"'May it please the Umpire, I ask the protection of this tribunal from
any such imputation as the gentleman's insinuation would leave me
under,' said the General, almost bursting of anger.
"There seemed to be a nice little difficulty brewing, which threatened
a readier dispatch of business than that which had marked their
efforts in the settlement of claims outstanding. Here again the
Umpire, with the aid of his two Commissioners, interposed for the
peace and respectability of Mr. Pierce's family. And here Mr. Smooth
is happy beyond his power of expression to state, that after a very
few unmeaning explanations, the gentlemen Councillors bowed politely
to each other, laughed with buffoonish good-nature, nor seemed a whit
less than the very best of friends. 'If General--will proceed with his
argument!' said the Umpire, gravely, by way of what writers call
parenthesis. 'Then, to the point of this case: now, ye see, the law on
our side of the water aint a bit like it is here, on this; 'specially
with cases of this kind. This is the case of a vessel with niggers on
board, bound from one part of the United States to t'other, but driven
by what sailors call stress of weather into a British port called
Bermuda, where the natives (report says they are not very
enlightened), not having the fear of God before their eyes, nor
understanding the constitution of the United States, nor comprehending
the principle by which certain democratic States in the free American
Union make good property of such things as men, did regardless of the
laws of those States, insult the sovereign flag, which was alike the
protection of property and citizen, no matter in what part of the
world it floated, and set all the niggers free! After consuming an
hour in arguments of this stamp, the General claimed to have made out
his case, inasmuch as the niggers being property to the laws of the
States to which they belonged, and the flag of the United States being
absolute in its character of a protection,--no matter under what local
jurisdiction,--the claim against England for compensation was as just
an one as ever man could present for man; did she withhold payment, it
must be at her peril.
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