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Depositions in their rough state have been on hand, and the question should arise as to the validity of attested copies and signatures. Such copies, if they suffice, can be prepared for production before the Court by order of Your Excellency, from the original Documents, and, as these latter are necessarily open to remark, from rapid writing and erasures, it would be much more satisfactory to me, as the officer responsible for the proceedings, if attested copies only were produced at the trial.
It is not for one to make any remark whether it is needful to make observations upon the evidence, but for Your Excellency's consideration, I may remark that Captain Pitman's evidence will be found distinct and straightforward, and conclusive in its character. He deposes that on the morning of the 22nd ult., he observed the Schooner in company with the junk off the Luggeds; that he subsequently saw the schooner go alongside the junk and discharge everything out of her; a quantity of useless things thrown overboard during the operation, continuing for several hours to float past, observable by the whole ship's company, and reported to him by the officers; that on the afternoon of the same day, he proceeded to where the Schooner lay, boarded her, and sent for the master with his log and papers; that the said Master, in the most explicit terms, admitted the capture of the junk, the death of several of the junk's crew from his shots, the wounding of others, and the absence of all authority for such act of violence and depredation.
Captain Pitman's evidence, together with the schooner's log and papers, leave no doubt as to the habitual infraction of the Navigation Laws, and the frequency of similar acts by the schooner; the seizure of Chinese Pirates appearing indeed the only ostensible object of the schooner's cruise - bound for no port and without any port clearance from that which she had last left.
The recorded evidence of the Chinese...