The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1898-04-24
History of Privateering.

| what part II any WOuId De played pS
privateers in a naval war between the
United States and Spain is largely a mat
ter of conjecture. As is well known the
United States and Spain are not bound
( by the treaty of 1856. which abolished the
practice of issuing letters Of marque and
reprisal Mexico and Uruguay are the on
| Iy other civilized nations which have not
| approved the treaty. And in this connec-
ton il is well 10 correct the popular inn
preston that the United States declined
10 sign the treaty in order 10 preserve
! the right This is a mistake. Secretary
Marcy declined because the treaty did not
go far enough and pointed out the weak
ness of its enforcement in the absence OF
| a proper definition of contrabsnd. With
more stringent clauses he was willing 10
approve it.
Should privateering exist the United
States would be the greater loser. The
tons register of American shipping is some
seven or eight times as great as that Of
Spain. 1t is reported that Spanish pri-
vateers are ready to prey upon our COM
merce as soon as the Madrid government
shall grant them the necessary permits
sion But whether privateering will be
allowed is a question. Neutrals always
suffer in such a conflict, and II is quite
likely that by the right of might the 9TH
er nations may forbid IL Such action by
Great Britain would restrain Spain. and
not only is England our friend, but Span
ish privateers might easily damage her
commerce.
The truth is that privateering is obso-
lete. 1t belongs to the old days of small
sailing ships and Of pirates. And the dis
tinction between pirates and privateers is
not easily drawn, the only difference be-
ing that the privateers are legalized by
the home government. They belong 10 an
era when navies were small and were the
weapon of a weak nation against great
er maritime power. Effective use of them
was made by the United States in our
wars with England.
Congress has power to issue letters of
marque and reprisal, but congress has not
made use of the power for years, although
it delegated the power TO Lincoln during
the war, when it was not used. Confed-
crate privateers were numerous.
The word marque, by the way. is from
the German mark" meaning frontier,
and means the right TO cross the from
tier and make reprisals. 1t was give,S 70
private owners, who were authorized 70
arm vessels to prey upon the commerce of
were the old words. To encourage priva-
teering Great Britain once ordered that
all the property captured should go to the
captors.
In one form oF another privateering goes
back to ancient times, but it flourished
chiefly from about the middle of the Ma
poleOnic wars. 1t was then the custom,
when nations of Europe were at war with
each other for most of the time. for the
crew OF an armed private vessel to hail
another and climb over the sides of the
vessel with naked cutlasses and demand
to know their nationality. II the prize
were especially rich neutrals were not res
pected. 1t was so easy for the comman-
der of the attacking vessel to believe that
the captain Of his prize was liar!
These privateers of the old days were
not much better than pirates. They made
men walk the plank, just as did the
black faggers, and, in fact. the bucca-
neers were sometimes privateers and
sometimes pirates. The practice Of Sir
Francis Drake-a man honored in Eng
lish history, may be taken as typical In
1871 he made an expedition TO the South
Sea, and during that voyage plundered
ports and robbed right and left every
where. Cities were burned and others
were ofrced to pay large ransoms. An
other Englishman of the same period al
ways tortured his prisoners when they did
not yield him enough money. His name
was Cavendish. The rich commerce OF
Spain, in what was then called the Span
ish Main, yielded large fortunes. In fact,
it was said that while all Spain went in
search of gold, all Great Britain fitted
out ships TO steal it.
These abuses, growing year by year
greater, led to a reform in the methods.
The practice was revived again by the
United States during the war with Eng
land but without any useless slaughter
of prisoners. During the revolution, II is
rather surprising to hear. not less than
l 1867 private vessels were sent out by the
Americans against the British. These
were of all kinds and ranged in class
from rowbOats to ships. This number does
not include the vessels which were a reg
ular part of the United States navy. The
first overt act in the revolution. by the
way, was the equipment Of eight boats
by the colony of Rhode Island for priva-
teerng purposes. Their sizes may be i'm
agined when IL is remembered that their
crews aggregated but sixty men. Arm
ed with paving stones they attacked and
captured the English schooner Saspe. a
tender to the British squadron which had
sought the harbor The privateering ex-
petition boarded her June IS I772, and
then destroyed the vessel.
, The part played by privateers in the war
of 1872 is well known. and the exploits of
the confederate Alabama, whose achieve
ments cost the British government a good
many pounds. are also familiar. During
the war Of 1912 it is estimated that more
than 1900 British vessels were captured
by our privateers. and ii is reckoned that
we had 80 vessels in commission to prey
on English commerce.
But times have changed. In the old days
war was mere butchery. Now hostile
fleet must give notice before bombardlng
a city III order that the inhabitants may
get cut of the way and not be hurt. Such
a change is there In civilized methods Of
warfare that II Is doubtful whether OF not
will be tolerated. A any rate
no one should be deferred from a trans
atlantic journey through fear OF capture
by a Spanish priyRteer and being either
held for ransom or made 10 walk the
plank
|
Eureka Herald: Being rash with the
mouth Is dangerous sometimes. We saw
the truth of this statement amply verified
during the war. IN September. 1852. and
between the battles % Iuka and Corinth.
the former tough; September II ard the
latter October and T. q bunch Of re
cruits joined Company II. 18th Ohio. One /
OF these recruits was regular mouth /