ferable to all intents. An indorsation to a particular person involves merely a particular engagement to that party, and a mistake in spelling the name of a person to whom a bill is specially indorsed will not prevent that from transferring it by the indorsement of his name properly spelt upon it. Another peculiarity of indorsement is, that it may be restrictive as regards persons, such as "pay the contents to A.B. only," which extinguishes transferability. But it cannot be restrictive as regards money; it cannot, for instance, be for part of the sum secured, unless the residue have been already paid. And a bill is not transferable, properly, without the words "or order." The most important of all to be remembered is, that the party who indorses undertakes to every subsequent holder that the bill shall be discharged when due; but the mere transfer of a bill creates no such undertaking, and an indorsement admits the ability and signature of every antecedent party.

As regards acceptance, the law satisfies itself with very slight indications of the intention to pay. A verbal promise to accept a bill already drawn upon an executed consideration has been held to be sufficient. But a promise to accept a non-existing bill is not an acceptance in the eye of the law. An acceptance once complete and issued cannot be revoked. Its faculty is curious and involves a broad distinction, for it admits the drawer's ability to make the bill, and, if made after sight of the bill, his signature; but not the ability or signature of an indorser, though his name were on the bill at the time of acceptance.

Presentment for acceptance, if necessary, and for payment in every case is requisite, as well as the giving of notice, if it be dishonoured, to every party who would be entitled to bring an action on it after paying it. When presentment for acceptance is necessary, it must be made within a reasonable time, and as regards foreign bills it is usage or the particular course of trade that determines it. When a bill or note is refused acceptance or payment, notice of such refusal must immediately be given to any party to it to whom the holder wishes to have recourse; in the case of death or bankruptcy, notice is given to the legal representative or assignee, and a notice given by the holder is for the benefit of all who stand between that party and the person receiving it. There is no particular form of notice, except that it must express the dishonour of the bill, and that the party receiving the notice is liable and expected to discharge. A very important decision has been come to by Lord Denman, stating the rule to be that it is not necessary in express terms to inform the party whom it is intended to charge that he will be looked to for payment, and that the sending notice of dishonour is in itself sufficient for that purpose. Mere non-payment does not weigh. Notice of dishonour implies presentment as well as nonpayment. After a foreign bill has been protested, any person may pay it for the honour of the drawer or indorser, but he must take care that the bill is protested before he pays such acceptor for honour. Having discharged the bill he becomes the holder of it, and the sum recoverable by the holder includes not only the money payable in the instrument, but incidental expenses occasioned by non-acceptance or non-payment. It must be remembered that any material alteration of a bill or note after it has been issued, unless satisfactorily accounted for, causes the

instrument to become a new contract, unless to correct a mistake. But the insertion of a mere memorandum, in aid and not in alteration of the bill, is permitted. Or if a blank be left for the payee's name, any bonâ fide holder may with propriety insert his own name, and acquire the rights of a payee.

These appear to us to be the most obvious principles of bill transactions. There is a multitude of very nice distinctions, in each of the divisions of the subject which we have treated, that have been determined not so much by enactment as by decisions of the Courts of Queen's Bench and Common Pleas, but for these curiosities of mercantile jurisprudence there is no space in a monthly magazine. Should any of our readers, however, desire to gratify their curiosity on this point, we can confidently recommend to them Smith's "Leading Cases."

There is only one more subject to which we shall briefly advert as being desirable to be known by junior naval officers, viz., some idea of the principles of the law of contracts of sale. Each foreign country has its own laws and usages of sale; all that we can do on the present occasion is to indicate some few of the principles of the law of Britain. Larger contracts for the navy rarely come within the scope of naval officers on out-stations; but minor ones are of constant occurrence, and several of the principles we lay down are common to all codes.

The first condition of a contract of sale is, that the vendor be in a condition to sell by undisturbed possession of the thing sold He may sell, provided the goods are not in a state of distraint, in which case a legal officer may sell, if empowered, and in some cases the possessor may sell subject to the sheriff's right (in this county) to seize by virtue of the execution. This sale is valid; but the seller is, by law, only the receiver, amenable to the legal officer.

