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Stuart Campbell · Liz White
Suzie Thomas Editors
Competing
Values in
Archaeological
Heritage
Competing Values in Archaeological Heritage
Stuart Campbell • Liz White • Suzie Thomas
Editors
Competing Values in
Archaeological Heritage
Editors
Stuart Campbell Liz White
Treasure Trove Unit Institute of Petrochemical Technology
National Museum Scotland Beijing, China
Edinburgh, UK
Suzie Thomas
Department of Philosophy, History,
Culture and Art Studies
University of Helsinki
Helsinki, Finland
This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG
The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland
Foreword
Throughout the world, cultural heritage resources are under threat from the impact
of accelerated development, environmental forces, climate change, social and
political changes, and collection practices that are not regulated effectively. Many
of these issues came to my attention during my tenure as President of the World
Archaeological Congress from 2003 to 2014. As this book demonstrates, all coun-
tries have unique cultural heritage and unique challenges to the management of
their heritage resources. Each country has to determine its own specific mix of
strategies for managing this heritage.
This book provides a wonderful new resource for archaeologists and cultural
heritage practitioners around the world. While other publications have considered
this topic from an archaeological and legislative basis, this volume provides a wide
variety of views with an emphasis in addressing ‘real-world’ or practical issues
rather than a simple consideration of legislation. It draws together a range of valu-
able new material relating to cultural heritage management practices that span
eastern, western, northern and southern Europe as well as Britain. A series of
chapters review and critically evaluate and compare facets of national legislation,
policy and practice, accompanied by recommendations for improved outcomes.
The materials analysed range from coins and shipwrecks to plough furrows and
human remains. I was particularly interested in new insights on the changes and
challenges of cultural heritage management in the former Eastern bloc countries of
Slovakia, Romania and the Republic of Moldova.
For the first time, there is broad and nuanced consideration of the value that
people who pursue metal detecting can bring to archaeological understandings of
the past. Taken together, the chapters in this book call for greater cooperation
between archaeologists and non-professional groups, including the metal detecto-
rists that have routinely been demonised by archaeologists. Even as an advocate
for a democratisation of cultural heritage management, I must admit I was a little
shocked, initially at least, by the views of one group of authors who ‘hope to see
professional archaeologists and metal detectorists working side by side on research
projects’. (I will leave you to identify the chapter yourself.) However, a persistent
theme that runs through many of these chapters is that greater cooperation with
v
vi Foreword
1 Introduction���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 1
Liz White, Stuart Campbell, and Suzie Thomas
2 Wreck of the Dutch Merchant Ship Vrouw Maria: Example
of Protection and Management of Underwater Cultural
Heritage in Baltic Waters������������������������������������������������������������������������ 7
Riikka Alvik
3 Norwegian Archaeological Heritage: Legislation Vs. Reality�������������� 25
Ghattas Jeries Sayej
4 Archaeological Heritage Resource Management in Romania
and the Republic of Moldova: A Comparative View���������������������������� 45
Sergiu Musteață
5 Archaeological Heritage, Treasure Hunters, Metal Detectors
and Forgeries in the Centre of Europe (Archaeology
and Law in Slovakia) ������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 63
Tomáš Michalík
6 Legislation and Persuasion; Portable Antiquities and the Limits
of the Law: Some Scottish and British Perspectives���������������������������� 77
Stuart Campbell
7 Conflicts Over the Excavation, Retention and Display of Human
Remains: An Issue Resolved? ���������������������������������������������������������������� 91
Liz White
8 Archaeological Metal Detecting by Amateurs in Flanders:
Legislation, Policy and Practice of a Hobby������������������������������������������ 103
Pieterjan Deckers
9 No Room for Good Intentions? Private Metal Detecting
and Archaeological Sites in the Plow Layer in Norway ���������������������� 125
Jostein Gundersen
vii
viii Contents
Index�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 165
Contributors
ix
About the Editors
Stuart Campbell is Head of Treasure Trove, managing the Treasure Trove Unit
based at the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh.
Liz White was awarded a PhD based on her investigation of the impact and
effectiveness of human remains – related legislation and guidance in England and
is currently working as an English expert in Yantai, China.
xi
Chapter 1
Introduction
Research, practice and even leisure interests in archaeological heritage point to the
fact that there are many different values at play. These conflicts of interest might be
as recognisable as a developer’s wish to exploit a site, thwarted by heritage legisla-
tion protecting that particular category, through to the often complex ranges of dif-
ferent meanings that local communities and individuals may associate with a place,
which may have little or no resemblance to the ‘expert’ opinion (see, e.g. Laurajane
Smith’s premise of the Authorised Heritage Discourse – Smith 2006). Even efforts
to make archaeological knowledge more open and accessible to the public can be
strictly underpinned by the ideology of the national policy behind it (e.g. Börjesson,
Petersson and Huvila 2015). The difficult issue of heritage protection is also com-
plex – with options of preserving in situ, reusing, conserving and a whole range of
preventative or restorative measures affecting what ‘protection’ might actually
mean in practice.
The inspiration for this volume came from a series of discussions and meetings
surrounding sessions held mainly at the annual meetings of the European Association
of Archaeologists. From a range of sessions and debates, one apparent theme
became obvious; what are the challenges and conflicts in heritage stewardship that
may be obvious to the heritage practitioner but which are poorly defined or invisible
to the legal frameworks that actually protect cultural heritage? Whilst the daily frus-
trations and limitations of the job may appear obvious to those who face the chal-
lenge of heritage protection, they are rarely considered in a structured or thoughtful
way; rather, the standard measurement of the effectiveness of legislation is often
L. White (*)
CIE Education Group (China and UK), Yantai, China
S. Campbell
Treasure Trove Unit, National Museums Scotland, Edinburgh, UK
e-mail: s.campbell@nms.ac.uk
S. Thomas
University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
remains pertinent. Reading these chapters, it is striking how often other interest
groups, whether divers or metal-detector users, form coherent groups, with coherent
responses to government agencies; the reluctance of metal-detector users to lend
their help to archaeological research projects that Michalik highlights is one such
instance. This itself is a useful juncture at which to question what a citizen might
expect in their interaction with the state, especially if the ‘official’ treatment of
archaeology may be seen as personally disadvantaging them. Arguably, many of the
issues that Musteață and Michalik highlight may have their issues in a residual dis-
trust of the state in former totalitarian regimes. Nevertheless, these same issues can
be found across Europe, as the chapters on metal detecting testify, and can perhaps
be found also in the caution that the Norwegian property developer exhibits in
Sayej’s chapter. In response, the idealisation of archaeology as a public good for
universal benefit is made clearly and articulately in the chapter from Spain, espous-
ing precisely why activities for personal benefit can and should be restricted. In
contrast to this idea of the public good pushing back against a variety of private
benefits, one other common factor in these chapters should be noted: principally the
commodification of archaeological material. Whilst this can manifest in the issue of
organised criminal looting on both land and sea, it can also be seen to affect other
areas. For example, the very existence of a legal market in antiquities can cause
effects as varied as a counterfeiting workshop in Slovakia and distort the reporting
of artefacts in Scotland as their importance is gauged not so much by their archaeo-
logical significance, but how much they might fetch on the legal market. Effectively,
the licit market can mean that ‘collectible’ is conflated with ‘archaeologically
interesting’.
