Trial of the Officers and Crew of the Privateer Savannah, on the Charge of Piracy, in the United States Circuit Court for the Southern District of New YorkWarburton, A. F. (Adolphus Frederick)
History
Trial of the Officers and Crew of the Privateer Savannah, on the Charge of Piracy, in the United States Circuit Court for the Southern District of New York
Warburton, A. F. (Adolphus Frederick)
Piracy -- United States; Privateering -- United States; United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865
their general intention, but as a fact, their conduct furnishes not a
single deviation from these requirements. I read to the Court and Jury
the Regulations published by the Confederates, for the privateers, and
which were found to be on board of the Savannah at the time of her
capture. They are similar, in all of their provisions, to those usually
prescribed by civilized nations at war. In substance, they permitted
the privateers to capture the vessels and cargoes belonging to the
United States and her citizens, the capture to be made in the name of
the Confederate States; they forbade, after capture, any disturbance or
removal of the furniture, tackle, or cargoes of the captured prizes,
and required immediate transmission, to a proper Court, of the prize,
for adjudication. Did the defendants comply with these terms? The
evidence is too plain that they did, to admit the slightest doubt.
As soon as the Joseph was captured, a prize crew was put on board of
her and she was sent to the care of an Admiralty Court in a home port,
and her papers, books and crew were sent along, that the Court might
have the fullest evidence of the ownership and character of the
captured vessel, and be able to decide properly, whether or not she was
liable to capture. If the defendants had any corrupt or furtive
motives, or if they had been indifferent to their assumed obligations,
would they have been so scrupulous in furnishing all the evidence to
the Court? Did they destroy, alter or erase any evidence, or offer to
do so? Did they evince the least desire to have any other than the full
facts appear with regard to all their acts? Your answer, with mine, is
No! And when the vessel arrived in port, observe what proceedings were
instituted by the agent of the captors. He did not offer to sell the
vessel and cargo at private sale; he did not offer to submit her
disposition to the adjudication of any merely State Court; but caused
her to be libeled in a Prize Court, constituted on precisely the same
basis, and enforcing the identical rules of law with the United States
Prize and Admiralty Court, which convenes in the room adjoining to that
in which we now are. In fact, I am safe in saying that the decisions of
our Courts here are controlling precedents in the Court wherein the
brig Joseph was tried and condemned as a prize of war. The trial was in
a Court known to and recognized by the law of nations. Now, gentlemen,
I certainly need do no more than thus re-advert to the facts in
evidence to remove from your minds the slightest suspicion that the
defendants ever intended to violate the laws of war or the instructions
received from their Government when they received their letter of
marque.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account