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no man's

vocation you do not cease to remain an English
subject, and as such to be amenable to English law.
It is true that in some senses the ocean is "
land,” and that, in general, the jurisdiction as to the
municipal laws of each State extends only three miles
seaward from its shores: therefore you are, whilst
at sea, to some extent the law-giver of the little
community over which you are the temporary head,
and which you must, as you can, police and keep in
peace and order.
You may also exercise some
clerical functions. In the absence of a clergyman
on board, you may, of course, read the Church ser-
vice to crew and passengers; you must bury the
dead; and, in cases of necessity, may baptize, and
validly perform the marriage ceremony between
persons in your vessel so desiring it.

miralty.

The English High Court of Admiralty has a larger Court of Adscope than the one league from shore, spoken of above. It decides questions of salvage, collision, wages, etc., arising in mid-ocean between British subjects, or between British and foreign subjects, and even between exclusively foreign litigants if the latter choose to come before its tribunal. And the criminal law will bring you to punishment, when it finds you, wheresoever a crime against it may have been committed.

foreign laws.

As to the laws of other countries where you may English and trade, it is necessary to conform to them. It has been hitherto held by our lawyers that an English

Smuggling.

subject need not take notice of the fiscal laws of other countries. This must, however, be limited to their Customs regulations relating to imports and exports; and it only means that the smuggling of English productions into another State is not an infraction of our own laws, so as to render the smuggler liable to punishment in this country. The doctrine is, I have always thought, dangerous, and not to be commended on any grounds. In the first place, an English smuggler in a foreign port will, if detected, be subject to the liabilities which smuggling entails there. Besides, illicit trade abroad, by the common laws of retaliation and imitation, leads to smuggling in our own country; so that by its consequences it becomes itself an unpatriotic act. I hope the days are past when Englishmen finding themselves temporary residents in foreign ports, have made themselves objectionable by their conduct or superciliousness of manner. The days are over, it is trusted, of tying Chinamen together by their pig-tails, and of other bullying; and of Britons showing themselves superior to the laws of the land in which they are for the time denizens; a bad paraphrase of the old Civis Romanus sum—“I am an Englishman, and therefore shall do what I like." Our subjects abroad do, indeed, in most places of importance find an English consul who can give them protection, or procure them redress in case they receive ill-treatment; and

ence may be claimed. But it would be highly inconvenient were the consular authorities to be constantly complaining to the foreign governments to which they are accredited, of hard usage received by British subjects, which hardships might have been avoided by greater circumspection in the conduct of those who suffer them.

to law.

Next to the sanctions of religion there is, indeed, Submission no greater protection and blessing to the world than laws. A careful submission to them will save us from innumerable difficulties. The advice and information which are to be found in this volume are based ultimately on law. Not that law is constantly quoted, and still less is it intended to recommend a litigious spirit in dealing with those with whom you have transactions. But, as in a safe roadstead there must be a good holding-ground beneath, though no indications of it appear on the surface, so, underlying all that is here advanced, it is to be understood there is the secure anchorage of law, as far as it is known to the writer.

I have explained the intention of this Vade Mecum, and in doing so have sketched a somewhat gloomy catalogue of the dangers of the seas, leaving out of sight its smooth sailing, its profits, and its pleasures. These do not come into my part, but I sincerely hope they will enter yours. And now I wish you goodbye and a prosperous voyage. Mine, you may say, is a rather melancholy exhortation to be cheerful:

Smuggling.

subject need not take notice of the fiscal laws of other countries. This must, however, be limited to their Customs regulations relating to imports and exports; and it only means that the smuggling of English productions into another State is not an infraction of our own laws, so as to render the smuggler liable to punishment in this country. The doctrine is, I have always thought, dangerous, and not to be commended on any grounds. In the first place, an English smuggler in a foreign port will, if detected, be subject to the liabilities which smuggling entails there. Besides, illicit trade abroad, by the common laws of retaliation and imitation, leads to smuggling in our own country; so that by its consequences it becomes itself an unpatriotic act. I hope the days are past when Englishmen finding themselves temporary residents in foreign ports, have made themselves objectionable by their conduct or superciliousness of manner. The days are over, it is trusted, of tying Chinamen together by their pig-tails, and of other bullying; and of Britons showing themselves superior to the laws of the land in which they are for the time denizens; a bad paraphrase of the old Civis Romanus sum-"I am an Englishman, and therefore shall do what I like." Our subjects abroad do, indeed, in most places of importance find an English consul who can give them protection, or procure them redress in case they receive ill-treatment; and

ence may be claimed. But it would be highly inconvenient were the consular authorities to be constantly complaining to the foreign governments to which they are accredited, of hard usage received by British subjects, which hardships might have been avoided by greater circumspection in the conduct of those who suffer them.

to law.

Next to the sanctions of religion there is, indeed, Submission no greater protection and blessing to the world than laws. A careful submission to them will save us from innumerable difficulties. The advice and information which are to be found in this volume are based ultimately on law. Not that law is constantly quoted, and still less is it intended to recommend a litigious spirit in dealing with those with whom you have transactions. But, as in a safe roadstead there must be a good holding-ground beneath, though no indications of it appear on the surface, so, underlying all that is here advanced, it is to be understood there is the secure anchorage of law, as far as it is known to the writer.

I have explained the intention of this Vade Mecum, and in doing so have sketched a somewhat gloomy catalogue of the dangers of the seas, leaving out of sight its smooth sailing, its profits, and its pleasures. These do not come into my part, but I sincerely hope they will enter yours. And now I wish you goodbye and a prosperous voyage. Mine, you may say, is a rather melancholy exhortation to be cheerful :

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