Newspaper Page Text
IMPOR TAN T DEC ISIO M.
Supreme Court of ‘he United States — February
‘Fern, 1807.
RHINELANDER VS. INSURANCE COMPANY OK
PENNSYLVANIA.
f* This was an action upon a policy of insur
ance upon the frci; ,iu of the ship Manhattan,
from N . -A'-York to iiat ..ia, £ce. and hack. It
Was tried in ()ci.:'er atus of the citcuit
court for the pink, if: \i of to the opinion of
the court upon a case ‘nted ; which cast was
adjourned i” in ch< ‘n tit to the supreme
court, and row ■ .me oi to he heu:d. 1 tie
Case stated the M vi.i.it in to he a neutral ship.
On her return vc yat,c, on the 10th February,
1805, she was cap uretl bv the British frigate
Busy William—the mate mci 21 of the crew
were taken out, and two B:itish officers and
14 sailors put on board, and she was oidered
to Bermuda. On the same day, the mate was
put by the captors, on board a vessel hound for
New-York, where he arrived on the 25th Fe
bruary. The owners being informed of the
capture, on the 2d of Match, claimed a total
loss by reason of the captuie, and ode led to
abandon On 2d April, payment Was deman
ded of the office and refused. On the 6th June
the action was brought.
The vessel, after being carried into Bermu
da, was libelled as prize. On the 20th April
■vessel and cargo were acquitted and restitution
ordered. From the sentence, so far as respec
ted the cargo, the captors appealed, which ap
peal is still undecided. The cargo was order
ed to be delivered to the owners, on their giv
ing security. On the Bth May, security was
entered, and this was known to the owners be
fore actiotv.vas brought; but the captain did not
take actual possession of die ship till 11th June.
The owners applied to the office for counter
security, which was refused.
The question referred by the case to the
court was, whether the plaintiff is entitled to
recove i for a total loss.
liawle and Lew is argued for the defendants,
first, That the stopping of the Manhattan on
the 10th February, by the Busy William, and
ordering her to Bermuda, did not constitute a
loss so as to authorise an abandonment. It
was not a capture by an enemy, but merely
stopping on the high seas of a neutral bv a bel
ligerent for search, and a sending in for further
examination. As the abandonment was made
en the information of this taking only, without
any knowledge of the subsequent proceed
ings, as it was made for this cause only; as
this cause did not authoiise it—and as no other
abandonment has been since made, the subse
quent transactions cannot relate back so as to
give the plaintiffs a right against the under
writers.
2d. The mere institution of judicial pro
ceedings against a neutral vessel, unless fol
lowed by condemnation, gave no right to aban
don.
3d. That though after the vessel was ac
quitted on 20th April, an appeal was entered
as to the cargo, yet by the entry of security on
Bth May, the vessel was virtually restored to
the owners, and in perfect safety; and was
known so to be by the owners. As, therefo; e,
no loss existed at the time of the action brought,
the plaintiffs could not recover ; tor, they ar
gued, that the state of the loss at that time was j
the rule.
4th. That, though not before the action ‘
brought, yet before plea pleaded, the vessel ar- i
rived in safety at the port of her destination, i
had performed her voyage, and had earned her ‘■
freight, the plaintiffs had no right to recover.
Ingersoll, Hopkinson and Tilghman, for the
plaintiffs, argued, Ist. That the capture of the
Manhattan by the Busy William, was not an
exercise of the acknowledged right of search, ’
but a capture as prize. Her crew was taken
out, British officers and seamen put on board,
she was sent into Bermuda, and libelled as a
prize The plaintiffs were, therefore, authoris
ed to abandon on the 2d March.
2d. The state of the loss, at the time of the
abandonment, is to decide the right of recove
ry. By the abandonment, the property is di
vested from the insured and vested in the in
surer, and a subsequent order of restoration
restores it not to the former owners, but to the
underwriters. As therefore there was a loss at
the time of the abandonment, the plaintiffs may
recover.
