go wrong through defect of judgment: when right, I shall often be thought wrong by those whose positions will not command a view of the whole ground. I ask your indulgence for my own errors, which will never be intentional; and your support against the errors of others, who may condemn what they would not if seen in all its parts. The approbation implied by your suffrage is a great consolation to me for the past; and my future solicitude will be to retain the good opinion of those who have bestowed it in advance; to conciliate that of others, by doing them all the good in my power; and to be instrumental to the happiness and freedom of all. "Relying, then, on the patronage of your good will, I advance with obedience to the, work, ready to retire from it whenever you become sensible how much better choices it is in your power to make; and may that infinite Power, which rules the destinies of the universe; lead our councils to what is best, and give them a favourable issue for your peace and prosperity!" bona fide neutral property, were of the growth of Spain, having been sanctioned, and the principles extended by the prize-courts of the British islands, and particularly by the court of Jamaica, has been deemed sufficient authority to the commanders of the ships of war and privateers cruizing in those seas to fall upon and capture all American vessels bound to an enemy's colony, and having on board any article of the growth or manufacture of a nation at war with GreatBritain. These captures, which are vindicated by what is termed the belligerent's right to distress his enemy, by interrupting the supplies which his habits or convenience may require, have produced the strongest and most serious complaints among the American merchants, who have seen with indignation a reason assigned for the capture and confiscation of their property, which is totally disregarded in the open trade carried on between the British and Spanish colonies by British and Spanish subjects, in the very arti cles, the supply of which, by neutral merchants, is unjustly inter, rupted. The law of nations, acknowledged in the treaty of amity, com, merce, and navigation, between the United States and Great-Bri tain, allows the goods of an enemy to be lawful prize, and pronounces those of a friend to be free. While the United States take no measures to abridge the rights of Great-Britain, as a belligerent, they are bound to resist with firmness every attempt to extend them at the expense of the equally in *In the case of the American brigantine Leopard, Ropes master, laden in part with Malaga wines. The cargo, so far as it consisted of wines, though regularly im ported into the United States, was condemned by judge Kensal, 20th October 1800, the same being productions of the Spanish territory in Europe, and bound to the trans atlantic parts of that empire." contestable contestable rights of nations, which find their interest and duty in living in peace with the rest of the world. So long as the ancient law of nations is observed-which protects the innocent merchandise of neutrals, while it abandons to the belligerent the goods of his enemy-a plain rule exists, and may be appealed to, to decide the rights of peace and war: the belligerent has no better authority to curtail the rights of the neutral than the neutral has to do the like in regard to the rights of the belligerent; and it is only by an adherence to the ancient code, and the rejection of modern glosses, that fixed and precise rules can be found defining the rights and regulating the duties of independent states. This subject is of such importance, and the essential interests of the United States, whose policy is that of peace, are so deeply affect ed by the doctrines which, during the present war, have been set up, in order to enlarge the rights of belligerents, at the expense of those of neutrals, that I shall, without loss of time, submit to your lordship's consideration such further reflexions respecting the same as its great importance appears to demand. In the mean time, as the decisions referred to cannot, from the unavoidable delay which attends the prosecution of appeals, be speedily reversed, and as the effect of those decrees will continue to be the unjust and ruinous interruption of the American commerce in the WestIndian seas, it is my duty to require that precise instructions shall, without delay, be dispatched to the proper officers in the West Indies and Nova Scotia, to correct the abuses which have arisen out of these illegal decrees, and put an end to the depredations which are wasting the lawful commerce of a peaceable and friendly nation. With great consideration and I have the honour to be your lordship's most obedient. and most humble servant, RUFUS KING. Lord Hawkesbury, &c. &c. Downing-street, April 11, 1801. Sir, I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 13th of last month, and to inform you, that, in consequence of the representation contained in it, a letter has been written, by his majesty's command, by his grace the duke of Portland, to the lords commissioners of the admiralty; a copy of which letter I herewith enclose to you for the information of the government of the United States. I have the honour to be, with great truth, Sir, your most obedient humble servant, (Signed) HAWKESBURY, Rufus King, esq. &c. &c. Whitehall, 30th March, 1801. My Lords, I transmit to your lordships herewith a copy of the decree of the vice-admiralty court of Nassau, condemning the cargo of an Ames rican vessel going from the United States to a port in the Spanish colonies; and the said decree having been referred to the consideration of the king's advocate-general, your lordships will perceive from his report, an extract from which I enclose, that it is his opinion, that the sentence of the vice-admiralty court is erroneous, and founded in a misapprehension or misapplication of the principles laid down in the decision decision of the high court of admiralty referred to, without attending to the limitations therein contained. In order, therefore, to put a stop to the inconveniencies arising from these erroneous sentences of the vice-admiralty courts, I have the honour to signify to your lordships the king's pleasure, that a communi cation of the doctrine laid down in the said report should be immedi ately made by your lordships to the several judges presiding in them, setting