during war, in order to indispose them towards, or to convert them into enemies of Great Britain. It continued also to be his obvious interest to do so; because it was chiefly through the establishment of such neutral pretensions, and consequent neutral interposition, that he could in the meantime supply the commercial wants of the nation, and repair in some measure, the disasters which the French navy, and mercantile marine had sustained, from the uniform success of the British arms at sea. But, after he had taken advantage of the services of the neutral states, to assist him in prosecuting his victories by land, and after he had, through the errors committed in succession by the other great continental sovereigns, and through his own splendid talents and unprecedented power of availing himself of circumstances and events, extended his empire by land, from the Mediterranean and the Atlantic, to the Baltic, he laid aside his pretended regard for the neutral trade of the northern nations, and had nearly succeeded in seizing and appropriating the Danish naval force, and in employing it for the purpose of invading, and at least harassing and distressing Great Britain, as he had done the continental states.

CHAPTER I.

Of Maritime International law during the interval of Peace from 1801 to 1803.

WORKS OF INTERNATIONAL JURISTS.

BEFORE, however, commencing our narrative of the various infringements of Maritime international law, which took place during the period we are now to survey, we must notice some important works, not of a mere controversial nature, which appeared during the interval of peace between the armistice of Amiens, and the rupture in 1803. And here first presents itself, in 1801, the second edition, entirely recast, of the, with a few exceptions, very excellent work of M. de Martens, entitled, Précis du Droit des Gens Moderne de l' Europe, in one vol. 8vo. This work was announced, as intended "pour servir d'introduction à un Cours Politique et Diplomatique." And there appeared during the same year, by the same author, in three vols. 8vo., the likewise very useful work, entitled, Cours Diplomatique, ou Tableau des Relations Extérieures des Puissances de l'Europe. During the same year, also, M. de Martens had completed the seventh vol. 8vo. of his Recueil des principaux Traités conclus par les Puissances de

l'Europe, depuis 1761, jusqu'à présent; and this collection to which we generally refer, it may be mentioned has been continued down to the present time, in the shape of a Nouveau Recueil et Supplement. Of the first of these works, of course, only a part relates to the subject of these Researches; and as it has become a standard book in diplomacy, we shall postpone our detailed notice of that part of it, till we come to the appearance of the third edition of it, at Göttingen, in 1821, as corrected and enlarged by the author, a short time before his death.

Besides these works of Martens, however, there appeared during this interval, two other works in German, not altogether of a controversial nature. The first, entitled, Versuch einer kritischen Übersicht, der VolkerSeerechte, by Ludolf Holst, Versteher des Handels-Instituts zu St. Georg, was published at Hamburgh, in 1802, and was dedicated to the late king of Prussia. The work is announced as only the first part of what the author intended; but it does not appear, from the German catalogues, that any second part was ever published; and we have not been able to procure any such. The work, so far as published, is divided into sections.

The first section contains a brief critical review of the principal writers who have treated of the laws of nations in general, and especially of the rights of navigation, from ancient times down to the present. To the nations of antiquity, he remarks, this branch of the science was unknown; they had not even an ordinary word to express the idea conveyed by the modern term, neutrality. On the revival of the arts and sciences, in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, some traces of the ideas of neutrality and its rights, are to be found in the scholastic writers, who taught moral theology, as well as in the jurists and theologians who preceded Vasquez, Suarez,

Gentilis, and Grotius, in the fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth centuries. The works of Albericus Gentilis, and Grotius, he notices at some length. Among the chief writers on the law of nature and nations, in the course of the seventeenth and first half of the eighteenth century, he, of course, reckons Hobbes, Selden, Zouch, Pufendorff, Henry and Samuel Cocceii, Thomasius, Heineccius, Bynkershoek, Wolf, Burlamaqui, Réal, and Mably. But, he says, he must, in his Review, pass over all these, because they have either merely repeated what Grotius said, or have omitted the rights of navigation, from the exigencies of the times not having called their attention to the subject. In this remark, we have seen the author is, in point of fact, so far mistaken. But it is true that none of the authors he enumerates, have treated solely and exclusively of maritime neutrality and its rights. And he therefore proceeds to the authors of the second half of the eighteenth century, who have done so; and gives a more full account of the writings of Hübner, Galiani, Lampredi, and Azuni. He then proceeds to give an account of the works of those writers, who have not, like the foregoing, endeavoured to unfold the subject systematically and profoundly, but who, he says, have expounded the common and general rules and maxims, which belong to the defence of the rights of neutrals, without allowing themselves to indulge or extravagate in theoretical investigations. Under this class, he gives an account of the Traité Juridico politico sur les Prises Maritimes, by D'Abreu, as translated from the Spanish, of the work of Schlegel Sur la visite des Vaisseaux Neutres sous Convoi, of the Collection by Eggers of state-papers, on the misunderstanding between Denmark and England, and the Northern Convention of neutrality; of Borneman on the customary visitation of neutral vessels, and on

convoy.

He next notices the writers on the empire of, or jurisdiction over the sea, and on the appropriation of the sea, such as Grotius, Selden, &c.; on the procedure of maritime courts and maritime police, such as Martens, Versuch über Kaper, feindliche Nehmungen, und Wiedernehmungen; D'Abreu, Traité des Prises, Valin, Traité des Prises; Code des Prises, 1784; Guischard, Code des Prises Maritimes, Paris an. VIII. 2 tom. 12mo. The author next treats of maritime law diplomacy, and of the politics of navigation and trade; and he concludes this section with an account of the history of the war between Denmark and England, by C. F. Primon, and of the work of Barrere, entitled, La Liberté des Mers, ou le Gouvernement Anglois devoilé, an. VI. de la Republique.

In this review of the works of previous writers on Maritime international law, Dr. Holst does not show much acuteness or extent of observation; and his views appear to be rather those of a merchant, bent on the accumulation of wealth by means of neutral commerce, than those of an impartial and enlightened lawyer, giving equal consideration to the rights and interests of all nations indiscriminately.

In the second section of this work, entitled, Geschichtliche Darstellung des ältern und des neuern Seerechts, Historical description of the older and of the more recent maritime law, Dr. Holst, if he does not misrepresent, at least does not state fully and correctly, the historical facts, and thereby leads others into error, and affords pretexts for propagating erroneous opinions.

He begins with what he denominates the old maritime law, and distinguishes it from the new, by stating the two contested principles of each; namely, of the old, neutral goods in a hostile vessel are free, hostile goods in a neutral vessel are unfree; and of the new,