As this certificate was not sworn to, it added no force to the bill of lading, as every bill of lading is an unsworn certificate of the facts it recites.  There being no legal proof among the papers to contradict the presumption that all property found under the enemy’s flag is enemy’s property, and as the Master, who was the charterer and agent of the ship, and whose duty it was to know about all the transactions in which he was engaged, swore that he had no personal knowledge of the owner of the cargo, except such as he derived from the ship’s papers, the cargo, as well as the ship, is condemned as prize of war.  The following significant extract from a letter of the Master to his owners, dated Penrith Roads, April 19th, 1863, was found on board, though not produced by the Master:—­

“I have my bills of lading certified by the Mayor, that the cargo is bona fide English property.  Whether this will be of any service to me in the event of my being overhauled by a Southern pirate, remains to be proved.”

The certificate above recited seems, therefore, to have been procured by the Master to protect his ship from capture, and not to have been a spontaneous act of the pretended neutral owners to protect the cargo.  The cargo and advance freight were insured against war-risk, the ship paying the premium.  No effort was made by Wilson, Holt, Lane, & Co., to protect the cargo, and they were the proper parties to make the oath.  The agent who shipped the coal for this firm, and who wrote the above-quoted certificate, could only know, of course, that he had shipped them by order of his principal.  Why, then, did Wilson, Holt, Lane, & Co., decline to make the necessary oath to protect the cargo?  They should have taken the necessary steps to protect either themselves or the insurers, but they did no such thing.  It would seem, probably, that they were the agents of some American house, and that they could not, in conscience, take the oath required by law.

* * * * *

The next prize was the Amazonian, of Boston, from New York to Monte Video, captured, after a long chase, on the 2d of June, but not until two blank shots had failed to bring her to, and the stronger hint of a round from the rifled gun had convinced her of the impossibility of escape.

* * * * *

CASE OF THE BARQUE AMAZONIAN.

Ship under United States colours; has an assorted cargo on board, and is bound from New York to Monte Video.  There are two claims of neutral property—­one for twenty cases of varnish and fifty casks of oil, claimed as shipped on “account of Messrs. Galli & Co., French subjects.”  This claim is sworn to by a Mr. Craig, before a notary.  It does not aver that the property is in Messrs. Galli & Co., but simply that it was shipped “on their account.”  There is no outside evidence of the truth of this transaction, as the master knows nothing about it.