It is necessary to ascertain whether the process of the Court which he quotes was carrying final or merely one issued by an officer of the Court without the sanction of the Judge.
I cannot doubt that Mr Deane should have refused either to interfere at all in the matter, thereby following the prudent example of the Commodore, or if he felt bound to assist, to have done so with a force not bearing...
Finally, I would point out that the emergency attending the case probably caused most of the disagreeable results. On the one hand a great responsibility rested upon most of the parties concerned in letting the vessel depart. On the other, the duty of refusing interference was not so clear.
On the one side, I think it is much to be regretted that the French Authorities did not follow my advice and lay the matter before the Court after the Warrant had been allowed to go, instead of taking the Law into their own hands, a matter of doubtful propriety. In the other, it is equally to be lamented that more calm discretion had not been exercised in putting...