Amongst this intermixture of universal problems and unique national variants, it
is the universal and accepted ideal of archaeological heritage that is the common
factor in this volume, motivating our contributors to propose and argue for a variety
of solutions to these problems. At the same time, that these ‘others’ who interact
with the archaeological heritage form coherent and (sometimes) resistant groups
can in itself be a solution, from Finnish divers to Scottish metal-detector users, this
volume demonstrates also the value of public and community engagement and
outreach.
This volume clearly demonstrates through its broad topics that there are diverse
challenges being encountered due to inevitable clashes of values, priorities and
agendas. Yet despite this, there are also many commonalities. It is hoped that the
experiences shared in this volume are not only of help to those with an interest in
heritage protection but will also help to foster meaningful discussion and debate
about the future of heritage protection.
6 L. White et al.
References
Börjesson, L., Petersson, B., & Huvila, I. (2015). Information policy for (digital) information in
archaeology: Current state and suggestions for development. Internet Archaeology, 40. https://
doi.org/10.11141/ia.40.4.
Jenkins, T. (2010). Contesting human remains in museum collections: The crisis of cultural
authority. New York: Routledge.
Ndlovu, N. (2013). Ownership of heritage resources in South Africa: Challenges and opportuni-
ties. Internet Archaeology, 33. https://doi.org/10.11141/ia.33.5.
Smith, L. (2006). Uses of heritage. London: Routledge.
Zhang, Y., & Wu, Z. (2016). The reproduction of heritage in a Chinese village: Whose heritage,
whose pasts? International Journal of Heritage Studies, 22(3), 228–241.
Chapter 2
Wreck of the Dutch Merchant Ship Vrouw
Maria: Example of Protection
and Management of Underwater Cultural
Heritage in Baltic Waters
Riikka Alvik
Introduction
In the brackish waters of the Baltic Sea, there are thousands of shipwrecks from
different eras. Some of these wrecks are remarkably well preserved because of the
special conditions of the northern Baltic Sea: the low salinity of the seawater, low
water temperature, lack of daylight and lack of wood-eating molluscs like the ship-
worm Teredo navalis. Also strong currents do not usually occur in the sea areas
except on vessel routes. Moving ice can cause mechanical erosion and changes in
the sea bottom topography if the ship sank in depths less than 20 m, but beneath
that, the conditions are often quite stable. Even so, every site should be evaluated
individually, and both environmental factors and human impact should be taken into
consideration.
A wreck is an artificial reef for flora and fauna, and there is always microbial
activity in the bottom of the sea and on shipwrecks and structures underwater.
Monitoring the sites should be a routine rather than something that is possible only
during specific projects. Changes like increasing eutrophication, climate change
and warming and anoxic bottoms in the Baltic may cause future threats to preserva-
tion of underwater cultural heritage, too. Climate change can relate to changes in
salinity, temperature of seawater, changes in water level, oxygen level and amount
of daylight that can have an effect on underwater cultural heritage too. New species
might occur in flora and fauna, and biological activity can raise to a different level.
The Baltic Sea is very shallow, so the changes can be quick and dramatic. The Baltic
Sea has a two-layered stratification of salinity in the seawater, and there are seasonal
changes in temperature. The range of water temperature varies much between the
depths below 100 metres up to 3–8 °C and surface water up to 25 °C. For example,
in the Gulf of Finland, the temperature of surface water has increased. Clear change
R. Alvik (*)
The Finnish Heritage Agency, Cultural Environment Services, Helsinki, Finland
e-mail: riikka.alvik@museovirasto.fi
in salinity has not yet been detected, but some inflows from North Sea have occurred
also during the summer bringing warm water with high-salinity and low-oxygen
level to the depths of the Baltic Sea. Usually these inflows occur during spring and
winter bringing cold, high-salinity and oxygen-rich water into the Baltic (Elken and
Matthäus 2015, Leino et al. 2011: 133–139). What kind of an effect all these changes
can have to the underwater cultural heritage is not researched yet, but, for example,
biological activity and degradation of wood correlate with each other and shipworm
Teredo navalis already exists in the southern Baltic Sea coast eating wooden ship-
wrecks (Palma 2004:8–39; Gregory 2004b:38–48).
There are approximately 1925 different kind of underwater sites known and reg-
istered in the Finnish Heritage Agency public database of cultural heritage includ-
ing also cultural heritage and archaeological findings on land. Findings of new
wrecks are reported by maritime authorities and divers every year. Side-scan sonars
are more affordable nowadays, so individual divers and diving clubs practice sea
bottom survey nowadays. Sea bottom survey requires permission from the military,
but it is possible all the buyers and users are not aware of the regulations concerning
it. Buying such equipment is not regulated.
Around 90% of the underwater findings are wrecks of different types and sizes
from mediaeval times to modern ages. Most of these wrecks are the remains of
wooden sailing ships, but there are also steam ship remains of the First World War
military and transport vessels and modern wrecks. For example, big building proj-
ects like gas pipelines can provide masses of new information also from the exclu-
sive economic zone. If shipwreck findings occur in such sea bottom surveys, there
are some legislative problems in protecting them. The Antiquities Act covers only
Finnish territorial waters. Finland has not ratified the UNESCO Convention 2001 on
the protection of underwater cultural heritage. Ratifying the convention might give
one solution to the protection of shipwrecks at the exclusive economic zone and also
measures in the management of them.
