complain.[175]

In 1810, the then Secretary of State enclosed to the American minister
in London the letter from which this extract is taken, among other
proofs of the positions maintained by the United States on the subject
of blockade. The particular claim cited was not directly indorsed; but
as its mention was unnecessary to the matter immediately in hand, we
may safely regard its retention as indicative of the ideal of the
Secretary, and of the President, Mr. Madison. In consequence, we find
the minister, William Pinkney, in his letter of January 14, 1811,
adducing Marshall's view to the British Foreign Secretary:

It is by no means clear that it may not fairly be contended, on
principle and early usage, that a maritime blockade is
incomplete, with regard to States at peace,[176] unless the
place which it would affect is invested by land, as well as by
sea. The United States, however, have called for the recognition
of no such rule. They appear to have contented themselves,
etc.[177]

The error into which both these eminent statesmen fell is military in
character, and proceeds from the same source as the agitation in favor
of exempting so-called private property from capture. Both spring from
the failure to recognize a function of the sea, vital to the
maintenance of war by states which depend upon maritime commerce. To
forbid the free use of the seas to enemy's merchant ships and material
of commerce, differs in no wise in principle from shutting his ports
to neutral vessels, as well as to his own, by blockade. Both are aimed
at the enemy's sources of supply, at his communications; and the
penalty inflicted by the laws of war in both cases is the
same,--forfeiture of the offending property. With clear recognition of
this military principle involved, and of the importance of sustaining
it by Great Britain, British high officials repeatedly declared that
the Berlin Decree was to be regarded, not chiefly in its methods, but
in its object, or principle, which was to deprive Great Britain of her
principal weapon. This purpose stood avowed in the words, "this decree
shall be considered the fundamental law of the Empire until England
has acknowledged," etc. British statesmen correctly paraphrased this,
"has renounced the established foundations, admitted by all civilized
nations, of her maritime rights and interests, upon which depend the
most valuable rights and interests of the nation."