On the record
Thus encouraged by foreign powers they began to build and fit out in neutral ports a class of vessels constructed mainly for speed, and whose acknowledged mission is not to fight, but to rob, to burn, and to fly.
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gutenberg.orgJames Blaine: “Thus encouraged by foreign powers they began to build and fit out in neutral ports a class of vessels constructed mainly…”
Editor's note · Context
Blaine discusses the construction of vessels intended for piracy rather than legitimate warfare.
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More from James Blaine
All these provisions are made to protect the States, not to authorize an attack by one part of the country upon another; to preserve the peace, and not to plunge them into civil war.
You can use force only to repel an assault on the public property and aid the Courts in the performance of their duty.
Under such circumstances, to send a military force into any State, with orders to act against the people, would be simply making war upon them.
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