Page:United States Reports, Volume 2.djvu/334

 328 Casas ruled and adjudged in the -· 1- ·. the ac} of Can rej} would be nu ato ; as it mi ht be evaded 19: _ _ S _ E TY K _ true`.! by bringing a fingle gun in the veliel. In the prefent cafe, it ap- pears that Le: fumeaiex had been employed in the Guinea-trade; that {he arrived here with a cargo of fugar and cotton; and be- ing converted from a merchant velfel, carrying a few guns for felf defence, into a privateer armed for holiilities, it is clearly an original outfit within the meaning of the law. The dillinélion is juftified by this further coniideration, that the gd feélion makes arming the vellel, with intent to employ her in hg/!iHtie:, the offence ; whereas the 4ffl fe&ion refers nothing to the in- tent with which the force of the veffel is augmented, as it only . contemplates the cafe of veil`e1s originally Stted for war by the nation to which they belon. Parreuson, _‘}'1y}iee:—'IEhis is an ,indi&ment againlt fohn Etienne Guinet, for being, knowingly, conccmed in furnifhing, fitting out, and arming Le: zgnieaux, in the port and river De—. Lz-ware, with intent that fhel uld be employed in the fervice of the French Republic, to cruife, or commit hoflilities, upon the fuhjefts of_ Great Britain, with whom the United State: are at peace : And it is the province of the jury to enquire, whe- ther the proof exhibited on the trial, has fully maintained the charge contained in the indictment. Much has been faid upon the conflcruftion of the gd. and 4th fe€`tions of the af]: of Cangrq/i ; but the Court is clearly of opi· niou, that the gd feition was meant to include all cafes of vef- fels. armed within our ports by one of the helligerent powers, to afi as cruifcrs againlt another belligerent power in peace with the United State:. Converting a fhip from her original deftina- tion, with intent to commit hollilities ; or in other words, con- verting a merchant {hip into a veffel of war, mult bedeemed an original outfit ; for the a€t wonl_d,otherwife, become nugatpry and inoperative. It is the convcrlion from the peaceable ufe, to the warlike purpofe, that conllitutes the offence. Thevelfel in qaefiibn arrived in this part, with a cargo of coffee and fugar, from the IV€,’?·I1idier ; and fo appears to have been employed by her owner with a view_to merchandize, and not with a view to war. The enquiry, therefore, is limit- ted to this conlideration, whether, after her arrival, {he was Etted out, in order to cruife again!} any foreign nation, being at peace with the [Lifted State:. It is true, {he left the wharf with only four guns, the number that fh: had brought into the port ; but it is equally true, that when {he had dropped to fom.: dillance below, {he took on board three or four guns more, a number of mulltets, water-callts, 8cc. ; and, it is manifelt, that other guns, were ready to be fen: to her by the Pilot-boat. Tirefe circumll.an¤:es clearly prove a converfion from the original commercial dclign of the veffel, to a dcligu of ctuitizrg agaiglit

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