capture, and condemned as such, to the use and benefit of the capture. If by a vessel of the Government, then one half the prize money, or value of the prize to inure to the Government, and the other to the officers and crew, in the proportions established by - the Laws of the United States, If by a private armed vessel, then the whole amount, in similar proportions, to the owners, officers and crews, unless, by private arrangement, different terms are agreed upon. But in case the judge of the said-court shall be of opinion that the jury of three, aforesaid, have decided contrary to evidence, he may grant a new trial, either to the counsel of the captured vessel or to the counsel of the Government; and it is further ordered and decreed, that it shall be the duty of the Attorney General to prosecute all cases of capture, on behalf of the Government, and that the Captain, owner or representative of the captured property be allowed to appear by counsel or in person in defence of the same. Done at Harrisburg &c." (I am aware) The foregoing is of course a very rough outline, but if even that could aid your Excellency's own suggestions however rough, is all that I can give, to he shaped properly by your Excellency. Efficiency! Efficiency! Efficiency! at Galveston is all important. When Col. Morgan can attend in person, all will go right. Let Col. P. visit the island, if possible, immediately. V cry Respectfully R. Triplett P. S. If a doubt of your power to constitute a court of Admiralty should arise, I venture the suggestion, that where a limitation operates, so as enterely to neutralise an act, it should be construed as the intention of the Convention may most probably be presumed. They did not intend to leave the Country without the tribunals necessary to its existence, and the grant of plenary powers was never intended to be a mere letter; by Lhe operation, a limitation permitted without seeing its bearing. Indeed if you had been left without any grant of power whatever, and yet you constitute the only Government which exists, the law of necessity, the strongest known to man, gives you the power. It must be exercised in all cases where no other provision is made to prevent anarchy and confusion. R.T.
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