According to the Antiquities Act of 1963, all ship findings and shipwreck parts
sunk more than 100 years ago are protected by law, so around 750 of the registered
sites fulfil this condition. Since 2015, some of the First World War wrecks are now
protected. They are both transport vessels and warships that were lost during the
First World War. Many of these wrecks have some special features like ammunition
and human remains on board that have to take into consideration in the research,
protection and management of the wrecks.
With wartime wrecks and transport vessels, there are also issues to solve around
fuels or materials used that are can cause conflict between protecting a wreck site
and protecting the surrounding natural environment. This theme was studied in an
international project “Sunken Wreck Environmental Risk Assessment” (SWERA).
There are more than 8500 wrecks around the world that are potential for polluting.
The project risk assessment was made in partner countries, and wrecks with fuel
and explosives were searched in the archives and databases. In Finnish waters we
have some like 33 high-risk modern shipwrecks with a possibility of hazardous
waste leaking to the environment. Some of them are Second World War military
vessels with seriously hazard fuels inside their fuel tanks like some German Second
2 Wreck of the Dutch Merchant Ship Vrouw Maria: Example of Protection… 9
World War destroyers. In the Finnish and Estonian waters, Finnish diving group
Badewanne also documented these shipwrecks in situ. One example with historical
significance is the ship called Park Victory. This more than hundred metres long
Victory-class ship was originally built for military purpose in the United States but
was used for transporting livestock and other cargo to the countries that had suffered
in the Second World War. The ship sank in the Christmas Eve 1947 off Finnish
Coast near island Utö in the cargo of coal. Most of the crew members survived.
Unfortunately, the ships’ fuel tanks started to corrode and leak during the decades
even though the waters are cold and often the heavy oil in the tanks is usually quite
stable. Between 1994 and 2000, around 410 m3 fuel was taken out from the wreck.
The Finnish Environmental Institute was responsible of the operation, and it was
conducted together with the Finnish Navy. This very impressive shipwreck is very
popular among divers (Suomen ympäristökeskus SYKE 2015).
Also as an assumption, the age is a sufficient ground for protection. Now, the
Antiquities Act does not give possibility to protect younger wrecks even with his-
torical significance, because there are other laws that can be at variance with the
Antiquities Act or give other measures for protection. For example, lost Second
World War navy vessels belong to the country of their origin, and it is considered
that the flagship country is also responsible for the measures considering the wreck.
In Finland divers have free access to the historical shipwrecks excluding military
and nature protection and shipwrecks with special projection zone. Also the Åland
Islands is excluded of free access, because of their autonomic position to Finland,
they can have different regulations concerning cultural heritage. There a permission
for diving is needed from the heritage board. In the territorial waters of Finland,
diving to military shipwrecks is regulated, and permission is needed from the
Military Museum. Some military wrecks are in total diving ban if they are consid-
ered a risk for divers’ safety or there is possibly some risk of fuel leaks or other risk
factors like ammunitions. Many wrecks have, for example, ghost nets that are seri-
ously risky for divers to trap into, or they sank in the middle of a minefield.
Unfortunately, the Antiquities Act does not give the possibility to protect modern,
less than hundred-year-old wrecks even in some cases they could have historical sig-
nificance. It is assumed that they have an owner – maybe an insurance or shipping
company, and then the owner is responsible of the measures considering the wreck
like removing it from the sea bottom. We have evidence that, for example, the cargo
vessel that operated during the First World War have been looted just before they
would be protected by law. Unfortunately, at the moment there is no measures for
preventing the looting of modern wrecks if the owner of the shipwreck cannot be
found, or the owner is abandoned the wreck or the ownership is somehow unclear.
In Finland ancient monuments including shipwrecks are registered by the Finnish
Heritage Agency (later FHA). The register is on the Internet, and the data related to it
is the archives of the Finnish Heritage Agency. At the moment the register is only in
Finnish, which limits the user audience. Publicity of the register is based on the EU
Inspire Directive (2007/2/EY) for spatial data infrastructure across Europe. This has
both pros and cons. The information can be searched anonymously and used for work,
leisure and sometimes even criminal purposes like looting shipwrecks, which
10 R. Alvik
u nfortunately comes out every year in Finland, too. Despite of the number of cases
that the Finnish Heritage Agency has notified to the police, by 2016 only one looting
case has come to court. The reason for this is usually lack of evidence and may be also
poor resources for investigating crimes like this. The automatic identification system
(AIS) for vessels is required only for vessels of more than 300 gross tonnages and all
passengers ships, so many of the smaller vessels do not have this equipment on board,
so they are not visible in the vessel traffic system. Many wrecks are quite easy to
approach with small boats that are not easy to notice especially when they are not
close to ship lanes. One problem is also the lack of valid archaeological data of them.
The quality and quantity of the data concerning shipwrecks in the Finnish Heritage
Agency register varies a lot. There are shipwrecks like Vrouw Maria regularly sur-
veyed visually by video shooting or photographing a list of 30 check-up points and
researched with multidisciplinary methods starting from the very beginning after she
was found. Then there are sites with very indefinite information based only from the
information given by finder, which occurred already decades ago. Some shipwrecks
are just recently found or in so deep waters that they are accessible only with very
specific equipment and a limited amount of divers. A survey at that kind of a site is
very expensive, and the resources for that are limited.
One of the coast guards’ tasks is also to safeguard historic shipwrecks. Because
of the free access to most of the historical shipwrecks and amount of divers and
wrecks, it is not possible to keep an eye of all of them. Last year there were almost
10,000 member register in the diving clubs that belong to Finnish Diver’s Federation.
The number of unregistered divers is not known. Wreck and mine diving are very
popular in Finland. Most of the divers are very good informants and co-operate with
the Finnish Heritage Agency, but in this very large group, there are always the few
“rotten apples.” Despite of the looting cases, free access has been seen a better tool
for safeguarding. There are many very active divers who photograph and video
shoot the wrecks and also distribute information to other divers and the Finnish
Heritage Agency. Nowadays, we have cases when the disappearance of an artefact
or other illegal activity has been reported by several divers. Once a diver had lifted
iron cannon balls off an eighteenth-century fortification and tried to sell them via
Facebook. This was reported to the FHA by three divers by email as soon as the
announcement was noticed.
