(the same which crucified the Savior of the world,) their thirty pieces of silver. By the general consent of mankind it was proclaimed, that war has horrors enough without the poisoning of wells, without the murdering and enslavement of prisoners, without the sacking of peaceful cities and villages; and happy will it be, when the same unanimous consent of voice shall announce, that war has horrors enough without the demoralization and cruelties of privateering.

We are aware that some persons may be disposed to take exception at these expressions on the subject of privateering, and may pronounce them unnecessarily severe; but we cannot deny, that they seem to us amply justified by the nature of the subject. Nor, in this matter, do we stand alone, either in opinion or in feeling. The United States, as a nation, as a great people deciding upon an important question of national morals, have ever expressed their disapprobation of the practice of privateering, and their desire, that the principles, which permitted it, might be expunged from the public code. When Franklin, Jefferson, and Adams, near the close of the Revolution, were appointed by Congress commissioners to form treaties with the leading powers of Europe, they were instructed to stipulate, among other propositions favorable to pacific and neutral interests, that, if war should arise between the two contracting parties, neither of them should grant or issue any commission to any private armed vessels, empowering them to interrupt or destroy merchant ships.* Some years since certain memorials on the subject of privateering were presented to the Congress of the United States by citizens of the State of Ohio. They were referred to the Committee of Foreign Relations; and from that Committee a Report was made by Mr. Lowndes of South Caroli

* Secret Journals of Congress, Vol. III, p. 486.

na, a name deservedly held in estimation by the whole American people. Among other things the Report has the following statements."It is the security of fair and harmless commerce from all attack, which the memorialists most desire. It is the introduction of a system, which shall confine the immediate injuries of war to those, whose sex and age and occupation do not unfit them for the struggle. If these are, the wishes of the memorialists, the Committee express their concurrence in them without hesitation.

"The Committee think that it will be right in the government of the United States to renew its attempts to obtain the mitigation of a barbarous code, whenever there shall seem a probability of its success. They do not doubt, that it will do so. Its first efforts at negotiation were characterized by an anxiety to limit the evils of war; and if it seem to have desisted from the prosecution of this design, the Committee believe, that this circumstance must be attributed, not to a change in the policy of the United States, but to a perseverance in their former policy of other nations.

"The Committee are not unaware, that the United States are better situated, than any other nation to profit by privateering; but they are far from opposing this calculation to a regulation, which, if the powers of the world would adopt it, they too should consider as a happy improvement in the laws of nations."

When distinguished citizens and statesmen are generally found to utter such sentiments, every thing is to be hoped for. Every word they pronounce is cherished in the recollections of the friends of the human race, and in due season will be found working out its effects. And this must be our excuse for so frequently referring to the opinions of such men, to whom the public naturally look for advice and guidance on subjects of this nature. We con

clude this chapter with the following extract from the writings of Dr. Franklin, expressing sentiments, which he seems to have enforced on every suitable occasion.

"It behoves merchants to consider well of the justice of a war, before they voluntarily engage a gang of ruffians to attack their fellow-merchants of a neighboring nation, to plunder them of their property, and perhaps ruin them and their families, if they yield it; or to wound, maim, or murder them, if they endeavor to defend it. Yet these things are done by Christian merchants, whether a war be just or unjust; and it can hardly be just on both sides. They are done by English and American merchants, who, nevertheless, complain of private theft, and hang by dozens the thieves they have taught by their own example.

"It is high time, for the sake of humanity, that a stop were put to this enormity. The United States of America, though better situated than any European nation to make profit by privateering (most of the trade of Europe, with the West Indies, passing before their doors) are, as far as in them lies, endeavoring to abolish the practice, by offering, in all their treaties with other powers, an article, engaging solemnly, that, in case of future war, no privateer shall be commissioned on either side; and that unarmed merchant-ships, on both sides, shall pursue their voyages unmolested. This will be a happy improvement of the law of nations. The humane and the just cannot but wish general success to the proposition. Franklin's Works, Vol. II, p. 448.

CHAPTER EIGHTH.

PIRACIES.

PIRATICAL depredations, without excepting even the present enlightened and commercial age, have always been more or less perpetrated. Within a few years the Gulph of Mexico and the neighboring seas have been infested with the vessels of pirates, and their robberies and murders have been attended with circumstances of the most shocking atrocity. They became so numerous, active, and formidable in 1823, that the United States, independently of the force kept there for the same purpose by other nations, thought it necessary to maintain on the West India station twenty armed vessels for the protection of their commerce; and even these were found to be but partially effectual. As pirates do not confine themselves to any particular place or residence, but rove wherever there is a probability of finding their victims, they cannot be considered the subjects of any one government in particular; and yet it cannot be questioned, that all nations have a duty to perform in respect to them. The principles and duties, therefore, having relation to piracy, are of an international, as well as of an internal and municipal character, and are to be sought for in the Law of nations. But it is undoubtedly true, that the subject is there treated in a

very limited and superficial manner; especially when we consider, that the character of piracy, at least in a modified form, attaches to some large States, such as the Algerines and Tripolitans. It is not enough to say, that a pirate is a sea-thief, an outcast from society, an enemy of human kind; and to leave it to the discretion of all nations to operate against him as they please. We cannot help regarding the subject as one of too much importance and of too much difficulty to be despatched in this summary way.

Among other things, it ought to be understood, that the pirate operates upon the land, as well as upon the water. It is well known, that the numerous and fearful piracies a few years since in the Gulph of Mexico and the neighboring seas were committed by bands of robbers inhabiting the land, who held an active communication with the large towns; and who, in consequence of the information thus afforded, were enabled to sally out from their lurking places at the precise moment, when the unsuspecting merchantman could not fail to fall a prey to them. They even seduced and corrupted the integrity of a large portion of the surrounding population, by means of the low price, at which they disposed of their iniquitous gains; and by their number, activity, and wealth, perplexed and set at defiance the local authorities. This state of things was supposed to present an urgent case for immediate action on the part of those nations, whose commerce was thus exposed; but it was very difficult to determine, what precise measures should be taken. As the pirates issued out in small and swift vessels, drawing but a few feet of water, they could not easily be pursued amid the shallows, to which they fled; and when this could be done, they immediately escaped to the caverns and strong-holds of the interior. Nothing remained then but to pursue the robbers on the land; but