The first article of it permits all vessels, laden wholly or in part
with corn, flour, or meal, bound to any port in France, to be stopped,
and sent into any British port, to be purchased by that government, or
to be released only on the condition of security given by the master,
that he will proceed to dispose of his cargo in the ports of some
country in amity with his Majesty.
This article is so manifestly contrary to the law of nations, that
nothing more would seem necessary than to observe that it is so. Reason
and usage have established that when two nations go to war, those who
choose to live in peace retain their natural right to pursue their
agriculture, manufactures, and other ordinary vocations, to carry the
produce of their industry for exchange to all nations, belligerent or
neutral, as usual, to go and come freely without injury or molestation,
and in short, that the war among others shall be, for them, as if it did
not exist. One restriction on their natural rights has been submitted
to by nations at peace, that is to say, that of not furnishing to either
party implements merely of war for the annoyance of the other, nor any
thing whatever to a place blockaded by its enemy. What these implements
of war are, has been so often agreed and is so well understood as to
leave little question about them at this day.
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