Having established, as I think, the proposition that the lien in favor of material men under the general maritime law depends on the residence of the owners, and not on the place of enrollment, it becomes necessary to inquire who, in this case, are to be deemed the owners.

The law, I think, is perfectly well settled, that where there is a charter party, and by its terms the charterers, as in this case, are to have exclusive possession, control, and management of the vessel during the term specified-are to appoint the master, run the vessel, and receive the entire profits, they, and not the general owners, are to be deemed the owners, and are alone responsible for damages and contracts. Gracie ts. Palmer, 8 Wheaton's R., 632-3; MacCardier vs. The Chesapeake Ins. Co., 8 Cranch's R., 39; Abbott on Shipping, note 1 to page 57 of the English edition, and cases there cited; Ibid, 288-9, same paging and note; The schooner Volunteer and cargo, 1 Sumner's Reports, 566-7; Kleine vs. Catara, 2 Gallisorn's Reps., 75.

Indeed, upon principle as well as authority, there cannot be a doubt. It might as well be contended that if you hire your horse to another to perform a journey, you, and not he, would be responsible for his shoeing and food.

It was said in the argument of this cause, that the charter party was not recorded. This can make no difference, as the only effect of recording would be to give notice of its existence-there being no act of Congress declaring it to be void for want of recording, and the material men expressly admitting that they knew of the charter party when they furnished the supplies. Abbott on Shipping, page 33, of English Ed., and note (1) to that page, and cases there cited. There is an act of Congress, (9 Lit. and B., 440,) entitled "An act to provide for Recording the conveyances of vessels, and for other purposes." But it does not extend to charter parties; and the instruments which the act requires to be recorded, are not declared invalid as to those having actual notice thereof.

I come, therefore, to the conclusion, that for supplies furnished the Golden Gate at St. Louis, after she was chartered, the material men and the charterers both residing there at the time, there is no lien upon the vessel by the general maritime laws of the United States.

BOTTOMRY-HYPOTHECATION OF SHIP, ETC., ETC.

United States District Court. Before Judge BETTS, setting in admiralty. [The following decision and opinion contains a variety of legal points, some of which we have not seen adjudicated in any Court of the United States. They are, therefore, of more than ordinary interest to the shipping interest.]

John Gardner et al. vs. The Bark White Squall.

BETTS. J.-The bark White Squall, commanded by E. J. Harding, master, sailed from New York for San Francisco on the 17th of February, 1855, and on the 25th of March thereafter put into Rio Janeiro in distress for repairs. The master consigned the ship to Graham, Bros. & Co. Endeavors were then made to obtain money by bottomry sufficient to make the repairs and outfit necessary to enable the ship to prosecute her voyage to San Francisco. The surveyors of the ship estimated the amount necessary at £2,500 sterling; but no loan could be obtained at a less premium than 75 per cent. The master wrote to the owners for directions from them and the underwriters. None had been received on the 1st of July. In the meantime, the vessel having been made nearly ready for sea, a call, by notice through the papers, was again made for an offer of a loan on bottomry to continue the voyage to San Francisco, to be addressed to the Consul's office. No offer being given, the master then advertised for such loan to bring the vessel with her cargo back to New York, but obtained none for that voyage either.

The master had sold part of the ship's cargo and applied the proceeds towards the repairs, and entered into a contract of charter for the vessel, when Mr. Lang came to Rio as agent of the owners, and brought £2,200 sterling, which was also expended upon the debts contracted for the repairs. Soon after Lang's arrival,

Harding left the ship as master, and Burke, her first mate, was on the 1st of October appointed by Lang, master in his place. He executed the bottomry bond on the 5th of December, 1855. The vessel had been ready for sea for about five months. Burke executed the bond under the direction of Lang, without any knowledge of the necessities of the vessel, but because he was told that Lang must have more money.

