Clearfield Republican. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1851-1937, 1861-11-27
ARREST OF MEssRs. MASON AND
SLIDELL.
Views and Speoulations of the Press.
From the Hnllimors Sun.

lSlidcll--by Captain Wilkes, of the United
States frigate San Jacinto elicits variety
Of opinions end dissertations upon inter-
national law. As it is a subject of consid-
cradle national Importance, and not gen,
orally understood by the great mass of the
people, we subjon some further extracts
OF the views expressed by several OF our
exchanges. The National IHeihgeacer com
ments at some length. After narrating
the circumstances under which the arrest
was made, it proceeds as follows:
such being the facts in the case, wheth-
er Capt, Wilkes acted with or without the
orders Of The national government, it re-
mains to inquire into the grounds by which
this proceeding is justified in the light of
international laws for, however expedent
may seem the success gained by the arrest
and detention of these Confederate rep
resentatives, whether regarded in point o.
| political or military strategy, it would be
dearly purchased az the cost of a single
principle of that public morality whose
rules govern, or should govern, the con-
duct of civilized and Christian States in
their mutual intercourse in peace and in
war.
"Those, therefore, who are not already
familiar with the principles involved in
the proceedings OF Capt. Wilkes, willlealn
with interest that it IS fully justified by
! the rules Of international law, as those
rules have been eXpoundod by the mos!
I illustrous British iurists and compiled by
the most approved writers on the Laws of
! Nations. So far from having transcribed
the powers with which he was clothed by
that code, Capt. Wilkes did not exhaust
| the full measure of his authority, for he
not only had an undoubled right to arrest
shese ambassadors" Ct the Confederate
government on their passage to Europe
bat might have justly captured the vessel
Oh which they were found, and brought
her into port TO be condemned rs a laWit |
prize.
"The points Of public law involved in
! the case, and on which il turns, are as
! follows:
l. The right OF visiting and searching
merchant ships on the high seas, whatever
be the ships. their cargoes, or their desN
nations, is an incontestible right of the
lawfully commissioned cruisers of belg>
eront nation. Being purely beljgerent
IigLt, essential to the capture Of enemv's
property and the discovery Of contraband
III var on board of reutal vessels, il is,
from its very nature and definition, in
competent to state of peace, but accrues
to each belligerent on the outbreak OF war.
.. To engage in the transportation of
military persons, bearers of dispatches,
and dispatches themselves, is of the same
nature with the carrying of contraband
goods, and a vessel so engaged in the ser
vice of one belligerent is subject to cap
ture and confiscation by the other.
3, a belligerent may lawfully arrest an
ambassador of the adverse belligerent, if
( found at sea in neutral vessel on his pas
sage, and therefore before he has arrived
in the neutral country, or has assumed the
, functions of his office near the government
to which he is accredited. But, when lie
has arrived and beel admitted in his Off
cial relation, he is protected by his repre-
sentative and international character.
4. The fact that the voyage is made to
q neu u.ral port does not change the legal
character of the transaction, where con-
traband Of war including of course miIit-
arv persons, dispatches, and their bear
ers-is found on a neutral vessel.
] "These principles are believed to cover
completely the case presented by the cap-
ture of Messrs. Mason and Slidell."
The lntelligencer then proceeds 10 quote
at some length from Wheaton's "Eleme
ments of International Law"-edition OF
lS55-to show that the four points above
set forth are correct. 1t also appcnds the
exposition of DR.. Robert Philimore. in
his late great work entitled Commentaries
on Information Law. lie is Advocate Of
her Majesty in her office of Admiralty as
Judge of the Cinque Ports" and univer-
sally approved. He says:
Page 30S.-( ConhaJand) at is, indeed.
competent to belligerent to stop the am
bassador of his enemy on his passage"
Page 369-"As to carrying of military
persons in the employ of beligerent, or
being in any way engaged IN his transport
service it has been most solemnly decided
by the tribunals of international law, both
in England and The United States of North
America, that these are acts of hostility
on the part of the ncutal, which subjects
the vehicle in which the persons are con.
veyed to confisCalion at the hands of the
belligevent."
Page so. "Oflicial communication
from an official on the atflirs Of tellger-
ent government are such dispatches as
present n hostile character on the carriers
Of them. The mischievous consequences
Of such a service cannot he estimated, and
extend far beyond the effect of any con-
traband that can bo conveyed for it is
manifest that by the carriage OF such dis
patches the most important operations Of
a oeIligerent army may be forwarded or
obstTucted. In general cases of contra
band the quantity of the article carried !
may be material circumstance, but the
smallest dispatch may serve to turn the
fortunes Of war in favor of particular
belligerent" 'n0'N |
The penalty is confscation Of the shin
which conveys the dispatches and OF The
cargo"
The Intelligencer then remarks a.
"As the foregoing principles are derived
wholly from the adudlcations of the Brit.
Ish Admiralty Courts, and as Capt, Wilkes
has exercised something less than the
scope Of power vindicated for belligerent
by these rulings, il would seem idle 10