Al'P. X'lV.] ACCOUNT OF AFFIDAVITS AND liOXDS. 517 



said ship tliis present voyage, v.ere really and bona fide 

 caught and taken in the said seas (of Greenland or Davis"* 

 Straits), by the crew of the said ship only, or ^vith the assis- 

 tance of the crew of some other British built ship or vessel, li- 

 censed for this voyage, pursuant" to act of Parliament. 



From the construction of this clause, any ship having re- 

 ceived assistance in the capture of a whale from the crew of a 

 foreign vessel, or any vessel not duly licensed, whether by ac- 

 cident or design, there arises a legal incapacity for claiming 

 the bounty, or even for importing the cargo free of the for- 

 eign duties ! In such cases, however, where it should be 

 made to appear that the law M'as not wilfully broken, an ap- 

 plication only to the Treasury would, probably, be necessary 

 for restoring to the owners of the vessel their forfeited privi- 

 leges. Yet the form is objectionable, from the temptation it 

 offers to make false attestation for avoiding the risk of losing; 

 the bounty, or the trouble of making the necessary apphca- 

 tions for obtaining it, and for getting rid of the heavy duties 

 chargeable on the produce of foreign fishing. 



The oaths required to be taken before the officers of Cus- 

 toms, while they are extremely painful to conscientious per- 

 sons, are, perhaps, productive of no real benefit to the reve- 

 nue. From their frequency, they certainly tend to make ap- 

 peals to the Almighty too familiar, and reduce the solemnity 

 of an oath into a matter of form. They have, indeed, a still 

 more dangerous tendency. For it may be observed, that 

 many oaths administered at a custom-house, are so worded 

 that it is impossible to attest the truth of the whole of the 

 points, without applying a construction to the spirit of the 

 oath, which does not appear in the letter. Hence, it becomes 

 a practice, almost indispensable, not to swear to the simple 

 meaning of the words that are read, but to such a construc- 

 tion of them as the individual to whom they are presented may 

 believe them capable. Thus, all that is aimed at is to avoid 

 wilful and corrupt perjury ; whilst the act of swearing to the 

 truth of w hat you know nothing of, becomes occasionally ne- 



