34; Jan Vanness, 22; Jan Jenner, 22; Jan de Friese, 26; Vollin Maree, 32; Kiest Molinaar, 24; Kendrick de Bragne, 25; Jan de Frenchberg, 32; Jonathan Vandyke, 24; Jan Crat, 55; Hendrice Allerson, 25; Jan de Frenark, 16; Cornelius Reymas, 38; Abram de Molinaar, 24; John Harrison, 27; William Dangerfield, 18; all stated to be natives of Flushing, Middleburg, and Trefaer, and by profession fishermen and mariners, were put to the bar on an indictment consisting of 12 counts, the principal charging the prisoners with mali ciously shooting into the Badger, a vessel in the service of his ma jesty's customs, off Dungeness, within fourteen leagues of the county of Kent, on the 13th of January last, and killing James Harper and Wm. Cullum, officers of his majesty's customs. All the prisoners, except the first six, pleaded in English, which language they appeared tolerably well acquainted with. When the case for the prosecu→ tion was closed, the prisoners, on being called upon for their defence, said, they would leave it to their counsel; with the exception of Reymas and A. Molinaar, who handed in written papers. Before these were read, however, Dr. Lushington rose to offer objections in point of law to the present proceeding; contending, that the Badger had no right whatever to search the vessel in question, and that the attack made by the former was illegal, and not authorized by any existing statute. - Mr. Justice Park said, that it was the intention of the Court to reserve these points for the consideration of the twelve judges. 26. At ten o'clock the Court sat and proceeded on the trial. Mr. Justice Park asked Mr. Brougham (in the absence of Dr. Lushington), whether he wished to have two papers, put in by Dr. Lushington, read.-Mr. Brougham replied in the affirmative. The papers were accordingly read. The first was a defence addressed to the Court by Reymas, stating that he was employed on board the Four Brothers as pilot on the day of the engagement, and took no part in it. The second was from Krans, master of the Four Bro thers, and stated, that the Four Brothers belonged to Flushing, and that he was directed by the master to land the cargo on the coast of Spain. It denied the right of England to bring a Dutch vessel to, on the high seas in time of peace, or that any law made in this country could bind the subjects of another country; and asked, supposing the French to have made a similar law, would the English submit to it? John Belie. Witness is a shipbroker, well acquainted with the Dutch language and ship's papers; the papers produced (six in number) were the regular papers of a Dutch ship, the clearance stated that the Four Brothers was bound to Ferrol. James Lowes.-Witness is a ship-builder at Flushing; he built the Four Brothers; she was launched last October; he sold her to Mr. Inglebert, a Dutchman, who lives with his family at Middleburg; proved the receipts he gave for the price of the vessel; after he sold the Four Brothers, Krans and Carl Kelke rigged her. On his cross-examination, he said he lived 35 years at Sandgate, and knew Joseph Wells, who is now called Reymas, and one of the prisoners. She Bowing Dettering was examined through an interpreter-Witness is a native of Middleburg, and merchant there. Mr. Inglebert is a merchant there, and a native. Knows the vessel called the Four Brothers: a cargo of tobacco, gin and tea, was shipped on board her in January last, by merchants of the firm of Mintin and Co., onethird on account of witness. cleared out for Feroe, a Danish island, but her real destination was Ferrol, Portugal. Orders were given to the master to proceed to Portugal, and a letter was given him, to be delivered to a house there, which letter contained directions to sell the cargo and send the amount by the captain in cash. Directions were given to the master to take a pilot, as he was not suf ficiently acquainted with the chan nel. Witness saw Mr. Inglebert on the 15th of this month, at Middle burg; he was very ill, quite unable to come to this country. Witness produced the invoice of the cargo, received from Mintin and Co., by whom it was shipped. He paid for his one-third of the cargo to Inglebert. On his cross-examination, the witness said, he had dealt in spirits and tobacco for 20 years: shipped spirits in small casks and bottles, and tobacco in small parcels. The vessels in those cases were never sent to England or Ireland, nor the cargoes intended to be smuggled into England or Ireland. Van Oldenbeck, examined through the interpreter.