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and this brings me to the fundamental principle on which the whole matter is hinged
Conceive that every nation has sole, unqualified, and indispensable authority within the limits of its territory, and the waters thereof.
"The right to exercise this authority is waived by special Treaty, distinctly recognized convention, as in the case of Turkey, the Barbary states, and the peculiar Empire on the confines of which this British Colony is situated.
Between the United States and Great Britain in such Treaty or Convention exists, so far as my knowledge extends, nor has any such Treaty or Convention been quoted or referred to by His Excellency, Captain M. Clay, Mr. Count Keenan
Indeed,
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I may point, in support of the very same position I have taken, to the treaty actually entered into between respective countries on the 2nd July 1815, which was continued and enforced by the treaty of 6th August 1847.
Frequent complaints are made by Seamen on board American Ships of wrongs and of violence suffered on the high seas, but cognizance of the matter is, I believe, invariably declined by the Colonial Authorities, and the Complainants referred to the United States Consul, who seeks, not, as he properly might, the assistance of our authorities, and this assistance is always willingly rendered. But the case before us is Criminal: a serious misdemeanor was made against the Peace of the
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