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![handle is hein.slavery/ssactsengr0384 and id is 1 raw text is: am under the necessity of rejecting this proof, and pronouncing the property in
question subject to condemnation.
THE NANCY -(Joy, Master). May 15, 1800.-Colonial trade, on the part of
neutral merchants, on a destination between the colony and the mother-country,
pronounced illegal-Cargo condemned.
[Affirmed on appeal : see note 6 C. Rob. ix.]
This was a case of a cargo of colonial produce, taken 7th Nov. 1796, on a voyage
from Surinam, according to the papers, for Cowes and a market ; going at the
time of the capture, ostensibly, and according to the master's account, to Altona-
but, as it appeared to the Court, actually to Amsterdam. The ship had been restored,
by consent, on 24th Nov. 1796, reserving the question of freight ; and, on 15th Sept.
1797, so much of the cargo as was the proceeds of the outward cargo from America
was restored ; farther proof was directed to be made of the rest ; and the application
for freight on the part of the ship was rejected.-On the 6th March 1799, still farther
proof was directed.
[83] Judgment-Sir W. Scott : There have been two points made in this case on
the farther proof which has been brought in ; a question of destination, and a question
of property. I shall first examine the proofs of destination, because if it should
appear that this cargo was actually going from the colony to the mother-country,
on a real destination to Amsterdam, I shall hold myself bound to pronounce this
cargo subject to condemnation ; if I am wrong, the parties will have the benefit of
resorting to the opinion of a Supreme Court ; but I understand the rule of law to be,
that the trade between the colony and the mother-country in Europe, being opened
by the enemy for his own relief under the pressure of war, cannot innocently be
undertaken by a neutral; nor without the hazard of rendering him liable to be
considered as giving immediate aid and adherence to that belligerent, to the unjust
disadvantage of his adversary. If such a commerce can receive any aggravation,
it is that of attempting to carry it on fraudulently, under the mask of false papers.
It is said that there would be no occasion for concealment in this case ; and that it
is not probable there should have been any purpose of a fraudulent destination, since
American ships have, in a variety of instances, appeared to be going with an avowed
destination to Amsterdam, without any apprehension on their part that they were
engaged in an illegal trade. But it cannot escape our recollection, that in most of
the cases of this nature that have come under the examination of the Court, there
has appeared a very studious concealment of the real destination, and an extreme
apprehension of the interruption of British cruisers.
[84] This ship was taken near Dungeness, and it is observable, that the master
and the other witnesses very cautiously avoid saying where the goods were to be
delivered; the master on that interrogatory, says, That the voyage began at
Boston, but he can say nothing respecting the delivery of the goods. The mate
is equally succinct in his account ; although they had got so far as Dungeness, neither
of these persons, nor any of the other witnesses, can venture to say where the goods
were to have been delivered. The voyage is represented to have been for Cowes
and a market ; and in a paper which has been brought in, it appears that there had
been an erasure of the word Amsterdam, and that the words a market had
been put in. It is said that this was no more than a mistake, immediately corrected :
I cannot think it is probable, that such a mistake would have been made so lightly
as it is represented ; at the same time this alone is not such a discovery as the Court
could hold to be at all conclusive ; something farther arises, however, from the way
in which the whole secret respecting Amsterdam has come out; and I am under
the necessity of saying, that the farther proof which has been now exhibited has not
been brought forward in the most open and ingenuous manner.
The original papers described the voyage to have been to Cowes and a market.
The Court directed farther proof to be given of the precise destination. In the proofs
first produced, there appeared frequent references to letters in the possession of
persons in this town, which were not exhibited. The Court ordered still farther
proof, with the design of seeing these letters ; and on this supplemental proof, it
appears for the first time, that the word [85] Amsterdam stands prominent in all
the letters that were kept back, although it did not appear in any one of the papers
first offered to the notice of the Court. I have been compelled to make these observa-
THE NANCY
394
3 0. ROB. 83.](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.slavery/ssactsengr0384&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)