Democratic standard. [volume] (Georgetown, Brown County, Ohio) 1837-1850, 1841-07-27

arso0, and robbery. His Government,
by assuming his crime, cannot absolve his
gull, nor defeat our right to try and pun
ish him according to law. The assump-
ton Ofhis act only adds 10 the number
of the culPable, and gives US an additionl
al offender to deal with them, it we
choose. We may proceed against one or
both; but TO give up the individual when
we have him, without redress from the
nation, which ustifies him, is 10 throw
away the advantage which chance or for
tune has put into our hands, and to make
virtual, if not actual surrender, OF all
claim 10 redress whatsoever.
The law of nations is clear, and the
law Of the patriot heart is equally clear
The case needs no book, no more than
the hanging of Arbuthnot and Ambrister
required the justification Of books when
General jackson was in the hammocks
and marshes Of Florida. A band of for
eigu volunteers, without knowing what
they were going TO do, but ready to fol-
low their leader to the devil, steal across
a boundary river in the night-attack un
armed people asleep upon the soil, and
under the Gag oftheir country-give no
quarter-make no PrisOners-distinguish
not between young and Old-innOcent or
guilty-kill all-add fire 10 the sword
send the vessel and its contents over the
falls in fames-and run back under GOV.
or of the same darkness which has con-
cealed their approach. All this in time
of peace. And then TO call this an act
of war, for which the perpetrators are not
amenable, and for which red;ess must be
had by fighting, or negotiating with ab.
nation to which thcy belong. This is the
Surd. tits futile and ridiculous. Com
mon sense condemns it. Jackson's ex-
ample in Florida condemns it; and we
should render ourselves contemplate if
we took any such weak and puerile
course.
Mr.. Fox no where says this act was
done by the sovereign's command. He
shows, in fact, that it was not so done;
and we knew that it was not. Ii was the
act of volunteers, unknown TO the British
Government until it was over, and unas-
sumed by them for three years after it
occurred. The act occurred in Decem-
ber, 1887; our Minister Mr.. Stevenson,
demanded redress for it in The spring of
1888. The British Government did not
then assume il, nor did they assume il at
all until Mcleod was caught Then for
the first time, they assume and justify and
evidently for the mere purpose of extrica-
ting Mcleod. The assumption is void.
| Governments cannot assume the crimes
of individuals. 1t is only as military en-
terprise that this offence can be assumed
and we know this affair was no such en-
terprise, and Is not even represented as
such by the British Minister. He calls
it a "tranSaction." Three times in one
paragraph he calls it "trdnSGctiOn;" and
whoever heard Of fight, or a battle, be-
ing characterized as transacton2 We
apply the term to an affair of business
but never TO a military operation. How
can we have military operation without
war? without the knowledge Of the sOve-
reign? without the forms and prelimina'
ries which the law of nations exact2-
This was no military enterprise in form
or in substance. 1t was no attack upon
a fort. or ship of war, or body o.
troops. 1t was no attack of soldiers upon
soldiers, but of assassins rpon the sleep
ing and the defenceless. Our American
defenders of this act 60 beyond the Brit
sh in exalting it into military enter
prise. They take different ground, ant
higher ground, than the British, in get
ting up that defence; and are just a
wrong now as they were in the case o
Arbuthnot and Ambrister.
Incorrec; in point Of national law,
hold these instructions TO have been de
rogatory to US in point of national charac
ter, and given with most precipitate hast
when they should not have been given q
all. They we're given under formaI,de
> liberate, official threat from the Minister
I. aud thousand unofficial threats froI
I high and respectable sources. The Nil
j, istry says:
n "But, be that as il may, her Majesty
3 Government formally demand, upon III
= grounds already stated, the Immediate r
/ lease Of Mcleod; and her MajesIy'sGo
i ern nent entreat the President Of Il
n United States to take into has most d
il libcrdte consideration the serious natu
of the consequence which must ensu
IS from rejection of this demand"
1t Nothing could be mote precise and f
'e nal than this demand nothing more 81
a nlfcant and palpable than this menaC
OF It is such as should have prevented a
he answer--such as should have suspend
Diplomatic intercourse--until il was vii
To- drawn. Instead of that, a most sudd
q, and Dreciptate answer is given; and o
to that grants all that the British demands
ss- and more too, and that without asking a
ry, thing from them. II is giyea with ha'
10 which seems TO preclude the possbil
ofrequlAr deliberation, cabinet coun,
Il. and oficial form. The letter Of Mr, T