Art. IV.-COMMERCIAL CODE OF SPAIN.

NUMBER V.

We continue our translations of the Codigo de Comercio of Spain on the subject of Marine Averages, and Forced Arrivals, or Arrivals in Distress.

MARINE AVERAGES.

946. The examination and liquidation of the average, and its amount, shall be verified by skillful persons, named on the suggestion of the parties interested, or their representatives; or, if they should not do it, by appointment, made by the tribunal of commerce at the port of discharge, this being done in a Spanish territory.

If this should be done in a foreign country, this appointment shall appertain to the Spanish consul; and, in defect of there being one, to the judicial authority which takes cognizance of mercantile affairs.

947. The skillful persons shall accept the appointment, and shall take an oath to discharge their duties faithfully and legally.

948. Merchandises lost shall be estimated according to their correct price in their place of discharge, so far as it may appear from the bills of lading, the kind of goods, and their respective quality.

It not being so, it shall be as it may result from the invoice of the purchase made in the port of departure, adding to the amount of this, the expenses and freights caused afterwards.

The masts cut away, sails, cables, and the rest of the apparel which may be mutilated to save the vessel, shall be estimated by the value which they had at the time of the average, and their condition for service.

949. In order that the effects of the cargo lost or injured may be considered in the computation of common average, it is an indispensable circumstance, that they should be transported with their own, or proper bills of lading. On the contrary, their loss or damage shall be on account of the parties interested without, for this reason, their being excused from contributing in case of their being saved, like all the rest of the cargo.

950. Neither shall there be computed in the common average, the ef fects, loaded upon the combings of the vessel, which may be thrown overboard or damaged, notwithstanding that they shall be also subject to the contribution of the average if they should be saved.

The FLETANTE and the captain shall answer for the losses of the jettison of the effects thrown overboard to the shippers, if their collocation on the combings was made arbitrarily, and without their consent.

951. The merchandises thrown into the sea, which may be afterwards recovered, shall not enter into the computation of common average, except in that part which was not shown to be necessary, and what the expenses may amount to, incurred to recover them; and if, before the recovery was made, they should have been included in the reckonings of the whole averages, their value shall be put to the owners. These ought to return what was received, retaining only what may correspond to them by reason of their injury and their expenses.

952. In case of the effects of the cargo being lost in order to lighten the vessel, on account of a tempest or to facilitate her entrance into a roadstead or port, and they shall be transferred to barges or launches, their

value shall be comprehended in the mass, which has to contribute to the common average according to Article 939.

953. The amount, which, according to the regulation of the arbitration of skillful persons, the gross average exceeds, shall be divided proportionally amongst the parties contributing by the person whom the tribunal may name to take cognizance of the liquidation of the average.

954. To fix the proportion in which the distribution is to be made, it shall be graduated according to the value of the part of the cargo saved from the risk, and that which corresponds to the vessel.

955. The effects of the cargo shall be estimated by the price which it may have in the port of discharge, the merchandises lost shall enter to contribute for the same value at which they may have been estimated in the regulation of the average. The vessel, with her apparel, shall be estimated also according to the state in which they may be found; as well the just price of the vessel, as that of the effects of her cargo, shall be determined by skillful men named in the form prescribed by Article 946.

956. There shall be held, for accessory value of the vessel for the contribution to the average, the amount of the freights earned on the voyage, with the discount of the wages of the captain and crew.

957. To ascertain the just value of the merchandise saved, there shall be an actual inspection of them, and not according to what may result from the bills of lading, unless the parties agree in its being referred to them.

958. Munitions of war and provisions of the vessel do not contribute to the gross average, nor the clothing in use of the captain and officers and crew who may have already served.

959. There are excepted also, from the contribution of the common averages, the clothing of the same kind belonging to the shippers, supercargoes, and passengers who may be found on board of the vessel, so far as the value of the effects of this sort which may belong to such one person may not exceed that of the same kind which the captain saved from contribution.

960. The effects thrown overboard do not contribute to the payment of common average, which may occur to the merchandise saved on a different and subsequent risk.

961. The distribution of the gross average shall not be executive, or carried into effect until approved of by the tribunal which takes cognizance of its liquidation, and that shall proceed to make it in the audience of the parties interested being present, or their legal representatives.

