GENERAL HISTORY. 



[83 



cases of sucii persons, and those 

 whose claims were in progress? 

 He did not denj' the right of" the 

 sovereign to bind the subject by 

 any treaty entered into with a 

 foreign power ; but he thought 

 the honour of the country ought 

 to be maintained ; that the purity 

 and integrity of British courts of 

 justice ought not to be lessened 

 in the minds of other nations, 

 which would be the case if the 

 persons whose cause he advocat- 

 ed were to be deprived of re- 

 dress. He admitted that three 

 out of the four cases v/hich he 

 had mentioned did not come 

 witliin the act. The fourth did. 

 The noble lord had stated that it 

 was the captor, and not the pub- 

 lic, who would be liable if no 

 treaty had been entered into. 

 He would appeal to the House, 

 whether it would be fair that tlie 

 captor of a slave ship should be 

 ruined in his fortune by being 

 crbliged to pay all the damages 

 attending on the restoration of 



his prize. Wliat was the result 

 of the treaty ? The decisions of 

 the British courts, to which those 

 cases had been referred were left 

 at the mercy of the Spanish go- 

 vernment, than which no govern- 

 ment in Europe ranked lower in 

 point of credit. It had been 

 said by an hon. member, that 

 much fraud had been carried on 

 by some of the claimants, which 

 was the reason why they were so 

 anxious to apply to England 

 rather than to Spain. To that, 

 he would only observe, that he 

 did not personally know the 

 gentlemijn wljose cause he advo- 

 cated ; but from what he had 

 heard of them, he had no reason 

 whatever to doubt their respect- 

 ability, or the validity of their 

 claims. He had not heard any 

 thing from the other side of the 

 House from wliich he was not the 

 more convinced of the necessity 

 that his motion should be carried. 

 The motion was negatived 

 without a division. 



[G2J 



CHAPTEK 



