Samuel Freeman Miller

“ But until international treaties, or an act of Congress, shall mark another stage in the meliorations of the rigors of war, we are not at liberty to interpolate a principle which would tend so materially to destroy the right of prize capture in time of war. ”

“ As soon as a war was threatened, the owners of vessels and cargoes which might be so situated as to be subject to capture, would only have to raise a sufficient sum of money on them, by bona fide mortgages, to indemnify them in case of such capture. If the vessel or cargo was seized, the owner need not appear, because he would be indifferent, having the value of his property in his hands already. The mortgagee having an honest mortgage which he could establish in a court of prize, would either have the property restored to him, or get the amount of his mortgage out of the proceeds of the sale. ”

“ The only risk run by enemy vessels or cargoes on the high seas, or by neutrals engaged in an effort to break a blockade, would be the costs and expenses of capture and condemnation, a risk too unimportant to be of any value to a belligerent in reducing his opponent to terms. ”