An auctioneer is considered as the lawfully authorized agent of vendor and vendee; a regular entry in his book binds the purchaser, but not a mere memorandum on his catalogue. In the case of a broker, the bought and sold notes, along with the entry in his book, attest the validity of a sale. Actual placing of ponderous goods in the vendee's power is not essential to delivery. This may be accomplished by giving the vendee the faculty of possessing himself of them, even if they are in a third party's hands. A sale implies readiness to deliver at a reasonable time, and the vendee's readiness to pay the price. If there be no place mentioned for delivery, it is the vendee's duty to fetch them away. Employing puffers at an auction to enhance the price is a fraud that vitiates the sale. One of the most intricate cases of sale is when goods turn out some time after delivery to be damaged; in this case the vendee recovers an equivalent for the value of the damage, but not the whole.

When property is transferred by a bill of sale, the vendee becomes possessor on delivery; but in the case of oral sale, or sale by word of mouth, it is requisite that there should be a tender of the goods, or of their price, or a part payment, however small; otherwise the contract of sale is not valid and binding. In fact, after this tender the property is the vendee's, and not the vendor's, but subject to the vendor's lien. U. S. MAG., No. 344, JULY, 1857.

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But this can be rescinded if the vendee neglect, on due notice, to remove the goods, and pay the rest of the price-refuse, in fact, according to a common Scottish law term, to implement the bargain. Such has been the general decision of our courts of law; but it appears, by Smith, that, in a recent instance, there has been a contrary view taken by the Court of Queen's Bench (Martindale v. Smith), affirming that where the property has once passed to the vendee, his failure to pay the price at the appointed time does not entitle the vendor to rescind the contract. "That case, however, does not seem to decide what would be the consequence of an express refusal." What, then, is the law? Really we are in the dark. When Doctors Ellenborough and Denman differ, how should we decide? Really it is high time that a perspicuous and comprehensive "Code Victoria" should lay down unmistakable principles, and leave to our contradictory jurists a narrower margin for interpretation and application. Our judges are incorruptible, but our legal system is the vaguest in Europe; we know of only one more vague, and that was the Hungarian system of a few years ago. The French, Austrian, Prussian, Scotch, and every system that we know of, is less illogical than that of England. Truly, when we think of the much criticized Merchant Shipping Act, it is a cleansed stall in our juridical Augean stable.

THE INDIAN NAVY AT MOHAMMERAH.

To the Editor of the United Service Magazine.

SIR,-Thinking you might like an account of the late attack and capture of the forts and camp at Mohammerah, I send you the following, which passed under my own observation.

The second division of the fleet left Bushire on the 19th of March, and joined the first at Ma'amer on the 21st, an enlargement of the river, about twenty miles from its mouth. Here a delay of two days took place, in making some necessary changes in the transports, shifting troops, &c.; and on the 24th, the whole fleet, with transports in tow, moved up the river without molestation from the enemy, anchoring in the evening opposite a thick tope or wood, four miles below the forts, having a good view of them, whilst numerous parties of officers went up into the tops to reconnoitre; and at nine o'clock, a boat with muffled oars, having some of the heads of departments on board, went up to choose a position for a mortar battery, and got close under the forts without being fired at; unfortunately, however, the night was so dark they could make little or no observation, and returned without having effected their object.

In the evening of the 25th, the enemy brought some field-pieces down opposite the ships, and opened fire on the Assaye, which vessel soon silenced them with her sixty-eight-pounders; they kept up a picket fire, however, all night, and in the morning we saw several of their cavalry moving about amongst the trees, dressed in a light blue uniform, with white belts.

All the arrangements being complete, at daylight, on the 26th, the men-of-war all had their steam up, and immediately afterwards weighed, and, having hoisted an ensign at each mast-head, proceeded up to the attack in the following order :-Feroze, with Commodore Young's broad pendant at the main; Semiramis towing-sloop; Clive, 12 guns; Assaye, Ajdaha, Victoria, towing; Falkland, 12 guns; whilst all the transports, consisting of about fifty ships and steamers, remained at their anchorage until the fire of the batteries should be silenced. At half-past six the Victoria and Falkland opened fire on several of the "blue-coated gentlemen "before mentioned, who came down to have a quiet "pot" at the ships as they passed, sending shell and grape into their ranks in fine style, and rolling them over like nine-pins. At seven the Feroze and Assaye, having got into a good position about three hundred yards from the forts, opened fire with eight-inch shell, which was quickly and hotly returned by the enemy; whilst the mortar-raft, which had been constructed the day before, and towed into position by the boats of the fleet, sent the 5-inch shell into the enemy's works in quick succession. In the mean time, the Semiramis, Ajdaha, Clive, Victoria, and Falkland, had taken up stations eight hundred yards off, and opened fire as they came up.

