Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 9.djvu/440

 •SE SENG CO, V. COBBITT. 425 �certificate, over his signature and seal of office, containing a descrip- tion of the vessel and the following statement under the head of "General remarks upon the vesseland cbaracter of the risk :" "Vessel docked and metaled at date under inspection of the undersigned ; now tight and in order, but not a fit vessel to carry passengers." These facts were at once communicated to the defendants by cable and mail, and they instruoted the master to do the best he could -vrith her, and she went into the coasting trade, where she remained until she was disposed of in the following July. �On February 13, 1880, Nathaniel Ingersoll, who procured the char- ter for the libellants, wrote Forbes from Portland, enclosing d copy of the charter-party for the use of Hop Kee, and telling him that Ye Seng Company wished to be advised by mail when he was ready to sail for Portland. �On March 4, 1880, at the instance of Forbes, Hop Kee wrote across the face of the copy of the charter forwarded to him by Inger- soll, "This charter-party is cancelled in consequence of the emigra- tion office of Hong Kong refusing to permit the Garibaldi to carry passengers," and signed the same "Hop Kee, agent for charterers;" and on the same date Forbes addressed a note to "Messrs. Hop Kee & Go., agents for charterers of Garibaldi, " as follows : �"In consequence of the emigration ofiace of Hong Kong refusing to permit my ship to carry passengers, I hereby certify that you have cancelled the charter-party, dated Portland, Oregon, twentieth August, 1879." �[Signed] "T. J. Forbes, Captain Garibaldi." �The libellant conteste the right of Hop Kee to cancel the agree- ment, and the counsel for the defendants admits that the evidence does not prove it. His agency appears to have been confined to the fulfilment of the charter at Hong Kong, without any authority to modify or cancel it. Nor will the law iniply the greater authority from the less — the power to abrogate from the power to fulfil or carry out. Maclachlau, L. of M. S. 360 ; Rich v. Panott, 1 Spr. 358. Nor is it clear that Hop Kee aetually undertook to release the defendants from their obligation under the agreement, but only for- mally to admit the fact that as it had become impossible, as he un- derstood it, for the defendants to perform their part of the contracta it was, in his judgment, practically at an end. �The answerof the defendants alleges that the Garibaldi, on August 20, 1879, was owned by the Ocean Ship Company, a corporation formed under the laws of Oregon, and that the defendants made said charter-party as the agents of said company and not otherwise, and ��� �