298 
thorising the traffic to be on ac 
count of alien enemies, he consi- 
dered himself bound to construe 
them as confined to private sub- 
jects, and not extending to alien 
enemies, 
The Court were unanimously of 
opinion that the rule must be dis- 
charged. The license was not 
granted to any particular person; 
the government must have con- 
templated that the cargo at some 
period must belong to alien ene- 
mies. All that was necessary was, 
that some British subjects should 
have a beneficial interest in the 
adventure; that was satisfied in 
this case by the plaintiff’s having 
the advantage of being agent for 
the purpose of the export and im- 
port. This case might be decided 
without at all touching the deci- 
sions upon which a difference of 
opinion existed. They considered 
the case in point of principle, to 
come within that of Robinson v. 
Touray. But if a British subject 
had not any interest in the adven¥ 
ture, either directly or indirectly, 
Lord Ellenborough was then of 
opinion that the plaintiff would 
not have been ‘protected ‘by the 
license. 
The King v. Howell and Izard: 
—This was-an indictment against 
the two defendants, who are 
tradesmen at Brighton, for a con- 
spiracy to injure the Brighton Old 
Bank. The means to effect their 
purpose, as stated in the indict- 
ment, was to buy up their notes 
and to carry them in, demanding 
immediate payment; by muti- 
lating. and defacing the notes, so 
much. that they could not be re- 
issued, by which the stamps were 
ANNUAL BEGISTER, 1515. 
spoiled; and by writing libelloud 
sentences on ‘each ofthe notes; 
defamatory of the credit of the 
Bank. 
Mr. Serjeant Best, who led the 
prosecution, stated, that this was 
one of the most malicious trans- 
actions which ever came before 
a jury for their cognisance. It 
was nothing ‘less than a conspi- 
racy between two persons to ruin 
the credit of a respectable bank, 
composed of a partnership of their 
neighbours, from motives of most 
ill-founded private malice. The 
means taken to effect this purpose 
was stated in the indictment, first 
by getting and buying up all the 
notes of the Brighton Old Bank 
and demanding payment. Assoon 
as this was done, running about 
every where and getting again all 
they could, and sending them in 
for payment ; and so daily conti- 
nuing this practice for a length of 
time until they threw back upon! 
the Bank, notes to a very serious 
amount. But inconvenient as this 
might have beed to thé prosecut- 
ors, it did not stop here. “By an’ 
Actof Parliament, Country Bank-! 
ers had a right'to re-issue: the 
same stamp for three years ; but 
these gentlemen, in a variety of 
ways, so mutilated the notes they 
returned upon the bank, that the’ 
stamp was spoiled: The notes 
could not be re-issued, and conse- 
quently the bankers were obliged 
to issue new stamps. “Another 
mode was; to write defamatory 
sentences on the back of others of 
the same notes, so that they could: 
not be reissued without defaming 
themselves. The jury would na- 
turally be led to inquire what’ 
could be'the cause of all this ma~ 
