APPENDIX TO CHRONICLE. 



^6S 



ment, when Mr. Foster retired 

 from the country ; and the trans- 

 action then assumed the present 

 shape, certainly an awiiward one, 

 and not entirely trusted to by the 

 Americans themselves. The direct 

 course, however, cannot always 

 be adopted ; difficulties will oc- 

 cur to prevent it: and the Court 

 saw no reason to presume, that, 

 under the difficulties which existed 

 in the present cases, the course 

 adopted by Mr. Allen and Admiral 

 Sawyer might not be the best. It 

 had been said, that admiral Sawyer 

 might have granted them, per- 

 sonally, and sent them to Ame- 

 rica by way of Halifax ; but there 

 may not, perhaps, have been any 

 safe and direct communication. 

 ]\Ir. Alien appears to have acted 

 with every degree of fairness in 

 the four instances which give rise 

 to the present question ; and as the 

 measure is, in substance, precisely 

 the same as that resorted to by Mr. 

 Foster, varying only in its form, 

 that informality could not be a 

 fatal objection to the principle of 

 the measure itself, as recognized by 

 the order of the 26th of October, 

 1812. Taking the whole of the 

 cases, therefore, together, he was of 

 opinion, that they clearly came 

 within the meaning of the orders 

 in council. He would ask, if the 

 documents produced were not of 

 the nature of certificates and pass- 

 ports, what were they ? — mere nul- 

 lities : and the order would be 

 inoperative. He had, therefore, no 

 hesitation in decreeing restitution 

 of the ships and cargoes ; but as 

 the captors were justified in their 

 detention under all the circum- 

 btances, it must be subject to the 

 payment of their expenses. 



Admiralty Prize Court, Doctors* 

 Commons, March \0.— The Ships 

 Eliza Ann, Cato, and Suhey. — 

 These were three American ves- 

 sels, seized in Anholt Bay, in the 

 Baltic, on the 11th of August last, 

 by the Vigo, and others of his ma- 

 jesty's ships, then stationed there. 

 They had repaired thither for con- 

 voy, not knowing of the war which 

 had taken place between this coun- 

 try and the United States, and 

 were liable to condemnation, un- 

 less protected by some exemp- 

 tion in their favour, not generally 

 applicable to all other vessels of 

 the same national character. An 

 exemption of this nature was set 

 up by the Swedish Consul to this 

 effect: that the Americans had re- 

 paired to. Anholt Bay, under an 

 impression that it was within 

 the territories of Sweden, at that 

 time a neutral power ; that the 

 fact was so ; and therefore, that 

 the territorial rights attached to 

 neutrality formed a sufficient pro- 

 tection to the vessels of one bel- 

 ligerent from the consequences of 

 hostility v/ith another, as long as 

 they continued within the neutral 

 territory. To this, it was replied, 

 that Sweden had, at the time of 

 the seizure in question, forfeited 

 her right to be considered a neutral 

 power, by her conduct towards 

 England ; a conduct which had 

 justified the British commander 

 in seizing the island of Anholt, 

 which was an act subsequently 

 confirmed by the British govern- 

 ment itself: the place, therefore, 

 of the seizure in question, far from 

 being a neutral territory, had pass- 

 ed into the possession of Great Bri- 

 tain, in retaliation for acts of hos- 

 tility on the part of a power till 