-Lives at Flushing, keeps a lodging-house, and is a carpenter; has known Cornelius Reymas seven years who lives in Flushing with his family, and is known there by the name of Joe Wills; thinks him an Eng lishman; he gets his living as a seaman; knows Cusing was a sailmaker in Flushing, and came from Ostend; as far as witness knows, both Cusings are Englishmen ; the register of baptism was kept in the town-house of Flushing, which was burned to the ground by bombardment; knows Abram de Molinaar, the prisoner, he is a native of Flushing; the prisoner, Robileau, is a Dutchman; never heard him speak any other language; Schmidt is also a Dutch sailor; his father was an Englishman, but lived at Flushing: knows Kiest de Molinaar; he is a native of Flushing; has known one of the prisoners by the name of Wills seven or eight years; his father lived at Flushing 23 years ago, and had children living with him ; he was an Englishman. Conrad Conrad.Witness is a seaman living at Flushing, of which he is a native; he has known Joe Wills four years; he is a sailor and a burgher of Flushing, having a wife and family living there. Has known Thomas Cusing in Flushing eight or ten years. His grandfather was a sail-maker in Flushing. Sarah Curtis, examined by Mr. Brougham. Is an English woman; lived in Flushing these 29 years; married Abraham de Molinaar, the father of Kiest de Molinaar, the prisoner, who is her son; he was born at Flushing, and brought up to the sea, and followed it ever since. Richard Wills lives in Folkestone: is son of Richard Wills, of Folkestone, who was a mariner; remembers his mother going to Holland with his father. Witness was then eight years old; his mother brought a young son with her on her return; witness identified the prisoner Reymas as his brother, who was then brought to England by his mother. Isabella Wells examined.-Geo. Wells, her husband, was an invalid on board the Severn; in January she attended him. The wounded men from the Four Brothers were brought on board. One of them, who has since died, raved very much; it was mostly in a foreign language. Daniel Milton lives at Folkestone. The prisoner called Vollin Maree is his son, and was born in Flushing in the year 1789; witness lived there at the time for four years. Witness came home in the year 1790; after which England was the prisoner's home. Ann Boxer lives at Folkestone. Hancock Allister, the prisoner, is her son, and was born at Ostend about 40 years ago; her husband was a seaman, and she at that time stayed in Ostend for 18 months, during which time her husband sailed from that port. On her cross-examination, she said she returned to England when her son was six months old; he had been baptized at Folkestone, where he lived ever since, except when at sea. Wm. Boxer proved, that he was master of a vessel in the year 1783; the father of the prisoner Boxer was one of the sailors; he took his wife to Ostend in that year, where she lived for some time. Thomas Small was a quartermaster on board the Severn in January; saw Vanness, who was deranged before he died, and raved sometimes in English, and some◄ times in Dutch. Mr. Brougham mentioned to the Court, that the counsel for the defence had now closed the evidence on national character. After some conversation amongst the counsel for the prosecution, Mr. Nasan was called up and examined by Mr. Justice Park.-The Badger was 9 or 10 miles from the coast of France when they first saw the Four Brothers, and 13 or 14 leagues off the English coast when she came up with her; the Four Brothers was not at that time, while in his view, nearer the coast of France than 9 or 10 miles. Popplewell stated, that when the Four Brothers was first seen, she was about three or four leagues from the French coast; she was at no time nearer. James Harper and Charles Brett corroborated this fact. The defence proceeded. Fouche examined.-Is a lieutenant of the French customs at Marlemont; he saw the engagement between the two vessels on the evening of the 13th of January, about eight o'clock; they were about one league from the shore; he made a report to his chief the day after. Marce de Mouton saw two vessels near the French coast on the 13th of January; they were about one league distant from Marlemont; they fired at each other: he could not see whether they had colours flying. Mr. Justice Park charged the jury, and recapitulated the whole of the evidence. There were two things which, if found, would entitle the prisoners to acquittal: the first was, that no part of the vessel, which the prisoners navigated, belonged to any subject of his majesty; the other, that one half the crew were not his ma jesty's subjects. For if neither of these facts existed, his majesty's ship had no right to fire at their vessel: but if the jury believed that either any part of the vessel was British property, or that onehalf of her crew were British subjects, then his majesty's ship the Badger, under the circumstances that had been proved, being on her duty, and having her proper colours flying, was justified in boarding their vessel; and their making resistance, by firing at the Badger, was a capital offence. The reason for which the evidence respecting the distance of the vessels from the French coast had been given was, because, by the law of nations, the ships of war of any power are not permitted to attack, in a hostile manner, any vessels within one league of the coast of any other power in time of peace; but the evidence given on that point could not leave any doubt on the minds of the jury, that the vessels were more than a league distant from the French coast at the time the Badger required the Four Brothers to come to, and could not form any justification of the conduct of the prisoners. His lordship made several observations on the evidence given to prove, that a majority of