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Edward Everett On The Mason-slidell Arrest

Edward Everett On The Mason-slidell Arrest image
Parent Issue
Day
6
Month
December
Year
1861
Copyright
Public Domain
OCR Text

Mr. E.erctt delirered bis nddress on the '-State of the Country, ' bèfore tlio Middletcz Medramos' Ássoeiotion, t Lowell, o Tuesday eferiing. Aeiwd iuj to die Jou nu! and ( '■'. ter of t hut. city, Mr. Ëvereu began by reuiarkiuff that lie bad boen requtated t Bay a word or two upon an evuiit t lia t reacheo us withtu a day rr two- tha capture of ■ Messrs. Masón and Slidall, Saine have ■ apprehended that this act, however, doliimble ii soine respeots. may yot bu con sidered by tbc Britísh govemmmrt as unautborizcd by tile law of nations, and there are l.kcly to brin' us Hito uupioas aiit luliitions witli that power. Thi-i tipprekemion is entirdy g round! ess Tbcre ia no rigbt better rccgnizcd by t lio law of ; naiidns than that oí' i be armed vensel of a bclligercnt powur to detaiu a neutral j vcssel on tiie liigll seas, to aseortuin wbetbcr un board of thal neutral vcsscl tbero is ahytbing contrabatid of war - It isexprossly Uid dmvu by all tho text writers on tbe law of nations, that among the tilinga wbiob are forbiddon to bu carriod by a neutral vcssel are emb issidors of eitiíer belligerent powor. There liave been niany cases in which tbis principie bas been laid down and entorced in the English Courts of Admiralty. In tbe year 1808 an Americin vessul oalled the Caroline, on her way froni New York to ]5ordeaux, in Franco, was captnrod by a Britisli cruiser, carried into England, tned, and condemued before !Sir W iliiam Scott, afterward Lord Stovvell, the high estauthority on any (juestion of the law of nations tbat can be feund in Great Uritain - condenmed beemse it carrieJ dispatcbes from tbe government of one of tho Fronch colonies. In giving h:"s npinioc on the condemnation oL this ves sel, Sir William Soott expressly said that the belligerent cruiser wa-s authorized in stopping the cnibasxador of the eueniy on tbe way to his destination. Yon are, many of you, familiar with thu case of Mr. Henry Laurens, who was at one time President of the Continental Congressj in the Revolutioi.ary war, wlio was on bis way from Martinique to Holland, on board of a Iutch vcssel, at that time a neutral power. This vessel was captured by a British frigate, carried into St Johii's, Newfoundlaud, he was transforrcd to another vessel and sent to England, and there confined in tho Tower of don, as a traitor for two years, nnd t was onlv after the surronder of Cornwallis at Yorktowii lio was given up n ?xnhange fur tne comiiiaudur in-cbief of the Hritish forcea You see that there a not the slightcst trroand for appreliension that there is any illegality io t'iis detontion of the mail packet, that the detention was parfectlj lawfui, tliu capti-.re was perfec'Iy lawftti, their coufiíienient m Fort VVarreu will be pcrtVctly lawfui (elíeers), aud as they will lio doubt bc kopt th. re in saf -ty until the reutorotioH if peace - whicb we a 1 so mioli dijsire - wc uiay, i ;un BOru, cordiully wisti tli m a uaftí and gpeedjdolwerauce (' beofg. )

Article

Subjects
Old News
Michigan Argus