An Inquiry Into the Right of Visit or Approach: By Ships of War (Classic Reprint)

Excerpt from An Inquiry Into the Right of Visit or Approach: By Ships of War While General Cass points to Cuba as the only existing slave mart of the world, it is well known that active meas ures and a large amount of capital are in operation along the banks of the Mississippi for the introduction of Slaves from Africa into that region. Whether as yet any cargoes have been successfully introduced, no one can either affirm or deny, but public rumor is rife on the subject. We have seen by the letter of Commodore Rogers, that the British cruisers are doing nothing, more on the coast of Cuba with regard to American vessels than they have been doing on the coast of Africa, since 1849, and not half so much as they were then and there previously in the habit of doing, ever since the slave trade had been made illegal by the laws of the two nations. Indeed, it appears by the recent debate in the House of Lords, on the 17th of June last, that Lord Aberdeen, speak ing of the instructions under which he supposes the British cruisers to be at present acting, states, they were drawn up with great care and attention, communicated at the am to the American government, and acquiesced in by Mr. Webster on the part of that government! Some expressions dropped by Lord Malmsbury, in that debate, have given rise to an impression of an acquiss cence by the British government in the doctrine claimed by the ultra advocates of the American right, viz.: that the, mere hoisting of an American flag by any vessel, no matter how strong the suspicions may attach to her of not being American, and of her being engaged in criminal or unlaw ful traffic, gives such vessel perfect immunity from any visit or molestation by ships of war other than those of the American nation. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.