The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1862-01-04

Nu1 - IT, II1|E3l-<1k-
70 sSsmis, though Soo Nd ~ no laxal, moral.
treaty chIfgNtson 20 ecQaaesce.
PREPARATION h distant and prosasmsstsaL
unity or weakness OF the nsate in wus @e
behalf, and by whose authority the capture
Was shade. Out Of the disputes repgis.ss* and
warn nscessasiiy arise. and these are 50 ire
oueat and destr nctive that It may Well D.
I'd Nhe ther this form OF remedy 10 moi
a greater social evil than all that Goals fct'
low Ii the belfiEerent right OF search was
universally reuounced And aooltshed forever
hut carry the cese ore step isrtnet "ns'
seAsonabty refuse 70 hear the Com riaint VI
the peatral or to reds esstt In that case the
very act Of capture would be an acl OF war,
OF war begun without notice ara Possasy
without provocauou. I think all anprJa.
diced minds will agree that. imperfect a. sn ~,
existing iudsci al remedy may be supposea "
be, IL woaid he, - . Reaeral pracnsss
20 follow 1t than To adopt the sun an'o, 80
Of leaviug the decision with the capso', aao
relying upou diplomatic decaees 70 Istlsw
hie decision. Practically. qae.uou ..
choice between law win iss imPeriee tiohs
ana .aniavs and war with lis evils ana DESC
satinns Nor is IL ever TO be forgotten that
uautr.iitv. nor rsily and Justly preserved, -
alwavs the h-rbsnger OF peace, ana, there
fore. is the common interest OF sations.--
Whach 10 only saying that II II tho Ansetes'
of Humanity itself.
Al the same time 1t Ia not to be denied that
IL may sometimes happen that the Judieiai
remedy will become impossible, as bv the
shipwreck Of the prize vessel or other ear
cum stances, which excuse the captor from
sending or taking her in TO port for cohnsca-
ton. In such a case the right Of the captor
to the custody Of the captured persons, ano
20 djspose OF them II they are really contra
band. 90 as 10 defeat their unia wful pur-
poses. cannot reasonably be denied. Waaa
ruie shall be applied in such case Clearly
the captor ought 10 Dr. required to show that
tvs EoLH L.
nom circumstances beyond his control and
without his fault, otherwise he would De nj.
low ed TO derive advantage from Wfonstni
act CT his own.
capturing the contrAbaud pelsous and max
lug pri.e of the Trent, in what seems 10 Us
{. perfectly lawful manner, instead o. sena-
Ing her In TO port released hor lfoAa tue cnp-
ture and Der tied her TO prccee with her
whole cargo upon her voyage. lie thus sdee-
taaily. proven ted the judicial examina ton
which Ia ght otherwise have occurred.
Now, the captare of the contraband per-
sons and the capture of the contraband YES
sci are 10 be regarded, NOT as two sepaTable
or distinct transactions under the law Of ma
tons. bat As one TRANSACTION, oAe capture
oniy, then II follows that the capture Ia
this ease was lett unfinished or abaadoned.
Whether the United States have right to
retain the chief pu piic benefits ofit-namely,
the custody Of the Captured persona, ON prov
ing them 10 be eontraoaDd, viii depend upon
y
ing Of the TRANSACTION unfinished was neces-
sAry, and therefore voluntary. IL 1t Was
necessary, Great Britain, Is We suppose,
must OF course waive the aefect and The con-
ssQueai failure OF the judicial remedy. GA
the other hand, IL Is not seen how the United
Stats can insist upon her waiver OF that
judicial remedy, il the defect of the capture
resulted from an act OF Captain Wilkes,
which would be a fault on their own side.
Captain Wilkes has presented 10 this Gov
ernmaat his reasons for releasing the Trent.
forebore to seize her." he says, in conse-
qaenLe OF NY being so reduced III oiiicers
and crew, anu this arrangement would cause
tanoeSnt persons 10 suffer, there being a
large number OF pas sengers who would
have been put to great loss acd iGconveni-
snce, as WELL as disappoin uneAt from the IN
corruption it would have cahsed them, IL
not being able 10 join the stea iner from 81
Thomas 10 Europe. /, therefore, concluded
to sacrifice The interest of my Cff1cers and
crew In the yrizs, and Suffered her to pro-
eeed, after the detention necessary TO effect
the transfer Of those Commis -ioners, consid-
ering had obtained the important end 1
had in view and which affected the interest
Of our country, and interrupted the aeiion ol
that OF the Confederates.
