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Chapter 12:
The armed neutrality.
1778-1780.
The immunity of neutral flags is unknown to bar-
barous powers.
The usages of the middle ages condemned as lawful booty the property of an enemy, though under the flag of a friend; but spared the property of a friend, though under the flag of an enemy.
Ships, except they belonged to the enemy, were never confiscated.
When the
Dutch republic took its place among the powers of the earth, crowned with the honors of martyrdom in the fight against superstition, this daughter of the sea, whose carrying trade exceeded that of any other nation, became the champion of the more humane maritime code, which protected the neutral flag everywhere on the great deep.
In the year 1646, these principles were embodied in a commercial treaty between the republic and
France.
When
Cromwell was protector, when
Milton was Latin secretary, the rights of neutrals found their just place in the treaties of
England, in