Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1860-01-16 00:00:00

INTERNATIONAL MARITIME LAW.

The following circular from the 'Manchester
Chamber of Commerce, with the memorial ap-
pended. on international maritime law, has .come
into our hands, and we present it to our readers,_
assured that it must possess considerable interest
in so important a maritime community as that of
Liverpool. We shall take an early opportunity
of making some remarks on the whole subject :
Manchester Chamber of Commerce,
January, 1860.

• Gentlemen,—On the occasion of this chamber pre-
senting to Lord Palmerston a memorial on International
Maritime Law, (a copy of which I enclose,) I beg, on
behalf of the board • of directors, to draw your attention
to the proposition formally made to all the maritime
powers by the government of the United States in July,
1856, namely :
"That the private property of subjects and citizens of
a belligerent on the high seas shall be exempt from
seizure by the public armed vessels of the other bellige-
rents, except it-be contraband."
Also to President Pierce's message to.the Congress of
the United States in December, 1856, stating on the
subject of the same proposition that,
" The,Emperor of Russia .has entirely and explicitly
approved of that proposition, and will co-operate in
endeavouring to obtain the assent of other Powers :"-
and that '

" Assurances of a similar purport have been received
in relation to the disposition of the Emperor, of the
French."

Also to certain resolutions adopted at a meeting of
-citizens in Bremen, and to others passed by the 'Chamber
of Commerce at Hamburg, in favour of the adoption of
the -American proposition. These are by no means un-
important, inasmuch as they may -be taken to indicate
the opinions which are probably entertained on this
question in other parts of Germany.
We cannot doubt that you will regard as both in-
human and impolitic the present state of maritime
international law, which subjects the property at sea
of unoifending individuals to be seized or destroyed,
and 'the sailors and passengers of unarmed ships to be
made prisoners of war; and we venture to hope that
you will'use you utmost influence to induce our Govern-
ment to accept any feasible proposition which maybe
made at Paris, or elsewhere, with a view to introducing
into that law, the change suggested by the government
of the United States.

We are well aware that many of our countrymen,
relying upon the great and daily increasing power of
our navy, may at first sight regard such an alteration as
a concession to our European neighbours; but it may
be hoped that this country, which has so often urged
upon other governments the moderate use of their
power, will no lono•er support a code of morality on the,
ocean so strikingly barbarous and unjust.
And moreover, we believe it will be found, that in
common with the rest of Europe, this country would
derive so many advantages from the proposed change,
as to justify its support by Great Britainf, even on
grounds of mere expediency. -
The present state of the law is fraught with evils in
time 'of peace as well as on the outbreak of war. Diffi-
cult.questions must often arise between great nations.
Dunng these discussions the ships of the countries
involved in these questions are avoided by shippers in
distant ports, or at all events, extra rates of insurance
are charged to cover the remote risk of capture, while
credits are either altogether withheld from intending
operators, or are negotiated at a disadvantage. For
'these uncertainties and inconveniences to commerce
the consumer pays heavily in the end. We may men-
tion as an, illnstration of one of the endless ways in which
commerce is paralysed by the least shake of confidence,
that it has been recently stated that ships of the French
flag had been detained months in port by their owners,
under the apprehension that a war might break out
between France and England before they could return
from an Eastern voyage.
It is almost superfluous to point out to you the ruin
which would befall numbers of the commercial classes on
the first outbreak of actual war between the great mari-
time Powers ; while, owing to the vast extension of
commerce during the last forty years, and its wide--
spread ramifications by a system of credit through, all
nations, it would be impossible to say 'on the inhabitants
of what country the losses" would not fall, nor would it
be possible to cover by good policies against risk of
seizure, the enormous amount of property afloat, after it
became known that it was exposed to imminent risk.
We need scarcely draw your attention to the great
advantages conferred by steam on hostile cruisers,
.to
which the merchant sailing vessels of both belligerents
must fall an easy prey ; nor to the advance in the prices
of many of the necessaries of life, and consequent wide-
spread distress, which would follow the waste of property
involved in an extensive system of capture and destruc-
tion, carried to unprecedented lengths by all the
appliances of modern science.
No doubt, under the declaration adopted at the' last
Paris Congress, that the flag shall cover the cargo,
commerce might, in the course of a protracted war, be,
eventually carried on in neutral bottoms, and conse-
quently be interfered with much less than would have
been the case in the absence of that declaration. , But a
long time must elapse before the trade of the world
could adjust itself to the new circumstances; many
vessels owned in the belligerent 'states would be detained
idle in port, and the consequent extravagant rates of
freight would' impede, the free interchange of commodi-
ties on which the welfare of mankind is daily becoming.
more and more dependent.
As this- question has the peculiarity of being at ,once a
commercial and state question, we khan probably not be
stepping beyond the province of this chamber, if we ven-
ture to point out some of the political advaatages which•
it seems to us would folloW the proposed change.
" Our whole nary would become available for the pro-
tection of our shores and colonies ; its 'lower ,would no
longer be liable to be partially diverted frord its para-
mount duty, to the alluring one of pillaging the com-
merce of our adversaries, or the far more difficult one of
protecting our own,
Great Britain, being at once an European and
American Power, is more liable than any other to be
drawn into great maritime wars. The knowledge of
this fact, coupled with the declaration of Paris, that the
flag shall cover the cargo, must, as we have already
seen, tend to procure for the vessels of other nations,
less exposed to become engaged in such contests, a
systematic preference, especially in distant ports. The
proposed change would thus relieve the British mercan-
tile marine from the danger of serious disadvantage in
time of peace, as well as from that of utter inactivity
in time of war; and' as it is from our merchant
service that our navymust ultimately draw its reserve
of sailors' it is most important, in a national point of
view, that the mercantile marine should not be' placed,
as at present, under circumstances calcUlated unfairly to
affect its prosperity and extension. ' •
And lastly, we can coucieve nothing more likely to
alienate the colonies from the mother country, than
that their ships and floating property shall be endangered
by a war originating in some European question, about
which they may be wholly indifferent.
The arguments in opposition to the change are, as we
understand them, as follows :--
First.—That war must be made calamitous, in order
to expedite its termination and indispose nations to
resort to it on frivolous pretexts.
This argument is open to a simple reductio ad absur-
dum, for if logically carried out, it would justify the
most atrocious practices of savage ages ; and in con-
tradiction of it, we have the most happily expressed
opinion of Lord Palmerston, who said in 1856,
" If we look at the example of former periods, tve
shall not find that any powerful country was ever 'van-
quished by losses sustained by individuals ; it is the
conflicts of armies by land or fleets by sea that decide
the great contests of nations, and it is perhaps to be
desired that these conflicts should be confined to -the
bodies acting under the orders and directions of the
respective states."
And' in illustration of his lordship's assertion it will
be remembered, that the first Napoleon attained the
highest point of his power years after the naval forces
of France, and with them her foreign maritime com-
merce, had been destroyed by the battle of Trafalgar.
Moreover, a heavy tax levied to meet the cm-rent
expenses of a war, is a far more just means towards
checking the warlike passions of mankind, than the
sacrifice of particular classes, among whom it is pro-
posed to spread ruin, simply to insure their strenuous
advocacy of peace.
Secondly.—That the prospect of prize money lessens
the cost of manning the navy.
It is, however, most short-sighted and narrow econ-
omy, to attempt to keep down the direct expenses of
the navy by a system which holds the commerce of this
country in uncertainty. Moreover, the sailors get in
fact so small a share of prize money, that we do not