428 HUDSON HONORED IN NEW YORK 



FILIBUSTERS AND ADVENTURERS. 



It is worthy of note that fihbusters and adventurers cannot hold the owner- 

 ships and sovereignty of any new lands they may discover. They must work 

 for some state or power recognized by other nations, else they may at any 

 time be dislodged. 



As has been laid down, "navigators going on a voyage of discovery, fur- 

 nished with a commission from their sovereign and meeting with islands or 

 lands in a desert state, may take possession of them in the name of their 

 nation." And this title has been usually respected, provided it was soon after 

 followed by a real possession. 



Was Dr. Cook a commissioned explorer or was he, to use a common phrase, 

 "out on his own." And what, after all, is meant by "real possession?" The 

 country that desires to maintain a claim of ownership of the north pole and 

 take a "real possession" is not likely to find another nation to quarrel with. 

 These not very eligible properties — the north and south poles — will presum- 

 ably He in the public market. Expeditions will continue to be sent out and 

 the interest attached to them will be based upon far higher considerations than 

 the ownership of a (possible) patch of sterile land. 



