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April 10, 2009
Taking a wasps' nest is more effective than catching the wasps one by one
Between 1820 and 1870 the Royal Navy seized almost 1,600 ships and freed 150,000 slaves. In these more enlightened times, "the left" would accuse the Royal Navy* of war crimes for doing just the same thing.
Because "the left" supports jihad, supports slavery and is against the rule of law. Because "the left" is evil.
(British naval officer, Joseph) Denman had attacked and destroyed slave quarters on the West African coast and had been sued by the Spanish owners for damages. It was British policy to try to destroy the slave trade, but this sometimes ran into legal complications.
The British attorney general, in a gem of delicate legal advice, declared the following year that he "cannot take it upon himself to advise... that the instructions to Her Majesty's naval officers are such as can with perfect legality be carried into execution... [He] is of the opinion that the blockading of rivers, landing and destroying buildings and carrying off of persons held in slavery... cannot be considered as sanctioned by the law of nations."
Denman, a hero of the anti-slave trade campaign, was eventually vindicated and the Royal Navy carried on with its anti-slavery operations.
The British attorney general, in a gem of delicate legal advice, declared the following year that he "cannot take it upon himself to advise... that the instructions to Her Majesty's naval officers are such as can with perfect legality be carried into execution... [He] is of the opinion that the blockading of rivers, landing and destroying buildings and carrying off of persons held in slavery... cannot be considered as sanctioned by the law of nations."
Denman, a hero of the anti-slave trade campaign, was eventually vindicated and the Royal Navy carried on with its anti-slavery operations.
* For the purposes of this hypothetical, I am assuming the existence of a Royal Navy.
Posted by Ghost of a flea at April 10, 2009 06:43 AM
