Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1898-04-30

ernte States on the high seas against the
| United States of America, their ships, ves-
| sells, goods and effects and those of her citi-
| Gems during the tendency OF the war now
| existing between the said Confederate
States and the said United States.
81, TINS commission TO continue. IN force un-
| III revoked by the President of the Confed-
crate states for the time being. Schedule
or description of vessel-name schooner
savannah, Tonnage, SO i5-lO0 tons: arma-
| crew, 30
,o Given y, Nm, under my hand and seal this 18th
n. - JEFFERSON DAVIS.
RoBT. TooMBs. Sec'y of State.
| The Savannah put to sea after giving
an indemnity bond of $1,000 to the Con-
| federate States for obedience to the
rules established for privnteers. By
these rules the captures made were to
be taken into Confederate port. the
rights OF neutrals to be respected and
all proceedings against the enemy s
vessels and crews to be carried on with
all justice and humanity. All privateers
sent out by the Confederacy were bound
TO the same rules. but the penalty for
ships carrying crews OF $50 and over
was $4,000.
on the day after she set sail from
Charleston the Savannah captured a
brig carrying sugar from Cuba to New
York and took her into port Starting
again In jubllant and bellicose mood.
the privateer ran right into the United
States man-of-war Perry, which she
mistook for merchantmen until it was
too late TO back out. when. finding dis
erection the better part OF valor, she sur
rendered
Captain Barker and his crew were
taken to New York in irons and held for
trirl Tor piracy, according to the terms
OF proclamation by President Lincoln.
In test case one of the sailors was
condemned to death. whereupon the
Confederates placed in hostage for the
lives of the officers and crew of the Sa-
vannah several Federal officers taken
prisoner at Bull Run. The gallant Colo
mel Corcoran, leader OF the Irish Sixty
ninth, was chosen to share the fate of
Sailor Smith should the extreme pen
atty be exacted in his case. This threat
OF retaliation settled the question OF
piracy. The Savannah prisoners and
their hostages were exchanged, and pri-
watering went on swimmingly until, at
the end Of 1861, the north having set up
fair blockade, the Confederacy aban-
doned the practice, sending out instead
the commerce destroyers Florida, Shen-
andoah, Alabama and others. The Shen-
andoah sailed in the arctic seas for
months after the war ended, DESTROYING
Yankee whalers, and her captain was
threatened with trial for piracy. Moth
Ing came of it. So the close OF the civil
war left the subject OF privateering
where 1t found IL and where 1t stands
today. legal for all who choose to en-
gage in it, except the powers bound by
the treaty of Paris.
However. the United States twice dur
Ing the war placed itself on record first
against and then for privateering. al
though no decided action was taken
either way beyond what has been indi-
Gated. Soon after President Davis is
sued his proclamation about letters of
marque, in April, 1861, Secretary of
State Seward asked the United States
minister at the court OF St James tn
secure reopeninE of the congress of
nations which formed the treaty of
Paris in order that the United States
might Join the circle as II had origi-
nally been invited to do. Great Britain
declined to negotiate and the matter
was dropped. Subsequently, the United
States congress authorized President
Lincoln TO issue letters of maruue nj
discretion, but he never used his now
ers.
In the present crisis II is all a cues
ton Of eNpedieney. Existing treaties
between the two countries traverse in
part the precepts of the treaty of Paris.