The Polynesian. [volume] (Honolulu (Oahu), Hawaii) 1840-1841, 1841-09-25

orotection, nor is it longer responsible for
their acts Such cases, therefore, if thew
occur show no abandonment Of the duty Of
neutrality.
The Government Of the United States has
not considered it as sufficient to conline the
duties Of neutrality and non-interference to
the case of Governments whose territories
lie adjacent to each other. The application
Of the principle may be more necessary in
such cases, but the principle itself they re-
gard as being the same, it those territories
be divided by half the globe. The rule is
founded in the improperly and danger of
allowing individuals to make war on their
own authority, or, by mingling themselves
in the belgerent operations Of other ma
tons, to run the hazard of counteractng the
policy, or embroiling the relations, of their
own government. And the United States
have been the first among civilized nations
to enforce the observance Of this just rule of
neutrality and peace, by special and ade-
Quae legal enactments In the infancy Of
this Government, on the breaking out of the
European wars which had their origin ia the
French Revolution, Congress passed laws
with severe penalties, for preventing the
citizens Of the United States from taking
part in those hosilities
By these laws, is prescribed to the citizens
10 the United States what is understood to
|be their duty, as neutrals, by the law of ma
|tons, and the duty, also, which they owed
10 the interest and honor of their own coun-
try.
AT subsequent period, when the Ameri-
IN colonioS IF m Eurn,oon D,war tn,l, 49,,
arms against their Sovereign, Congress, not
diverted from the established system Of the
government by any temporary con>dera
lions, nor swerved from its sense of Justice
and of duty by any sympathies which it
might naturally feel for one of the parties
fid not hesitate, also, to pass acts applicable
20 the case of colonial instruction and civil
war. And these provisions Of law have been
continued, revised, amended, and are in full
force at the present moment. Nor have they
been dead letter, as it is well known that
Exemplary punishments have been inflicted
on those who have transgressed them. 1t
|is known, indeed, that heavy penalties have
fhllen on individuals, citizens Of the United
|Etates, engaged in this very disturbance in
canada. with which the destruction Of the
caroline was connected And it is in Mr.
Fox's knowledge, also. that the act of Con-
kress of March 10th 1883, was passed for
the precise purpose Of more effectualIy re-
Draining military enterprise from the United
States into the British Provinces by authori-
fing the use Of the most sure and decisive
preventive means. The undersigned may
odd, that it stands on the admission Of very
Ugh British authority, that during the recent
Canadian troubles. although bodies Of ad
enturers appeared on the border, making
necessary for the People Of Canada to
eep themselves in state prepared for self
efence, yet that these adventures were
letting by no means in accordance with the
eeling of the great mass Of the American
People, or Of the Government Of the United
Eates
The Government, therefore, not only holds
tself above reproach in everything respec-
ing the preservation of neutrality, the OBJ
ervance of the principle of non-intervention,
hnd the strictest conformity, in these re-
bpects, to the rules of international law, but
doubts not that the world will do it the
ustice to acknowledge that it has set an ex-
lmple not unfit to be followed by others, and
bat, by its steady legislation On this most
Important subject, it has done something
promote peace and good neighborhood
lmong nations, and to advance the clvlliza-
Jon of mankind