962. The captain must carry into effect the distribution, and is responsible to the owners for the things averaged for any delay or negligence on his part.

963. If the contributors should not satisfy their respective quotas within the third day after the distribution is approved of, process shall be had, at the solicitude of the captain, against the effects saved until they, the quotas, are made effective from the results of the sales.

964. The captain may defer the delivery of the effects saved until the contribution is paid to him, if the party interested in receiving them should not give security for their value.

965. In order for a demand of average to be admitted, it is necessary that its amount on import should be more than the one-hundredth part of the ordinary value of the vessel and her cargo.

966. The dispositions of this title shall not prevent the parties from making special contracts, which they may think proper, concerning the responsibility, liquidation, and payment of averages, in which case these shall be punctually preserved, even where they part from or deviate from the rules which they established.

967. If, to prevent a fire in a port or road, a vessel should be ordered to be scuttled as a necessary measure to save the rest of the property, this loss shall be considered as common average, to which the other vessels saved shall contribute.

SECTION II.—OF FORCED ARRIVALS, OR OF ARRIVALS IN DISTRESS.

963. Just causes for arriving at a distinct point from that fixed upon the voyage of the vessel shall be

First. Want of provisions.

Second. A well-founded fear of enemies and pirates.

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Third. Any accident to the vessel, or ship's company, which incapacitates her from continuing the voyage.

969. Any of these causes occurring which may compel an arrival, the officers of the vessel shall be examined in a junta or together, carrying into effect whatever may be resolved upon by a plurality of votes, of which express mention shall be made in the proceedings, which shall be entered in the proper register, all signing them who know how to do so. The captain shall have the casting vote; and those interested in the who may be present shall assist also at the junta, without a vote in it, and only to be informed of the discussion, and to make the reclamations and protests convenient to their interests, which shall also be inserted in the same proceedings literally.

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970. The expenses of a forced arrival shall be always on account of the naviero and FLETANTE.

971. Neither the captain or NAVIERO shall be responsible for any losses which may happen to the shippers on account of the arrival if this was legal, but they shall be liable in common always when it was not so.

972. Every forced arrival shall be held legal which does not proceed from the fraud, culpable negligence, or carelessness of the naviero or captain.

973. An arrival shall not be considered legal in the following cases :First. Proceeding from the want of provision, there not having been provided sufficient for the voyage according to the usages and customs of navigation, or from having been lost or spoiled from bad stowage, or carelessness in taking care of and preserving it.

Second. If the risk from enemies and pirates had not been well known, manifest, and positive, and justifiable by facts.

Third. When the injury which the vessel may have suffered had its origin in her not having been repaired, furnished, and equipped competently for the voyage.

Fourth. Whenever the injury proceeded from any ill-arranged disposition of the captain, or from his not having taken those which were convenient to avoid it.

974. A discharge in the port of a forced arrival shall only be proceeded in when it may be indispensably necessary, in order to make the repairs which the vessel needs, or to avoid damage and average in the cargo. In both cases the discharge ought to be preceded by the authorization of

the tribunal which takes cognizance of mercantile affairs. In a foreign port, where there is a Spanish consul, it shall be his duty to give this authorization.

975. The captain has in charge the custody of a cargo which may be disembarked, and is responsible for its preservation, excepting from accidents of insuperable force.

976. It being known or ascertained in the port of the forced arrival that any part of the cargo has suffered average, the captain shall apply to the authority which has cognizance of mercantile affairs within twenty-four hours, and the shipper, or any other representatives of the cargo, shall conform to the dispositions which the tribunal may give concerning the goods averaged.

977. The shipper, nor any person representing him being in the port, the goods shall be examined by skillful persons named by the judges of commerce, or the consular agent, who shall declare the amount of damage which the said goods may have received, the means to repair and remedy it, or to avoid at least its increase or propagation, and whether it may be or not convenient to re-embark and conduct them to the port where they were consigned. In view of the declaration of skillful persons, the tribunal shall prescribe what it may deem most useful to the interest of the shipper, and the captain shall put into execution what is decreed, being responsible for every infraction or abuse which may be committed.

