New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1873-11-29
THE APOLOGY FQR THE TORNADO.

THE APOLOGY FQR THE TORNADO.
1t is very true, say the apoogsts for the
seizure of the Virginius, that the United States
cannot recognize the right of foreign power
to stop American vessels on the high seas in
time Of peace but this Cuban blOckade-run-
ner was not an American vessel; she was the
property of the revolutionary Junta; she was
employed wholly in the service of the insur-
rection; her register was sham, and when
she displayed the flag of the United States
she was guilty of fraud. In Selling her Spain
merely seized the property and persons of her
own subjects.
The answer TO all this il that the allegations
are not proved, and that we cannot allow them
to be tested by Spanish naval cOurt-martiai
on the deck of Spanish man-of-war They
form the basis of n complaint which SPAN
might have reasonably presented to our Gov
eminent, but they are 10 justification OF sum-
mary action. The papers of ship being III
every respect regular, she must be presumed
entitled to the protection OF the flag under
which she clears until the contrary has been
shown. The Virgnius carried an American
register, and she received a clearance from
the acting United States Consul at Kingston,
which was equivalent to an official certificate
of her nationality. 1t was tantamount to a
formal declaration by our Government tnat she
was entitled to the protection OF our flag.
But. Ylmeoyer, the question as to her charac-
Ter had been ppffacticuily raised on two previous
occasions, and the United States had answered
IT, In 1872 Spanish gunboat Threatened 10
seize her outside the harbOr OF Aspinwa.!;
when Gen. Hurlbut. our Minister to the
United States of Colombia, after Il careful ex-
animation of the case, requested the com
mander of the L. 5. steamer Kansas To con-
voy her to sea. Last June she was again
menaced bya Spanish gunboat at Aspinwall, and
again she was protected by the Kansas. On
this occasion the commander of the Kansas, in
reply to note from the Spanish commander,
wrote, after due inquiry and examination OF
the vessels papers, and consultation with the
United States Consul: " She il considered en-
tirely and completely United States vessel
land authorized TO sail under the United
States flag | shall feel myself bound to
consider her So" These proceedings were
sanctioned by the Administration ut Wash
ington, as indeed they must have been on
any conceivable theory of the duties of GOV
eminent.
Now it must be clear that il the United
States has made a mistake in extending pro-
lection to "A ship not entitled to it. the mistake
must be corrected by means of proper dipo-
matte remonstrance. No nation can permit its
Official actions to be revised and reversed by
summary process Oh board foreign an-of-war.
If this liberty is once allowed it is impossible to
say to what violence and abuse il may not lead.
Thera il no LONGER any safety under the flag
Of a power which OverloOks such an a1rOnt
There ia no use in sending a navy to guard
our commerce if every captain of a gun-boat
may decide at his discretion whether we have
right to protect any vessel to which we
have issued papers. The settlement of that
question belongs exclusively to ourselves.