Virginia Argus. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1796-1816, 1808-02-23

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c-ters wherever they are 10 be found but
the continental powers might alledge the
same right 10 Claim the soldiers who pass
from their service TO that OF another. In
this respect the principles are the same.
When deserters fall again into the power
OF the state which they have quilted, they
suffer the punishment due to their crime !:
but we do not see their government going
to wrest them by force from the foreign re-
giment in which they have taken refuge.
Their desertion is particular accident,
which their country does not revenge by so
greivous an injury to the independence of a
nation. Principles so evidently true upon
thelContnent, cannot cease to be SO upon the
ocean 1t is oflittle moment to know whe-
Their the captain Of the Leopard had reason
to think that there were English deserters
on board the Chesapeake but it is of the
greatest interest for all nations, to know
whether he had a right to inforce the re-
stitution of them by the atrocious means
which he made use of. Now, this is what
England viii not find either in the laws of
any nation or in her own maritime code,
however exclusive, and however tyrannical
1t may I've in Other respects. Never was it
though tina, a man of war was liable to this
submission. The United States enjoyed in
this respect the common right. Their ju-
ris6ictirn over their land and sea forces
was as fall and as independent as that of
any other power. Were it otherwise, let
us only represent to ourselves the conse-
quences of this humiliating submission;
man of war stopped when and where it
should please the captains OF miserable
English sloop, obliged ,olye too at The first
requistion, constrained respectfully to adj
mt foreign inspectors on board, to submit
20 them her muster roll andto let them mus
ter her men! Can any thing be imagined
more contrary to order, more subversivc of
discipline, and more degrading for the dig
nifty Of the state submitting to this inquisi-
sion No doubt, ar American captain
would be very i'll received If he should think
proper to set up such a prctension in the
road of Portsmouth, ard to ask, under pre-
text of seeking for deserters, to search in
this manner an English ship However,
his right would be the same as that of the
commander of the Leopard. Between two
nations, the one which suffer such degra-
datioh is already subject to the other.
However, the declaration of his Britain
mic Majesty, of the 18th October last, APP
pears to resolve in peremptory manner
the question relative TO the visiting of men
oil war. Ii automatically disavows the con-
duct Of the captain of the Leopard. But 1t
will be observed that il says nothing of the
. right which the English have arrogated to
themselves FOR some Years past, of visiting
OF merchant ships; right which is not less
derogatory TO the dignity of sovereigns, and
which is perhrps more detrimental to the
prosperity OF their subjects. The English
government doubtless relinquished the for
mer only to weld TO the necessity of the mo-
ment. But it still keeps the latter osteusi-
bly, proclaimed since it has availeditself of
the disputes Of the continent to work the
destruction of all other navies. If it is a
right OF superiority, all nations ought to u
mite in order to put an end to this odious
vassaiage: it it is n right of justice and of
public utility, then it must be reciprocal
between the parties But then also the En-
81 sh navy will suffer more than INV other
from the exercise of this right. There are
scarcely a thousand Englishmep who serve
on board American ships; whereas the
English navy has epcreaSed by all the sal.
lo,S whom IL has inveigled or carried of;
from France, Holland, Spain, and from all
the nations of the North and the South.
whom it keeps with the most unrelentine
vigor, and who wait only for n favorable
moment to escape from their captivity Il
En=land admits the reciprocity Of the reht
OF visiting, she may expect to seeher crews
diminish. II she requires it exclusively
she has no other right TO invoke than thai
of force; but soon the common force Of m.
tions may at last triumph over her and
wrest from her what she would not yield IL
justice.