The looting case that ended up in court came out during the making of a docu-
mentary film of looting shipwrecks and antique markets. The documentary film is
called “Who robbed the wreck?” by documentarist Ari Heinilä. In this case, the
FHA was not the body who required the police investigation. Police did their own
inquiries, and as a result of that, four persons were prosecuted of theft according
to the criminal act and Antiquities Act. They were prosecuted of stealing artefacts
from a shipwreck that was dated to late eighteenth century based on certain fea-
tures on the ship and her equipment. All four of them were discharged even there
was a reasonable doubt that one of them had taken artefacts from the wreck. The
prosecutor complained about the decision of the District Court, and the case was
taken to the Court of Appeal in March 2016. Only one person was prosecuted
then. The decision was that the person was guilty of theft, and verdict was 50 daily
2 Wreck of the Dutch Merchant Ship Vrouw Maria: Example of Protection… 11
penalties, and he had to pay back 6600 euros of economic benefits he has gained
to the government of Finland.
The wreck that was looted is a cargo ship from late eighteenth century. According
to the information like videotapes, sketches and written description of the wreck, it
is a wooden ship with her hull still quite intact, and even lower parts of the masts are
still standing on their original places. According to the diver who was most likely
the first one to dive on the site after the wreck was located, there were also different
kinds of artefacts such as dishes of porcelain of or faience. Almost all of the arte-
facts that belonged to the same context are now lost, except for one tiny porcelain or
faience vessel and a big bowl of red ware that were still inside of the wreck and the
lead seal from a hemp bale that was taken from the wreck. It was later sent back to
the FHA anonymously. The wreck is in quite deep waters at 46 m, so the amount of
divers able to reach it is limited. The site is at open sea and very opposed to winds,
and because of the depth, it is not safe to dive there with compressed air, so mixed
gas diving skills and experience in deep diving is needed. Diving to such depth is
time consuming, so it is not possible to just pop in and dive there. The bottom time
is limited, and coming up safely to the surface might take hours so that the risk of
getting decompression sickness or other serious consequences could be avoided.
Because of the looting, now a lot of information is gone forever. This wreck was
not surveyed by maritime archaeologists before it was looted, but luckily, at least
some divers had drawn sketches, taken pictures and videos of her. The ship was
most likely carrying, for example, hemp, so it is obvious that she was on her way
from east to west because hemp was one of the most typical export products of
Russia and St. Petersburg was one of the main harbours for transportation of it.
According to the studies of the lead seal sent to the FHA, the hemp seal is most
likely from St. Petersburg. In this case, faith of the looted artefacts is unknown.
According to the documentary film and Internet research done during the court
process, there is market for such artefacts. They are sold in the Internet market
places and in antique shops. It also seems that if something is lifted from a ship-
wreck, it has an extra value. We assume that often the buyers are not aware and that
all the artefacts lifted from water require conservation conducted by a professional
conservator. For example, glass and metal objects are often difficult to conserve
because of the glass disease or corrosion processes in the metals. Metal artefacts can
react very unpredicted ways after they are lifted because of the level of oxygen is
increasing. We have an old report that guns lifted from the historical shipwreck at a
sea battle site in the 1940s became soon so hot that they could not be touched by
hand. That was because of the corrosion process speeded so much after the lift. The
difficulty in handling submerged archaeological findings is also one reason, why
they should always be handled by professional archaeologists and conservators, and
all the measures should be planned properly beforehand.
The case is not just getting the looters caught, it is also preventing these kinds of
actions. How to do that in co-operation with different kind of actors from authorities
to divers and the great public interested in their common heritage? By more serious
punishments or is it the last option when nothing else works out? The problem with
legislation is that minor offences against cultural heritage must be examined and
12 R. Alvik
prosecuted in 2 years’ time since the criminal activity has occurred. In case of
underwater cultural heritage, it is very difficult to find out exactly when the crime
has happened if there are no witnesses or any other evidence. Unfortunately, there
are markets for sea antiques, shipwrecks artefacts, and also valuable metals like
gold, silver and copper. At 2016 there was a case of salvage of scrap metal from
WWI shipwrecks lost in the battle of Jutland. Approximately 8000 men were lost at
this battle, but despite of these wrecks are war graves, they are robbed by Dutch
salvage companies (Metcalfe 2016).
Spain sued the company, and the conclusion was that the coins were returned to
Spain at 2012 and are shown in public museum. The case was solved in the USA. The
Court’s decision rested on its interpretation on the Foreign Sovereign Immunities
Act. The company also had to pay 1 million dollars to Spain for bad faith and abu-
sive litigation (Penn 2013).
In Finland the state organization Finnish Heritage Agency is responsible for the
management of the underwater cultural heritage. Shipwrecks that have sunk more
than hundred years ago are owned by the state if the owner of the wreck has aban-
doned it. Most of the historic shipwrecks are remains of sailing vessels with wooden
hulls and rigging, and many of them are related to maritime trade. Since St.
Petersburg was founded 1703, the sailing route along the Gulf of Finland has been
very important for the Dutch and British merchants who were eager to have access
to the grain, tar, pitch, hemp, wax, fur and sail cloth from Russia, Finland and Baltic
Countries. Because of the rocky and dangerous coastline of the Gulf of Finland,
there are thousands of wrecks along these water areas. New discoveries are reported
every year to the Finnish Heritage Agency.
The protection and management of warships is often a complicated topic; many
of them are also mass graves or war graves, they might belong to another state than
the jurisdiction they are located now, and they may often have ammunition and fuel
that are hazardous to the environment. In the case of historic wooden sailing ships,
there are similar issues to consider like how to preserve and prevent deterioration
and looting and how to consider the ethics when thinking of the people who have
lost their lives in the tragedies.
In Finland recreational diving to shipwreck sites is very popular and because of
modern camera techniques, photographing and videoing the wrecks is a popular
hobby and also conducted by professional photographers who have diving skills.
This kind of documentation work is encouraged by the Finnish Heritage Agency.
The Finnish Heritage Agency has a long history of co-operation with the divers and
they were also the first to conduct maritime archaeological survey in Finland at late
1950s. The first field course in maritime archaeology was held at Helsinki University
at 1995 and the first professional research divers training course for archaeologists
and students of archaeology was held at 1996 at Innofocus, Western Uusimaa
Municipal Training and Education Consortium. Because of very small resources for
maritime archaeology, the work of voluntary divers and people interested in mari-
time history and archaeology is crucial. Volunteers have been involved in maritime
archaeology since the late 1950s when sports diving started in Finland. Already at
late 1950s some remarkable shipwreck findings were surveyed by divers who were
interested in maritime history, archaeology and shipwrecks. Many of the measur-
ings, sketches and photographs are still valuable information and also show how the
changes like degradation caused by natural reasons or very intensive diving at the
wrecks or the measures conducted during the research like excavation. Unfortunately,
14 R. Alvik
in many cases the early excavations were not conducted or documented in archaeo-
logical standards because the whole branch was so new. Nowadays, for systematic
survey of shipwrecks a research permission from the Finnish Heritage Agency is
required and for archaeological research, a professional archaeologist must be
involved. Co-operation between voluntary divers and authorities is still ongoing and
very important for us.
