The Veranderen. 1 H. & M. had put the coffee on board for their account and risk, and that it was the produce of the French islands. The master endeavored to get rid of this, by saying, that this acquittance was obtained in Weltner's name, as his property, because French natives obtained a drawback upon coffee exported. The master expressed in his claim, that himself was one of the proprietors of the cargo, and his deserting this in his deposition was urged against him by the counsel for the captors. The court restored the ship, but thought it unnecessary to oblige the claimants to make, at a great expense, farther proof of the property of the wine and vinegar in letter A, [* 178] the captor having made free with the wine: but directed farther proof of the different goods in letter B, consigned by the bills only to order. Restored the salt, letter C, as claimed; but the judge said he was struck with the consequences, and with the collusion which would follow, if a single witness, standing alone as the master did, were to be permitted in any case to aver against ship papers and public instruments. That if it were true that the Swede, as pretended, had personated a Frenchman, in obtaining the acquittance and drawback, he had made himself an adopted Frenchman, and was aiding the commerce of the produce and revenue of France. Therefore the coffee, E, must be condemned as the property of the person expressed to be a French merchant in the French acquittance; but it should be subject to freight; and the captor appearing by the evidence of the master, though not to have broken bulk, yet to have tapped and drank up a hogshead of wine, which was the master's private adventure, should pay the Swedish * mas- [ * 179 ] ter for it. That the master had not deserted his claim for himself, as was insisted, for every master of a ship has something on board of his own. Little inaccuracies are not to be minded; his property must be restored with the ship. VERANDEREN, otherwise LE CHANGEMENT. [* 180 ] December 2, 1778. A GENERAL ship upon freight, taken the 17th of August, by the privateer The Two Brothers, bound from Bordeaux to Dunkirk. 1 [As to master's adventure, see The Calypso, 2 C. Rob. 298, note.] The Veranderen. 1 H. & M. * The master gave a claim for the ship as belonging to himself, a part owner, and Dutch subject, as he called himself, and to others residing at Embden, subjects of the King of Prussia; but he gave no claim of any sort for the cargo, and declared, in evidence, that he knew nothing of the true owners and consignees; and so deposed all the rest of the crew, who were all Prussians. There were some goods on board, which were laden by Frenchmen, (Amand & Sons,) and consigned to Frenchmen on their account and risk. The master swore, that the cargo was laden by a French broker, for account of the persons who were the laders. A claim was given in for Berto and Lazarus Vallé, of the Haymarket, London, for two [181] tons of French vinegar; and another claim was given in by Mr. Leidts, of Ghent in Flanders, (an Austrian subject,) for fourteen bales of coffee, and five bags of anniseed, as privileged on board a Dutch ship, according to treaty. It did not appear, by the bills of lading, that these goods were for the account and risk of the claimants; the whole cargo was put on board in June and July last. There was a pass, but it was not, as prescribed by treaty, truly granted to the master upon oath, appearing before them personally; but it was procured (as the master deposed) by a French and Dutch broker, for him, from the burgomasters of Appingedam; that the ship had never been in any port of Holland, but she was built in Embden, and her first voyage was from Embden to Bordeaux; and her last voyage from thence was destined to Dunkirk, in which she was taken. That he was born himself at Embden, a subject of the King of Prussia, but had obtained a Dutch burgher's brief of citizenship in the same way as he had obtained what he called a pass. Together with the bills of lading were several acquittances. [*182] from the French custom-house, corresponding with numbers and goods described in the bills; by which acquittances it appeared, either that the goods were for the account of the French laders, or that they had given bond to export them to the French colonies in America. The court decreed restitution of the ship, as a Prussian ship; and that the freight and all expenses should be paid to the master, and be a charge upon the whole cargo. Condemned all such goods as appeared, either by the bills of lading, or acquittances, to be for the account and risk of French laders or consignees, or for which they had given bond at the French custom-house, to export to the French colonies. The court admitted the claims of Berto Vallé and Leidts, and assigned them to prove the same; and allowed time till the first day of the next term for any neutrals to claim and prove the rest. The Vander Leye. 1 H. & M. The court observed, that after the ship's papers had been brought in, and examinations were public, the very late introducing of claims carried a suspicious appearance. The ship was taken the 13th of August; * Leidts did not claim till the 2d of Octo- [183] ber; and Berto Vallé's claim was not heard of till the 3d of November. Berto Vallé, as a resident British subject, could not be allowed to claim, but under the favor of the circumstance that all the cargo was put on board before the declaration of reprisals. That Leidts had almost confessed that the goods claimed by him were the effects of French enemies, since he claimed the privilege of the treaty for them; which was more than the Prussian master would do, who knew very well his ship was not a true Dutch ship, but a Prussian. Now a Prussian ship has no privilege by treaty, nor by the custom of nations, to carry free the goods of enemies. In case a ship appears not to have been in the neutral port, or the master to have obtained his passport in person, upon oath, of the ship being true neutral property, the French Admiralty Courts, by the late reglement, as well as by all former ones of that nation, confiscate both ship and cargo. Neutrals will do well to turn their eyes towards those severities, and