rwise, interested therein."

Having complied with the requisites of the statute in that behalf, she
cleared in the usual way for the port of Curacoa, and on or about the
4th day of October, 1870, sailed for that port. It is not disputed that
she made the voyage according to her clearance, nor that from that day
to this she has not returned within the territorial jurisdiction of the
United States. It is also understood that she preserved her American
papers, and that when within foreign ports she made the practice of
putting forth a claim to American nationality, which was recognized by
the authorities at such ports.

When, therefore, she left the port of Kingston, in October last, under
the flag of the United States, she would appear to have had, as against
all powers except the United States, the right to fly that flag and to
claim its protection, as enjoyed by all regularly documented vessels
registered as part of our commercial marine.

No state of war existed conferring upon a maritime power the right to
molest and detain upon the high seas a documented vessel, and it can not
be pretended that the _Virginius_ had placed herself without the pale of
all law by acts of piracy against the human race.

If her papers were irregular or fraudulent, the offense was one against
the laws of the United States, justiciable only in their tribunals.

When, therefore, it became known that the _Virginius_ had been captured
on the high seas by a Spanish man-of-war; that the American flag had
been hauled down by the captors; that the vessel had been carried to a
Spanish port, and that Spanish tribunals were taking jurisdiction over
the persons of those found on her, and exercising that jurisdiction upon
American citizens, not only in violation of the rules of international
law, but in contravention of the provisions of the treaty of 1795,
I directed a demand to be made upon Spain for the restoration of the
vessel and for the return of the survivors to the protection of the
United States, for a salute to the flag, and for the punishment of the
offending parties.

The principles upon which these demands rested could not be seriously
questioned, but it was suggested by the Spanish Government that there
were grave doubts whether the _Virginius_ was entitled to the character
given her by her papers, and that therefore it might be proper for the
United States, after the surrender of the vessel and the survivors, to
dispense with the s