place within the admir- lily iuri,d;, H.
ton of the U. States, it was not. THAI.
fore, within the jurisdiction Of the II
States for the purpose contended f.,
2dly, The counsel contended, that e.,
nish dollars were not included in +,
term Goods" nor in the term '.M.,
chandize," used in the clause of the ,t,
tute under which the prisoner was !;
dicted. 3dly, That the offence Of TIM
prisoner was larceny, and not breach If
trust, which the laws intended to mn.
nish: that if it was larceny, it was no,
punishable by the laws of the United
States-which punish larceny only on
the high seas,--but by the laws ofHay.
ii only.
To these objections, Dir. Gad,dsn
having made an able reply, the Court
deferred its decision until the next 0s7
(Saturday,) when the court being con.
vened, Judge Johnson oyerruled all the
objections of the prisoners counsel
He observed, that the jurisdiction Of
the United States over American YES.
sells and their crews was not as was con.
tended, limited to the admiralty juris.
d;ction; that under the power to regu.
late commerce, given by the constitu.
ton. the Congress ofthe United States,
in the exercise Of the commercial rela-
tons of tie United States, necessarily
| required the power to control vessels
and mariners sailing under the Ameri.
can flag, wherever those vessels were.
That it was true the Havtian Govern.
ment had a right to try the accusedfos
larceny. That, perhaps, = summary
trial on the spot would have as well an'
swered the purposes of justice, being in
the vicinity. too, of the place where the
crime was committed, a,the sending Of
the prisoner to be tried here. But the
Court had no doubt Of the jurisdiction
of the United States in this cass-tbe
vessel being American, and the accused
a citizen of the United States; and,
therefore. the objection on this pointwas
overruled.
On the second point, whether money,
i'd est, silver Spanish dollars, could b
regarded as 'goods" or as 'merchan.
die" the Court thought clearly they
could be regarded as both. Larceny,
is defined to be the stealing of the per.
sonal goods of another; was it ever
doubted that to steal dollar from q
man was to be guilty oflarceny Cod
and silver are the most precious OF
goods. and shall their character DO all
tered by reference to their shape, or
the stamps imprinted Cd their surface?
Wherein does circular piece OF goa
or of silver differ in character, although
it may in shape, form square Or cy-
lindrical piece of gold and silver. Ihs
accused is charged with stealing silver
dollars the term "dollars," merely
qualities the preceding term by stating
the fact, that the silver was in roono
pieces. Silver dollars, therefore, are
comprised in the term "goods," they
are also comprised in the term "nier-
chapdize." Silver dollars are notorious
subjects oftraffic and exchange. Their
value varies every day in various pa
ces. In foreign and domestic prices CUT
rent you always find their relative va
lue noted for the information OF mef'
chants. In the East India trace; -
we'll as others, they constitute the cn's,
article ofcommercial exchanged tha'
money is not only the means, but ns,
become in many instances the suO]s',
Of traffic. Silver dollars are thereon
embraced in the term ''merchandlzo,;
and this objection is therefore overueu,
1t is commended Sd, by the prisoner J