giving them commissions. Grotius' advice being asked, his opinion was,
that the States were only bound to punish the offenders, or deliver them
up, if taken; and, for the rest, to make satisfaction to the sufferers
out of the effects of the pirates. We learn from himself on what he
grounded his opinion[68]. The States, said he, were not the cause of
those unjust practices, nor had any part in them: so far from it they
have prohibited, by express ordonnances, the injuring of our friends.
They were not obliged to ask security from the privateers, since,
without granting formal commissions, they might permit all their
subjects to plunder the enemy, as was formerly practised; and the
permission they granted to those privateers was not the cause of the
damage they did to our allies, since any private person may, without
such permission, fit out vessels, and sail on a cruize. Besides, it was
impossible to foresee that these privateers would turn out wicked; and
there is no taking such precautions as to employ only honest men. When a
prince's troops, whether by sea or land, contrary to his order, injure
his friends, he is not responsable for it; as appears from what has been
acknowledged by France and England. To make one answerable for the acts
of those who are in his service, even when no fault of his gave any
occasion to them, would be to decide the question not by the law of
nations, but by the civil law; and even the rule is not general in the
civil law.

The States were determined by this opinion.

FOOTNOTES:

[68] De jure belli et pacis, lib. 2. c. 17. § 20.