necessary articles for the country, the whole
of which, together with ten thousand rix-
dollars for the payment of the salaries of the
public officers, &c., was considered lawful
will produce their licence, 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 licenced
ship, with a favorable wind, to be steering a course
different from her direct one, and thereby deviating
from the route pointed out in her licence, that vessel is
a lawful prize. At other times, indeed, licences are only
granted for a certain limited time, and, if exhibited
after the expiration of the period expressed in the licence,
such a vessel is also a good prize. One or other
was the case with all the vessels in the Iceland ports in
the summer of 1809, but none of them would have
been condemned in England if they had been seized by
the letter of marque, because they were then lying at a
port to which their licences permitted them to proceed.
That they had forfeited the protection granted them by
their licence could not be proved by the ship’s papers,
though it could from letters'to different people on the
island: these, however, are not admitted in a court of
admiralty. The case of the Orion differs from the former
ones, in as much as the person to whom the licence
was granted (Adzer Knutzen) was not with the vessel;
but since the papers, which proved the forfeiture of the
licence, were not on board the vessel at the time of her
seizure, she was not considered a legal prize, and was
restored to the owner.
plunder, and the Landfogued, Mr. Frydens-
berg, was compelled to deliver up the public
money chest of the country, containing two
thousand seven hundred rix-dollars.
In addition to the above, the four following
circumstances are stated, as the most
aggravating acts of violence and oppression
that took place, by Count Tramp, who professes
to regard the whole as a regular system
of plunder, and considers this as the
leading object in every thing that was done
by Mr. Phelps or Mr. Jorgensen:—first, that
Mr. Savigniac proceeded armed to a settlement
at Oreback, belonging to a merchant
of the name of I^ambertsen taking with
him a number of horses loaded with goods,
* Of this affair, which is by Count Tramp regarded as
a case of peculiar hardship, I have just received from
Mr. Jorgensen the following explanation: Mr. Lambert-
sen is owner of a vessel accustomed to trade between
Iceland and Norway, for which purpose, early in the
year 1808, he procured from the British government a
licence, empowering him to convey to Iceland a cargo of
provisions. Of this circumstance he had apprised his
factor Sivertsen, who, after waiting till August, 1809,
in expectation of the arrival of his principal, concluded
that he must either be lost, or that he had taken ad