Marshall, chief justice, delivered the opinion
of the court—after stating the case, he proceed
ed in substance as follows:
Ist. Had the insured aright to abandon when
the offer was made ?
2d. Have any circumstances since seemed to
affect then- right ?
To give’ a right to abandon, there must have
existed a total loss by one of the perils insured
against, either real and absolute, or legal and
technichal. A capture by one belligerent lrom
another constitutes a technical total loss, anti
gives an immediate right to abandon, though
the property may afterwards be restored : so
too of an embargo or detention by a Foreign
friendly power. On general principles, and on
analogy, there is no difference between the cap
ture by a belligerent from a belligerent and
from a neutral. In both it is made with a de
sign to deprive the owner of the property. A
distinction has not been taken in any adjudged
case in England; and the best general writers
arrange them in the same class. (The learned
judge then went through an examination of the
English authorities and cases, and concluded the
first point, as follows :) It is therefore the una
nimous opinion of the court, that whereas in
this case there is a complete taking at sea,
by a belligerent who has taken full possession
of the vessel as prize, and continues that pos
session to the time of the abandonment, there
exists in point of law a total loss, and the act of
bsmdonment vests the right to the thing aban
doned in the insurer, and the amount of the
insui inee in the insured.
2d. point. The assured in this case has done
nothing subsequent to his offer to abandon,
which can be considered as a relinquishment
oi the right vested in him by that act. Does
the release and return of the v essel deprive the
assured of the right to resort to the insurers
lor a total loss which he acuun ed by the aban
donment ? 1 his point has nev, r been settled in
England. In Hamilton vs. Mendez, lord Mans
heid leaves it undecided whether the state of
loss at the time ol abandonment, or at the time
of action brought, or at the time of the verdict,
—'all fix the right to recover for partial or a
total loss. A majority of the judges are of opi
nion that the state of the loss at the time of the
abandonment must fix the right of the put ties
to recover in an action afterwards brought; and
the judge who doubts respecting it is of opinion
that in this case, counter security having been
refused by the insurers, the question of right
is yet suspended. It is therefore the unani
mous opinion oi the court, that the plantiffs in
tins case is entitled to recover lor a total loss.
—.aintSK'im. —
THE TOMB OF ELLEN.
Stranger ! if by worldly views,
Thy heart is dead to Love’s control,
If feeling ever nurs’d with dews
The rote of passion in thy loul;
Turn from this grave thy sullen tread,
For this is Pity’s holieit (hririe—
The lilies that surround the dead,
Would flirink from such a hand as thine.
But if thy breast, with ardor warm,
Beats to the thiilling glance of beauty ;
If thou hah knelt to woman’s charm,
\\ ith all of Love’s enraptur’d duty ;
Then, ft.-anger, pause and linger here,
For Love and Pity seldom fever ;
And form the lighs to paiiion dear,
Where Ellen sleeps, alas, ior ever!
Sweet maid ! within thy gentle bread,
Aft'eftion bloom’d, oh ! how sincerely ;
Ah ! why did Fate, with frown unbleft,
Break a fond heart that lov’d so dearly !
For, cold beneath the western wave,
Her iover iound an icy pi,low ;
No flower to deck his onely grave,
No death-ihroud but the foaming billow.
The spirit of the morn had figh'd,
Delighted, o’er the roie’s bloom ;
But sorrow came, with with’ring (hide,
And swept its beauty to the tomb.
Stranger ! if l ove awake your sighs,
And Love and Pity fe.dotn fever,!
Paule where that rose of beauty lies
Where Elieu sleeps, aias,for ever !
MARRIAGE CEREMONY
The marriage ceremonies oi the inhabitants
of the island ol Formosa approach neat - to the
simple laws of nature. Tney neither pure, use,
as in China, the women whom they espouse,
nor does interest ever preside over tiieii nions.
