The Opelousas patriot. [volume] (Opelousas, Parish of St. Landry, La.) 1855-1863, 1858-09-11

- lSS VI ehuuS'
FreM ldon Times, July %.
The Risbt Of Sen Abhndontd--Daii"s
statement usEeanliameht.
HE 9ther DAY ynnd ourselves roughly
handled BY q hight fltulp~atye contemporar
Try for Informing o readerS-as We had done
in the utmost sin slty-thAt England hpa,
given up the SUI Id right Of visiliness "a
searching any yes suspected of bel. Tavers.
10 illustrate the sv1hll value ofuW. .aterpents,
1t was observed that We had 8dhonaeed the
reputation Of thHy claim, s:hd, us it turned GU,
the claim had been repudiated. We do
not make a poiG always reatfirmiDg What
anybody may pleas to deny, o'herwlk we
might have 10 Nate tse same truth a Ntudred
times, I 1t was, howes i, happily ~ for us
in the Lords on Monday right, WIN Eo9d
Lyudhurst, with his accns1 omed cles ness and
force, asked the meaning Of the tmerican
Minister'S announcement that ~; right Of
search and visit had been given up. The OBJ
lection he took to the phrase was that there
was nothing really to giya that the i
had no, existence that had no foundation in
Jaw, and had been exj 3essly renowned by the
most distinguished authorities on international
law in England and the Uuiied States. The
sea, he said is common 10 all nations; or it all
~naitions are equal ; any shtr on the open sea is
Is saceed as the territory of he nation it be-
lo,igs TO a compulsory visit is %
to d violent landing or invasion. and rs no
nation eau be prejudiced by the crime OF ~
other patton, so the assumption Of the Ameri-
can flag by foreigners dues not justify us in
any outrage on that flag borne by a vessel with
a right to it. Nothing could be more s~atisf,c-
tory than Lord Lyndnur,t's doctrine on the
subject, the oily wonder being hat at this
time of day the doctrine should have to be
stated at all and tlat it should be necessary to
refer to such old and established authorities.
1T was, however, placed. beyond further contra
diction, that, as Mr.. Dallas had stated, the
right of search or Of visit-lor they are really
the same things no longer claimed, and, so
far as governments are, concerned; there is no
longer any difference between England and the
United States. So much for the discovery
inst made elsewhere that the right was still
insisted on. and that we had fallen into a ride
u,ous blnnder in surprising it at an end. The
answer to Lord Lyndhurst' question was what
might be expected. Lord Malmesbury had
only, to say that the law officers had given
opinioas completely in accordance with those
quoted by Lord Lyndhurst, that The present
state of tile case was an understanding that
each nation was to confine its visits 10 vessels
bearing its own flag, and the American Gov
erhmeut was to take proper measures to vindi-
cate its flag from fraudulent adoption by s'ran-
gers.
The question and the answer, with the an
n~ouncemenis made. the documents stated, and
the authorities quoted. sufficiently bore us Out
in our announcement, taken as it was from the
mouth of the American Minister. sSome nys
terry always will cling to the statecraft in Its
simplest operation. 1t was evident that some
thing had been given up, though Lord Lynd-
hurst had said no right had been given up,
since no right existed, and th1ngh Lord Nal
mesbury denied that the british Government
had ever maintained that which is now declar-
ed it could ,los maintain. Had the eonverSa-
ton stopped there the public would have been
slightly mystifed, but would probably have
thought 1t best not to raise the veil of Official
decency from the follies of the past. Lord
Aberdeen, however, would not consent to this.
The mystery lay in the past, and it was the
past which he represented so he rose TO
vindicate his Government for the last twenty
weary, from the folly of claiming to wish
and search vessels carrying the American
flag. Lord Aberdeen had himself written many
dispatches on The subject = many mere, he
hoped, than it would ever fall to the lot Of Lord
Mainesbury to write-all to the very purpose
of the late announcement that the right of visit
and search had been given up. In fact, Lord
Aberdeen had given ii up many years ago. aud
left nothing for anybody else to give mp. So
the error OF the announcement now made was.
that it supposed something to be given M
(Which bnI NO nxiotnnpn b,y;,or Eoa,, ,r;ra, ~,
long ago. But-aud here is The mysterious
something which no doubt has now been given
up, ard which has had a substantial existence
up to this very year--Lord Aberdeen had
stood out for just 50 much question ng. stop
ping and examining, eqniva'ent to the actual
sloppage and mo'es alton of q s,lsptc ed ship,
as would help US to discover whether the ship
was American or not. This, his Lord>hill
maintained. we had a right to do, and this he
had a right to do, and this he had stood out
for. This he was still prepared to, demand ::
and the demand, bis Lordship urges, 8 not at
all Incompatible with the total surrender OF
the right OF visit and search.
As Lord Aberdeen appears TO maintain that
no alteration has been mad, that nothing has.
been gwen up, and the paiic understanding is
only what he obtained for us in his own ad
ministration, and that what he stood ont for
is still Il just object OF demand, still "A point OF
honor, justice aud right, it ma be as well to
stop the opening thus made for future pretet-
Sions. The smallest exhibition of force to a
foreign ship on the open sea falls und- the
rute laid down by the distinguished lawyers
quoted in this debate. A. civil question, OF
course, is moi an exhibition of force. If one
vessel halls another, aud asks the time, the
Longitude, or any other question, leav ug it en-
tlrely to the discretion of the stranger to reply
or not, as he p!easea, that is a matter Of cour.
tesy to which no exc ption can be t,ken, and
which cannot be brought before courts or leg
isiatures. That 1t is unty when the invesi iga
tionis carried further, aud actually enforced
by arms Or by terror when the strange vessel
has been put TO aetna! Inconvenience, detained,
annoyed, and ~insaited, That it becom $ "a mat
ter fer state interference. If Lord Aberdeen
meant as much as this, or if he meant anything
more than a matter of courtesy, anything more
Than snch a question as the weakeS} ship aloal
might put to the strongest, then we are perS,,.
AIDED his Lordship was mistaken in supposing
tibet he had settled this business long ngo.
What other states demand, and what we have
conceded recently, AS it appears 10 us, and as
Lord Aberdeen himself seem to imply, it that
The smallest act Of force or exhibition of sure,
rlor strength, to the annoyaneS or interruption
ot a foreign ship on the open sea, isat our own