make the comparison, * in point of lenity and [* 184 ] justice, between England and her enemies. THE VANDER Leye, WAS clearly a Dutch ship upon freight, with a Dutch pass, or seabrief, and all other proper documents; the goods of an innocent nature, the property of Frenchmen, and bound from Amelsfort to Morlaix, taken by The Resolution privateer, and carried into Rye on the 9th of September. The master claimed the ship as Dutch property, and the cargo as privileged on board a Dutch ship, according to treaty. The court decreed both to be restored, with all costs and damages. The judge added, that if it had appeared in evidence, that the priva teer had been guilty of any breaking bulk, or had misused the ship's crew, he would have punished the commander of the privateer in a more exemplary manner; ordered the costs to be settled by the registrar of the court, and the damages, (taking to his assistance for the latter two merchants, to be named by the parties, and approved by the court); and he recommended it to the parties, that the The Jeane Isabelle. 1 H. & M. [* 185] English captors should name a Dutch merchant for themselves, and the Dutch claimant an English one for himself; so that the parties might be certain to have the two most reasonable men, and best arbitrators; and it was the more necessary to be recommended at this time, as national prejudices, and private passions and interests could not be too carefully guarded against in all such causes as these are, in disputes between nation and nation; for there are violent people everywhere ready to inflame matters for their own advantage, although the ruin of both countries might be the conse-. quence of private vehemence. He would do his best to prevent it. THE JEANE ISABELLE, TAKEN the 4th of August, by his Majesty's ship The Kite cutter, a Swedish carrier ship upon general freight, bound from Alicant in Spain to Dunkirk; a claim was given by the master for his ship, and for his freight and charges; claims were also given for part of the cargo, chiefly wine and brandy, by P. De Bucher, an Aus[* 186 ] trian subject; by Mr. John Devette, of Ostend; * by Messrs. Walther & Pate, of Alicant, Spanish subjects; and by John Wombwell and Sir George Wombwell, of London, merchants, for themselves; and Peter Arabet & Co. their partners, at Alicant. But these claims not corresponding with the titles of property, the ship's papers, and the master not swearing to them, the judge ordered the neutral subject to make farther proof; and that the British subjects should prove in a manner still more strictly. Restored the ship to the Swedish subject, with freight and all his expenses; justified the seizure; all expenses to be charged to the account of the whole cargo. it was made a question, as in Berto Vallé's case, whether the Wombwells, as British subjects, trading to an enemy's port, could claim. But the court observed, that the goods were all laden before the king's declaration of reprisals; and the master's instructions were, in the contingency of his finding war declared, and that he could not go to Dunkirk (which instructions plainly looked as if the goods were British property) that he should go to Ostend. The judge also [* 187] observing, that there was a bill of lading for eleven * pipes and four half-pipes of brandy, for the account of Bellon & Son, Spanish subjects, but not saying for risk, and there being nobody appearing to claim for Bellon, or to make proof of his property, the court allowed time for Bellon & Sons to claim and verify. Concerning British claims, the judge said, he expected to have heard from the counsel for the captors of the case of the Spanish register ships, The Vryheid. 1 H. & M. on board which, in the war before last, the property (although proved) of British subjects, laden before the war, was condemned; that the principle of that decision, by the Lords Commissioners of Appeals, was not only the danger of collusion in covering the property of the enemy by British claims, but that the British laders were adopted as Spaniards; for, by the laws of Spain, no merchants can bring over bullion, &c., in the Spanish flota, unless in the names and as for account and risk of Spaniards, for which they pay an indulto, or duty to the king of Spain. But the judge said, he thought the case of Berto Vallé and of Messrs. Wombwell very different from that; and the extraordinary and sudden nature of the present hostilities *required some lenity to be shown to British merchants. [* 188] VRYHEID. [A treaty defining contraband held not to protect enemies' property.] A DUTCH ship, taken on the 26th of August by his Majesty's cutter The Kite, Lieutenant Trollope, commander, bound from Riga to Rochfort, the cargo seventy-one masts of above ninety feet in length, fit for the first rate ships of war, twelve small ditto, four hundred and sixty boat masts, one hundred spars, two thousand nine hundred deals, laden by Blanchenhagen of Riga, who ordered the master to touch at Elsineur, in Denmark, and to apply to the Frenc hconsu lfor orders in regard to the destination. The master deposed to this fact, and that the French consul directed him accordingly to carry the naval stores to Rochfort; and that a broker there would instruct him. to whom they were to be delivered. The Dutch master claimed his ship as Dutch property, having a sea-brief from the states, and duly documented; and the cargo as privileged under the treaty of December 11, 1674; with all costs and damages. The advocate for the captor consented to restitution of the ship with [* 189] freight, but prayed condemnation of the stores as for the account of the French king. He strongly pressed, that the privileges had never been yet allowed that the Dutch should carry the naval stores of the enemy's government; that the privilege in such an extent as claimed was never in contemplation of the contracting parties, who were at the time of this treaty entering into an alliance offensive and defensive, and understood as engaging to have always the same friends and the same enemies; that the great federal union between England and Holland had since then been established, if possible, in a firmer manner. On the part of the Dutch claimant was urged the |