CASE OF THE LOUISA HATCH.

Ship, under U.S. colours.  Among the papers is a charter party, dated London, 1st January, 1863, executed between John Pirie and Co., and William Grant, the Master, by which the ship was chartered to take coal to Point de Galle, Ceylon, or Singapore, as ordered, &c.  Without any assignment of this contract, as far as appears, the ship seems to have been loaded by entirely new parties, to wit, by one J.R.  Smith, who describes himself as the agent of H. Worms, of Cardiff.  By the bill of lading, the ship is to proceed to the.  Point de Galle, and there deliver the coal to the company of Messageries Imperiales.  On the back of the bill of lading is the following certificate:—­“I certify that the within-mentioned cargo is French property, having been shipped by order, for the account of the Messageries Imperiales.”  This certificate is signed by Mr. Smith, but is not sworn to, nor is the order, nor any copy of the order to ship this cargo to an account of the Messageries Imperiales, found among the papers.  As the ship was not chartered by any agent of this company, and as the coal was not shipped by any such agent, Smith being the agent of Worms, and Worms not being described as the agent of the company, the presumption is that, if there was any such order at all in the case, it was a mere general understanding that the company would pay so much per ton for coal delivered for them at their depots, the property remaining in the shippers until delivery.  The presumption, in the absence of proof, is, that the cargo being on board an American ship is American; shipped on speculation to the far east, by the owner, or his agent, in Cardiff; and we have seen that there is no legal evidence in the case; the unsworn certificate of Mr. Smith not even amounting to an ex parte affidavit.  Ship and cargo condemned.  Probable value of cargo in Cardiff, 2500 dollars.  Cost of coal in Brazil, 15 to 17 dollars per ton.

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The Alabama now stood away in the direction of Fernando de Noronha, with her prize in company, with the intention of there taking on board a fresh supply of coal.  The run was not a little protracted by the light and baffling winds that still prevailed, and as though this was not enough, fortune must needs play her a trick, by sending her off on a chase of fourteen miles after a supposed Yankee whaler, which, when at last overhauled, turned out to be nothing but a poor little green-painted “Portiguee.”

Rain—­rain—­rain, the sun sometimes showing himself for an hour or two, just a few minutes too early, or a few minutes too late, for any purposes of observation, and then again retiring behind the dense masses of cloud that hid the whole horizon in one drenching down-pour.  And all this while every mile of latitude of the last importance, as the Alabama groped her way slowly to the southward and eastward in search of the little island at which she was to take in her supplies, and which she might at any moment run past in the darkness altogether!  Trying work, indeed, for the patience of men cooped up in their narrow floating prison, and longing to be at work again.