Upon the facts in proof the master had no authority in law to give the bottomry hypothecation in question. The debts all accrued from separate credits given the master of the vessel, or her consignees, by mechanics, material men and others, and were entirely incurred at a very considerable period before the treaty for this hypothecation was on foot with the bottomry lender. These facts were notorious. It was, therefore, well understood that the loan was made to extinguish antecedent debts not contracted under any assurance or expectation of a bottomry security, and was not made to the creditors themselves, but to others who bought in the debts in effect at an abatement of 33 per cent from the amount. The master could not bind the ship, her cargo, and freight, to the satisfaction of such debts. (8 Peters, The Virgin; 1 Wheat, 96, the Angra; Abbott, 200, [note 1,] 1 Peters, 386.)

But although the bond was signed by the master, yet he acted in the matter under the direction of the agent of the owners, and not on his own judgment and discretion. This agent was sent to Rio by the owners with funds for the use of the vessel, and, as must be implied, with general powers to act for the owners in respect to the ship. He displaced the original master and substituted another. He called in the bills of the ship, had them all adjusted, and authorized a composition with the creditors. He then arranged with the consignee of the ship for her hypothecation, for the purpose of raising money to satisfy the debts still outstanding. After the borrowing hypothecation was made, he had all the papers, including the protest of the master and crew, the particular bills and vouchers for all the expenses of the ship at Rio, with the bottomry bond, transmitted to the owners. They laid these documents before the Adjuster of General Average at New York, and obtained from him a computation and allowance of their share of the general average, and claimed and received that share from the underwriters. These facts in my judgment import that Lang possessed all the power of the owner to hypothecate the vessel, or at the least, if such powers were not originally conferred upon him, that the owners ratified and assured to their exercise after being fully advised of his acts and the facts upon which he acted. (Story's Agency, 239.) The authority of an owner to bottoming a ship at home or abroad without regard to her necessities, seems no longer a question with the authorities. (Abbott, 192, note 1; 3 Kent, 361, 6th ed.) Flanders on Maritime Law, 253. The principal cannot be allowed to screen himself from the unfavorable consequences following the doings of his agent, after taking to himself the benefits secured by them. (Strong's Agency, 250, 253, 258)

The libelants are accordingly entitled to a decree in their favor for the due enforcement of the bond.

INSURANCE-ABANDONMENT.

Superior Court-Special Term-New York, February, 1857. Before Judge Duer. Alexander McConochie, and another, vs. The Sun Mutual Insurance Company. Demurrer to complaint.

The action was upon an open policy of insurance upon goods, and was brought to recover a constructive total loss upon the goods mentioned in the complaint, upon the ground that they had been damaged by the perils of the sea to more than half their value. The complaint averred that an abandonment had been made, and set forth a letter of abandonment, addressed to the President of the Company, (the defendants,) in these word :

"Dear Sir :-Understanding that the bark M. L. Grant, on her voyage from Matanzas to New York, has been compelled to seek the port of Savannah in distress, where she arrived, we hear, with several feet of water in her hold, the cargo was landed and found very seriously damaged; we therefore hereby aban

don to you two hundred and eighty hogsheads of sugar, valued at $85 per hogshead," &c., &c.

The complaint admitted that the loss-considered as partial-had been satisfied.

The ground of demurrer was, that the abandonment, set forth in the complaint, was not sufficient to warrant the plaintiffs in claiming as for a constructive total loss.

Held, That an abandoment, to be valid, must in all cases set forth the grounds upon which it is made, and that these must be such that, admitting them to be true. the right of the assured to recover a total loss is a necessary consequence; that, tested by this rule, the abandonment set forth in the complaint was defective and void; that the allegation that the goods insured were very seriously damaged," did not necessarily import that the damage exceeded half their value. It might be true, yet the plaintiffs would not be entitled to recover the total loss which they claimed.

Demurrer allowed, with usual liberty to plaintiffs to amend complaint upon payment of costs.

TRANSFER OF BANK STOCK.

Supreme Court-Special Term-New York, 1856. Before Judge Davies. Anthony L. Hoguet vs. The Rensselaer County Bank.

