THE MALTESE ADMIRALTY COURT.—ITS EXTORTIONATE FEES, AND CONSEQUENT LOSS
TO CAPTORS.—MY VISIT TO MALTA.—I POSSESS MYSELF OF THE COURT TABLE
OF FEES.—INEFFECTUAL ATTEMPTS TO ARREST ME.—I AT LENGTH SUBMIT, AND
AM CARRIED TO PRISON.—A MOCK TRIAL.—MY DEFENCE.—REFUSE TO ANSWER
INTERROGATORIES PUT FOR THE PURPOSE OF GETTING ME TO CRIMINATE
MYSELF.—AM SENT BACK TO PRISON.—AM ASKED TO LEAVE PRISON ON BAIL.—MY
REFUSAL AND ESCAPE.—ARRIVAL IN ENGLAND.
At the commencement of 1811, finding that, in place of anything being
awarded to the _Impérieuse_ for numerous prizes taken in the
Mediterranean, the Maltese Admiralty Court had actually brought me in
debt for vicious condemnation, I determined to go to Malta, and insist
on the fees and charges thereon being taxed according to the scale upon
which the authority of the Court in such matters was based.
It is not my intention to enter generally into the nature of the demands
made by the Maltese Court, but rather to point out the manner in which,
after realisation of the prize funds, costs were inflicted on the
officers and crews of ships of war, till little or nothing was left for
distribution amongst the captors. This will give a good idea of the
practices which prevailed; preventing officers from harassing the
coasting trade of the enemy, as the expenses of condemning small craft
were ruinous, being for the most part the same as those charged by the
Court for the condemnation of large vessels.
One of the customs of the Court was as follows: to charge as fees _one
fourth_ more than the fees of the High Court of Admiralty in England;
this one fourth was practically found to amount in some cases to _one
half_, whilst any scale of charges by which the conduct of the Court was
guided, remained inaccessible to the captors of prizes.
The principal officer of the Court in this department was a Mr. Jackson,
who held the office of Marshal. This officer, however, though resident
in Malta, performed his duty of marshal by deputy, for the purpose of
enabling him also to exercise the still more profitable office of
proctor, the duties of which he performed in person. The consequence was
that every prize placed in his hands as proctor had to pass through his
hands as marshal! whilst as proctor it was further in his power to
consult himself as marshal as often as he pleased, and to any extent he
pleased. The amount of self-consultation may be imagined. Right
profitably did Mr. Proctor Jackson perform the duty of attending and
consulting himself as Mr. Marshal Jackson!
Subjoined is an extract from the charges of Proctor Jackson for
attending himself as Marshal Jackson:—
Cro. reals. sc.
Attending (as proctor) in the registry and 2 0 0
bespeaking a monition
Paid (himself as marshal) for said monition under 9 0 0
seal, and extracting