The enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1804-1815, 1806-02-18

raj permanent purpole Of altering her colonial yltem,
and of admitting foreign vehels universally, and
all times to participation Of that commerce. Ia
king tina, to DO the faS however fupicious its conf
meneement might be during the actual exifenee of
wary there ground TO fay thar peutrals.
were not carrying OH commerce as ordinary any
other in which they could be engaged and therefore
in the cafe Of the Vervagtng, and in many other
ueeeedng cafes the lords decreed payment offreiyht
to the neutral hip owner. IL is to Re remembered
on this occaion that the conduct OF France evinced
how little dependence be placed upon explanations
Of neafires adopted during the preGure of war for
hardly the ratification oi exc peace 6gned, when
N. returned to her ancient fyen of colonial mono
poly" We aufywsr ali this that refer the de-
ciiisn of the lords in the Yeyosgfc, other icce-d-
ing cafes, ,be resfon ALIGNED, stoaecue that high
tribunal Of acting upon confidence which has NO
example ina ngularly incredible declaration Of indeed
iueh declaration made) after the falfc
hood Of had been, thislesrned opinion does tief
form us,unequivoca!ly & notoroufly afcerr,ned. We
have feep that the PryvagaGng decided by the
lords in 1855 and l7S6, at leuft two years afrer
France bad. are told" returned to her ancient
iyltein OF colonial monepoy;" and when, Of courfe,
the fuppofed anertion of an intended permanent a.
abandonment Of that fyfenn, could not be permitted
TO produce any legal confsquences We anfwer far
ther, that if this alledged declaration WAS in faa
made, (and we mutt be allowed to FAY, that We
recited) itnsver sput into fuch formal and au-
thente hape to be the fair fubje of judicial no.
tice. 1t snot contained in the French arres of that
day, where 1t would be proper look for it, and we
are no. referred to any other document proceeding
from the government of France, in which il faid to
appear. There does not, in word, feem to have
been any thing which enlightened tribunal could
be iuPpoed capable of confidering pledge on the
part OF France, that he had refolved upon or even
he pfch.p ;,h Il CT
tenn which fhe is iad in this opinion to have been
underftood to announce to the world. But even if
the declaration in queition actually made, and
that too with all poilbs folemnty fill it would be
difficult to peruade any thinking man, that the fin
CERTIFY OF fuchs declaration was in any degree confd-
ed IN or that any perlon, in any country, could re-
ssrdit in ANY other light than mere art6ee that
Gould give no right which would not equally well
eIif without it.
Upon the waole it is manifeRly impracacabe to
re the decions of the lords of appeal in and after
sne American war, upon any dependence placed on
this deelaration ut which there is no evidence that il
ever was made. which, ir is certain, was no, authen
ucaily or formally made: which, however made
was not and could not be believed at any time, far
LET'S III 7S5 and 1886, when its fafehond had been
unquettionabiy proved by the public and unditp.
guiihed conduct Gifts uppoied authors, in direct op
petition it.
mar SIR James Marriott, whs fat in the high
court OF admiralty of Great Britain during the qrea
ter part OF the late did not conider there d.ci
"ns As handing upon this ground is evdent for,
withdrawing, that in the war of 1856, h. wa. the
mott Jealous and perhaps able advocate for the con-
domination OF the Dutch fhips engaged in the COLONY
trade OF France, yet upon the breaking out of the late
war, lie relied upon the deciiions in the American
war; as authortatvely iettling the legality of that
trade, and deereed accordingly.
II, as more plaufible anlwer TO thefs decifions
eonndered Ill the light of authorities than that which
we have jult examined, il fheud be faid thar tb.v
Dug Mt rather TO be viewed reluctant facrfices 70
Poicy' or even to neceiity, under circumstances Of
',ns.iai d'Hcsity and peril than as eapreilon OF
the deliberate opinion of the lords of appeal or tbe
government of Great Britain OH the matter of r;gb,
might perhaps, be fufhcisnt reply that, if the
armed neutrality, coupled with ths tuation of Great,
Britain rs party to the war; did in any degree COM
pei theie deciiions, we might aifo expea to find At
the lame ars fome rela xxtion on the part of that
country, relative to the doctrine of contraband up
on winch the convention of the armed neutrality Con-
tanned the mott direc POPULATIONS, which the Nor
thern powers particularly intereH.d to enforce
fet' iuch was not the fact But in addition to this.
ana other csnderations of fimilar defcriptiun it is
natuEaito enquire, why it happened that If the lords
OF appeal were fatisfed that Great-Britain poeRed
the right in queion they recorded and gave 20 the
world ieries of decions againft it, founded, DO. I'D
WI br'hn orders OF council, gratutouily relaxing
what was ttill alerted to be the ftria RIGHT fas in
the late war; but upon general principles of public
law. However prudence might have required (al-
though there is no reafon to believe tina, !, did re-
quirt) an abitinence on the part Of Great Britain,
froE the extreme exercife of the right he had been
iuppoied to cllim ftil il could not be peeeN,rv n
give TO the mere forbesrance OIL a claim the a,n,n g.
character OF formal admon that the clair, itfelf
was Illegal and unjuf. In the late war, as often a.
the brtih government wiihed to concede and relay
from whatever motive, the fubiesa of the COLONY
trade oil her opponents, order of council was re-
iorted to,fetting forth the nature of the concefi.
on' or relaxation upon which the courts ofprize were
afterwardsto found their fentence,--and undoub,edx
ienteneesi paied, cannot, in any fair reaoning he
eonudered as deciding moro than that the order of
council IS obligatory on the courts whole fsutenc.s
they are But the DEGREES ofthe lords of appen,. in
and after the American war; are not of this drfc,;,;
on, ince there exifted no orders of council on ,L
fubJed OF them aud, of courfe they are and ougb,
TO be of the highea weight and authority so,ina
Great Britain. on the queis involved in and adj.
judged by them.
This ioemn remuneration of the principle in ouefl;
on. IN the face Of the whole world, by their hcbef
tribunal, in matters OF prize, reiterated in fueSe
on OF DEGREES, down to the year 1885, and aterward
is powerfully confirmed by the aequefcence Of C;re,,
Britain, during the fra, mott important, and asive
period ct the late war, in the free and unlimited
ieeution, by nestrals, the whole colony trade IN