A certificate for twenty shares, at $50 each, in the Rensselaer County Bank, was issued on the 12th of July, 1853, to Wm. Lansing, who delivered it, with blank power of attorney for the transfer thereof, to the plaintiff, as security for a loan. Two months previously to this transfer the defendants discounted a note for Lansing, which was protested for non-payment in April, 1854. The original certificate states that it is transferrable upon the conditions and subject to the restrictions in the articles of association which contain this provision:

"The shares of the capital stock of the association shall be deemed pledged, and held as security by the officers thereof, for the payment of all debts and liabilities of the owners thereof to the association, and no transfer of any of said shares can be made until such debts and liabilities are discharged."

The defendants claim to hold this stock as being pledged to secure this debt to them, and the plaintiff claims that he is the owner thereof, and that the defend ants are bound to transfer the same to him, and having refused to do so, are liable for the damages he has sustained by such refusal.

The court decides in favor of the defendants, and dismisses the complaint with costs, on the ground that the defendants have a right to insist upon the fulfillment of those conditions and restrictions, and that the plaintiff cannot have a transfer of the stock until he pays up to the defendants the indebtedness of his assignor to them, and for which they have a lien on this stock.

The court rely upon the decision of the Court of Appeals, in the Mechanics' Bank ts. The New York and New Haven Railroad Company, as establishing that a certificate of stock is not a negotiable instrument, and upon the rule that where either party has the legal title the prior equity must prevail.

STORAGE OF GOODS IN BONDED WAREHOUSES.

Circuit Court of the United States, (Boston, November, 1856.) Before Judge Curtis. Foster, et al. vs. Peaslee, Collector.

This is an action brought by the plaintiffs against the defendant, as Collector of the port of Boston, to recover back money paid for storage of merchandise in the bonded warehouses. The plaintiffs contended that the sums exacted of them by the Collector were beyond the usual rates of storage at this port, and protested against the payment, and brought this action to recover the excess. On the part of the Collector, it was argued that the storage of goods by the plaintiffs was voluntary; that they had the right to store the same in their own warehouses or in a private bonded warehouse, and that therefore they were bound to pay the rates fixed by the storekeepers of the United States, and that after they had once paid, all the further payments were voluntary, as they were aware of the rates claimed, and therefore could not recover back the same. On the part of the

plaintiffs it was argued that the act of March 3, 1841, had fixed the rates of storage in public stores at the usual rates of storage at the port, that the warehousing acts being silent in regard thereto, must be deemed to have been made in accordance with that act, and that the instructions of the Secretary of the Treasury, issued in accordance with the provisions of the warehousing acts, had adopted the provisions of the act in the precise words of that act; and even if the act of 1841 had not been passed, the instructions of the Secretary of the Treasury had the binding force and effect of law; that the importer had a right to store his goods in the public stores, and that the Collector could not, by exacting illegal rates of storage, deprive him of that right, or render the privilege less valuable; and that no presumption arose against the plaintiffs from the fact that they had made frequent payments, all under protest, and it was not to be presumed that any public officer would act contrary to law. Judge Curtis gave his opinion that the plaintiffs had a right to recover for the excess of storage charged by the Collector, and ordered the action to be referred to an auditor, to compute and determine amount due the plaintiffs.

CONTRACTS-HIRING OF SLAVES-RIGHT OF PUNISHMENT DELEGATED TO HIRERPUNISHMENT MUST NOT BE CRUEL NOR BARBAROUS.

In the absence of an express stipulation, the owner delegates to the hirer the same right to punish his slave which he himself has; but if the punishment inflicted by the hirer, when considered with a just regard to all the attendant circumstances, is either cruel or barbarous, he becomes a trespasser, ab initio, and is liable to damages at the suit of the owner. Nelson vs. Bondurant, Supreme Court of Alabama.

COMMERCIAL CHRONICLE AND REVIEW.

