belongs to the enemy;
and if the captors should have erred wilfully, and not merely through
ignorance, he would be subject to further punishment. It is however, a
point on which foreign states are very likely to be misinformed and
abused, by the interested representations of those who are anxious to
catch at their protection. The claim of territory is, therefore, to be
taken according to the letter of the law, and to be made out by clear
and unimpeached evidence. The right of seizing the property of the
enemy is a right which extends, generally speaking, _universally_,
wherever that property is found. The protection of neutral territory
is an exception only to the rule; it is not therefore to be considered
disrespectful to any government that the fact, on which such claims
are founded, should be accurately examined.[144]

The neutral territory is supposed to extend three English miles from
the shore.[145]

[Sidenote: Property of Belligerents in Neutral Territory.]

But the general inviolability of neutral character goes further than
merely the protection of neutral property. It protects the property of
belligerents within the neutral territory. Thus, if the enemy be
attacked, or any capture made under neutral protection, the neutral is
bound to redress the injury, and effect restitution. As for example,
in 1793, the English ship Grange was captured in Delaware Bay, by a
French frigate, and upon due complaint, the American Government caused
the British ship to be promptly restored. Similarly, in the case of
the Anna, restoration was made of property captured by a British
cruizer near the mouth of the Mississippi, and within the jurisdiction
of the United States.[146]

An armed ship has no right to lie in a neutral harbour, in order to
make it an habitual _station_ for her captures, as that would be a
continuous direct infringement on neutral trade with the enemy; but if
she is accidentally in a neutral port, and sees an enemy coming, she
may go out and fight, or take her, beyond the range of neutral
ground.[147] Nor ought captors to station themselves at the mouth of a
neutral river for exercising the rights of war from that river, much
less in the very river itself.[148]

The doctrine is carried to the extent that no use of a neutral
territory for the purposes of war is to be permitted; this does not
include _remote_ uses, such as procuring provisions and refreshments,
and acts of that nature, which the law of na