moment he was apprized of it, he showed
real contrition; that he had rendered meritorious services during the
late war, and declared he would live and die an American. The jury,
therefore, in absolving him, did no more than the constitutional
authority might have done, had they found him guilty: the constitution
having provided for the pardon of offences in certain cases, and there
being no case where it would have been more proper than where no offence
was contemplated. Henfeild, therefore, was still an American citizen,
and Mr. Genet's reclamation of him was as unauthorized as the first
enlistment of him.

2. Another doctrine advanced by Mr. Genet is, that our courts can take
no cognizance of questions whether vessels, held by theirs, as prizes,
are lawful prizes or not; that this jurisdiction belongs exclusively to
their consulates here, which have been lately erected by the National
Assembly into complete courts of admiralty. Let us consider, first,
what is the extent of jurisdiction which the consulates of France may
rightfully exercise here. Every nation has of natural right, entirely
and exclusively, all the jurisdiction which may be rightfully
exercised in the territory it occupies. If it cedes any portion of that
jurisdiction to judges appointed by another nation, the limits of their
power must depend on the instrument of cession. The United States and
France have, by their consular convention, given mutually to their
Consuls jurisdiction in certain cases especially enumerated. But that
convention gives to neither the power of establishing complete courts
of admiralty within the territory of the other, nor even of deciding the
particular question of prize, or not prize. The consulates of France,
then, cannot take judicial cognizance of those questions here. Of this
opinion Mr. Genet was, when he wrote his letter of May the 27th, wherein
he promises to correct the error of the Consul at Charleston, of whom,
in my letter of the 15th instant, I had complained, as arrogating to
himself that jurisdiction; though in his subsequent letters he has
thought proper to embark in the errors of his Consuls.

But the United States, at the same time, do not pretend any right to try
the validity of captures made on the high seas, by France, or any other
nation, over its enemies. These questions belong of common usage to the
sovereignty of the captor, and whenever it is necessary to determine
them, resort must be had to his co