The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1863-11-05
THE PACIFIC
Commercial Advertiser.
Speech Of Senator Sumner.

Senator Sumner, of Massachusetts,, who is
Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Rela-
rions" in the Senate, delivered a speech in New
York on the 10th Of September, in which he dis
cussed ut great length our foreign relations, par
ticulirly with England. 1t fills three and n half
pages of the New York Tribune, and may fairly
be cIassed as 4 speech of great research and
power. Upon the five points considered, it ex-
hausts argument, authority and historical Illus
tration. As the production of a Senator who
aspires to be considered a statesman, 1t should, In
ITS preparation for the historical leaf, have been
kent a little more free from the ultra expressions
of the author on slavery. lie intrudes that sub
ject upon the reader in season and out OF season
But his argument and authorities against the act
of the English Government which elevated the
rebels To = ocean belligerants, are unansweraole
are absolutely conclusive as 10 the policy or
morality of the act. Under the head OF g perlls
from England, - Senator Sumner said
There Is one act Of the British Cabinet which stands
foremost as an omen of peril-tOremost IN time, fore
most also in tie magnitude OF its consequences.
Though plausible in form, il is none the less injurious
or uniusti6abie. OF course | refer TO that inconsid-
crate proclamation in the name Of the Queen, as
early as May, 1861, which, after raising rebel slave
mongers to an equality with the National Government
in beIligerent rights, solemnly declares 90 neutrality"
between two equal parties, as II the declaration Of
equality was not an insult TO the National Govern
ment, aud the declaration Of neutrality was no. a
moral absurdity, offensive TO reason and all those
presidents which make the glory of the British name.
Even if the proclamation could be Otherwise than
~ II u ~ " ~ q tttIAlJb Al was
worse than a blunder at that early date. The appa-
rent relations between the two Powers were more
than friendly. Lord Chelmsford, of pro-
fsss5Onal rencwn as Sir Frederick Thesiger. now an
ex-ChanceIlor, used these words recently in the House
of Lords "If the Southern Confederacy had not
been recognized as a belligereDt Power. he agreed
with his noble and learned friend (Lori Brougham,)
that. under these circ amstances, IT any Englishman
were TO tit out n privateer for the purpose of assist
ing the Southern States against the NORTHERN States,
he would be guilty of piracy
The Senator shows from the highest English
authority that, = If the Southern 1Confederacy
bad not been recognized as Il belIigerent power
ships assuming ~ make captures IN her name
would have been declared - pirates : and treated
accordingly. From being classed as pirates, and
captured as such, they were rendered by the pro-
clamation, issued in the name of the Queen,
which recognized the Confederates as belligerents
and raised them To an equality before the law of
nations with the Government of the L .iited States.
This Senator Sumner treats as an act totally I'M
justifable, either by the law or practice of ma
lions. The history of the past PRESENTS no case
which can be considered as a precedent. Ii was,
too, as the Senator shows, the recognition of an
ocean belligerent, who possessed neither navy,
commerce. nor a port which he could command.
He also shows that a prize Court is absolutely
necessary TO the Of a legal capture
under the laws of war after Il ship is captured,
it must be regularly condemned before IA prize
Court and ordered to be sold for the benefit of
the captOrs. The right TO capture does not carry
NlLl II ~ IlSuL 10 DuTn Lit destroy mercDduG
ships, ut the will of the captors and hence it is
argued that the destruction of merchant vessels
by such ships as the alabama, sailing under the
Confederate flag, is contrary to the law of na-
tiOns, and places those ships before the world in
the position OF pirates. We quote from the
speech
From the reason Of the case. there can be no ocean
belligerent without n port into which it can take its
prizes ANY other rule would be absurd. II will not
be enough to sail the sea. like the Flying Dutchman;
- 900 - ali pnnzr 10 h1a 70 rrnrb h Id
and that land its own. This proceeds on the idea of
civilized warfare, that something more than naked
force is essential to the completeness of a capture.
The Senator quotes among other English cases
20 sustain his position, that of Captain Kidd,
who was tried, condemned and executed Us Il
he claimed to be acting under Il
commission. OF this case the speaker said
IL is none other than that of the famous Captain
Kidd, who. on his Indictment for piracy, as long ago
~ 1893. produced a commission in justification. But
IL was at once declared that II was not enough; he
must also show n condemnation O. the captured ship.
The Lord Chief Baron Of that day said that if lie
had acted pursuant TO his commission, he ought to
have condemned ship and goods; that by not con-
demning them he showed his aim, mind. and inten-
ton; and that he did not act in that case by virtne
Of his commission, but quite contrary to IL; that he
took the ship and shared the money and goods, and
was taken in that very ship-so that there IS no color
or pretense that he intended 10 bring this ship TO
England to be condemned. or TO have CONDEMNED IL
IN any Of the English Plantations; and that while
men pursue their commissions they must he justified;
bat when they do things not authorized or ever in-
tended by them, II was as If they had no commissions.
Kidd captured ships and goods and divided the
among his crew without the interven-
of a prize Court, and an English Court pro-
nounced him guilty of piracy and he was hung
A. 4 pirate. The Confederate shiIs-OE-war Aa-
hama and Florida capture ships and goods, take
what they ear use and destroy the balance with
the ship they follow the precedent set by Kidd,
and. as they do not take their prizes into port
for legal condemnation, are rs guilty of piracy
rs Kidd, who was hung rs Il pirate under the
British law. If they are not pirates. they are
incendiaries of the seas. who cannot be convicted
OF felony because shielded by the proclamation Of
the English Queen. These plunderers of Amcri-
commerce were built, equipped and procured
IN England they have no certain ports of refuge
except those of England they are, therefore,
buccaneers of the sea, or English armed ships,
for the acts of which that Government will on
some future day be called upon To respond in
damages. The act of recognizing the rebels as
belligcrents, as shown by Sumner. was an insult
To the United States Government fpr that insult
may yet be called upon o atone. In
reading the sDeech of the Senator, il is impOSSi-
bic TO avoid tive conclusion that the English Min
listers, III fastening To recognize the rebels as
belligerents, accomplished all which was possible
short of an armed intervention, which would
have been a declaration of war. The acknOwl-
of the independence of the rebel Con-
feieracy 1T the time would have been an act of
no mo-e advantage, practically, to- the rebel
leaders The COnfederacy was admitted To be Il
belligerent power. which practically gave it Il
place among the Powers Of the earth. We con-
with Senator Sumner in the conclusion that
the act of recognizing the Southern Confederacy
as a bellIgcreut power was an insult 70, as well as
an outrage upon. the Government of the United
&pnr@ T.~-S.,- o-,.SaI a@uraa- 81 .