o all further question. The words of the article are, 'It shall not be
lawful for any foreign privateers not belonging to subjects of the M. C.
King, nor citizens of the said United States, who have commissions from
any foreign Prince or State in enmity with either nation, to fit their
ships in the ports of either the one or the other of the aforesaid
parties.' Translate this from the general terms in which it here stands,
into the special case produced by the present war. 'Privateers not
belonging to France or the United States, and having commissions from
the enemies of one of them,' are, in the present state of things,'
British, Dutch, and Spanish privateers.' Substituting these then for
the equivalent terms, it will stand thus, 'It shall not be lawful for
British, Dutch, or Spanish privateers, to fit their ships in the ports
of the United States.' Is this an express permission to France to do
it? Does the negative to the enemies of France, and silence as to France
herself, imply an affirmative to France? Certainly not; it leaves
the question as to France open, and free to be decided according to
circumstances. And if the parties had meant an affirmative stipulation,
they would have provided for it expressly; they would never have left
so important a point to be inferred from mere silence or implications.
Suppose they had desired to stipulate a refusal to their enemies, but
nothing to themselves; what form of expression would they have used?
Certainly the one they have used; an express stipulation as to their
enemies, and silence as to themselves. And such an intention corresponds
not only with the words, but with the circumstances of the times. It was
of value to each party to exclude its enemies from arming in the ports
of the other, and could in no case embarrass them. They therefore
stipulated so far mutually. But each might be embarrassed by permitting
the other to arm in its ports. They therefore would not stipulate to
permit that. Let us go back to the state of things in France when this
treaty was made, and we shall find several cases wherein France could
not have permitted us to arm in her ports. Suppose a war between these
States and Spain. We know, that by the treaties between France and
Spain, the former could not permit the enemies of the latter to arm in
her ports. It was honest in her, therefore, not to deceive us by such
a stipulation. Suppose a war between these States and Great Britain. By
the treatie