A commercial deputation of unusual weight and respecta- bility has
waited upon Lord Palmerston, specially to urge the use of his influence, in procuring exemption of private property at sea in time of war. Lord Palmerston avowed his total dis- sent from the proposal. England, a naval power, he said, can- not give up the right of seizing ships and seamen belonging to foreign powers ; nor can she surrender at sea that hold over private property which every belligerent power enjoys by land. Our own opinion has long since been expressed, that to exempt private property would ;sever the people of every state from all stake and interest in war, and would so far tend to render Governments irresponsible, and war the game of the offi- cial classes competing for power. It would invest private citi- zens with privileges as to their property destructive of political responsibility, and therefore of political rights.' The way to abolish war is not to relieve the influential classes of the nation from the liabilities of war.
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