1. the somewhat barbarous custom has prevailed among nations, from early times, of making war in every possible way upon the citizens of a hostile country, and of taking or destroying their property, on the principle that injury to the citizens of the power warred against would diminish its power of defense and attack.
this has been carried into effect on the sea by authorizing private vessels to be fitted out for warlike purposes and preying on the commerce of the enemy. such authority is given by letters of marque and reprisal. the constitution confers on congress the power to do this; and congress authorizes the president to do it. a law was passed in 1863 expressly conveying it to him.
2. it is a formal commission given to the commander of a private armed vessel, called a privateer, authorizing him to capture the ships and goods of the subjects of a nation with which we are at war. when such letters are issued by the[317] united states they are signed by the president and sealed with the great seal. without such commission, thus signed and sealed, any capture made by the commander of a private vessel would be piracy. if a capture is made, it must be made according to the laws of war, as recognized by civilized nations, and according to the instructions given by the president. any conduct on the part of a privateer, contrary to these rules, would vitiate his proceedings, and he would not be entitled to the property he had captured.
3. the captured vessel is called a prize, and must be taken into some port of the united states, or into some port of a country in amity with the united states, where legal proceedings are taken before some court of competent jurisdiction; and the capture and all the circumstances of it inquired into; and if all is found to have been done according to the laws of civilized nations, the captured vessel and cargo is condemned as a prize. but if not condemned, the captors lose her. when adjudged to be a lawful prize, the ship and cargo are sold, and the money is divided between the officers and men, according to rank, and according to the laws of congress on this subject. these laws give the whole to the captors, when the ship taken is of equal or superior force to the ship making the capture; but if of inferior force, then the united states takes one-half.
4. privateering, as this business is called, was once considered a lawful and honorable mode of warfare. it was generally practiced between belligerent nations; but in later days its propriety and morality have been questioned. it is beginning to be looked upon as a kind of robbery not very distantly related to piracy. that it is robbery no one can deny, and, query, “can it be justified on the ground that the robber and the robbed are the subjects of nations at war with each other?”
5. in europe an effort has been made to do away with this species of warfare. we hope it will yet succeed, and that all nations will agree to abolish this system of plunder. innocent parties are generally the sufferers, while but small injury is done to the power of the hostile nation.
