Chap. XV. of law, or to notorious and indisputable facts: to universally acknowledged principles of law, if Mr. Seward means to contend that the commander and crew of a vessel, commissioned as a public ship-of-war by a revolutionary Government which has been recognized as a belligerent Power by neutral nations, can be charged in a neutral country with piracy, merely for capturing and destroying the ships of the other belligerent; to notorious and indisputable facts, if he means to deny that the Sea King was transferred and delivered by her former British owners and commander to agents of the Confederate States, by whom she was purchased in order that she might be employed and commissioned by and in the service of those States, or that she was actually so employed and commissioned as a public ship-of-war under the name of the Shenandoah from a period ante

for my guidance in the future control, management, and final disposal of the vessel. I could find none. History is, I believe, without a parallel.

"Finding the authority questionable under which I considered this vessel a ship-of-war, I immediately discontinued cruising, and shaped my course for the Atlantic Ocean.

"As to the ship's disposal, I do not consider that I have any right to destroy her, or any further right to command her. On the contrary, I think that as all the property of Government has reverted, by the fortune of war, to the Government of the United States of North America, that therefore this vessel, inasmuch as it was the property of the Confederate States, should accompany the other property already reverted. I therefore sought this port as a suitable one wherein to learn the news,' and, if I am without a Government, to surrender the ship with her battery, small arms, machinery, stores, tackle, and apparel complete to Her Majesty's Government for such disposition as in its wisdom should be deemed proper.

The truth of Captain Waddell's assertion, that his first information of the overthrow of the Confederacy was gained from the Barracouta, was disputed; and there was some evidence that he continued to make captures after report of it had reached him from one of the whaling vessels which he destroyed.

cedent to the first capture made by her down to the Chap. XV. close of the war. It cannot be too distinctly understood," added the Earl of Clarendon, "that no charge of piracy could possibly be preferred or entertained against this vessel under these circumstances by Her Majesty's Government or in the Courts in this country, unless it had been satisfactorily shown that this ship wilfully continued to seize and destroy United States' vessels after she was apprised of the termination of the war." And it was observed that "Mr. Adams's request for the delivery of the ship to the United States' Government could neither have been made nor complied with, except upon the ground that she was, in the circumstances which had happened, the lawful property of that Government, If she had been British-owned, as Mr. Seward now desires to represent, the Government of the United States could have had no possible claim or title to her, even though she might have been guilty of piracy, nor could the Crown of Great Britain have acquired any title to or disposing power over her, by means of any surrender of Captain Waddell in the port of Liverpool, or by any other means short of a regular forfeiture and condemnation by process of law."

It must be reckoned a remarkable circumstance that no Confederate cruiser which extended its operations beyond the immediate neighbourhood of the American shores ever fell in with a Federal man-of-war on the high

seas.

To any Englishman, I should think, it must be an irksome and unpleasant task to tell the story which has been told in this and the two preceding chapters. The various contrivances by which these vessels were procured and sent to sea were discreditable to the Confederate Government, and offensive and injurious to Great Britain. Such enterprises were, and were known to be, calculated to embroil this country with the United States; they were carried

Chap. XV. into effect by artifices which must be accounted unworthy of any body of persons calling themselves a Government-of any community making pretensions to the rank of an independent people. Every transaction was veiled in secresy, and masked under a fictitious purchase or a false destination. By such devices it was intended, no doubt, to escape the notice of a vigilant and powerful enemy; but it was also intended to blind the eyes of the Government of Great Britain. Nor will any one attempt to dispute that the success of these projects was extremely annoying and irritating to the American Government and people. It is true, as they have constantly repeated, that the ships were procured in England; it is true that they were armed from England; it is true that of the crews which manned them, a large proportion were British subjects. It is true also that they severely harassed American shipping, and inflicted heavy losses on American trade. All this is true. What is not true, I think, is that for these losses the British nation is justly responsible.

CHAPTER XVI.

Questions which arose within the United States as to the Treatment of Foreigners resident there.-Arbitrary Arrests.-Claim to Exemption from Compulsory Military Service.-Principles on which these Questions were dealt with by the British Government.-Observa

tions.

CIVIL war is stern and exacting. It demands extraordinary sacrifices, imposes galling and unusual restraints, justifies or excuses exertions of power which in ordinary times would be oppressive and tyrannical. The pressure of this great calamity, always more or less unequal, has some peculiar aggravations in a country containing a large population of foreign birth, whose plans of life are yet unsettled, or whose attachment to their new country is but half-formed, and to whom it is still something less than a home. Many of these may be expected to bear with impatience hardships for which they were little prepared, for the sake of a cause which they scarcely feel to be their own; and troublesome and difficult questions are likely to arise in respect of persons whose original nationality is regarded by the law, or by themselves, as not yet exchanged, or not completely exchanged, for a new one. During certain periods of the war such questions sprang up in abundance; but, being handled very prudently, in a spirit of forbearance and moderation, they never grew really importunate or formidable. These questions fell mainly into two classes; they related either to arbitrary severities alleged to have been inflicted on British subjects, or to the liability of British subjects to military service. And in connection with each class of

Chap. XVI. cases it sometimes became necessary to consider who were, or ought to be regarded as being, British subjects.

From

The general principles which should govern questions of this kind are not difficult to state, nor are they very difficult of application. A foreigner must take the law as he finds it; and he must submit, whilst he remains in a country not his own, to any exceptional legislation which temporary circumstances may require. It is not for him, nor for any foreign Sovereign, to judge whether these laws are necessary or just; he must obey them, be they never so unjust or unnecessary; all that he can fairly insist on is that, when any material change is made in the legal condition of the class to which he belongs, he should be allowed a reasonable time to withdraw. any illegal exercise of force, on the part of the Executive Government or its officers, he has a right to be free, in common with all other persons who, like him, are under the control and protection of the laws; and, if this right be violated, the Sovereign to whom his allegiance is due may interpose, by remonstrance or otherwise, on his behalf. But the interposition of a foreign Sovereign for such a purpose in times of civil commotion should be sparing and cautious; for he is seldom able to judge whether that necessity which is always pleaded in excuse for an unlawful stretch of power really exists or no; and, where citizen and alien are treated alike, this, in any country accustomed to the reign of law and order, is a real though imperfect guarantee that the alien has not suffered, and will not suffer, any great and substantial injustice. It is commonly better, therefore, to leave the foreigner to take his chance with the citizen.

During the earlier stages of the conflict, the Federal Executive assumed the power to suspend at pleasure the ordinary legal securities for personal liberty in the States which adhered to the Union. Persons suspected of disaffection, against whom no overt act of treason could be proved, were arrested by soldiers, without any legal