"If the goods were sold at a public sale, the court could in no way control the price, and a debtor's goods might be sold for one-half or one-fourth of their real value; but by this procedure the debtor is sure to receive about the fair value of the goods. The fact that the debtor is absent (although a rebel to the government which this court in part represents) makes us all the more careful to see that he shall have exact justice; for, in all these cases, this court recognizes the principles so ably stated by Bouvier, by Blackburn, and by others who have written on the law of sales--1. That 'to constitute a sale, there must be a price, which is the consideration given for the purchase of a thing.' 2. That 'the price must be serious, or such a one as the seller intends to require to be paid to him. As to the quantum of the price, that is altogether immaterial, unless there has been fraud in the transaction.' 3. That 'the price must be certain and determined, but upon the maxim, id certum est quod reddi cerium potest, a sale may be valid, although it is agreed that the price of the thing sold shall be determined by a third person! 4. That 'the price must consist in a sum of money which the buyer agrees to pay to the seller; for, if it be paid in any other way, the contract is not a sale, but an exchange or barter. But it is only requisite that the agreement should be for a payment in money; in the sequel it may be changed, and the creditor may take goods in payment, and the contract will still be a sale. It is not requisite that the money should be paid down, either at the time of the sale or the delivery of the goods; it may be upon a credit, or payable at a future time. And, 5. That the consent of the contracting parties must be obtained; by which consent is meant an agreement to something proposed. It does not consist simply in a vague will to sell or to pay; it must bear on all the conditions which may be suggested by the circumstances of the case or imagined by the caprice of the contracting parties.'"
In this case, as in others, the court fixed upon the amount due the claimants, appointed three commissioners to select and assess values to goods to the amount of claim, supervised the report and schedule made, gave order to the Provost-Marshal to deliver the goods; all of which was done, and the New York merchant returned to his home, with the full conviction that in one city at least, and in one court at least, justice was administered without partiality, and without fear or favor of, or to, any one.