ICELANDIC REVOLUTION. 339 
prize: possession was now likewise taken of 
the cargo that remained still on board, and the 
part of it that had been unshipped was also con¬ 
fiscated. It happened shortly after that another 
Danish vessel, commanded by Captain Holme, 
which is said by Count Tramp to have had a 
license* from Great Britain, arrived in Iceland 
with a supply of necessary articles for the country, 
* As a difficulty may be supposed to exist upon the ques¬ 
tion of licenses, and it may be considered by many of my 
readers that the taking violent possession of a ship furnished 
with one, must in every case be an act of piracy, I beg leave 
to subjoin an explanation on this head, with which I have 
been very lately favored by Mr. Jorgensen. When the British 
government grants a license, it is expressly stipulated that 
the ship shall proceed directly from such a port to such a 
port, specifying their names. But should it happen, which 
is very frequently the case with vessels trading to Iceland, 
that, after having procured a license, in going from an Eng¬ 
lish port they observe the sea clear and free from cruizers, 
they will run into Norway, sell their cargo there and go back 
to Copenhagen for another; but if they then, on their way 
to Iceland, meet an English ship of war, they will produce 
their license, though in reality it is no security for that cargo. 
But should it happen that the people on board the man of 
war observe such a licensed ship, with a favorable wind, to 
be steering a course different from her direct one, and thereby 
deviating from the route pointed out in the license, that ves¬ 
sel is & lawful prize. At other times, indeed, licenses are 
only granted for a certain limited time, and, if exhibited after 
the expiration of the period expressed in the license, sirch a 
vessel is also a good prize. One or other was the case with 
