20 CAPTAIN ZACHARY G. LAMSON 



rate the moment a cargo was landed, it be- 

 came the property of a neutral nation. To 

 this England replied by reaffirming what 

 she called the "Rule of 1756," that a neu- 

 tral has no right to substitute her vessels 

 to carry on trade for a belligerent, when 

 such trade was forbidden in time of peace. 

 That the fact that she did not enforce the 

 rule from 1800 to 1805 had nothing to do 

 with the question, since to waive a right is 

 not to abandon a principle, and the rule 

 of the Admiralty Court was that all colo- 

 nial trade is prohibited except as a matter 

 of concession. 



There was something to be said for both 

 parties in this controversy. The United 

 States, while keeping to the letter of the 

 law as construed in 1800, did violate its 

 principle. The "Salem Gazette" reports 

 one case where a New Bedford vessel 

 claimed to have landed her cargo, paid 

 duties, reloaded her cargo and cleared for 

 Europe in forty-eight hours. Many ves- 

 sels carried what was really the property 



