306 ORAL ARGUMENT OF SIR CHARLES RUSSELL, Q. C. M. P. 



obtained munitious of war from the public stores, some of which were 

 conveyed to N^avy Island, in British territory, for the above uses. The 

 British boat surprised the vessel iu Schlosser harbor at night, removed 

 the crew, set it on fire, and let it drift over the Falls. Mr. Webster, 

 who then was the Minister of State, writes in reference to this matter 

 the language which I have quoted; at a later stage of the diplomatic 

 discussion, and repeating his view of the facts, says: 



Under those circumstances, and under those immediately connected with the trans- 

 action itself, it will be for Her Majesty's Government to show upon what state of 

 facts and what rules of international law the destruction of the Caroline is to be 

 defended. It will be for that Government to show a necessity of self defence, instant, 

 over-whelming, leaving no choice of means and no monieut for deliberation. 



It is set out at page 186 of the printed Argument, in which this case 

 is referred to. 



I have only finally to read the justification which Lord Palmerston 

 put forward for the act, with which explanation the United States was 

 content, and did not pursue the matter further. The despatch from 

 Lord Palmerston is dated the 27th August, 1841, and is set out at page 

 56 of the correspondence relating to this matter. He gives the state- 

 ment and facts which I have endeavored to summarize. 



The President. — We have not got that. 



Sir Charles Eussell. — No, I shall hand this to the Tribunal if 

 they so desire it. It is upon a matter upon which there is no dispute 

 as to fact. I am reading historical documents. Lord Palmerston goes 

 on, after stating the facts very much as I have described them, and 

 says : 



In this state of things a small band of Canadian refugees, who had taken shelter 

 in the State of New- York, formed a league with a number of citizens of the United 

 States for the purpose of invading the British territory, not to join a party engaged 

 in civil war, because civil war at that time in Canada there was none, but in order 

 to commit within the British territory the crimes of robbery, arson, and murder. 



Her Majesty's Government, and Her Majesty's Minister at Washington have called 

 these people pirates, and the American secretary of State in a recent note to Mr. 

 Fox observes, that this name cannot properly be applied to them. The Undersigned 

 is ready to admit that technically, the word ''pirate" is applied to persons who, 

 without authority or commission, commit upon the high seas the crimes which this 

 band of offenders determined to commit upon the land; but if the term is in this 

 case inappropriate, it is so, not on account of the nature of the acts which these 

 men were about to i>erpetrate, but on account of the element on which those acts 

 were to be committed — 



And then he concludes: 



That there was no fortification at Schlosser — 



1087 That is the place where the ship was seized. 



Her Majesty's Government are ready to admit; for though the place is called 

 Fort Schlosser, Her Majesty's Government believe that no fortified building at pres- 

 ent exists there. It is also perfectly true that no hostilities had been commenced on 

 the American side, if by that expression Mr. Stevenson means the American side of 

 the river; but that hostilities had been commenced by the Americans is now an 

 historical fact, and those hostilities consisted in an invasion of British territory by 

 an armed force from the state of New-York. In fact, the people of New- York had 

 begun to make war against Her Majesty's Canadian Provinces. They had done so 

 apparently with the connivance of the Authorities of the State; not only the New- 

 Yprk territory at Schlosser had lost its neutral character, and had become enemies' 

 land, but other portions of the territory of that State had assumed the same condition. 



One or other of two things must be. Either the Government of New-York know- 

 ingly and intentionally permitted the band of invaders to organize and equip them- 

 selves within the Statie, and to arm themselves for war against British territory, out 

 of the m ilitary stores of the State ; or else the State Government had lost its authority 

 over the border districts; and those districts were for the moment in open defiance 

 Of the power of the State Government, as well as at war with the opposite British 

 province. 



