LETTERS OF MARQUE AND REPRISAL.

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where legal proceedings are taken before some court of competent jurisdiction; and the capture and all the the circumstances of it enquired into; and if all is found to have been done according to the laws of civilized nations, the captured vessel and cargo is condemned as a prize. But if not condemned, the captors lose her. When adjudged to be a lawful prize, the ship and cargo are sold and the money divided between the officers and men, according to rank, and according to the laws of Congress on this subject. These laws give the whole to the captors, when the ship taken is of equal or superior force to the ship making the capture; but if of inferior force, then the United States takes one half.

4. Privateering, as this business is called, was once considered a lawful and honorable mode of warfare. It was generally practiced between belligerent nations; but in later days its propriety and morality have been questioned. It is beginning to be looked upon as a kind of robbery not very distantly related to piracy. That it is robbery no one can deny, and, query, "Can it be justified, on the ground that the robber and the robbed are the subjects of nations at war with each other?"

5. In Europe an effort has been made to do away with this species of warfare. We hope it will yet succeed, and that all nations will agree to abolish this system of plunder. Innocent parties are generally the sufferers, while but small injury is done to the power of the hostile nation.

CHAPTER XLII.

Suffrage.

1. THE right of suffrage, in its political sense means the right to vote for such officers as are elected by the people; including officers of the general government, as well as those of the State government, for when the right of suffrage is conferred upon a man, it gives him the right of voting for every elective officer, from the President of the United States down to the lowest State or municipal officer.

In the Constitution, or laws of Congress, we find but little said on the suffrage question; because Congress has never claimed the right or power to legislate on this subject. It has been conceded that this matter is one which belongs to the States; whatever qualifications the respective States required of their citizens to vote for their own State officers, have been accepted by the general government as the qualifications necessary to authorize them to vote for President, Vice President and Congressmen, the only officers of the United States government for which the people, under the provisions of the Constitution as it now stands, can vote.

2. From this statement we see that persons who, in one State may vote for President, Vice-President and Congressmen, cannot do so in another State; because the qualifications of voters in some States differ from those of voters in others. For example, some States require a residence in the State of one year, before a man can enjoy this franchise, other States but six months. In most of the States, it is required of for

eigners to become citizens by naturalization before they are allowed to vote. But in some this is not required. In some of the States colored persons can vote. In others this right is not given to them under any circumstances.* Although it has long been conceded that the power of conferring the right of suffrage was one which belonged exclusively to the States, and although they have been allowed to do in this matter as it seemed right to them; yet it is a question worthy of serious thought, whether Congress ought not, by law, to establish a uniform qualification of voters, one that is alike in all the States, whenever the elector votes for President, Vice President or Congressmen; for the people in all the States are affected as much by the votes given for those officers, in any one State, as they are by those given in their own.

3. But it has always been a troublesome question to determine in any government where people vote at all, "who ought, and who ought not to vote?" In the United States the elective franchise is extended further than in most other countries. Yet this question here has caused a great amount of political discussion. The Constitutions of several of the States have been changed. in the effort to adjust this question on a correct basis. Up to this day, it remains unsettled in some of its features and details. Some contending that it is too much extended, that is, that it is granted to persons who ought not to have it, while to others it is denied.

*Since the above was written, and since the commencement of the year 1870, the Fifteenth Amendment of the Constitution has been ratified by a sufficient number of the States, (three fourths,) so that it is now a part of that instrument. It annihilates all the laws of every State which prohibited colored persons from voting. [See the Fifteenth Amendment, p. 412.]

CHAPTER XLIII.

Seals.

1. SEALS are of great antiquity. We read of them and of their use as far back as the days of Queen Esther. They were then used as they are now, to give additional proof of the authenticity or genuineness of any document or paper to which they were attached; it being much easier to counterfeit a mere signature than the impression of a seal. They are of various devices, patterns and designs, and generally are emblematic of some historical fact, event or sentiment. They are used on papers and documents emanating from the government, or from some department of it. The law requires them to be attached and affixed to commissions, and many other papers, without which the paper would have no legality or validity. Formerly, the usual mode of sealing a paper, was to place melted wax on the margin, and then press the seal into the wax. This left the impression of the seal, and the work was finished.

2. But this mode of affixing seals was rather a slow process, and required more time than could often be spared for that purpose. In view of which, Congress, in 1854 passed the following law:

"In all cases where a seal is necessary by law to any commission, process, or other instrument provided for by the laws of Congress, it shall be lawful to affix the proper seal by making an impression therewith di

rectly on the paper to which such seal is necessary, which shall be as valid as if made on wax or other adhesive substance."

The United States have a seal, denominated “The Great Seal." This is in the care and custody of the Secretary of State, and it is his duty to affix it to all civil commissions* to officers of the United States, appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, or by the President alone.

But the law forbids it even to be so affixed to any commission, or other instrument, until the President has first signed it. Without his signature, the instrument has no validity. The seal is then affixed in proof of the genuineness of his signature.

3. The Secretary of State and all the other secretaries of the great departments, each have a seal of office which is affixed to commissions, and to other instruments emanating from their respective offices.

Several of the most important bureaus are required. by law to have seals of office; for example, the Land Office and the Patent Office. When the United States gives a patent (title) to land, it must be sealed by the Land Office seal. A patent right must be issued under the seal of the Patent Office.

4. One of the most common and important uses of seals arises from the necessity people are often under to have copies of records, maps, and various other papers, the originals of which are in some of the departments at Washington, to be used as evidence in courts,

*The word commission, here means a document or certificate, given to one who has received an office, in proof of his appointment to and his authority to discharge the duties of that office.