It was a splendid sight. The day was magnificent; a perfectly clear sky, with just wind enough to blow the smoke clear of the ships, and allow of a good aim being taken, so that very few shots were thrown away.

At eight up went the "close" pendant on board the commodore, the Victoria being the first ship up, from her light draught of water, taking up her station astern the Assaye, thus becoming the third ship in the line. She, however, grounded two hundred yards from the mouth of the creek, and thus became exposed to the concentrated fire of all the forts, getting well peppered in consequence, eighteen round shots having entered her hull, whilst the rigging was also severely cut away; remaining in this position till noon, at which time the Feroze dropped down and took up some of the enemy's fire, whilst the Ajdaha, Semiramis, and the two sloops, came up about the same time, and the fire was carried on by both sides with great spirit.

At half-past twelve the magazine in the north fort blew up with splendid effect; and for a few seconds Persians, mud, bits of gun-carriages, and horses, were all seen flying together in the air, in admired confusion-very much, I have no doubt, to the disgust of the former, while a deafening cheer rang from each ship, and the guns plied with renewed vigour. This explosion was quickly followed by three others, and from this time their fire visibly slackened.

At two o'clock, the fire having been completely silenced, the Berenice, river steamers and transports (steam), moved up and landed the troops a mile above the forts, cheering as they passed, the Ajdaha covering the landing; whilst the northern forts were taken possession of, and the union-jack hoisted-one by the boats of the Assaye, the other by those of the Victoria.

At half-past two the enemy opened fire again with jingalls and musketry, which was replied to by the ships with grape and canister, right

into the embrasures, and I should fancy made them feel remarkably uncomfortable. This style of thing continued for about half an hour, when the Falkland's boats' crews landed and stormed the fort, the enemy cutting like fun as soon as they landed in force-the officers taking the lead in a very unchivalric style.

The army having been landed, they marched inland with the hopes of meeting the enemy; but, alas, the ships had frightened him, and they took quiet possession of his camp, tents, clothes, and all, without any resistance and twenty-one thousand men, with the Shah's uncle, had vanished "like the baseless fabric of a vision," leaving, however, something more than a wreck behind.

The scene at the forts was truly revolting-dead and wounded horses and men; guns, carriages, powder-cases, blood, all in one chaos; poor wretches lying with their awful shell wounds exposed to the sun, and covered with mud. The forts (see plan) were situated at the junction of the Haffan creek with the "Shaat el Arab," which is again the name given to the united waters of the Tigris and Euphrates, mounting, as nearly as can now be ascertained from their dilapidated condition, twenty-five to thirty guns, twenty of which have been captured, they having been thrown into nullahs and all sorts of places when the enemy retreated; besides these, one more has been captured by the expedition just returned, consisting of the river steamers and gunboats, under Acting-Commodore Rennie, which went up to Awaz, came up with the retreating army and routed it, blew up a magazine, took an immense quantity of grain and several mules, and then returned.

Yesterday, the 5th April, we heard that the preliminaries of peace had been signed; and I think that, from the General and Commodore down to the drummer-boy and messenger, every one is sorry for it, as no one thinks they have had enough of English antibilious pills in the shape of lead and iron; and the idea that, after taking so much trouble to obtain possession, we are to evacuate entirely both Bushire and Mohammerah, makes every one savage.

There is a yarn told here, currently supposed to be true, that when the ships opened fire, the Shazadah, uncle to the Shah, sent three high officers from the camp to the forts, to deliver some orders-one was killed, another came back all over blood, severely wounded, and the third brought back a 68-pound shot. "Oh!" says the Shazadah, "if they are firing such things as that at a fellow, we had better run for it." So the yarn goes on to say, run they did, and the last news was that they had been seen 150 miles off, and that they were running still; whether the news of the peace will stop them or not remains to be proved.

The army and navy have worked together as the army and navy always have done in India; and although the former has not in this affair had so prominent a part as the latter, or as it wished, yet, from the General downwards, officers and men have been most generous in awarding praise, most handsomely volunteering the statement, as no petty jealousies exist, that that which mainly contributed to the taking of Mohammerah was the fleet of the

INDIAN NAVY.