Photos and videos given to the authorities and researchers serve multiple pur-
poses: they help us in research, manage and protect the wrecks. If the wrecks are
monitored systematically and regularly, it is possible to collect a series of docu-
ments where, for example, changes at the site can to some point be detected. That
concerns only visual changes. Waterlogged wood often looks quite well preserved
in the depths of the Baltic Sea when not touched, but is often very soft on the sur-
face. During the project Monitoring, Safeguarding and Visualizing North-European
Shipwreck Sites, a management plan was created as a tool for management and
regular monitoring of the sites.
The wreck of Vrouw Maria is one of the five historically and archaeologically
significant ship findings, which have a specific protection zone. At these sites recre-
ational diving is forbidden. The story of Vrouw Maria is presented later in the arti-
cle. Nearby the wreck of Vrouw Maria there is even a surveillance camera operated
by the coast guard, which has been quite effective. The camera was originally put
there for surveillance of the nature protection area where all human activity is
strictly restricted all year round. The surveillance camera is monitored by the coast
guard, and it can be seen on station that is on duty. The effectivity of the camera has
been demonstrated several times: when the Finnish Heritage Agency’s maritime
archaeologist have been conducting research at the site or entered the area, the coast
guard has called the research vessel and checked the status of it. To make a call
directly to the ship requires that the vessel has the automatic identification system.
If there is no possibility to recognize the vessel and there is no beforehand informa-
tion of the action conducted at the site, the coast guard sends a patrol if it is possible.
However it is quite natural that if there are vessels in trouble or people in danger,
safeguarding underwater cultural heritage is not a priority task.
items with a high value in the cargo. This latter cargo was remarkable: the nobility
of Russian court had pre-ordered items like maps, books, flower bulbs, art, tobacco,
snuff, coffee, tea and other luxury products. Even more remarkable was the order
made by Catherine the Great, Empress of Russia who wanted European seventeenth-
century art in her collections. Before the auction in Amsterdam, Catherine the Great
had bought an entire art collection from France. This did not please the French
nobility. Her representatives bought art for her from all around Europe. In the end
of July 1771, a remarkable art collection of the late merchant de Braamcamp from
Amsterdam was for sale. Several high-value paintings were bought for Catherine
the Great and transported in ships, some of them with Vrouw Maria. That made this
quite ordinary merchant vessel special, because of the high status of the cargo, the
shipwreck features heavily in the documentary record (Ahlström 2000a: 4–16,
Alvik 2012a: 13, Ehanti 2012: 15–18).
The ship foundered in the Gulf of Finland in a storm quite soon after leaving the
Sound Customs Station. In the evening, while the shipmaster and crew were at
prayer and with two crew members steering the ship, she hit rocks twice near the
coast of Finland approximately 90 km off from the city of Turku. After the collision
the crew tried to save her by pumping the entering water away and emptying the
cabins and cargo hold and for several days spending the nights in a tiny island
nearby. Silver and some pieces of art were salvaged, but most of the cargo was lost
because the coffee beans filled the pumps, and the cargo hold was soon full of water.
On the fifth day after the accident, the ship was lost. This event started the diplo-
matic correspondence between Swedish authorities and Russian nobility. The aim
of the correspondence was salvaging the art, and the cargo that was lost to the sea
and even the conservation of the wet art were mentioned. The attempts failed and
the ship was forgotten for more than 200 years (Ahlström 2000b: 5–12; Gelderblom
2003:95–115; Leino 2002: 13–17; Leino 2003: 4; Malinen 2003: 13).
The fate of Vrouw Maria is known in Finland since the early 1970s when Dr.
Christian Ahlström went through Danish and Swedish archives and found docu-
ments about the shipwreck of the vessel carrying valuable cargo for Empress
Catherine the Great of Russia. The aim of Dr. Ahlström was to identify another
cargo ship found near the island of Borstö in the 1950s. After the news of the
treasure ship carrying goods for Russian nobility was released, many sports divers
tried to find the wreck in the following years. Already in the 1970s, the paintings
bought for Catherine the Great were of interest to both professional researchers and
divers, who were interested in shipwrecks and maritime archaeology. The first
search attempts were conducted in 1973 by the predecessor of the Maritime Museum
of Finland, the Bureau of Maritime History at the Finnish Heritage Agency. The
attempts failed due to lack of resources, and it was a big disappointment for the
chief of the bureau, Christoffer Ericsson, who already then saw the value of ship-
wrecks for research and museum collections. The research plan made by him was
reasonable and, if updated to modern research methods, could have been conducted
today (Alvik 2012a: 13).
In 1998, the wreck was for the first time searched for by a group of divers with
side-scan sonar. The wreck was not found at the time at the first time, but a second
attempt in the following year was successful. The members of an association “Pro
16 R. Alvik
Vrouw Maria” and diver Rauno Koivusaari conducted the practical search work.
The association had just been founded to promote and support the locating and
investigations of the wreck of Vrouw Maria. The divers who participated in this
were all voluntary divers, and no archaeologist participated in the search. Dr.
Christian Ahlström was consulted about the historical documents related to the
wreck and the salvage operation conducted after the accident.
When the wreck was found, the Finnish Heritage Agency awarded the finders a
medal. The Antiquities Act does not oblige the Agency to pay a reward for finding
ancient monuments on land or underwater, and rewarding finders is not a common
practice in Finland.
Since 2000 the Finnish Heritage Agency has researched, monitored, safeguarded
and managed Vrouw Maria. She is located in an area belonging to the National Park
of Finnish Archipelago managed by Metsähallitus, which is a governmental body.
The site has also a special protection area around her, where diving and anchoring
are prohibited. This area is marked in marine charts. The coast guard is responsible
for the surveillance of the area, and the NBA is monitoring the wreck regularly by
visual check-ups done by divers. The wreck is also photographed and videotaped
during these surveys. (Leino and Klemelä 2003: 5–7).