forth what is held to be the law upon the subject by the superior tribunals for their future guidance and direction. I am, &c. PORTLAND. The Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty. Extract of the Advocate-General's Report, dated March 16, 1801. I have the honour to report, that the sentence of the vice-admiralty court appears to me erroneous, and to be founded in a misapprehension or misapplication of the principles laid down in the decision of the court of admiralty referred to, with out attending to the limitations therein contained. The general principle respecting the colonial trade has, in the course of the present war, been to a certain degree relaxed in consideration of the present state of commerce. It is now distinctly understood, and it has been repeatedly so decided, by the high court of appeal, that the produce of the colonies of the enemy may be imported by a neutral into his own country, and may be re-exported from thence even to the mother country of such colony; and, in like manner, the produce and manufactures of the mother country may, in this circuitous mode, legally find their way to the colonies. The direct trade, however, between the mother country and its colonies has not, I apprehend, been recognised as legal; either by his majesty's government, or hy his tribunals. What is a direct trade, or what amounts to an intermediate impor tation into the neutral country, may some time be a question of some difficulty. A general definition of either, applicable to all cases, cannot well be laid down. The question must depend upon the particular circumstances of each case. Perhaps the mere touching in the neutral country to take fresh clearances may properly be considered as a fraudulent evasion, and is, in effect, the direct trade; but the high court of admiralty has express ly decided (and I see no reason to expect that the court of appeal will vary the rules), that landing the goods and paying the duties in the neutral country breaks the continuity of the voyage, and is such an importation as legalises the trade, although the goods be re-shipped in the same vessel; and on account of the same neutral proprietors, and be forwarded for sale to the mother country or the colony. A true copy from the files of the department of state. JACOB WAGNER, chief clerk. Letter from the Duke of Portland to the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty. Whitehall, May 27, 1801. My Lords, I transmit to your lordships herewith, for your information, an extract of a letter from Mr. Thornton, his majesty's chargé d'affaires in America, to lord Grenville, with copies of its inclosures relative to the capture of American vessels trading to the Spanish ports, together with a copy of the report of his majesty's advocate-general, to whom, by the king's command, the papers in question have been referred. I have, at the same time, the honour to signify to your lordships his majesty's pleasure, that you should direct the judges of our colonial viceadmiralty courts to follow and be guided in their decisions in cases relating to the trade carried on between a neutral and belligerent nation, by the rules and principles established in the high court of admiralty, and laid down in the inclosed report of his majesty's advocate-general. And, the better to enfore an uniform and strict adherence to those principles, I am further to signify to you the king's commands, that directions should be given to withdraw letters of marque and reprisal, in cases where the owners thereof shall appear wilfully and knowingly to have captured, and brought in for adjudication, contrary to his majesty's existing instructions, vessels trading between a neutral country and the enemy's colonies. (Signed) PORTLAND. Report of the King's Advocate. May 23, 1801. My Lord Duke, I am honoured with your grace's letter of the 29th instant, transmitting to me several papers which have been communicated to your grace by lord Hawkesbury, from his majesty's chargé d'affaires in America, with a direction to take them into consideration, and to report to your grace, for his majesty's information, my opinion, whether, in consequence of what is contained in the extract of Mr. Thornton's letter to lord Grenville, especially that part of it which states a principle to have been lately adopted in the courts of viceadmiralty at Jamaica and Providence, that no commerce would be permitted between a belligerent and neutral nation, in the vessels of the latter, but such as had been authorised previously to the commencement of hostilities," it would be advisable to make any or what communications to the vice-admiralty courts at Jamaica and the Bahamas for their guidance and direction. In obedience to your grace's commands, I have considered the papers referred to me; and I have the honour to report, that the prin ciple ciple stated to have been lately adopted in the courts of vice-admiralty at Jamaica and Providence is directly in opposition to the decisions daily passing in the high court of admiralty and the court of appeals. It has been held by the tribunals of this country, that neutrals cannot be admitted by the of pressure war, enemy, under the to carry on his colonial trade, from which in time of peace they were wholly excluded. But this principle may be, and has been, on account of special circumstances during the present hostilities, to a certain degree, relaxed. His majesty's instructions, of January 1798, only order that vessels shall be brought in for legal adjudication which are coming directly from the enemy's colonies to Europe, and not being bound to England, or a port of their own country. A trade be tween the neutral country and the: enemy's colonies is now clearly permitted. Colonial produce, actually imported into the neutral country, may also be re-exported from thence to any other place, even to the mother country of that colony of which it is the produce. His majesty's existing instructions are. therefore the rule by which at present the judges of the vice-admiralty courts ought to govern themselves; and I humbly apprehend that it would be advisable to convey to the courts referred to a direction to that effect; as the application of the more extended principle upon which they are, represented to act may be productive, not only of much injustice, but of great public inconvenience. I have the honour to be, &c. (Signed) J. NICHOLL. |