Noah Haynes Swayne

“ No man has, or can have, any interest but what he takes as the mere gift of the crown. Beyond the extent of that gift he has nothing. This is the principle of law on the subject, founded on the wisest reasons. The right of making war and peace is exclusively in the crown. ”

“ We are satisfied that at the time of the capture no such intention existed. This brings the vessel and cargo within the exception prescribed by the Secretary. The order does not reach the case. But if the order of the Secretary were unqualified that the property should be released and discharged, the result would be the same. The power of the Secretary to remit forfeitures and penalties is defined and limited by law. The jurisdiction is a special one and he may not transcend it. If he do, his act is void. He has no power to remit in any case of property captured as maritime prize of war. ”

“ Flynn, the mate, was also examined. According to his affidavit, she sailed under English colors; her machinery had broken down, and she was in a disabled condition when captured. He says, 'She was taken running the blockade.' . . . 'The owners of the vessel were Captain Meaher and brother.' . . . 'They also owned half the cargo. The balance was for Confederate government account.' . . . 'I know the Gray Jacket, on the trip on which she was captured, had attempted to sail covertly and secretly from Mobile, then under a blockade. She could not have left otherwise than secretly.' . . . ”

“ I live in Mobile, and have lived there thirty years; I am a citizen of the State of Alabama, to which I owe my allegiance.'
The matter is explained when you see to what question the answer is made. It is:'Where were you born, and where do you now live, and how long have you lived there? Of what prince or state are you a subject or citizen, and to which do you owe allegiance?'
So it is with all the proofs in preparatorio. They are responsive to specific questions, and are not adapted to get out a history in a case where a history may well exist. ”

“ If it come from enemy territory, it bears the impress of enemy property. If it belong to a loyal citizen of the country of the captors, it is nevertheless as much liable to condemnation as if owned by a citizen or subject of the hostile country or by the hostile government itself. ”

“ Meaher alleges that this cotton, 'had been produced on his own plantation.' Now, no doctrine is better settled than that the produce of a person's own plantation in the enemy's country is considered, in a prize court, as the property of the enemy, independent of his own personal residence and occupation.
Every way the case is against the claimant. ”

“ The darkness of the night enabled the steamer to avoid the pursuing vessel. In the morning she was seen endeavoring to escape to the southward and eastward. The Kennebec fired a gun across her bows. She hauled down her colors and hove to. The captors took possession of her. Her cargo was found to consist of about five hundred bales of cotton and a few other articles of small value. She was put in charge of a prize crew and sent to New Orleans for adjudication. The claimant, Meaher, was examined in preparatorio. He states that he was born in Maine; he had lived thirty years in Mobile ”

“ It is the case of an insurrection by certain people in certain parts of one nation; a case where many people in the insurrectionary district remained loyal, and wished to leave the district. Certainly a capture here presents a different case from one of an enemy's vessel, and enemy property, of a claimant enemy by domicil in enemy country, pursuing a voyage in the interest of the enemy government.
The few discrepancies in the testimony are easily reconcilable. Meaher testifies that he owns the whole vessel and cargo. ”

“ In no view of the subject can this proclamation be held to extinguish the liability of a vessel and cargo running the blockade, and seized in flagrante delicto. It would be a strange result in such a case if the subsequent oath of the claimant were allowed to establish his innocence and compel the restitution of the property.
This is not a proper case for an order for further proof. The order is always made with extreme caution, and only where the ends of justice clearly require it. ”

“ But the cargo must go with the vessel and partake of its character, especially where there is the same owner to both.
The remission is a license coupled with a final adjudication of the bona fides of the licensee in this acts under it, and must relate back to the inception of the voyage.
All licenses, either express or implied, are to be construed with the greatest liberality. [8] Such is the present doctrine, though not the old one.
2. This is a case of Treasury forfeiture, and not of maritime prize. ”

“ Even if this were not so, the Secretary's power to remit forfeitures incurred by virtue of the statute of 1861 is limited by the words of the statute to cases of seizure and proceedings to enforce forfeitures under the statute, and does not extend to and cannot be exercised in cases of maritime captures of vessels and cargoes under the law of war, adjudicated under that law, and in the prize jurisdiction, and then condemned as prize of war on account of breach of blockade. ”

“ I. Meaher declares that he was at all times a loyal citizen of the United States, and yet relies on the proclamation of President Lincoln in favor of those 'who have participated in the existing rebellion;' declares that he has ever acted a patriotic part, and then sets up a 'full pardon' for treason. ”

“ The property of rebels is not confiscable as prize of war, but by forfeiture. [18]
Being, at worst, only an enemy by construction of domicil-a quasi enemy-his status changed as soon as he formed the intention of returning to his allegiance, and did any act carrying out that intention. ”

“ The war was carried on by the rebels in an unusual and barbarous manner towards persons disposed to be loyal. If this course of the rebels furnishes no reason for relaxation of the rule by the courts, it certainly tends to excuse delays, and accounts for inconsistencies in the conduct of the claimant not to be judged by the rules of foreign warfare. ”

“ Such, with this limitation, is the settled law of this and of all other prize courts.
The case before us, as we view it, has no redeeming feature. It has no claim to the benefit of the exception we have mentioned. The vessel and cargo were properly condemned as enemy property and for breach of the blockade. There is nothing persuasive to a different conclusion. ”

“ In the case of a rebellion the rule should be that it is a reasonable time, whenever the withdrawal is made in good faith; an issue to be determined by the facts of each case.
(b) The captors assert that 'an intention on the part of the claimant to return to his residence and business in Mobile is consistent with the contents of this affidavit ”