Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1863-04-24
Charles Summer on Letters of Marque
and ReprisaI.

and ReprisaI.
The following letter from Mr.. Sumner dis
cusses with earnestness the propriety of is
suing letters of marquee
WASHINGTON, March II, 1868.
My dear Sir:-In the freedom of that
conversation which l had with you as we
drove to the capitol recently, allow me for a
moment to speak again of the question which
interested us then.
81 confess that | am anxious that the issu-
ing of letters OF marque should be avoided,
not merely because it will give us bad
name, without any commensurate good; nor
because it will be a departure from the only
and often declared policy of our government,
which has not hesltated, by the pen of Benia-
min Franklin and John Quincy Adams, to de-
nounce privateering as an enormity,' but be-
cause it does not meet, in practical way, the
precise necessity of this time. People who
advocate it ale obviously misled by our expe-
rience in another generation, when we were at
war with nation whose commerce was
IeniptaLon ana ii rc"aru W private p.
The case is so different now that the old
agency is entirely inapplicable.
1.-The privateer cruises for booty, which is
instead of rations and pay to owners, officers,
and men. But if the booty does not exist, or
if it is in such inconsiderabe quantities as to
afford small chance of valuable prizes, it is
evident that you must find some other system
of compensation; in other words, you must
abandon the idea of private enterprise, slim
ulated and sustained by booty An agency
must ne employed which is applicable to the
present case-precisely as in machinery a
force must be employed best calculated to do
the work in hand.
s'Now our present business is to help the
LII
piratical comrades, and also to catch blockade
runners. But letter of marque is not the
proper instrument for this purpose; nor will
the chance of booty be the best way to slim
ulate and sustain the cruiser, while it is obvi-
GUS that such ship, invested, as it will be,
with the belligerent right of search, which for
the sake of booty it will be tempted to exer-
else on neutral commerce, may become the
occasion of contention and strife with foreign
powers.
"Privateers have never been remarkable
for the caution or reserve with which they
employed belligerent rights. l would not ex-
aggerate the troubles which might ensue, but
when think of these sea rovers now, with
license to overhaul neutral ships and to in
tict upon them visitation and search, feel
how much evil may ensue compared with the
good You would not threaten whole street
in order to catch few robbers who had
sought shelter in some of its recesses; nor
would you burn down your house, according
to the amusing story of Charles Lamb, in or
der to roast pig.
sit seems to be only according to common
prudence, that private enterprise, if enlisted
now, should be regulated by the object in
view. To this end, it is not necessary that it
should assume form calculated to awaken
solicitude. The way is simple. If citizens
are willing to unite in the efforts of the gov
eminent, let them place its ships at its dIspos-
al, to be commissioned as national vessels,
and let the government on its part, offer
bounty and prize money in addition to pay
and ratlons, for the capture of the Alabama
and her piratical comrades. The motive pow
er will thus be adapted to the object in view,
while our country will be saved from all
chances of additional complication, and also
from the stigma of reviying a policy which
civilization condemns.
"The argument of economy is sometimes
pressed in favor of letters of marque. But
it is poor economy to employ an agency
which, in its very nature, seems inapplicable
to the present case. Besides, l doubt if any
success which can be reasonably expected
from such ships, called by the French cor
SaireS, will be a compensation for the bad
name they will give US, and the bad passions
they will engender.
81 hope | do not take too great liberty in
sending you this sequel to our conversation.
At all events you will be pleased to accept my
best Wishes and believe me, my dear sir,
"With much regard,
every faithfully yours,
CHARLES SUMNER.
John Austin Stevens, DR., Esq, &c., &c.,
Re"