No. 655.
Mr. Fish to General Sickles.
The Senate of the United States, on the 16th of June, 1858, unanimously adopted a resolution in these words:
Resolved, (as the judgment of the Senate,) That American vessels on the high seas, in time of peace, bearing the American flag, remain under the jurisdiction of the country to which they belong, and therefore any visitation, molestation, or detention of such vessel by force, or by the exhibition of force, on the part of a foreign power, is in derogation of the sovereignty of the United States.
After the passage of this resolution, Great Britain formally recognized the principle thus announced, and other maritime powers and writers on international law all assert it.