3024. FLAG, Usurpation of.—[continued].
Present appearances in
Europe render a general war there probable.
* * * In the * * * event * * * give
no countenance to the usurpation of our flag
by foreign vessels, but * * * aid in detecting
it, as without bringing to us any advantage,
the usurpation will tend to commit us
with the belligerent powers, and to subject
those vessels, which are truly ours, to harassing
scrutinies in order to distinguish them
from the counterfeits.—
To Samuel Shaw. Washington ed. iii, 530.
(Pa.,
March. 1793)
