urts. This is the case provided for
in the seventeenth article of the treaty, which says, that such prizes
shall not be arrested, nor cognizance taken of the validity thereof; a
stipulation much insisted on by Mr. Genet and the Consuls, and which we
never thought of infringing or questioning. As the validity of captures
then, made on the high seas by France over its enemies, cannot be tried
within the United States by their Consuls, so neither can it by our own
courts. Nor is this the question between us, though we have been misled
into it.

The real question is, whether the United States have not a right to
protect vessels within their waters and on their coasts? The Grange
was taken within the Delaware, between the shores of Jersey and of the
Delaware State, and several miles above its mouth. The seizing her was a
flagrant violation of the jurisdiction of the United States. Mr. Genet,
however, instead of apologizing, takes great merit in his letters for
giving her up. The William is said to have been taken within two
miles of the shores of the United States. When the admiralty declined
cognizance of the case, she was delivered to the French Consul according
to my letter of June the 25th, to be kept till the executive of the
United States should examine into the case; and Mr. Genet was desired by
my letter of June the 29th, to have them furnished with the evidence on
behalf of the captors, as to the place of capture. Yet to this day it
has never been done. The brig Fanny was alleged to be taken within five
miles from our shore; the Catharine within two miles and a half. It is
an essential attribute of the jurisdiction of every country to preserve
peace, to punish acts in breach of it, and to restore property taken by
force within its limits. Were the armed vessel of any nation to cut away
one of our own from the wharves of Philadelphia, and to choose to call
it a prize, would this exclude us from the right of redressing the
wrong? Were it the vessel of another nation, are we not equally bound to
protect it, while within our limits? Were it seized in any other of our
waters, or on the shores of the United States, the right of redressing
is still the same: and humble indeed would be our condition, were
we obliged to depend for that on the will of a foreign Consul, or
on negotiation with diplomatic agents. Accordingly, this right of
protection within its waters and to a reasonable distance on its coasts,
has been acknowle