Your admirals do this every day, on distant
stations; and the tender, from the time of her being put in commission,
wears a pennant, and is entitled to the immunities and privileges of a
ship of war, the right of capture inclusive.
Numerous decisions are to be found in your own prize law to this effect.
In other words, this is one of the recognised modes of commissioning a
ship of war, which has grown out of the convenience of the thing, and
become a sort of naval common law, as indisputable as the written law
itself. The only difference between the commission of such a ship and
that of a ship commissioned by the sovereign authority at home is that
the word "tender" appears in the former commission and not in the
latter. The Tuscaloosa having then been commissioned by me in accordance
with the recognised practice of all civilized nations that have a
marine, can any other Government than my own look into her antecedents?
Clearly not. The only thing which can be looked at upon her entering a
foreign port is her commission. If this be issued by competent
authority, you cannot proceed a step further. The ship then becomes a
part of the territory of the country to which she belongs, and you can
exercise no more jurisdiction over her than over that territory. The
self-respect and the independence of nations require this; for it would
be a monstrous doctrine to admit that one nation may inquire into the
title by which another nation holds her ships of war.
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