"
Having complied with the requisites of the statute in that behalf, she
cleared in the usual way for the port of Curacoa, and on or about the
4th day of October, 1870, sailed for that port. It is not disputed that
she made the voyage according to her clearance, nor that from that day
to this she has not returned within the territorial jurisdiction of the
United States. It is also understood that she preserved her American
papers, and that when within foreign ports she made the practice of
putting forth a claim to American nationality, which was recognized by
the authorities at such ports.
When, therefore, she left the port of Kingston, in October last, under
the flag of the United States, she would appear to have had, as against
all powers except the United States, the right to fly that flag and to
claim its protection, as enjoyed by all regularly documented vessels
registered as part of our commercial marine.
No state of war existed conferring upon a maritime power the right to
molest and detain upon the high seas a documented vessel, and it can not
be pretended that the _Virginius_ had placed herself without the pale of
all law by acts of piracy against the human race.
If her papers were irregular or fraudulent, the offense was one against
the laws of the United States, justiciable only in their tribunals.
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