STATE PAPERS.’ * 
the law of nations, and the treaties 
subsisting with that neutral power, 
whose subjeét is a party before 
them. 
© If no appeal is offered, it is an 
acknowledgment of the justice of 
the sentence by the parties them. 
selves, and conclusive. 
‘© This manner of trial and ad- 
judication is supported, alluded to, 
and enforced, by many treaties. 
‘© In this method, all captures 
at sea were tried, during the last 
war, by Great Britain, France, and 
Spain, and submitted to by the 
neutral powers. In this method, 
by courts of admiralty acting ac- 
cording to the law of nations and 
particular treaties, all captures at 
sea have immemorially been judged 
of, in every country of Europe. 
Any other method of trial would 
be manifestly unjust, absurd and 
#mpra¢ticable.’’ 
Such are the principles which 
govern the proceedings of the prize 
courts. 
The following are the measures 
which ought to be taken by the 
captor, and by the neutral claim. 
ant, upon a ship and cargo being 
brought in as a prize: 
The captor immediately, upon 
bringing his prize into port, sends’ 
up, ot delivers upon oath, to the 
registry of the court of admiralty, 
all papers found on board the cap- 
tured ship. In the course of a 
few days the preparatory exami. 
nations of the captain and some 
of the crew of the captured ship 
are tuken, upon a set of standing 
ipterrogatories, before the commis- 
sioners of the port to which the 
prize is brought, and which are 
also forwarded to the registry of 
the admiralty as soon as taken. A 
mMonition is extra&ied by the captor 
173. 
from the registry, and served upon’, * 
the’ Royal Exchange, notifying the: ~ 
capture, and calling upon all pers: - 
sons intefested to appear and -shew 
cause, why the ship and goods 
should not be condemned. At the 
expiration of twenty days, the mow 
nition is returned into the registry, 
with a certificate of its service, 
and if any claim has been given, 
the cause is then ready for hearing, 
upon the evidence arising out of 
the ship’s papers, and preparatory 
examinaticns. 
The measures taken on the part 
of the neutral master or proprietor 
of the cargo, are as follows : 
Upon being brought into port, 
the master usuaily makes a protest, 
which he forwards to Londen, as 
instructions (or with such further 
dire¢tions, as he thinks proper) 
either to the correspondent of his 
owners, or to the consul! of his na- 
tion, in order to claim the ship, 
and such parts of the’ cargo as be- 
long to his owners, of with which 
he was particularly entrusted : or 
the master himself, as soon as he 
has undergone his examination, 
goes to London to take the neces- 
Sary steps. ew 
The master, correspondent, or 
consul, applics to a proctor, who 
“prepares a'claim supported by an 
affidavit of the claimant, stating” 
briefly to whom, as he -believes, 
the ship and goods claimed belong, 
and that no enemy has any right 
or interest in them; security must. 
be given to the amount of sixty 
pounds to answer costs, if the case 
should appear so grossly fraudulent 
on the part of the claimant as to 
subje& him to be condemned 
therein. If the captor hzs neg- 
leGted in the mean time to take the 
usual steps (but which seldom hap- 
pens, 