Fathers and mothers are scarcely ever consult
ed. if a young man has a mind to marry, and
has fixed his affection on a young girl, he ap
pears for several days following near the place
where she iives, with a musical instrument in
Ins hand. If the young woman is satisfied with
the figure ot her gallant, she comes forth and
joins him—they then agree and settle tne mar
riage contract. Alter this, they give notice to
their parents, who prepare a wedding dinner,
which is always given in the house where the
young woman resides, and where the bride
groom remains without returning again to his
father. Ihe young man, afterwards, considers
the house of his father-in-law as his own; he
becomes the whole support of it, and He h s no
further connection with that of his father—like
married women in Europe, who generally quit
their parental home, in order to live with their
husbands, i hese islanders, therefore, seldom
offer up vows for obtaining male children ; they
prefer daughters, because they procure them
sons-in-law, who become the supporters of their
old age.
In ancient Egypt, when a person
died, his quondam neighbors sat over
his body as a j ury—this was called the
trial of the dead , and every individual
who felt himself aggrieved by any act
the deceased had committed in his life
time, was at liberty to prefer his com
plaint and demand retribution, before
the funeral rites could be performed ;
which, according to their mythology,
were essential to the eternal happiness
of the departed soul.
This procedure was attended with a
two-foid benefit—it rendered the liv
ing more circumspect in their conduct,
and after death very often compelled
the relatives of the deceased to make
retribution for the offences he had
done.
An inquest of this nature seems to
have been held in modem times. Wil
liam the conqueror, returned from
England to Normandy to end his days,
having prepared for himself a magni
ficent sepulchre. After his decease,
when the people had assembled to de
posit his body in the place allotted for
its reception with great honors, a pri
vate gentk man laid his hand on the
coffin, atul cried out—” J oppose tin
removal of William.” Os what do yon
accuse him ? di mantled the assembled
multitude. ‘‘l accuse him,” n p!k and tin
gentleman, “of having taken from ith
my land to found upon it an abbey .”
1 lie funeral ceremony was inslanth
suspended ; the accusation proved U
oe true ; the fund restored to the pro
prietor —and the body was quietly in
terred in the tomb prepared for its re
ception.
Savannah,
THURSDAY, EVENING, JUNE 18, 1807.
Extract of a letter frtm St. Pierre , Martinique,
dated Uiprd 17, received at I‘hiladelphia.
“ 1 his piace seems rapidly approaching a
state ol starvation ; and there is no doubt in a
few days there will be a general demand. At
present every thing, except flour, is on the rise.
Fish is at 12 dollars per cwt. None at mar
ket. Provisions generally getting in demand.
Our road seems almost deserted. Only six
or seven vessels in port, and nearly all ready
to sail.”
We are happy to see laid before the public,
anew edition of the Boston Orations, com
memorative of the fifth ot March, 1770. The
eloquence of a Warren, Hancock, Minot, Ma
son. Moi ton and Dawes, adorned with the bril
liant robes < f patriotism, may, in this volume,
be found unpolluted by the loul streams of par
ty animosity, and the sentiments they express
ed, were those of their townsmen at large ; and
should lie preserved as monuments of that spi
rit which then pervaded our country, and width,
when again called into action, will doubtless
discover its lustre to be still unimpaired. We
understand, that the publisher, if sufficient en
couragement offers, intends to give an addi
tional volume, to contain all the fourth of July
orations that have been published, up lu die pre
sent time. —Boston Chronicle.
Several instances ot something like insurrec
tion hi ve lately appeared among the students of
federal colleges. 1 his was to have been ex
pected. As they are taught'disrespect and op
position to the constituted authoiities of the
nation, they may naturally learn to practise the
doctrine towards the constituted authorities of
their several colleges; and, in the arts of fac
tion and sedition, they may sometimes even
become wiser than their teachers are. This
wid continue to be the case, so long as party
spn it shall remain a blanch of collegiate edu
cation.—Put fold Sun.
