Ship and cargo condemned. The cargo of this ship was condemned by me as
enemy's property, notwithstanding there were depositions of the shippers
that it had been purchased by them on neutral account. These _ex-parte_
statements are precisely such as every unscrupulous merchant would
prepare, to deceive his enemy and save his property from capture. There
are two shipping houses in this case; that of Craig and Nicoll, and that
of Montgomery Bros.: Messrs. Craig and Nicoll say that the grain
supplied by them belongs to Messrs. Shaw and Finlay, and to Messrs.
Hamilton, Megault, and Thompson, all of Belfast, to which port the ship
is bound, but the grain is not consigned to them, and they could not
demand possession of it under the bill of lading, it being consigned to
_order_, thus leaving the control in the hands of the shippers. The
shippers, farther, instead of sending their grain as freight in a
general ship, consigned to the owners, they paying the freight, charter
the whole ship, and stipulate themselves for the payment of the freight.
If this property had been _bona fide_ the property of the parties in
Belfast named in the depositions, it would undoubtedly have been
consigned to them, under a bill of lading authorizing them to demand
possession of it, &c., &c.; the agreement with the ship would have been
that the consignees and owners should pay the freight upon delivery.
Even if this property were purchased, as pretended, by Messrs.
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