or in part. As the passage I have cited was not mentioned in the agreement, I presume it was supposed to be repealed. I will not take upon me to assert positively, that it is not repealed, but after a pretty diligent search, I have not been able to find the repeal. If it be still in force, the right of detention is clear, because the thirty days given by the law have not expired. But even supposing it to be repealed, I am of opinion for the reasons I have given, that the right still remains, in cases where the contract expressly stipulates for it.

But it is contended that the defendant by violating his part of the contract, has perfected his right of detention, because the stipulations on his part are in nature of a condition precedent, which must be strictly performed before he can have any remedy on the contract. This however, is not the construction of the agreement. The word condition is indeed to be found in it, but on the whole it appears to be an agreement in which there are mutual covenants, on which each party may have an action although he may not have strictly complied with every thing to be done by him. The captain agrees to bring the passengers to America, and furnish them on each day of the passage with certain articles of provision on the other hand the passengers promise to conduct themselves in an orderly and peaceable manner, and pay their freight at the end of the voyage-But it never could have been intended that if the captain failed in some small article on one day, he should therefore have nothing, for bringing the passengers across the Atlantic; or that a passenger by one trifling act of rudeness or misbehaviour should forfeit all right to the benefit of the agreement. Van Ritter has been safely brought to America, which is the main point. For this he certainly must pay something, although he may have claims against the captain for breaches of the contract. Some breaches there certainly have been. I allude not to those acts of violence, rudeness and indecency done by the officers of the brig (though not by the captain personally) to many of the passengers, and particularly females.-Although I highly disapprove of these things, yet they cannot properly be taken into consideration in the present enquiry. Personal injuries to others are not the concern of Van Ritter. For the beating of his wife indeed he has an intimate concern, but it is not a wrong of a nature that can be set off against the captain's claim to freight.

But when I say that the contract has been broken, I mean in the article of provisions. Potatoes and vinegar were not furnished at all, and as to the rest the passengers were put upon short allowance during great part of the voyage. It is insisted indeed by the captain that this short allowance arose from necessity. It is a point on which I am not fully satisfied, but a jury will de cide it, if it should ever be brought before them. But granting that there have been breaches of this contract, how can I measure the damages? It is a thing which without the assistance of a jury, I could not pretend to. The question then is whether, supposing for argument's sake, the claim of freight to be liable to some deduction, the captain therefore forfeits all right to detention. It appears to me that he does not; and that the right of detention remains until the whole balance of freight is paid. The agreement is that the freight shall be paid and the passengers shall stay on board until it is paid, that is until the whole is paid. If upon mature reflection it shall be thought by the German society, that this is a case which requires further investigation, they will no doubt support the passengers in the prose cution of their rights. I see some of the members of that society attending here and am glad to see them, they may render essen. tial service by making a strict but dispassionate enquiry, into the conduct of all captains who arrive at this port with passen. gers; by discouraging all litigations about trifles, but firmly supporting their countrymen against every species of oppression and every substantial breach of contract; on their conduct much depends. Their duty is important, and in the discharge of it they may do much good, or much ill.-That they will choose the good I hope, and I have no reason to doubt it. Upon the whole, it is my opinion that Van Ritter should return to the brig, and remain there according to his agreement.

MARINE COURT, NEW YORK.

SHAVING-ASSAULT AND BATTERY.

Peter Duffie, vs. George Mathewson and others.

[The captain and crew of a vessel on the high seas, have no right to permit or excite old Neptune to shave a passenger and immerse him in a tub of water, contrary to his will.]

This was an action of assault and battery, alleged to have been committed on board the British ship Thomas, of Lancaster, while on the high seas, of which ship Mathewson was the captain, the other defendants seamen, and the plaintiff one of the passengers.

It appeared that the ship came from the chalky cliffs of Albion, with a number of passengers, and arrived on the banks of Newfoundland. The sons of the deity who rules the wide domain, through which they had passed in safety, with joy beaming in every eye, met and conferred. By a recurrence to ancient legends, coeval with the common law, and among them, of greater validity, it was found that as often as a landsman came in view of the Banks, before them, he must produce a bottle of Cognac or rum, as an acceptable sacrifice to Neptune.

