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As Your Excellency concurs with me in the propriety of deferring the wine subject to our respective Governments; it will not be necessary for me to do more than direct your attention to these documents, and to offer a few additional, but very brief, remarks.
1. The general principle by which I am influenced is this, that every British subject residing in or visiting foreign territory is subjected to the protection of British Law, so long as he respects and obeys that Law. Under British Law, he voluntarily places himself when he enters a British harbor, or stands upon British Land. The condition of obedience to the Law is that which all civilized nations enforce upon all comers, and in return for that submission, the protection of the Law is afforded for the security of their persons and property.
You will allow me to remark, in reference to your quotations from Mr. Webster, that whatever respect his opinions may be entitled to, they do not constitute International Law, still less the Law of Great Britain; nor do they, as quoted by Your Excellency, warrant the position you have taken.
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Mr. Webster does not deny the jurisdiction the United States exercise in a foreign harbor; he does not demand "the derogation of the sovereignty of the place". It may, however, be readily granted, that the jurisdiction of the country to which the vessel belongs may exclude, "to a considerable extent", the jurisdiction of the Port Country; that the Law of the United States would...
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...of the Law is afforded for the security of their persons and property.
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