l rights, and for securing the redress of injuries, as
far as possible, by means of acknowledged tribunals. In that state of
barbarous anarchy which so long resisted the coercive authority of civil
magistrates, the sea held out even more temptation and more impunity
than the land; and when the laws had regained their sovereignty, and
neither robbery nor private warfare was any longer tolerated, there
remained that great common of mankind, unclaimed by any king, and the
liberty of the sea was another name for the security of plunderers. A
pirate, in a well-armed quick-sailing vessel, must feel, I suppose, the
enjoyments of his exemption from control more exquisitely than any
other freebooter; and darting along the bosom of the ocean, under the
impartial radiance of the heavens, may deride the dark concealments and
hurried flights of the forest robber. His occupation is, indeed,
extinguished by the civilization of later ages, or confined to distant
climates. But in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, a rich vessel
was never secure from attack; and neither restitution nor punishment of
the criminals was to be obtained from governments who sometimes feared
the plunderer and sometimes connived at the offence.[616] Mere piracy,
however, was not the only danger. The maritime towns of Flanders,
France, and England, like the free republics of Italy, prosecuted their
own quarrels by arms, without asking the leave of their respective
sovereigns. This practice, exactly analogous to that of private war in
the feudal system, more than once involved the kings of France and
England in hostility.[617] But where the quarrel did not proceed to such
a length as absolutely to engage two opposite towns, a modification of
this ancient right of revenge formed part of the regular law of nations,
under the name of reprisals. Whoever was plundered or injured by the
inhabitant of another town obtained authority from his own magistrates
to seize the property of any other person belonging to it, until his
loss should be compensated. This law of reprisal was not confined to
maritime places; it prevailed in Lombardy, and probably in the German
cities. Thus, if a citizen of Modena was robbed by a Bolognese, he
complained to the magistrates of the former city, who represented the
case to those of Bologna, demanding redress. If this were not
immediately granted, letters of reprisals were issued to plunder the
territory of Bologna till the injured part