Vrouw Maria was one of the case studies in an EU-funded project Monitoring,
Safeguarding and Visualizing North-European Shipwreck Sites (the MoSS project),
which was an international project monitoring and safeguarding well-preserved
shipwreck sites in Northern Europe. After the MoSS project, there were several
years when the site was monitored for possible changes or illegal activity by photo-
graphing or recording the most vulnerable spots. More than a century-old historical
shipwrecks are often built of wood and have both metal and wooden fittings, the
degradation processes of which were researched during the project. According to
the analysis of several years of monitoring data, the environmental conditions at the
site are quite stable, and the changes at the site are slow because of the depth (41 m),
lack of daylight and cold water with low salinity and no shipworm. Despite of the
stable conditions, the research conducted during the MoSS project shows there is
still an ongoing degradation process on the wreck. There is fungi and also bacteria
on the surface of the wood, and in 1 year samples, the bacteria has already pene-
trated the wood cells, and there are changes in the structure of the wood (Palma
2004: 9, 27, 35–36). That is why calling a wooden shipwreck as a time capsule is
somehow misleading; it is subject to a slow degradation and change that may not be
obvious through tradtional survey methods.
Unfortunately, there were also other dimensions than archaeological and historical
in the wreck of Vrouw Maria. After the finding of Vrouw Maria in 1999, most of the
members of the Pro Vrouw Maria Association had been in active co-operation with
the Finnish Heritage Agency earlier, and they told beforehand the Board that they
2 Wreck of the Dutch Merchant Ship Vrouw Maria: Example of Protection… 17
were looking for the wreck solely because of their interest in maritime history.
However, when the wreck was found, the state of affairs turned out to be somewhat
different. The regulations of the Antiquities Act were put to the test.
Two members of the Pro Vrouw Maria association summoned the State of
Finland and Finnish Heritage Agency to court. The complainants demanded a
reward for salvaging six items the Finnish Heritage Agency had permitted them to
raise from the wreck soon after it was found. The artefacts were raised in order to
help researchers at the FHA to confirm the origin, the identification and the dating
of the wreck, and the objects were immediately taken to the FHA’s conservation
laboratory and are now part of the National Museums collections. Nevertheless, the
complainants also demanded a right to sea salvage all the items in and near the
wreck of Vrouw Maria and a sea salvage reward for all these items based on the
international maritime law. The concept of maritime salvage means that a person
who recovers another person’s ship or cargo after peril or a loss at sea is entitled to
a reward equivalent with the value of the salvaged property. There are certain condi-
tions or categories that salvaging and salvors’ rights must fulfil. The ship really
needs to be in peril, the salvor has to act on voluntary basis, and there should not be
an existing contract of the salvage. Also, the salvor must be capable of performing
the salvage operation successfully. In the case of Vrouw Maria, an interesting ques-
tion was if the wreck was in immediate danger in the middle of strictly regulated
Natura 2000 area in the middle Archipelago National Park.
In the Nordic countries, it is also considered that historical shipwrecks and the
artefacts belonging to them have been desired to be kept from the international
maritime salvage regulations. When this case was in court, the FHA also pointed out
that individual countries’ national legislation may differ from the international mar-
itime regulations if the shipwreck has cultural historic value. Additionally, the com-
plainants demanded the ownership of the wreck, and thus the right to salvage the
wreck itself or the privilege to decide to whom the salvage operation was to be
delegated. The complainants argued that by giving the licence to raise six artefacts
for the possible dating of the wreck, the Finnish Heritage Agency had concluded a
sea salvage agreement with the finders. Moreover, the complainants saw that as the
finders of the wreck, they had the right to sea salvage it because they were the first
ones on the spot and, in their opinion, equipped to start the salvage operation and
because they had become the owners of the wreck by appropriation of the object
(Alvik and Matikka 2011: 150).
The Turku District Court handled the case of Vrouw Maria in a composition of
one judge in the autumn of 2002 and gave a provisional decision according to which
the Antiquities Act and the Maritime Act are not mutually exclusive but comple-
mentary and both acts can be applied to a wreck that is over one hundred years old
and protected by the Antiquities Act. The provisional decision led to the extension
of proceedings. The actual hearing of the case, which was conducted in a composi-
tion of three judges in the spring of 2004, led to the dismissal of the complainants’
action – in spite of the provisional decision. The court decision was that as a special
act, the regulations of the Antiquities Act eliminate the possibility of applying the
sea salvage and reward regulations of the Maritime Act to wrecks and objects dis-
18 R. Alvik
covered in wrecks, or objects evidently originating from such contexts, that are
protected by the Antiquities Act. The court also saw that the wreck of Vrouw Maria
is not in immediate danger and that neither the wreck nor the objects originating
from it cause any danger to navigation or the environment. The wrecks are not near
sailing routes, and these are located in a nature protection area where human activity
is strictly regulated and a permission for any activity is needed from Finnish
Metsähallitus, who is the authority responsible of national parks. For this reason
there is no need to salvage the wreck. The need to raise the wreck or the objects
originating from it is archaeological or historical. The regulations of the Antiquities
Act direct a need of this kind, and the Finnish Heritage Agency has the exclusive
discretionary power and authority to decide what is to be done with the wreck and
the objects with it (Alvik and Matikka 2011: 150).
The complainants appealed to the Turku Court of Appeal. The Court of Appeal
came to a decision in March 2005 that the complainants’ appeal was dismissed. The
court concluded that both the Antiquities Act and the Maritime Act have to be
applied to the case of Vrouw Maria. However, the regulations of the Antiquities Act
prevent the finders of the wreck from having a relationship of control over the wreck
and therefore possession of it. One must have actual possession or control over an
object in order to become an owner of an object by appropriation, and therefore the
complainants do not have the ownership of the wreck. According to the law, the
owner of the wreck of Vrouw Maria is the state of Finland. The Court of Appeal also
saw that there was no sea salvage agreement between the Finnish Heritage Agency
and the finders of the wreck when it comes either to the wreck with its cargo or to
those six items the Agency had permitted the finders to raise from the wreck soon
after it was found. According to the Turku Court of Appeal, the complainants do not
have the right to start any salvage operations against the will of the owner of the
wreck, the state of Finland, that is, since the wreck is not in actual danger and there
is no urgent need to salvage the wreck or its cargo. As an owner, the state has the
right to prohibit anybody from starting a salvage operation of the wreck or the
objects originating from it (Alvik and Matikka 2011: 151).
