Ortolan even goes so far as to assert (page 304) that if the merchant ship in question has embarked the fugitives at sea or in the port of another country she is exempted from the local jurisdiction. Opinion generally may not. perhaps. go so far as Ortolan in this. but the right of asylum on board of public ships is indisputable. From the days of the Greeks. from the time when Themistocles took shelter by the hearthstone of Admetus. to the present time the right of asylum to a political refugee has been recognized and cherished by all great nations. It is cherished by the United States today. The gentleman from Pennsylvania has made the point that we have taken this attitude because Guatemala is a small state..