The nature of the sacrifice was explained to the landsmen, and the greater part complied with a requisition, sanctioned by immemorial usage; the defendant, with others, refused.

Whereupon the seamen invoked the god, with sad complaints: "Oh! Omnipotent Father, king of the ocean, behold the rebellious sons of Terra, who have dared to intrude into thy dominions, refusing to bend before thy divine altar, and to render to thee an accustomed libation. Their beards, Oh! father, are long, uncouth and indecent; retained by them in defiance of thy laws, and in derision of thy divinity."

No. XXI.

R

The father of ocean heard, and lifted his awful head sublime above the waves, attended by the Tritons, the Nereides, and all the daughters of the azure main.

He saw his children, and thus responded to their complaints, through a brazen trumpet, whose reverberations shook the distant promontory of Chapeau Rouge, and re-echoed through the spacious bay of Placentia: "Carry these impious mortals from my presence-behold their beards, which they dare to retain in despite of my authority. They shall be shaved."

"Sic fata sinant."

He said, and taking his razor and shaving box from his car, while Amphitrite held his horses, he seized the prow and ascended by the head rails into the lofty ship. His presence inspired his children with joy. But while imparting his commands, through his brazen trumpet, to the crew, the landsmen below trembled." Bring hither that tub, and fill it with sea water." "Twas done. "Bring forth the long bearded tribe, one by one." The command was obeyed-but Duffie, when it came to his turn, was inclined to be refractory, and resisted-But who can resist, when gods command?

The razor used by his godship, was manufactured in the caverns of Ætna, by one of the Cyclops, from an iron hoop; and, though somewhat rough on the edge, did good business.

Held above the tub, Duffie underwent the operation with streaming eye, while the most unsavoury smell from the lather entered his nostrils. As soon as the office of the razor was accomplished and the awful oath, which binds even gods below, was administered, the tub below received him; the ceremony was done, and the god descended into the bosom of the "vasty deep."

It appeared that a lady passenger, named Ann Jones, was subjected to the same ceremony, the humour of which was enjoyed by Duffie, in common with the others. Markwell personated Neptune, and the captain acted in the capacity of assistant to the deity, and was aiding, abetting and assisting in the cere mony.*

* Whenever a vessel arrives on the equator or any remarkable head land,

MR. JUSTICE SWANSON charged the jury, that it was the duty of the master of a ship to treat his passengers with attention and politeness. The captain stood in the same relation to the passengers, as a master of a hotel or an inn did to his guests. Having the superintendance of his vessel, the law had invested the captain with the authority necessary for preserving peace and good order.

On this occasion, the captain not only failed in treating the plaintiff with a becoming decorum, but countenanced and actually had some agency in the injury charged in the declaration. The conduct of the defendants towards the plaintiff, was highly reprehensible. After taking into consideration the wounded feelings of the plaintiff on the one hand, and the circumstances of the defendants on the other, it would be the duty of the jury to render such a verdict as they considered just and equitable. The jury rendered a verdict in favour of the plaintiff, for forty-six dollars.

Caines, counsel for plaintiff.

Fay, counsel for defendants.

where the raw hands or passengers have not been before, the seamen, according to an old usage, frequently proceed to the ceremony of shaving, which is thus performed: one of the crew, who is best calculated for drollery, is habit. ed in a fantastic, ridiculous manner, and, with a speaking trumpet in his hangy personates old Neptune. He goes forward to the bow of the vessel, wwn those who are to be shaved, are kept below, and descends until, perhaps. reaches the water, and from thence ascends on deck, pretending to eize emerged from the ocean. He hails the crew with his trumpet; answeish made, and mutual congratulations pass between his godship and the old se men. He proceeds to order the requisite apparatus for shaving, which gene rally consists of a piece of iron hoop, a composition for lather made of slus and other offensive matters, and a tub of water. The persons who are to be shaved, are then brought on deck, one by one, blindfolded. Those who have treated well, are shaved light, while those who are refractory are shaved hard. After shaving, his godship proceeds to swear the novice to divers singular observances, one of which is, that he will never eat brown bread when he can get white."

The one shaved, is then either immersed in a tub of water, or has a bucket from above, poured on his head, and the frolic ends.