the prisoners were English subjects, which, in his opinion, greatly preponderated over that which had been produced to prove the converse of that fact. He concluded by directing the jury to find a special verdict upon the points he had mentioned. In answer to a question from a juror, Mr. Justice Park said, that persons born in this country of foreign parents were clearly amenable to the laws of England. Lord Stowell." And the same may be said of the children of British parents born in other counThey owe an allegiance to the parent state, and are also tries. amenable to the laws of the country in which they reside." At five o'clock the jury retired, and having deliberated for two hours, returned a verdict of Not Guilty, for all the prisoners; finding that the ship and cargo were wholly foreign property, and that more than one-half of the crew were foreigners. The announcement of the verdict was received with shouts of approbation by the crowd assembled in the court-yard. The prisoners were then given in charge to the jury on an indictment for murder, for which a bill had been found in consequence of one of the Badger's crew (Cullum) having been killed, and no evidence being offered, they were immediately acquitted. CAPTURE OF THE SPANISH MER CHANT SHIP LA VELOZ MA- "The Spanish merchantman La Nueva Veloz Mariana sailed from Vera Cruz on the 24th of December last, and from the Havannah on the 27th of January following, bound for Cadiz. On the 22nd Feb. while steering to the south of the island of Santa Maria, one of the Azores, at 36 deg. 9 min. N. lat., she observed, between half past four and five in the morning, to the leeward, another vessel, steering in the opposite direction. The officer of the watch of the Veloz immediately gave orders for a tack to be made for the purpose of passing the ship, which was observed to be approaching; but the latter, instead of pursuing her course, altered it and stood towards the Veloz. The Spanish captain then, concluding that this vessel; must be one of the numerous corsairs which pursue the Spanish flag, ordered the deck to be cleared, and made preparations for defence, at the same time hoisting some additional sail with the view of escaping. Shortly afterwards, the morning began to dawn, and at daylight the chasing vessel was discovered to be a large ship of war, carrying a press of sail. She fired a gun to make the Mariana show her colours, which the latter answered by firing another gun, and hoisting her flag. Nevertheless, the ship of war made more sail, threw out her upper and lower studding-sails, and gained on us in the chase with the most determined perseverance. The captain of the Veloz continued his flight, in obedience to his instructions, which were, that he should avoid an engagement with any vessel, more particularly with one chasing in his wake, and whose colours could not be made out in consequence of their flying fore and aft. The Veloz being under the guns of the chasing ship on the weather side, the latter fired one gun without shot, and three with shot. The two ships being now near enough, spoke; in consequence of which the captain of the Veloz went on board the ship by which he had been pursued, carrying along with him the register, the certificate of ownership, the royal license for carrying guns, &c. He found, that the vessel was the Jean Bart, a French ship of war, commanded by rearadmiral Meynard de la Farge, who, notwithstanding that all the documents he could demand were presented to him, declared his determination to carry the Veloz into Martinique. On being in formed of this, the fifty-five pas sengers, who were on board the Veloz Mariana, deputed three of their number to go on board the Jean Bart, and, in the name of all, to entreat that the rear-admiral would land them at the Azores, so that they might continue their voyage to Cadiz; but this request was refused. "The Veloz was manned with French soldiers and sailors; and upwards of 100 men of her crew, including 20 discharged soldiers, who were proceeding from the Havannah to the Peninsula, and some passengers, were transferred from the Veloz to the Jean Bart. There remained on board the former, only about 50 passengers and a few of the crew, who were retained to assist in working the ship. "The passage from the Azores to Martinique lasted from the 23rd of February to the night of the 11th of March. During the 12th and 13th, the Veloz lay in Martinique roads, but without being suffered to communicate with the shore, by order of Admiral Meynard de la Farge. On the 14th, the passengers, after their luggage had been registered, also by the admiral's order, were permitted to go ashore. "At Martinique the captain and supercargo of the Veloz made various applications to the governor, praying for the liberation of the vessel. They made it manifest, that the Spanish government had not the slightest property or interest in the vessel, and represented, that the greater part of her cargo belonged to private individuals, who had fled from the revolutions in America; but to these applications no written answer was returned for the space of 45 days, namely, from the 11th of March till the 25th of April. |