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ding to it, Switzerland, Bavaria, or any other microscopic inland state, having a quarrel with England or the United States, might declare war, and, whilst their geographical situation placed them beyond the reach of offensive operations from them, might send letters of marque to the cut-throats of every port in the four continents of the globe to prey on and destroy the commerce of their enemy. This is a conclusive reductio ad absurdum, I take it, of an assertion which is continually being made on the subject of privateering. It is highly important to prevent the slightest confusion on this matter. Privateering may be a good or a bad thing, but it is clearly quite distinct from buccaneering. Pirates, however, having been dignified with the name of privateers, it is not surprising that privateers should be stigmatized with the name of pirates, and the whole subject enveloped in a maze of prejudice and mis-conception.