PREDICTIONS OF A COMMERCIAL REVULSION-THE PROSPECTS OF THE FUTURE-STORM AND SUNSHINE -THE NEW ADMINISTRATION-AMENDMENT OF THE TARIFF MONEY MARKET AND FOREIGN EXCHANGE THE SPRING TRADE-RECEIPTS AND COINAGE OF GOLD-THE BANK MOVEMENT-IMPORTS AND EXPORTS AT NEW YORK, AND RECEIPTS FOR CASH DUTIES-EXPORTS OF LEADING ARTICLES O PRODUCE, ETC., ETC.

THE croakers have been busy during the last few weeks predicting wide-spread financial disaster, and if their statements were generally believed, they would, no doubt, realize the fulfillment of their predictions. Nothing so surely tends to precipitate a financial crisis, and a commercial revulsion, as a weakening of the public confidence in the stability of prosperity. There can be no question in regard to the expansion, everywhere visible throughout the North and West. The speculators in Western lands have bought up large tracts, then constructed railroads to or through them, to bring them into market, and the whole of this upon a system of reckless expenditure and baseless credit, peculiar to rash speculations the world over. Many very industrious men have left profitable employments to embark in these enterprises, and are in a fair way to lose the little accumulations of their former industry. In addition to this, a number of importers have brought out large stocks of merchandise beyond the ordinary wants of the people, and many of these can neither dispose of their imports at a profit, or hold them over to another season.

Grant all this, and add thereto all the other expansions, extravagance of living, high rents, and expensive habits of the people, which make the high coloring of the picture, and we still can see no reason for apprehending a deluge of trouble. The speculators in lands may be compelled to sell at five dollars per acre instead

of five hundred dollars a lot; the industrious immigrant, just arriving, will not find this a hardship, and if the land be not a desert (which few Western lands are) he will turn the investment to good account. The new railroad may sink the cost of the stock, and victimize the bondholders, but by the time the grade is well settled the new owner of the land will have raised a crop of wheat or corn on the prospective site of the bank, and will need the track to carry his produce to market. Other speculators will also convert their patent humbugs into handles for the implements of industry, and the world turn on its axis all the same. Millionaires, whose extravagance is so much deprecated, may corrupt the morals of a few ambitious, weak-headed men, who, in a desperate effort to ape their fashions, may turn robbers or defaulters; but the race of such spendthrifts is soon run, and it will not be long before the moral is all the more pointed for the new practical illustration. High rents will secure first-class and convenient warehouses and places of business, which were much needed, and the rent will soon be graduated by the profit of the trade.

In short, we see no reason why the man of sense may not take a more hopeful view of the future than is just now in general fashion. We do not think the millenium has dawned, or that the sunshine will be perpetual; it is well for pru dent men to retrench and be cautious amid general recklessness and folly; but we do believe that there will be sunshine as well as storm, and we would not join the croakers, and advise all men to dispose of their fair-weather garments, and invest all their property in umbrellas and life-preservers, under the apprehension of a second deluge.

We think the time has gone by when the recklessness of a few had power to thwart the industry and prudence of the many. The pursuits of the people are now so diversified that the rash adventurer is left to fall by himself, without involving all around him in his ruin.

Since writing our last a new administration has taken the reins of power, and the President has pronounced his inaugural. The policy there announced was very conservative, and has given general satisfaction.

The amendment of the tariff, which was before Congress at the date of our last issue, has been adopted. Its details are not conclusively settled, owing to the haste with which it was prepared and finally adopted; but its main features are easily understood.

The money markets have been very close in all parts of the country. At the South, holders of cotton, clinging to the advanced rates, have drawn the banks very close, and created more or less pressure there, for the first time in many months. The West has been much crowded, and the "street rates" have been very high. In the Northern Atlantic cities, the banks have found very urgent customers to the full extent of their means, and at the note brokers' capital has been readily taken at 9 a 12 per cent.

Foreign exchange has been comparatively low for bankers' signatures, but commercial bills have been scarce, and there has been much less than the usual difference between these two classes, especially in exchange on London. The range has been 1074 a 108, which is unusually low, considering the heavy importations.

The stock market has fluctuated more rapidly than usual, and with less apparent reason, but the "bears" have the advantage in the struggle, and the speculators show but little courage.