Muscatine weekly journal. [volume] (Muscatine, Iowa) 185?-1890, 1864-07-22

H. ~
Writing and printing book IL some
times dangerous to mans reputation,
Nothing was so CALLING to S. S. Cox, OF
Ohio, during the session of Congress
just closed, rs to have his political oppo-
nents take the floor and read extracts
from the Buckeye Abroad, u written
by Sammy when he was slightly tine
tured with anti-slavery sentiments. III
1851 Captain Semmes wrote book en-
titled "Service Afloat and Ashore"
which was published. When we recall
to mind the indisputable fact that the
Alabama's crew was made up mostly o.
men who claimed to be subjects of Grea,
Britain, the proper application Of the
following extracts, which we take from
the New York Tribune, will be readily
understood. s.
We copy from pages so, 81 and 50 Oh
the work: ...ff
"A few fast sailing vessels, distributed in tn,
iiierent seas. anu oiiicered and manned U.
Jold fellows III the pursuit. OF plumber, mlYi
ave Indicted luciIicu.iiDie INJURY upOi
-. This system oI PREDATORY warfare, Mo.,
IAN any o.ner. eYualzes the strength OF IA
ions on the water. 10 rende.
,)rIvateerinH available to her lMexicoi unLe,
Jaw OF nations, 1t Was necessary tLat Il Ill.,
,uriIy OF the officers and crew OF each cruise
should be cit,sens; not citizens made I'D hoe il.
.,auu OF tie law, but bona nde Citizens; anu
any vessel whicn might have attempted IL
:tuiSe, under letter vi marlue and reprlsa.,
without lhiS essential requisite, would nave be-
ONE from that nloInent u puoIe. =
Without tne observance vi these principles IL.
nan can transfer his allegiance to anothe.
country, and claim the protection due 10 citi-
zenShip under Its laws. a sort of Jus gehtiuns
mas grown up on the subject wnich indy duA'
aat lvus are no longer at liberty 10 disregard
Ind much less have Jney tue right 10 discesnru
IL In fraud OF beiligerent rights as Mexico at
,empted to do liz the present ms ance. Itwouiu
&c = INDUSTRIOUS doctrine, Indeed, II, ON the ev.
ii "a war or IT any lmc during I,s existence.
either the belIEerents might invite The clt l.
kes OF other nations, at GOuu'n, To take part lii
MS quarrel, AM, with single stroke OF MS pen,
make them citizens pro hoe rice"
rhe whole TRANSACTION must be bona Jade
rom beginning to end and there must be no
.ru iulent ntvnl, either on the part OF the gov
,runent or individuals. Great Britain walfcA
.esidence III the case Of seainen serving in her
NATIONAL mar me, rather sue regards her SHIPS
,f-w:r ~ portions OF her territory, anu a con-
tructive residence follows As necessary result
| II the principle; but 1t Il equally
.ienr thai bey ouu this limitation every foreign
r who might have undertaken to prey upon
,ur CONNIE &c would have ueen deemed to be,
md would have been treated as, pirate. Tn 5
unworthy attempt of Mexico u strike DION
At US on the ocean, BY means Oh great fraud,
yaS met by the commercial nations OF the
| World with the contempt II deserved, ana pro-
iuced no results; and II was fortunate lor hu-
.lanity that IL WAS So, rs our government was
prepared TO adopt the view on the subject Whicn
have here presented, and 10 Carry IL out with
yternness. Indeed, tAere i. Al grow .ns disposl-
lion among civilized nations 10 put an eii u
M. disreputabie mode VI warfare, under amy
.rcu instances 1t mad its origin in Remote ;tiii
comparatively barbrJus age, and mas 1or It's
,uject rather the plumber vi the bandit tlan
honorable warfare. IN snort,
hey Ipciyateersl are little better than Licensed
pirates; and il behooves all civilized nations,
mo like ourselves are e1 extensively engaged III
foreign trade, To sU press tllS pr4cice aitoSth-
ar."
Thus. out Of his own mouth, Semmes
stands convicted before the civilized
world as a pirate. We commend to
those sympathising friends OF Semmes,
in England and France, the concluding
sentence of this extract, and let them
say whether they will still accord to this
fellow the rights of belligerent. We
do not at this time profess to say wheth-
Or the Semmes' theory is correct or not,
but the reader will not fail to refresh
his memory with the position assumed
by other nations towards Mexican pri-
Watering during our war with that re-
public. We sincerely hope that Semmes
may yet experience the result of bis
theory.