NAVY, CONFEDERATE. 



603 



than the consular certificate, with which you seem to have supplied 

 yourself. 



I am, Sir, your obedient servant, W. STUART. 



On the 18th of November the Alabama fell in with the 

 steamship Ariel, on her way from New York to Aspin- 

 wall. The steamer was bonded and allowed to proceed 

 with her passengers; but the alarm occasioned by her 

 seizure prevented her from bringing back her usual freight 

 of gold. A United States gunboat was sent to bring it. 

 In the mean time, however, it arrived by the next boat 

 of the company. A number of armed vessels were sent 

 out to cruise in the track of the Alabama, without much 

 success. The Vanderbilt sailed from New York for Fayal, 

 December 11. Two other steamers left New York, one 

 from Boston, one from Philadelphia, and one from Ports- 

 mouth, X. H. None of these were, however, of sufficient 

 speed. The U. S. frigate Sabine, Com. Cadwalader Ring- 

 gold, left New London, November 3, in search of the 

 Alabama. Arrived at the Azores November 28. Sailed 

 thence December 2, and arrived at Cape de Verde De- 

 cember 23, and left there January 2. Absent 100 days, 

 cruising 93 days, and sailed 10,000 miles in vain. 



The Alabama meantime, having captured the Ariel on 

 the 18th, arrived on the 26th, two days before the Sabine 

 reached the Azores, at Martinique, where she took in coal 

 from a British bark. The United States steamer San 

 Jacinto, at the same date, was off St. Thomas watching 

 for the Alabama, which on the 30th captured the Parker, 

 Cook, off the Moro Passage. December 5 she captured 

 the Union off Cape Mais, and was off Havana December 

 31. Thus she does not appear to have left the American 

 coast, while the Vanderbilt and other vessels sent in 

 search were seeking her elsewhere. In some cases the 

 Alabama released her prizes on a ransom bill being sign- 

 ed by the captain, and agreeing to pay a sum of money 

 after the close of the war. By the general law of nations 

 these bills or contracts are recognized as between bel- 

 ligerents, and a captain may by his contract bind his 

 owners, the whole cargo as well as the ship. Those ran- 

 soms were forbidden by the English Government under 

 George III, but have never been prohibited by the United 

 States. 



The theory of ransom is that it is a repurchase of the 

 actual right of the captors at the time the bill or bond is 

 given, be that what it may ; or, more properly, it is a re- 

 linquishment of all the interest or benefit which the cap- 

 tors might acquire or consummate in the property by 

 regular adjudication of a prize tribunal, whether it may 

 be in the interest of the ship and cargo, or a lien on the 

 same, or a mere title to expenses. These ransom bills are, 

 by rules of international law, an exception to the general 

 doctrine that no contract with an enemy is valid. 



In the case of the ransom bill given by the Ariel, it 

 seems not to be payable till six months after the recogni- 

 tion of the Southern Confederacy. If then, that con- 

 tingency should happen, what court would have jurisdic- 

 tion to enforce the agreement ? Primarily, all questions 

 of prize belong to the tribunals of the capturing power; 

 and foreign tribunals will not interfere, unless where 

 their territorial rights have been violated. Ransoms be- 

 long to the same jurisdiction, and may there be enforced 

 or set aside, as the facts disclose a good or bad prize. 

 It is, however, competent for the captors to change the 

 forum in cases of ransom, and apply for redress in any 

 country where the person of the owner of the Ariel may 

 be found, or the ship itself. 



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