978. There may be sold, with judicial intervention and at public auction, such part of the effects averaged which may be necessary to cover the expenses which the preservation of the rest may exact, in case the strong box of the vessel cannot supply them, and the captain cannot find any one to lend the amount on bottomry. The captain, as well as any other person who may make the advance, shall have a right to the legal interest of the amount, and to its return, upon the product of the same goods, with a preference over other creditors, of whatever class their credits may be.

979. It not being possible to preserve the goods averaged without the risk of their being lost, and their state or situation not permitting the shipper or his consignee to take of themselves the disposition which may be most convenient for them, their sale shall be proceeded in with the same solemnities as prescribed in the preceding articles, the amount or proceeds being deposited, deducting the expenses and freights at the disposition of the shippers.

980. The motive which impelled to cause a forced arrival ceasing, the captain cannot defer the continuation of his voyage, and he shall be responsible for the damages which he may occasion by a voluntary delay.

981. If the arrival should be made from fear of enemies or pirates, the sailing of the vessel shall be deliberated upon in junta with his officers, with the assistance of those interested in the cargo who may be present in the same, and the case may be determined as arrivals are determined upon in Article 969.

A. N.

Art. V. THE MERCANTILE HOUSE OF A. AND S. HENRY AND CO.

In placing before our readers an account of the mercantile house of A. and S. Henry & Co., derived from Somerville's "Industrial Wonders of Manchester and Forty Miles Round," we are exhibiting almost a phenomenon in the business world. Every commercial man knows the continued attention and judgment it requires to conduct a business, even of limited extent, with that perfect system which is so necessary to ensure success. Yet here we see a mammoth establishment, embracing in itself all the higher departments of business, sending off exports amounting to over $7,000,000 per annum, paying to its assistants and clerks $80,000 a year; yet, like a complicated and perfect piece of machinery, each part acting in a general unity with the whole, and producing neither disorder or confusion. This perfect system owes its existence to Mr. Alexander Henry, the principal head of the establishment. He has accumulated an immense fortune, while he has preserved the reputation of the moralist. He has extended his commercial relation with every clime; and opposing monopolies, and all provisions that tended to weaken and trammel commerce, has ever been a staunch advocate for free and unrestricted trade. He is now elected member of Parliament, and we anticipate a career of usefulness. We pronounce this truth as an axiom, that he who can, amidst the perplexing tides that ever agitate commercial affairs, so skillfully shape his course as ever to shun its disasters, while amassing a fortune, must prove a sound and politic statesman. He carries to the Halls of Legislation a mind that has received its bent and character, and filled with principles of practical utility, gathered from the trials of experience. No wild schemes, founded upon the uncertain basis of theory, can delude him to action; but with a judgment matured by the results of the past, he estimates cautiously the effects of every movement. Like the skillful pilot, he first sounds the depths of unknown currents before he will endanger the interests and trusts of his constituents.

ALEXANDER HENRY, whose great establishments, at the corner of Portlandstreet and York-street, Manchester; at Leeds, Bradford, and Huddersfield, in Yorkshire; at Nottingham and at Leicester; at Glasgow, in Scotland; at Belfast, in Ireland; and whose commercial agencies are in all the chief cities of the United States of North America; in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick; in Montreal and Quebec, in Canada; in the British West India Islands; in Cuba, Mexico, and all the States of South America; in California, the Philippine Islands, China, Batavia, the East Indies, Australia, Egypt, Turkey; on the African and European shores of the Mediterranean Sea; in Italy, Portugal, Spain, and Northern Europe; whose commercial name and influence circulates from Manchester through all Britain in the inland trade; wider than the British dominions in foreign trade; der than the English language; wide as the habitations of civilized mankind; and in union with the other great agencies of British commerce, is extending civilization, and the name, the language, and the power of England every year, into the regions of deepest barbarism-Alexander Henry, the head of this commercial house, whose mercantile operations go round the earth, was born at Loughbrickland, in the county of Down, Ireland. He was named after an uncle settled as a merchant in Philadelphia, to whom he was sent at the age of twelve years. Of this uncle, under whom he was tutored in commercial knowledge, we shall first give a brief notice.

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Mr. Alexander Henry, of Philadelphia, was born in the north of Ireland, in 1766. He emigrated to America in 1783, entered upon mercantile business as a clerk,