them, I will have the honour to forward it. The seamen, who are left destitute by these condemnations, will be taken care of by general Lyman. They are of course

numerous."

Sir William Scott's Sentence in the Case of the Fox, &c. &c.

JUDGMENT RESUMED.

SIR WILLIAM SCOTT. As the claimants have failed to produce any evidence of the revocation of the French decrees, and have nothing to offer as the foundation of a demand for further time, I must conform to what I declared on a former day, and proceed to make the decree effectual. I should certainly have been extremely glad to have received any authentick information tending to show that the decrees of France, to which these orders in council are retaliatory, had been revoked; and it was upon a suggestion offered on the part of the claimants, that despatches had been very recently received from Paris by the American minister in this country, by which the fact might be ascertained, that the court on the former day deferred its final judgment. It would have been unwilling to proceed to the condemnation of these vessels, without giving the proprietors the opportunity of showing that the French decrees, on which our orders in council are founded, had been revoked. But they admit that they have no such evidence to produce; the property of the ships and cargoes is daily deteriorating, and it is my duty to delay no longer the judgment which is called for on the part of the

captors.

From every thing that must have preceded, and from every thing that must have followed the revocation of the French decrees, if such revocation had taken place, I think I am justified in pronouncing that no such event has ever occurred. The only document referred to on behalf of the claimants is the letter of the person styling himself duc de Cadore. That letter is nothing more than a conditional rovocation: it contains an alternative proposed, either that Great Britain shall not only revoke her orders in council, but likewise renounce her principles of blockade, principles founded upon the ancient and established

VOL. VIII.

23

law of nations; or that America shall cause her neutral rights to be respected; in other words, that she shall join France in a compulsive confederation against this country. It is quite impossible that England should renounce her principles of blockade to adopt the new-fangled principles of the French government, which are absolute novelties in the law of nations; and I hope it is equally impossible that America should lend herself to an hostile attempt to compel this country to renounce those principles on which it has acted, in perfect conformity to ancient practice and the known law of nations, upon the mere demand of the person holding the government of France. The casus fœderus therefore, if it may be so called, does not exist; the conditions on which alone France holds out a prospect of retracting the decrees, neither are nor can be fulfilled. Looking at the question therefore, a priori, it cannot be presumed that the revocation has passed. On the other hand, what must have followed if such had been the fact? Why, that the American minister in this country must have been in possession of most decisive evidence upon the subject; for I cannot but suppose that the first step of the American minister at Paris would have been to apprize the American minister at this court, of so momentous a circumstance, with a view to protect the American ships and cargoes which had been brought in under the British orders in council. If no such information has been received by him, there never was a case in which the rule "De non apparentibus et non existentibus eadem est ratio" can more satisfactorily apply. For it is quite impossible that such a revocation can have taken place without being attended with a clear demonstration of evidence that such was the fact.

I am, therefore, upon every view of the case, of opinion, that the French decrees are at this moment unrevoked. But if by any possibility it can have happened that an actual revocation has taken place against the manifest import of the only publick French declaration referred to, and without having been yet communicated to the American minister in this country, who was so much concerned to know it, for the benefit of the persons for whose protection it must have been principally meant; the parties will have the advantage of the fact if they can show

upon an appeal that those decrees have been revoked at a time and in a manner that could justly be applied to the determination of these causes; revoked at a period which would reach the dates of this capture, and in a manner unincumbered with stipulations, which it was well known this country could never accept, and to which there was every reason to presume that the justice of America could never permit her to accede, upon the refusal of Great Britain. On such a state of evidence the claimants will carry up with them to the superior court, the principle that might entitle them to protection according to the view which this court has taken of the subject. But things, standing as they do before me; all the parties having acted in a manner that leads necessarily to the conclusion, that no bona fide revocation of the Berlin and Milan decrees has taken place; I must consider these cases as falling within the range of the British orders in council, and as such they are liable to condemnation.

Extract of a Letter from Mr. J. S. Smith, to the Secretary of State. London, July 10, 1811.

"ENCLOSED is a list of the American vessels that have been condemned at the late sittings of the court of admiralty. Two only of them have not yet been decided upon; they will, however, share the fate of the others. Vessels and cargoes will be sold, and the money deposited in court to await for twelve months the appeal of the captured, from which very little is, I fear, to be expected."

Valuation.

Mary,

Vickery,

Do.

Do.

(green,)

2,000

Polly,

2,000

1,800

Do.

Ship Danube,

20,000

* Brig

Matilda,

25,000

Eliza,

Rebecca,

Tobey,

Do.

Sugar, coffee, &c.

Bridges,

Fish, (green)

2,000

* Brig Garland,

Haff,

New York,

* Ship Betsey,

Millwood,

Norfolk,

Tobacco,

Cotton and peltry,

10,000

25,000

Andrew,

Coggins,

12,000

25,000

New York,

Marblehead,

3,500

4,000

Cloutman,

Fish, (green)

2,000

1,800

Mr. J. S. Smith to the Secretary of State. London, July 22, 1811.

SIR,-I have the honour to enclose a copy of Mr. Russell's letter to me of the 14th instant, which contains the agreeable intelligence of the release of three of the captured American vessels. I shall communicate its substance to this government without the formality of an official note, supposing that Mr. Foster is fully instructed on the subject of the orders in council, and that any thing I might under these circumstances offer would be attended with no advantage. I enclose also a letter from Mr. Russell of the 5th inst.

I have the honour to be, &c.

The Honourable the Secretary of State.

J. S. SMITH.

The papers that came in this letter make part of the enclosures in Mr. Monroe's letter to Mr. Foster of 17th October, and are printed with it, see page 90.

Extract of a Letter from John S. Smith, Esq. to the Secretary of State of the United States. London, August 15, 1811.

"I HAVE now the honour to transmit to you lord Wellesley's answer to my note covering Mr. Russell's letter of the 14th July, and also another note from his lordship on the same subject, which I received last evening."

The papers that came in this letter make part of the enclosures in Mr. Monroe's letter of the 17th October, to Mr. Foster, and are printed with it, see page 90.

CORRESPONDENCE OF JONATHAN RUSSELL, ESQUire.

Mr. Russell to Mr. Smith, Secretary of State. Paris, January 16, 1811.

SIR,-Your letter of the 8th of November, relative to the powers given by this government to its consuls in the