of this Worshipful Court in all such cases, ever since the existence of the British Government here, was for the first time called in question, notwithstanding, that that jurisdiction has been confirmed both by usage and the laws enacted from time to time, and with respect to the Navigation Laws, by the Act of the British Parliament dated the 24th March 1809, and the subsequent order of His Majesty in Council dated the 12th of April following, deemed it advisable to address himself by Letter (copy of which is annexed) to His Excellency the Governor, requesting that the Acting Collector and the Comptroller of His Majesty's Customs should be ordered to proceed pursuant to the tenor of their respective Instructions, whereby they are directed to report as speedily as possible all seizures made by them to His Majesty's Fiscal in order that he may take the necessary steps for the discovery and prosecution of the offenders. That the R. O. Memorialist at the same time informed both the Acting Collector and Comptroller by letter (also annexed) of his objections to their conduct, protesting against the same, and of his intention to seek redress where it was legally to be had. Having adopted all those measures, nothing now remains for the R. O. Memorialist than to bring this case to the knowledge of this Worshipful Court, respectfully requesting that your Worships may be pleased to take the necessary steps for the maintenance of the rights of the Colonial Government in general, and of the jurisdiction of this Worshipful Court in particular, the cognizance of which, even supposing it had a concurrent jurisdiction in the case in question with the Court of Vice Admiralty, was still however already called in by preference by the R. O. Memorialist on the 6th Instant, when he obtained the consent of the Chief Justice to the above mentioned official proposal. And Memorialist as in duty bound &c. (Signed) D. DENYSSEN, Fiscal. FISCAL'S OFFICE, 8th March 1821. [Copy.] Memorial of the Agent of the East India Company. To His Excellency Sir R. Donkin, K.C.B., Acting Governor, &c., &c. Memorial of Joseph Luson, Agent to the Honorable East India Company, Sheweth That your Excellency's Memorialist did on the 5th Instant address a memorial to your Excellency relative to the circumstances of the ships Marchioness of Ely and General Hewitt, to which your Excellency was pleased to express your regret in a letter from the Colonial Secretary dated 8th Instant, that such circumstances had occurred, but that your Excellency did not feel that you had any power to stay any proceedings which may be instituted in the case; that subsequent thereto, the cargoes of the East India Company have by the Acting Collector and Comptroller of Customs been referred for adjudication to the Vice Admiralty Instance Court of the Cape of Good Hope, a Tribunal hitherto unacknowledged in its authority for local purposes in this Colony; but the said Court having this day served a Warrant of Seizure of the said cargoes on your Excellency's memorialist he was under the necessity of denying its jurisdiction and authority, fully relying on the acknowledged constituted and authorised jurisdiction of this Colony for protection in having so done, and that he immediately reported the circumstances to His Majesty's Fiscal, from whom he obtained a corroboration of his opinion. That it appearing from the 5th article of Instructions given by the Government to the Collector of Customs in this Colony on the 18th February 1808 it is directed that "all seizures made by the Officers of Customs shall, with as little delay as possible, be reported by the Collector to His Majesty's Fiscal, in order that he may take the proper steps for the investigation and prosecution according to the established laws of the Colony," your Excellency's memorialist consequently conceives that the said officers in referring the present case for prosecution to the Vice Admiralty Instance Court have acted in direct contradiction of that article of instructions, and have thereby subjected Your Excellency's memorialist to the exercise of an arbitrary jurisdiction which, if admitted to be legal in the present instance, would, by establishing such a precedent, tend to deprive the inhabitants of this Colony of their acknowledged rights of being subject to no other Courts of Law than those under which they have hitherto been protected in their persons and property. That your Excellency's Memorialist therefore believes that he shall be fully justified in not having acknowledged the authority of the Vice Admiralty Instance Court; and humbly prays that your Excellency may be pleased to call upon the Acting Collector and Comptroller of Customs to state their reasons for having in the present instance departed from the mode of proceeding