In the course of the present year, a great al
teration in the established worship is expected
to take place iu the Danish dominions. The
present liturgy, w hich was framed under Chris
tian sth, and published so long since as 1685,
has long been felt to be little adapted to the li
beral and enlightened principles of the nine
teenth century. V. ith a view to bring about a
suitable reformation in diis branch, the right
Rev.P. OBoisen, bishop of Lolandand Foist or,
has composed a plan ot improvement in public
worship, which, in the iatter end of the year
1805, he submitted in manuscript, to the consi
deration of government ; desiring, however,
that before any resolution should be taken upon
it. it might i>e printed, and intelligent divines
called upon to give their opinions with re .pect
to it. 1 his has accordingly been done, and the
hi ,hop of Zealand, Professor Muntcr of the uni
versity of Copenhagen, and Mr. Luffed, of the
royal chancery, have been appointed com
missioners for examining and digesting, the
whole; the result of whose discussions were
ordered to be laid before, the king previous to
the erd of December of the last year.
Augusta, June 13.
A horrid murder was committed on Wed
nesday evening last, on the body of Thomas
Critcher, a respectable citizen of Columbia
county, it is said, by Clement K. Harrison, a
neighbor of bis—Harrison rode up to the
house, asked Critcher for a drink of water,
which he readily brought, and on presenting it,
received u fatal discharge of shot, which put a
period to his existence.
On Thursday last, the Mercury stood at
ninety-six in this place.
TRIAL FOR MURDER.
Just Brceivcd, and for sale at this office,
(frice twenty-five cents)
THE TRIALS OF
Samuel M. Mayo and JVilliam Fove,
for the
Murder of David YVhittimore.
The lad of whom (Love) was executed at Augufla
on the ijdi ultimo.
Extract of the Preface.
“ The importance of he following trials will be
acknowledged by all those who regard circumltantial
and oral evidence—the former rrta'e to Mao, and
the latter to Love, on which he was convi&ed and
hanged. The reports of the evidence on those oc
casions are fr m the rtrft and belt authority. They
are nearly verbatim ”
Blank Letters of Administration,
For Sale at this Office.
PORT OF SAVANNAH.
Altai Vl'.D.
Brig Sea-Ifl.md, Burnham, New-York...lti days—
Benjamin VV strong.
CLEARED.
Ship Ooffypium, Valentine, Liverpool—R. & J. Bo!too
ltng Lima, Starr, New-York Kneeland & Story
Sc hr Kolia, Foffiick, ditto— Havens &. Bilbo
Sloop Republican, Blown, Charled.cn—Matter
New-York, May 37.
Arrived,brig Catherine, Ray, from Bermuda—Left-,
(hip 1 it us, from Bordeaux, ior Philade phiu, condemn
ed and told; thip Cicero, from France, for 1 hiladel
pliia, do. do. anil bought in by her owneis ; fl ip Def*
tiny, from the bay ot ( ampeachy, for Ntvv-York,
waiting trial; brig James, from Martinique, far New-
London, do do.; (hip Columbian Packet, from
France, (or Philadelphia, do. do.
Capt. J. Sclioolfield, of the lch. Princess Ann, failed
from St. Jugo de Cuba on the ”Bth of March. On the
31(1, being at sea, in a tremendous gale ot w ind, sue
101 l her bowsprit, both mads, and greater part of her
rigging and fails. The foremaft, in giving away, tuie
up part of the deck. In this situation, being a *• fheer
huik,” (he lay at the mercy of every sea, until the 6th
of April, when “ they spoke the brig Margaret, capr.
Jtnkins, from Jamaica, for New-Yoik, ol whom
they solicited fomc afliflance, and begged him to taka
them into New-York. This lie refufed, uulefs they
w ould agree to give him a fourth of the lc homier aid
cargo; which rapt Schoo field being unwilling to do,
be left them, and flood on his voyage.” The forego
ing is copied verbatim from the protest of capta.U
Schoolin'id , upon which, every humane failorand hone
orable man will make a proper comment.—Philadel
phia Gazette.
