Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 3.djvu/660

 THE'ÀMÀiii. -"^ B53 �also oii aecbWt'of'îïï-treàtinent "bjf the dfficers of'the'^^ipi This Vessel iis tinder the Swedish flàg, Mailing froïn Herno- saûd, m Sweden. The master is a Swede. Some of the libeU lants are citizena of that country, -while others are subjects of Denmark and 'Prussia. Some of the crew were shipped at Hernosand, and some in New York, ail for a two-year voy- age, (which time has not yet expired,) and until the vessers return to Sweden. There being no consul or other repre- sentative of S-freden -within the jurisdiction of this court, upon reading the iibel it wasdeemed proper to grant process against the ship, then in the harbor of Portland. On the return day the master appeared and presented a preliminary objection to the court's further proceeding in the cause, fdr the reason that the ship was a foreign vessel, and her creW must be taken as belonging to the nationality of her flag, and' that under such' circumstances the district court ahould not interpose, iû a controversy of this description, between à 'for- eign ship and her' crew. ■ '■ �■In àll differencës'between officerg and crew of a foreign veà-' sel, which hav% been presented 'to this court, the court has heretofore, in every instance, declined to assume ' jurisdiëtiôn tphenever thôre haS been within the district any representa- tives of the government to whidh such ship belonged, ànd Ma invariably remitted to such representative ail such controvër- aies for his determination. In ail such eases the court has recognized the riile announced bythe privy council in The Nina, 2 L. E. P. G; '39, that the nationality of the vessel, and not the nationality of any one of her crew, asking the interpositioii' of the court, should regulate the action of the court; and ail of the crew of this ship, for the purpose of this investigation, must be deemed Swedish subjects, notwithstanding it appears that some of them are in fact oitizens of other nationalities. �It cannot admit of question that the district court, unless restricted by some treaty stipulation, has jurisdiction, in a «ase for wages, against a foreign vessel, and that the exercise of such jurisdiction is discretionary. In the exercise of such •discretion the allegations found in this Iibel required of tha court, in the absence of any Swedish respresentative, to ����