The court proceedings concerning the case of Vrouw Maria were exceptional in
Finland. It was the first time a private party aimed at getting the ownership of an
underwater ancient monument. Before this no one had wanted to openly deny the
state’s authority and responsibility regarding underwater ancient monuments. After
the case was in the Turku Court of Appeal, both the complainants and the Finnish
Heritage Agency asked for permission to take the case to the Supreme Court. While
the complainants no longer claimed the ownership of the wreck, they still claimed
the salvage right and salvage reward. The Finnish Heritage Agency argued that the
Turku Court of Appeal was wrong when thinking that the Maritime Act can be
applied to an ancient monument. Surprisingly perhaps, in light of the significance of
the case, in November 2005 the Supreme Court refused to leave to appeal. Therefore,
the decision of the Turku Court of Appeal will stand (Alvik and Matikka 2011:
151–152).
2 Wreck of the Dutch Merchant Ship Vrouw Maria: Example of Protection… 19
In year 2006 two members of Pro Vrouw Maria association made a claim to the
European Court of Human Rights that the state of Finland had violated their right to
the ownership of Vrouw Maria. They also demanded a salvage reward or monetary
compensation of the lost property. The European Court of Human Rights made a
decision in March 2009 and rejected the case. According to the ruling, Finland did
not violate the divers’ rights by forbidding them from raising the sunken shipwreck
or from taking objects found in it, and the wreck was not in immediate danger
(Alvik and Matikka 2011: 152). The majority of the diving community seemed to
accept the decision, and most of the divers in Finland have a positive attitude for
safeguarding shipwrecks. But because of the popularity of wreck diving, some div-
ers are suspicious of reporting their findings to the Finnish Heritage Agency. When
the amount of divers visiting the site increases, the risk of damage and looting is
also increasing. there is a slogan by the Finnish Heritage Agency “Leave nothing
else than bubbles” and majority of the divers follow that rule. For example, the
Finnish Heritage Agency, Military Museum, Finnish Divers’Federation and
Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI) have had campaings for
respecting and protecting shipwrecks, the last campaing was a serie of photos with
different slogans in Facebook. The attitude has been positive. One positive sign is
also that divers send us messages via email or social media if there is something
happening in the diving community or someone is trying to sell or has been lifting
underwater findings. There are some sites where the surveillance of coast guard is
active, and the Finnish Heritage Agency co-operates with them and the Navy in
protection and survey of underwater cultural heritage. Both parties have modern
equipment like side-scan sonars and remotely operated vehicles (ROV) with a video
camera attached, so when ever their other duties leave them time, they sometimes
conduct survey at shipwrecks. The Finnish Heritage Agency proposes to sites to
them, and information is always changed about the conditions and measures. At the
same time, they can develop their methods and practice. For example, coast guard
co-operates also with the police and Finnish Environmental Institution in different
kinds of tasks.
In year 2009 the more intensive research at the wreck of Vrouw Maria started again,
when the Finnish Heritage Agency created a project called “Vrouw Maria
Underwater” in co-operation with the association for support of the Maritime
Museum of Finland. The project was funded by the Ministry of Culture and
Education. The project had three research periods. The Finnish Heritage Agency pro-
ceeded a 2-week fieldwork annually including the recording of the hull and the rig-
ging of the ship and taking samples from the cargo hold. The cargo hold was
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have vastly increased the product,—would have improved and
beautified the whole face of the country; and the Moral and
Intellectual advantages thence accruing would alone have been
inestimable. A season of suspension of labor in a community is
usually one of aggravated dissipation, drunkenness, and crime.
But let me more clearly illustrate the effect of foreign competition
in raising prices to the consumer. To do this, I will take my own
calling for an example, because I understand that best; though any of
you can apply the principle to that with which he may be better
acquainted. I am a publisher of newspapers, and suppose I afford
them at a cheap rate. But the ability to maintain that cheapness is
based on the fact that I can certainly sell a large edition daily, so that
no part of that edition shall remain a dead loss on my hands. Now, if
there were an active and formidable Foreign competition in
newspapers,—if the edition which I printed during the night were
frequently rendered unsalable by the arrival of a foreign ship
freighted with newspapers early in the morning,—the present rates
could not be continued: the price must be increased or the quality
would decline. I presume this holds equally good of the production of
calicoes, glass, and penknives as of newspapers, though it may be
somewhat modified by the nature of the article to which it is applied.
That it does hold true of sheetings, nails, and thousands of articles, is
abundantly notorious.
I have not burdened you with statistics,—you know they are the
reliance, the stronghold, of the cause of Protection, and that we can
produce them by acres. My aim has been to exhibit not mere
collections of facts, however pertinent and forcible, but the laws on
which those facts are based,—not the immediate manifestation, but
the ever-living necessity from which it springs. The contemplation of
these laws assures me that those articles which are supplied to us by
Home Production alone are relatively cheaper than those which are
rivalled and competed with from abroad. And I am equally confident
that the shutting out of Foreign competition from our markets for
other articles of general necessity and liberal consumption which can
be made here with as little labor as anywhere would be followed by a
corresponding result,—a reduction of the price to the consumer at
the same time with increased employment and reward to our
Producing Classes.
But, Mr. President, were this only on one side true,—were it
certain that the price of the Home product would be permanently
higher than that of the Foreign, I should still insist on efficient
Protection, and for reasons I have sufficiently shown. Grant that a
British cloth costs but $3 per yard, and a corresponding American
fabric $4, I still hold that the latter would be decidedly the cheaper
for us. The Fuel, Timber, Fruits, Vegetables, &c., which make up so
large a share of the cost of the Home product, would be rendered
comparatively valueless by having our workshops in Europe. I look
not so much to the nominal price as to the comparative facility of
payment. And, where cheapness is only to be attained by a
depression of the wages of Labor to the neighborhood of the
European standard, I prefer that it should be dispensed with. One
thing must answer to another; and I hold that the farmers of this
country can better afford, as a matter of pecuniary advantage, to pay
a good price for manufactured articles than to obtain them lower
through the depression and inadequacy of the wages of the artisan
and laborer.