AUGUSTA PRICES CURRENT.
Cotton,
I obacco ------- -- -- none in market.
Corn Meal SI 25
icP I'iic staunch and fust-sailing
Brig PALLAS, for LIVi RPOOI , cantaki SIX-
I V BALES OF COTTON, under deck, and fifty
bales on deck, il immediate applies, in is made, to
S. &. C. Howard.
June 13 61
Just Received on Consignment,
<0 barrels prime A Via- Orleans I*o UK,
at the low price of 17 dollars per barrel,
FOR SALE BY
Samuel Kussell,
June 18....M...63 Market Square.
PASSAGL TO CHARLESTON.
j “I foil failing packet (loop
Delight,
■lfc! A"!i m Captain Cooper,
Will fail for Charleston TO-MORROW MORN
ING. For paifage, apply on board, at Carnacan’s
wharf.
June 18. c
Buchan's Family Medical Works.
PROPOSALS
BV JOHN HOKE, OF CHARLESTON, S. C-
For publishing by subscription,
DOMESTIC MEDiCINE,
or,
A TREATISE ON THE I’REV RATION AND CI'HE
OE DISEASES, UV REGIMEN AND SIMILE
MEDICINES.
To which are added,
OBSERVATIONS ON’ DIET;
Recommending a method of living left expensive, anil
nunc- conducive to health than the picfent,
A).SO, HIS
ADVICE TO MOTHERS,
ON THE SUBJECT Ol* THEIR OWN HEALTH ,
and the means of promoting
The Health , Strength and Beauty of their
Offs firing.
‘Oi *Oi ’Oi ’Oi t o* tsp) tot ‘Oi i/p, toi
BY WILLIAM BUCHAN, M D.
FELLOW OF THE KOVAL COLLEGE OF Flf V3ICJANB,
EDINBURGH.
•Oi ‘O- ‘Oi ‘Oi to* *Ot t 'O’, ‘Oa *o> ‘Ot •Oi ‘Ot
THF. celebrity of Dr. Buchan's MemcAl,
Works, a . well as their univerlally acknowiedg 1
utility, render a: y commendation, at present, wholly
useless. The present edition, however, has l'everal
advantages ; a little before the rh-atli ol the Doctor,
(1805) he revised the Domjtic Medicine, and bolides
couiiderable merdments, be added several interefl
ing: new fubje&x or heads—and as ihe Vaccination or
Cow-Fox has become an important branch in ihe Me
dical Art, this edition will contain the belt informa
tion on that bead.
Tne ADVICE TO MOTHERS, which will he
added to this edition, is a iate production of this
celebrated phylician—The Philadelphia Literary
Magazine, in noticing this work, fays, “ Tins per
formance is one of the molt ufeful ar.rl agreeable
that could have been transplanted to our foil. The
author is an old man, but lie writes in an entertain
ing and perfiufive, anil even in an elegant manner.
Tile work is entirely free from technical Obscurity,
or fcieritific method It i . wri ten to inltrucr,
and for that purpose endeavours to engage the atten
tion of that lex wliofe interest he takes into hts
care.”
CO ND IT IO JUS.
I. It (hall be printed in a large oc avo volume, on a
legible nea; t/p< and fine paper—and fubftantia.ly
bound and lettered.
II The price to fubferibers, in Sheep b riding, w ‘!
be three dollars, and in Calf, three dollars and
fifty cents—no money required till the work is
published.
N B. The lad revised /JomeJHc Medicine fel s at
three and .1 ar , and the Advice ta Mothers two dollars.—
The proposed edition, including both, with additions,
will be only three dollars.
3CP Subscriptions fur the above work receiv
ed at ‘.his office. m—o3