New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1861-12-24
NUMBER $50.

cesslsy of the r1ght OF visitation and search exists
deny who admits the right Of maritime capture :;
because, IF you are not at liberty to ASCERTAIN BY
sufficient enquiry whether there 10 property that |
can be legally captured it impossible to capture
The many European treaties which refer to this /
right refer to it as preexistng, and merely regu-
late the exercise of it, All writers upon the law
of nations unanimousiy acknowledge IT, The
same subject in his Comm sssarIes, Gays: sThe
duty OF self-prsserTstIon gives to bekgerent ma
tions this right. The doctrine Of the English Adj
miralty Courts on the right Of visitation and search
nfzed in its fullest extent by the courts Of justice
In this country So far the authorities go the
testimony of international law writer's is all one
way; that belligerent war cruiser has the right
to stop aud visit and search any merchant ship
upon the high seas. si ti'4Sgss,S5& tk#sg sS@
We quote these authorities because it ia essen
tial that, upon matter SO important as that nov
before as, the public mind should be well inform
ed Butitnust be remembered that these decisions
were given under circumstances very different
from those which now occur. Steamers 10 those
days did not exist; and mail vessels, carrying let
ters wherein all the nations of the world have Inn
mediate interests, were unknown We were fight
ing for existence, and we did in those days what
we should neither do nor allow others to do, nor
expect ourselves to be allowed to do. in these
Gays. Moreover If we gave full scope to all this
antiquated law it remains still be asked whether
the men who have been taken from beneath the
protection Of our flag we're liable to seizure. They
were not officers OF the army or Of the navy OF the
Confederate States They we're diplomatic ENJOYS,
wanting only, in some formalties, to be ambassa-
dors to England and France, We do mot say that
| there Is any provision in the law of nations which
viii entitle us to maintain that their persons were
sacred by reason OF their misson but on the other
hand, we are not aware of any authority which
| will show that these envoys were contraband OF
war. If we had recognized the Confederate
States, we apprehend that we should have been
perfectly justified in taking these ambassadors on
board Of our own vessels of war and bringing them
to England, without in any way forfeiting our char
acter as neutrals. Bot, even If it were necessary
to ADMIT that those gentlemen were in belliger-
| ent orcontraband character on board the English
vessel, it is, we believe, the opinion of very emf
nent Jurists that this was not question to be ad.
judicated on BY naval officer and four boats
crews. The legal course would have been to take
the ship itself into port and to ask for her condem
nation Of the passengers in Court of Admiralty.
| The result might, no doubt, have been the same;
but, II the proceeding was irregular, We have
surely right to demand that those prisoners shall
| be restored. E.. d. ,5 "a 55 .s.5gy.as4s-3a La :
| When such tremendous interests are at stake We
feel deeply the responsibility of discussing ques
ton like this. Our first duty is to calm-certainy
not to infame-the general Indignation which will
| be felt in these islands as the news is told. We
cannot yet believe, although the evidence is strong
that it is the fixed determination of the Govern.
ment ofathe Northern States to force aquarrel
/ upon tie powers Of Europe. We hope, therefore,
that our people will meet this provoeaton with
an outburst OF passion, or rush to resentment With
out full consideration Of all the bearings OF the
case. On the other hand, we appealto the reason
able men of the Federal States-and they have
some reasonable men among them--not to provoke
1 war by such acts as these 1t is, and always has
been, vain to appeal to old folios and bygone aul
thorities in justification of acts which every Eng
lshman and every Frenchman cannot but feel to be
injurious and insulting. Even Mr.. Seward himself
must know that the voices of these Southern Com
4 mssioners, sounding from their captivity, are q
thousand times more eloquent in London and in
Paris than they would have beenif they had been
heard at st. James and the Tuilleries. Questions Of
this kind, in countries where people exercise
power, pass but too-quickiy out of the hands Of
lawyers and statesmen, and give irresistible power
to neither the wisest nor the most peace-loYng
members of community. 1HtT 8 "''-fs :
From the London Chronicle Novemte 2sl n
The blood of all England will be reused by the
latest Intelligence from America. The Federal
authorities could scarcely have acted with more
lawless violence had they been mandarns OF
China Four American citizens have been drag.