You will understand me, then, to be utterly hostile to that idol of
Free Trade worship, known as Free or unlimited Competition. The
sands of my hour are running low, and I cannot ask time to examine
this topic more closely; yet I am confident I could show that this Free
Competition is a most delusive and dangerous element of Political
Economy. Bear with a brief illustration: At this moment, common
shirts are made in London at the incredibly low price of three cents
per pair. Should we admit these articles free of duty and buy them
because they are so cheap? Free trade says Yes; but I say No! Sound
Policy as well as Humanity forbids it. By admitting them, we simply
reduce a large and worthy and suffering class of our population from
the ability they now possess of procuring a bare subsistence by their
labor to unavoidable destitution and pauperism. They must now
subsist upon the charity of relatives or of the community,—unless we
are ready to adopt the demoniac doctrine of the Free Trade
philosopher Malthus, that the dependent Poor ought to be rigorously
starved to death. Then what have we gained by getting these articles
so exorbitantly cheap? or, rather, what have we not lost? The labor
which formerly produced them is mainly struck out of existence; the
poor widows and seamstresses among us must still have a
subsistence; and the imported garments must be paid for: where are
the profits of our speculation?
But even this is not the worst feature of the case. The labor which
we have here thrown out of employment by the cheap importation of
this article is now ready to be employed again at any price,—if not
one that will afford bread and straw, then it must accept one that will
produce potatoes and rubbish; and with the product some Free-
Trader proceeds to break down the price and destroy the reward of
similar labor in some other portion of the earth. And thus each
depression of wages produces another, and that a third, and so on,
making the circuit of the globe,—the aggravated necessities of the
Poor acting and reacting upon each other, increasing the
omnipotence of Capital and deepening the dependence of Labor,
swelling and pampering a bloated and factitious Commerce, grinding
down and grinding down the destitute, until Malthus’s remedy for
Poverty shall become a grateful specific, and, amid the splendors and
luxuries of an all-devouring Commercial Feudalism, the squalid and
famished Millions, its dependants and victims, shall welcome death
as a deliverer from their sufferings and despair.
I wish time permitted me to give a hasty glance over the doctrines
and teachings of the Free Trade sophists, who esteem themselves the
Political Economists, christen their own views liberal and
enlightened, and complacently put ours aside as benighted and
barbarous. I should delight to show you how they mingle subtle
fallacy with obvious truth, how they reason acutely from assumed
premises, which, being mistaken or incomplete, lead to false and
often absurd conclusions,—how they contradict and confound each
other, and often, from Adam Smith, their patriarch, down to
McCulloch and Ricardo, either make admissions which undermine
their whole fabric, or confess themselves ignorant or in the dark on
points the most vital to a correct understanding of the great subject
they profess to have reduced to a Science. Yet even Adam Smith
himself expressly approves and justifies the British Navigation Act,
the most aggressively Protective measure ever enacted,—a measure
which, not being understood and seasonably counteracted by other
nations, changed for centuries the destinies of the World,—which
silently sapped and overthrew the Commercial and Political
greatness of Holland,—which silenced the thunder of Van Tromp,
and swept the broom from his mast-head. But I must not detain you
longer. I do not ask you to judge of this matter by authority, but from
facts which come home to your reason and your daily experience.
There is not an observing and strong-minded mechanic in our city
who could not set any one of these Doctors of the Law right on
essential points. I beg you to consider how few great practical
Statesmen they have ever been able to win to their standard,—I
might almost say none; for Huskisson was but a nominal disciple,
and expressly contravened their whole system upon an attempt to
apply it to the Corn Laws; and Calhoun is but a Free-Trader by
location, and has never yet answered his own powerful arguments in
behalf of Protection. On the other hand, we point you to the long
array of mighty names which have illustrated the annals of
Statesmanship of modern times,—to Chatham, William Pitt, and the
Great Frederick of Prussia; to the whole array of memorable French
Statesmen, including Napoleon the first of them all; to our own
Washington, Hamilton, Jefferson, and Madison; to our two
Clintons, Tompkins, to say nothing of the eagle-eyed and genial-
hearted LIVING master-spirit [Henry Clay] of our time. The opinions
and the arguments of all these are on record; it is by hearkening to
and heeding their counsels that we shall be prepared to walk in the
light of experience and look forward to a glorious National destiny.
My friends! I dare not detain you longer. I commit to you the cause
of the Nation’s Independence, of her Stability and her Prosperity.
Guard it wisely and shield it well; for it involves your own happiness
and the enduring welfare of your countrymen!
Henry A. Wise
Against Know-Nothingism, Sept. 18, 1852.
The laws of the United States—federal and state laws—declare and
defend the liberties of our people. They are free in every sense—free
in the sense of Magna Charta and beyond Magna Charta; free by the
surpassing franchise of American charters, which makes them
sovereign and their wills the sources of constitutions and laws.
In this country, at this time, does any man think anything? Would
he think aloud? Would he speak anything? Would he write anything?
His mind is free; his person is safe; his property is secure; his house
is his castle; the spirit of the laws is his body-guard and his house-
guard; the fate of one is the fate of all measured by the same common
rule of right; his voice is heard and felt in the general suffrage of
freemen; his trial is in open court, confronted by witnesses and
accusers; his prison house has no secrets, and he has the judgment of
his peers; and there is nought to make him afraid, so long as he
respects the rights of his equals in the eye of the law. Would he
propagate truth? Truth is free to combat error. Would he propagate
error? Error itself may stalk abroad and do her mischief, and make
night itself grow darker, provided truth is left free to follow, however
slowly, with her torches to light up the wreck! Why, then, should any
portion of the people desire to retire in secret, and by secret means to
propagate a political thought, or word, or deed, by stealth? Why band
together, exclusive of others, to do something which all may not
know of, towards some political end? If it be good, why not make the
good known? Why not think it, speak it, write it, act it out openly and
aloud? Or, is it evil, which loveth darkness rather than light? When
there is no necessity to justify a secret association for political ends,
what else can justify it? A caucus may sit in secret to consult on the
general policy of a great public party. That may be necessary or
convenient; but that even is reprehensible, if carried too far. But here
is proposed a great primary, national organization, in its inception—
What? Nobody knows. To do what? Nobody knows. How organized?
Nobody knows. Governed by whom? Nobody knows. How bound? By
what rites? By what test oaths? With what limitations and restraints?
Nobody, nobody knows! All we know is that persons of foreign birth
and of Catholic faith are proscribed; and so are all others who don’t
proscribe them at the polls. This is certainly against the spirit of
Magna Charta.