directed to be observed "in all seizures," especially as the Vice Admiralty Instance Court has in consequence proceeded to arrest the cargoes, and the Comptroller of the Customs has demanded of your Excellency's Memorialist to point out where the said East India Company's cargoes are deposited, in order that he might affix seals on the warehouse doors, which would have been the means of depriving your Excellency's memorialist of the disposition of the same, notwithstanding they were landed by the authority of permits granted by the Officers of Customs, and were therefore, he conceives, legally given up to the keeping and disposal of your Excellency's Memorialist in his capacity as agent to the East India Company. That the extreme hardship of this case will be made apparent when referring to the late case of the Lady Flora, it will be found that the Officers of Customs have permitted an unmolested landing and disposal of her cargo although she was unprovided with any manifest duly authenticated at the Port of Canton (the want of which document is in the present instance the ostensible ground for seizure), nor were her invoices of that satisfactory nature (by having the official signature of the Officer for authenticating manifests in China attached thereto) as is the case with the invoices of the East India Company's cargoes by the ships Marchioness of Ely and General Hewitt. Your Excellency's memorialist therefore most humbly prays that he may be allowed the quiet and undisturbed possession of the property of the East India Company, and that he may not be subjected to the interference of any authority whatever in the discharge of his duties and occupations except by the established Colonial Laws and Regulations, which under your Excellency's XIII. 2 F administration have given such general satisfaction to the community at large. And your Memorialist as in duty bound will ever pray. SIR,-Having laid before the Lords Commissioners of His Majesty's Treasury your letter of the 19th ultimo relative to the return of the Deposit Money made by William Russell in behalf of the persons who were lost in the Abeona Transport, I have it in command to acquaint you for the information of Earl Bathurst that My Lords have directed the Bill for £380, which may be drawn on this account by Mr. Dalgleish, to be accepted by Mr. Hill. I am &c. (Signed) R. LUSHINGTON. [Copy.] Letter from SIR RUFANE SHAWE DONKIN to J. Luson, ESQRE. GOVERNMENT HOUSE, March 13th 1821. SIR, I have taken into my most serious consideration your memorial of the 10th Inst. respecting the seizure of the cargoes of the ships Marchioness of Ely and General Hewitt by the Acting Collector and Comptroller of His Majesty's Customs, and the subsequent steps taken by those Officers, more particularly their having carried the case into the Court of Vice Admiralty here, instead of into the Ordinary Court of this Colony, in consequence of all which, and other matters set forth in your Memorial, you call upon me to interfere, and more especially to allow you the quiet and undisturbed possession of the property of the East India Company, as well as to protect you from the interference of any authority except by the established Colonial Laws and Regulations; in answer to which I have now to acquaint you that although I am of opinion that the Colonial Court of Justice would have been the proper Court for the Collector and Comptroller of Customs to have carried their case before, and that their not having done so is a departure from a specific Colonial Regulation (but of which they dispute the legality), I do not feel that I am vested with any authority by which I can take out of the Court of Vice Admiralty here any cause which has been carried into it, and which has been received by that court, established as it is, by the King's authority; and, on that account, I cannot interfere in the way you wish; but I conceive that you have legal and regular remedies within your own reach, and without any extra judicial interference of mine, by which the right of jurisdiction on the part of the Vice Admiralty Court, in the present instance may be investigated and decided, and when, should it appear that the Court had assumed any power to which it was not legally entitled, a full and complete redress will be open to you and any other aggrieved party in this case by due course of Law. It may be right to acquaint you that I have in no way sanctioned the Collector or Comptroller's having carried this case into the Vice Admiralty Court, although on the principles I have stated above, I did not feel myself authorized to forbid their doing I am &c. So. Memorial of the Comptroller of Customs. To His Excellency Major General Sir R. S. Donkin, K.C.B., That your Memorialist is in the course of his duty as a Revenue |