Daily Richmond Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1861-1862, 1861-11-30
From The Eaoa;rtr.
From The Ea9a;rer.
TIE CASE OF MEs5RS. MASON AND SLIDELL.
Tha presinna Of n nnnfnlarafa GIaiaa In lia nrnnl

| From The Ea2a;Fer.
| TIE CASE OF MES5RS. MASON AND SLIDELL.
The Presiient of tho Confederate States in ts excel
lent Message 70 Congress- in relation to this affair says
'u! not content riih Vi ilng cur rights ugder the
Law vi naons at home, they hsve extended theso j
res TO within ohPr jurisdictions. Tho distinguished
gentlemen Whon sith yous approval ct tho last session.
commissioned 10 represent the Confsderacy at certain
foragn cour hgve bo recently seized by the cipiaI
of a United Sta,es ship-of-war, on board British
sosmcr their voyage from the neutral Spanish port
| OF Havana 20 E5glsnd. The United States have thGs
claimed general jurisdiction the bigh ssss and
eneFiog British ship sailing under its Counlfys hig,
violated the rights of embassy for ihe most part held
sacscd amongst barbarilns by se'Zug ministers
whls. under the protection and within the dJnlions OF
q neutral nation. These ge3t1men we're as much under
the jurisdiction OF the British Governmsnt, upon that
ship and beneath its Tag as il ttey had been on is so
and claim the part Of tie United Stats to seize
them 10 the sreets ef London would have been es well
fjuGdsd as that 10 sppsehend them where they
taken Had they bon uslsflctors and citiz OF
the United States thoy could no, have been arrested on
Rrah snip British coil, unless ulder the cxprAss
provisions Of treaty snd according the forms there.
In providsd for the extradt0n Of criminals !"
The truth OF the propositions Of Law bere p,aaly
expressed IL not expected wOaj have been q1rsou
ed by any iuiis 10 Ohristendom Indeed, considering
that international law ia bu. GatGfs law whereof svry
honest man ought 10 have original fense appied 70
The sf4rs,of ualions sn only varied and siven preCi
sion in thngl essential indefinite ny the
Of nations aud conventions between their governments
il might have been supposed TIA. every bgLehed iGu
of e,mmon sasss would have coacurr,d in these clear
enuncaiions OF s principals hy the President and that
every man Of sensbity would have felt his indignation
kinded against tho barbarian vcators OF such sacred
trirhia
10 be true however !. might operate 70 tn. advantage OF
cnems who had proved Themselves utterly regnde5iol o.
al ,tb and homer entirely misunderstood decision OF
the b iish Court OF Admiralty, aad, ON the snpposso1
that il Lad decided tie very cOntIac Oy oi what Il did
eliudyc comes 10 the conclusion thai that government
c.nnof cons seny With it, recognition OF the law,
,,tcr ony cSmoaiut on is oEn behal, and will decline
orv interference on behalf Of our captured coGlmsson'
ara. And wier in ohc oithe jInfn1B oil New York
has exercised tn8ef in preduc ion oil Two columns in
support Of tie conclusion by an argument on nu-
merous citations froatshe books Of International law
Thry are both wTony and will net only relate
thei, specols agumtns aGd eIpcs, their iaaclCs bu!
prove ,bJt The message Of the President i3 The l'R in
all its pcsiions
The advocate or Judge, in discussion io'the pur'
nnss Of aptlyiIs iudc;l decision precedent 10
ease uuder argument or for hs Judgment ought All
wsys 10 asccrtar, n the s; place, what arc the ."o
c,i AMI 10 be careful tina; lie does not conende tPat
the thing on which the two depend tie slme when H
/. essentially diileren and gemcLber that all thai is
s,;d by ia, iIdgs in ths ds5ion invoked must be sp
pEad in rtisreaca TO tue case before ha Tor h' dlc
sion Theso precautions were no. used by q her The
,,sr IN the Csaraston Mercury" Or New FORK Her
AID"
The sryun, ,pt In th, Mercury Is basfd exclusively
an tle case OF tue Caroline, poal master decided ~
ms FnsIi,h court OF Admiralty in 1905 in the time Of
war between Grca: Ddtatn ard France reported in .