ged frcm the shelter of the British flag, charged
with purely political offence. How much further
is the patience of this country to go? The Trent
is royal mail steamer. It had on board her
y. Majesty's agent. 1t took Messrs. sIdell and
| Mason, with their Secretaries as passengers. l,
, was fred upon and boarded by Federal man-of
, war the British standard was treated with con
tempt; and four persons, under the protection Of
our national ensign. were made prisoners merely
because the broadside of the San Jacinto threat
ened immediate destruction to the Trent. We mis-
take our eouutrymen if they will submit to d sue
cession of these outrages. The Federal lieutenant
cannot plead that he heard no protest. Before he
, | consummated his buccaneering enterprise Com
mander Williams had solemnly invoked the law Of
nations against it as an illegal act, in violation o
international law-an act Of wanton piracy" Had
| there been an armament in the steamer he said
the Americans would not have dared to perpetrate
the cowardly and insolent crime-for a crime Il
was, to challenge jill blood between nations and in
suit power which for years past, has treated tbs
, | braggarts Of the North only too leniently Ii
|
, fought had they possessed weapons. But the ar
n rest Of the two Commissioners on British decl
must not go unavenged. 1t appeals to the spiri
!; of every Englishman. If we tolerate this sort o
! freebooting we shall next have these Jackboots o
! the North overhauling our menof-war. = And wha
: : was the pretence for the felony committed b,
Lieutenant Fairfax? 3, ss- . -F,l y
He alleged that the Commissioners of the Con
: federate Government were on board the Roya
Z mail steamer Trent Granted that they were ant
: what then? Suppose an Austrian frigate had cap
tured and ransacked the vessel which brough
Louis Kossuth to Southampton. A thrill woal,
i, have passed through the kingdom. Suppose th
l South victorious and President Lincoln, on hi
way to our shores in an ocean steamer, intercepte
y / by Confederate brig. Set it in whatever lgh
" you may, the assault is uncomfortable, and English
. men must now ask to be protected by their Cox
= ernment. 1t is full time that peremptory measure
! were adopted. II we tolerate this blow struck q
our flag, shall speedily receive another, for It'll
evident that the Cabinet of Washington is withou
/ scruple or policy. Abraham Lincoln, whose &C
n n cession to power was generally welcomed on thi
a side Of the Atlantic, has proved himself feeble
o confused and little minded mediocrity Mr.. Sew
ard, the firebrand at his elbow is eXerting hmsel
n toprovoke quarrel with all Europe in that spri
= of senseless egotism which induces the Americans
y | with their dwarf feet and shapeiess mass Of inco
{. herent squads which they call an army, to ianc
( themselves the equals of France by land, and 6
: Great Britain by sea. If the Federal States coul
J be rid of these two mischiefmakers, it might ye
= redeem itself in the sight OF the world but Will
they stagger on at the head Of affairs their onl
chance Of fame consists in the probability that tn
= navies of England will blow out of the water the
! blockadng squadrons, and teach them how to II
- spect flag Of mighter supremacy beyond tn
:, Atlantic. The keynote sounded to-day, let us rel
- well assured, is but the prelude to storm Of publ
~ Indignation. We have had our citizens arrested
ID we have had strangers torn from the decks of OF
| ships under no law except that of the black flag
G G. we have been practically outraged. Is this to g
a on for ever 81 If So, We may well set up as
.. 81 universal peace party. Sir William Armstror
=, need not champion his gunnery it an America
II lieutenant is TO do, with impunity, what the 10,
~ great powers of the continent combined would nj
&c dare to do with the humbest vessel, under Britis
II colors, that floats the European seas.
in From the London Chronicle, Noy. 2S
IN THE EXcIrEMENT.-The excitement which pr
e. vailed in the city and in all parts of London ye
a. terday, on the announcement Of the outrage COZ
70 mitted by the Federal ship-of-war, Was most
a | tan Tho untu