The CALYPSO. 1799. extremely proper to be confidered; for if the whole of the res gefta fhews the parties to have been habiAugust 9th, tually, and throughout this tranfaction, employing the fhip in fraudulent purposes, it must very materially affect their claim to farther proof refpecting the property of the ship. It has been faid that false papers will not, by the law of this Court, neceffarily lead to condemnation if the proof of property is clear; and that papers falfe as to the destination, will not ftand in the way of restitution, under the practice of the Admiralty of this country. It has been faid also, and truly, that the evidence respecting the cargo does not generally affect the fhip; as it may frequently happen that the owners of the cargo will, from luft of gain, put on board false papers without the knowledge or privity of the owners of the ship: But it is a very different cafe when the fhip and cargo belong to the fame perfons; and although I will not say that false papers would, even in fuch a case, neceffarily lead to the condemnation of the ship, yet when the first cafe is only a case of farther proof, falfe papers put on board by the common owners of both fhip and cargo cannot but very materially affect their claim to that indulgence: What then have been the habits of this veffel? As to her employment, it will not be contended that it has not been fraudulent throughout. In the first part of the history of this fhip we find her failing from St. Thomas oftenfibly to Surinam, but putting into Cayenne with Mr. Beckmann her principal owner on board, and, as it appears evidently, I think, from other circumftances, by his concurrence and contrivance. From Cayenne fhe fails again; on a pretended deftination to Hamburg, but puts into Rochelle, with Mr. Mr. Beckmann ftill on board, and the cargo is there disposed of. That Mr. Beckmann went to Hamburg or held any intercourse with that place no where appears, except in the evidence of the mafter; that he went to Paris at this time is certain, and he appears to have entered into a charter-party, for this veffel to go to Cayenne and back, making oath that fhe was going to St. Thomas: By what falvos it is that perfons of any education, or of any credit make fuch oaths, I am yet to learn; but the fact is that they fwear the destination was to St. Thomas, at the fame time that the veffel is failing under a contract to go to Cayenne and back again to France. Inftructions are put on board alfo, as artfully drawn, for the purposes of fraud, as it is poffible for man to conceive; be a man's talent or genius for falfehood what it may, I defy him to fabricate a fraud more ingeniously than it is done in these inftructions; that they were not without effect is evident, as the fhip was stopped by an English frigate and released. -So documented the fhip goes again to Cayenne, under a pretended force from the French government; the fact being, that it was her true and original deftination- the outward cargo is there fold and a returned cargo taken in, documented in the bill of lading as the property of Beckmann and Ecchardt, though it appears from concealed papers that have been fince produced, that the greatest part belongs to a number of French merchants, and that only a fmall part is in fact the property of these perfons; now it is faid that all the papers are to be taken together, and it is infifted on, as a reasonable rule, that in cafes where fome papers are The August 9th, 1 The CALYPSO. Auguft 9th, 1799. are produced at first, and others kept back, you are to fuppofe the papers not produced to ftate the true and exact meafure of intereft. I allow that all the ́papers are to be taken together, but I cannot go fo far as to admit that concealed papers are to be taken as neceffarily containing the truth, becaufe if fuch a rule was established as a principle of this Court, it would let in an infinity of fraud, and make it the easiest thing in the world to protect the chief bulk of property in any cafe by giving up fome part upon the pretended difclofures contained in thefe concealed papers. The more reasonable rule would be, that where there is one fet of papers admitted to be false, and another fet coming out of the fame hands, that the whole is thrown into a state of uncertainty and doubt. It is faid that Beckmann was a stranger to this part of the tranfaction, but I think that cannot be maintained; he knew the manner in which this voyage begun; he was the perfon fending out the veffel with fraudulent papers, and on a falfe oath, and that he fhould not know how the returned cargo was to be conducted, is not very naturally to be conceived; it would require great charity to believe that Ecchardt and Co. were not also privy to the whole defign: I have already pointed out fome papers which feem to me to connect them very closely with the fraud. But if it were not fo, if they were entirely ignorant of the matter, I must adhere to the rule laid down, (without which the greatest frauds would be easily practifed on the Court ;) that where perfons put their property into the hands of their agents and partner, as the agent is in this cafe, they must be bound by the confequences of his acts, as to the property fo intrusted 5 intrusted to him. If they put the veffel into his hands and allow him to employ it as he pleases, whether they are immediately connusant of his practices or not, they are affected with a legal privity, and that will be fufficient to difpofe of their interest in her. Looking then to the whole of this tranfaction, I ask, is this a case that, according to the principles on which this Court has proceeded, I can refer to farther proof? I am clearly of opinion that it is not. But I will go farther, and say, that I have no hesitation in delivering my opinion, that if it appeared in evidence to be neutral property in the clearest manner; still, if it was proved that the ship was going from the mother country of the enemy to their colony under false papers and a false mask, and coming back again to the mother country, that fhe would be fubject to confifcation. On every principle of justice the employment of a veffel in this manner, not only to carry, but to cover and protect enemy's colonial trade from the juft rights of war, is fuch a grofs departure from neutrality, that I fhould have no hesitation to condemn exprefsly on this ground; but that is not neceffary- the ground on which I condemn is, that grofs leaven of fraud which runs through every part of the tranfaction and contaminates the whole cafe; even on the neutrality of the property. 2 The CALYPSO. Auguft 9th, 1799. August 20th, 1799. A&t 39 G. 3. THIS c. 98. respect- THE HOFFNUNG, BERENs Mafter. HIS was a cafe turning principally on the interpretation of an Act of Parliament, 39 Geo. III. cap. 98. refpecting fhips importing Spanish wool; Whether the power given to his Majesty's Council to release fuch fhips fuperfeded the jurifdiction of the fore the Court of Prize Court, on other grounds of enquiry that might other grounds. be taken by captors? does not fuper fede proceeding by captors be Admiralty on The licence was dated on the 21st March 1799, being the date of the notification of the blockade of Holland; but as that was not noticed in the terms of the licence it was made a question on the part of the captors, Whether the licence to import Spanish wool from Holland was to be taken as exempting them from the blockade ? and farther, as to the property, it was fubmitted, that as it was a fhip afferted to have been purchased in Holland, but having no bill of fale on board, it was clearly on that ground, a cafe of farther proof. .. On the other fide Laurence contended on the part of the claimant of the fhip, That the power of the Court of Admiralty to proceed against this fhip was precluded by what had already paffed; that the came under the description of veffels whofe release was provided for in a special manner by the stat. 39 Geo. III. cap. 98.; that this veffel had obtained her release in a fummary manner, under that form, and was therefore not now liable to be proceeded against on a question of property, or blockade. JUDGMENT |