Robertson Nov what Was that case
The Cardiac was an American veasel-a SHIP OF the
| limited S.a,es She c,pured by BRUSH vessel on
her voyage from New York to BORDEAUX, frelca port
and dspstchss wera found board, not iIom the Gov
ernment OF the Uoitai Staoa, but from The French MIN
iser in America to the Government ol Ffapce Gceat
Britain and France then at Waffle United Staus
neucal and the qIestcr whether the vessels oi the
neutral might lawfully cacTy di-piehss from one nuns
ter OF tin llgefsHt 10 DeutrL eou5tfy 10 his own
government AZ home? IL was not the case OF neutral
yessa earring the ministers OF one The beliEcTens
with their SttrI of credcacc and ilsirueions from tie
mort Of another neutral State to her own home port on
their way to ID, cour Of ne1tfa Safes snd no qlesuoh
| on such casO arose for decision.
The court had Just before decided the case OF the At
IaD;ic The Atlantic wle Bremen ship, and was, To-
netber with her eago, ell Beutrsl property. sac vas
captured on.a voVags from Baayis TO Bremep, on the
h Of Jdly. 1867 having come last IRON ths ls'e ol
Feance vhere ,c.e. c1n;sininy dispatches from tue
1nvernmeut of ths Isle uf France "a Frsnch cclony 10
the Minister Of Marine a; Pals was taken On bohd by
the mast,r and o. the suDerclrsoe', aud was AFTER
wards found concealed in TIE po session OF ho second
| snnsrcargo The court foucd, on the evidence tna'
both the master and sapetcaigoes had idll knowledge
that the dispatches we're board and that they fauda
leptly concesled them and The udgemen! VAS the con-
demnation Of both the ship and cargo.
The diltinc ion between THE case OF tha AIan ana
the case Of Nesrs. Sde and Mason, II Si De hoheed'
ia this: Iu the Of tue Atlantic the deph1es we're
from funcioIaty Of French Colony 70 tho Hoverh'
mani at Paris with which Great Bftiln was then al war
vbgreas ia cur case Mssss Sdel and Mason were The
Ministers of oue Of the beigeIen.s, on their way 10
the court Of a neutral power.
The principal question discussed in the csss OF the Gar
one was the dtncon betKeen II AID this case OF the
Atlsntic.
On THE matter the c0ur. says
uTbe circumstances Of In, present case however, dc
M, bring Il within the range Of these considerations be
cause il Is not of depitches coming from any par
of the euemys territory, whose commerce aad communi
cations of every kind the other bellgereut has rgh
10 interrupt They d,spitches from persona who ar
in A peculiar manner the ovorc Objects OF the protec
tion of the law OF nations, AmJassddors resident in
neutral country for the purpose o preserving the rel
tons OF amity between that STATE and bis oSn govern
ment, =,
"O1 these grounds very material distinction ar se'
with respect to the right Of furnishing the conveyance
The former cases cases of neutral ships carsynl
tho enemys dispatches, from his colonies to the none
country la all such you have right TO coheue
that the efec. OF those dispatches II hosuo 70
because they must relate 10 the security Of the enemy
| possessions and TO the maintenancs OF comm9n"aho
tetyeen them: YOU have right TO destroy these pos
sessions ana that communication aud it Is egal &C
ef hostility 10 do Bu. the neutral couarf has rsu
10 preserve ia relations With the enemy sha 80
OF H5riy.fo eoEead, that any COMMUNICATIVE" os'%e
I,a car. p,ytaks in any Degree Of the nafgrs cf hG'
, tii;ty asain,t YOU Toe enemy may have Ms hostn