1 shall consider first how these reasons
ought to affect the action Of this Govern
ment, and secondly how they ought 10 De e1-
pected to affect the action CT Great Bfitiiu-
The reasons are salts factory 10 Ills tIof-
eminent, 20 far as Gapsaia Wilkes Is con-
csrned IL could not desire taas the San Ia
cinto, her officers and crew should De expos
I'd to danger and loss by weakening their
number 10 detach prizs crew 20 20 On board
the Trent. Still less could IL disavoW the
humane motive Of preventing iaecnvenlent
losses and perhaps disaster 10 the several
hundred innoceDt passsn gers found on board
the prize vessel Nor cJuid this Govern.
lnent perceive any ground for questioning the
fact that these reasons, though apparently
incon gruoas, did operate in the mind CT Gap
taiu Wilkes and Getern mined him to r. leass
u Org "
frorDmir gied and sometimes conflicting mo
lives. He measured the sacrifices which his
decision would cost. II man testIy. no viewer,
did not occur TO him that beyond the sacrifice
of the private in terests .as he calls ihem) Of
his officers and crew, there might, also, pos
sibiy be n sacrifice even Of the chief and pub
lie object OF his capture, namely: The right
OF his Govern ment to The custody and dis
position OF the captured persons This Gov
eminent cannot censure him for this over
sight. 1t coDfesses that the whole subject
came unforeseen upon the Government, rs
doubtless IL did upon him. Its present con-
victians Oh the poiist i'll question are, the re-
cult Of deliberate examination and deduction
now made, and not OF any impressions preyi-
Ously formed
Nevertheless, the question now is, not
whether Captain Wilkes is justified to his
Government in what he did, but what is the
present view of the Government as to the
effect OF what he has done! Ass aiming now.
for arguments sake only, that the release of
the Trent il vclun tary, involved u waiver of
the claim Of the Government to hold the
captured persons, the United States could, iu
that case, have no hesitation in saying that
the act which has thus already been approved
by the Government, must be allowed to draw
its legal consequence after 1t. Its OF the very
nature Of u gin Or charity, that the giyer
cannot, after the exercise of his benevoence
Is past, recall or modify its benefits.
We are thus brought directly TO the qUes-
ton, whether we are entitled to regard the
release of the Trent rs involuntary, or
whether we are obliged to consider that it is
voluntary Clearly the release would have
been made solely upon the first ground as
signed for it by Capt. Wilkes, namely, want
of sufficient force TO send the prize vessel into
n captor to hazard his own vessel in order to
secure u judicial examination to the ca ptured
party. No large prize crew, however, is le-
gally necessary, for 1t is the duty of the cap
tured party to aCquiesce and 60 willingly be
fore the tribunal to " hose jurisdiction il ap.
peals. II the captured party indicate pur-
poses to employ means OF r. sistance which
the captor cannot with probable safety to
nimse II overcome, he may properly leave the
VET sci to 20 forward, and neither he nor the
State he represents, can ever afterwards Just
~ object that ahe captor deprived her OF the
judicial remedy to which she was entitled
For the secoud reason assigned by Captain
Wilkes for releasing the Trent differs from
the first. At best, therefore, il must be held
that Captain Wilkes, rs he ex plains him self,
acted from combined sentiments of prudelce
and generosity, and 80 that the release of the
prize vessel was not strictly II ecsssary or in
voluntary.
Secondiy~-How ought we to expect these
ex plan ations by Capt. Wilkes OF his rea sons
for leaving the capture incomplete to affect
the action Of the British Government
The observation upon this point which frst
occurs is, that Captain Wiikes's expIana.
tons were not made to the authorities of the
captured vessel. II made known TO them
they might have approved and taken the re-
lease upon the condition OF waving a Judi.
ctal In sstiga ton of the whole transactions
or they .night have refused to accept the re-
Lease upon that condition,
Hat the casa is not oas with them, but with
the British Government Ii we claim thai
Great Britain ought not TO insist that a Judi.
ctal trial has been lost because we yolunta
-al. Has nA thar ffsn M