“ That the Irresistible was purchased, and that she sailed out of the port of Baltimore, armed and manned as a vesser of war, for the purpose of being employed as a cruizer against a nation with whom the United States were at peace, is too clear for controversy. That the arms and ammunition were cleared out as cargo cannot vary the case. Nor is it thought to be material that the men were enlisted in form as for a common mercantile voyage. There is nothing resembling a commercial adventure in any part of the transaction. ”

“ The building of ships for sale was a lawful branch of commerce, and even if they were armed and equipped for war, they could only be considered as contraband; and though they might be subject to the penalty of confiscation, if taken in their transit to a belligerent, yet, if once incorporated into the mass of his military marine, they could be considered by neutrals in no other light than the rest of his naval force. ”

“ Vessels completely fitted in our ports for military operations, need only sail to a belligerent port, and there, after obtaining a commission, go through the ceremony of discharging and re-enlisting their crew, to become perfectly legitimate cruizers, purified from every taint contracted at the place where all their real force and capacity for annoyance was acquired. ”