IS THE ALABAMA A BRITISH PIRATE? 25 meditating to fit out some expedition from these ports against Don Miguel, and the government, holding that to permit this would be a breach of neutrality, informed the Brazilian minister that it would allow no such design to be carried on in British harbors, and that, for security's sake, the refugees must remove farther from the coast. The envoy stated that those troops were about to be conveyed to Brazil, and accordingly four vessels, having on board six hundred and twenty-five unarmed men, sailed from Plymouth. The government suspected that the true design was to land these troops on Terceira, and, having given them notice before they sailed that any such attempt would be resisted, dispatched a fleet of armed vessels to watch and prevent a landing. The expedition appeared off Terceira, and, being perceived by the English captain, was fired into and stopped, one man being killed. The Portuguese commander insisted upon his right to disembark upon the loyal territory of his sovereign, but being unarmed was unable to enforce his right, and his whole expedition was conducted several hundred miles to sea and there left, the English fleet returning to stand guard at the island. This act caused great excitement in England, and in Parliament the questions of international law involved were discussed with much ability. The government defended itself on the ground “ that the refugees had fitted out a warlike armament in a British port; that the armament, having been equipped under the disguise of going to Brazil, had not been stopped - before sailing ; and that they were therefore bound, by the duty of neutrality, to prevent by force an armament so equipped from disembarking, even in the Queen of Portugals dominions.'' The government was supported by a majority in both houses of Parliament. (Br. Annual Register for 1829 ; 3 Philli., 229.) Thus we haye, by a fair examination of the customary law of nations, and the general conduct thereunder of England and America respectively, arrived at a point from which we may look about us and obtain a tolerably clear view of the legal conclusions and consequences which follow and belong to the unneutral acts of permitting the initial departure, the continued depredations, subsequent return, refitting, and departure of the Alabama and Florida from British ports. From this general view we perceive, as a matter of law, that neutrals are bound at all hazards to prevent, among other things, the fitting out in their
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