Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1824-06-04

which GU a. therefore. r.ud.r III - Sc ion
super focus, but because they "hjrc,,d Z, the
,cord convoy, and to The whole f,rnality OF
our article, winch would br embarrassing in
Is comparisrn with the arrange mrnts setil.d
on this point in the realty between Great Bri-
tam and thu Netherlands, OF MAY, 1873. FL
nally. AS could not give up the principle. hut
was not tenacious at the word. ] agreed 10
drop il. on having any other words, however
few, that would carry the principle, but not
more than the principle Their own words,
viz. except uhen IN the presence Of ship OF tcar
Of its o,cn nation. would, | said. satisfy m-,
provided all that followed were expunged :;
and to this they assented. To the part .x-
plunged, / had many objections, and, amongst
9th ers, that il Appropriated closely to the ar
ticle in their treaty with the Netherlands, II,
indeed, constructively, it might not have be-
come identical with 1t, though the British
Plenipo,entiaries protested against intending
to give il any such character or meaning l.
implied, also, thought, the indecorum of
lpresupposing that the naval officers Of either
power could be lax in the execution of their
own duty.
The words vt their tenth article, designed
tn save existing rights, also struck out, declar
ing that those which formed the concluding
passage of our own ninth article, must be
| received as the substiist- for them. Why,
| asked, mention existing rights at all !? BY the
| universal rule of interpretation applicable to
| treaties, they would remain unchanged. The
| treaty. or convention, that we were forluipn)
was special in its objects special in its "a
els; special IN IFS concessions. All :of
rights, whate'er they might be, on either sitI7@
that did not range within the peculiar orhi, o.
this c0nvention-as novel as benefcpnt in its
grand intention, were necessarily left JUST as
| they were before. But they continued TO in
sist upon the excltIsfOnpf my words, and the
| reteniisn Of their own, until the close of the
| sixth conference. wheHthry agreed to allow
mine To stand, and to abandon theirs in the
parts from which did mt frehauthorized To
| withdraw my Opposition. The last pemher
of the sentence upon this poiat, in the article
as it now stands in tn" convention, viz. nor be
taken 10 ef;ci in any other icay The erisiug
rights Of either Of the high contracting parties
is that with which, in the end, they became
satisfied. Ii will he seen how essentially il
varies from the parallel passage as first sub
| united in their counter-projet.
To the sending home of our citizens for
tria!, if taken in the act of piracy, under the flag
of a third power, as provided in their seventh
article, objected, on more consideration, as
not likely TO bring with il the due practical
| reciprocity, when the convention went into
operation. Great Britain had the right, under
existing treaties, TO seize the slave trading
| vessels of Portugal, of Spain, and of the Ne
| therlands; whereas the United States, AS yet,
had no such cOrreiative right. But the Brit
lsh Pienipotentiaries earnestly pressed its
dOp,ion, with view to the more full attain
ment If all The objects of the conventions now
and hereafter. 10 the face If our own act of
Congress of The 18th Of May, 1890. which al
ready subjects to death, as a pirate, any citi-
| zen Of the United States, cony cted of being If
the crew, or ships company, of any foreign
vessel engaged in the slave trade in the face
too, of the general rule of public law, which
has heretofore authorized the punishment of
| pirates by the courts Of whatever natiun they
may be brought before, did not feel called
upon TO persist in my opposition. | could
scarcely continue To urge very objeciIoua-'
BILE, the bring furnished with the means tshould
the occasion arise, J Of executing our own laws
upon our own citizens, by whomsoever they
might be detected and secured, whilst 10 the
act of violating them. The British Plenipo-
ten,aries, moreover, remarked, that the whole
convention exhibited a prepondcrance of con-
| cession on the side of Great Britain, in accom-
mediation to the principles and views of the
United States AT our instance, she was about,
by new statute of her realm, to make the
! slave trade piracy at our instance, she
| agreed that the captured vessel and crew
should be sent to their own country for trial,
"A course also new to all her past maritime
doctrines and experience and, as regard
ed all the incidental consequence flow
ing from these two fundamental conces-
sions, she still, at our instance, gave up, or
modified, many of her former national and
Ijurisprudenlia practices and predictions
They said, too, that the prepondera1ce of
burden, under the con, ention, would lie with
Great Britain, both i'm the greater number of
public ships that she would employ i'm the sum
preston OF the traffic, and in the fact of the
u. States not having colonial dependencies, as
Britain had, to serve as ready depots for
those detected in it. was far from lending nv
concurrence to these sentiments, which were
tn be taken with their just qualifications. The
occasion, remarked, was one where. instead
Of each nation pushing adverse rights or striv-
ing for superior advantages, it ought rather
to he considered that each was equally and
spontaneously suTrendering up portion of
its anterior system; each moving under one
and the same impulse, towards one and the
same object each proposing TO itself no other
i1terests than those of benev oence and Justice
no other gain (yet how great the gain y than
that of protecting the innocent, and laying
PROSTATE the guilty. 1t was negotiation
with this distinguishing feature, that il look
ed exclusively to the benefit of third party
assuming reciprocal duties and burdens for lis
sake, and Ainging aside, as alien to the be-
n IN spirit in which it was conceived and I'M
dertakcn, every selfish end or feeling. TO the
obligations, no less elevated than interesting
that sprung from such a negotiation, il wa:
believed that neither party was insensibIe, and
that both stood alike anxious TO hail its favor
able results. In mentioning the sentiment:
which The British Pienipotentiaries expressed
. n mn II Dnf hp i'm L OF