Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1894-03-09
THE LAW OF NATIONS.
Committee on Foreign Affairs Wrest-
ling With Conundrums.


The com uittees On forcigr afalr8 nave oeen
wrestlngwith g series of conunGrunls aris-
Tag cut Of the peculiar situation in Brazii,
and, as might have been expected, have
come to 4 great variety Of coac!uaons. Sen
ator George, who has made special study
Of the subject, says that there - no exact
precedent, and that the question may be
broadly stated thus: Are telose fellows no"
blockading tho port Ct Rio beiligerents,
rebels, mutineers or pirates? AT lFst view
itwou!d Seern absurd to claim that they are
pirates bat members Of the house commit
tee say that it cannot be shown by the law
of nations that they are anything else, and
that if they should capture any ship seeking
10 enter. the harbor they might be dealt
with as pirates. They arrive at this con-
cluSion by the following line OF reasoning:
Not Recognized as Eeiligc-ents.
There is but one government in Brazil
which is recognized by the rest Of the world.
The so called rebels have not been recog-
nzed as belligerents, and the navy with
which they are blockading Rio is BRAZIL
navy. Down to this point they are mutt
users. They are, i'll fact, in precisely the
same situation under the law OF nations as
American naval officers would he II they
should blockade the port of New \ ork.
They have, strictly speaking, no govern
ment, no territory which they dominate,
no capital recognized as such, no civil rep
resentatives in any other country-in short,
no standing whatever any more than have
any other band of mutineers. 1t is under
the law of nations simply mutiny in the
navy against the government which has
the legal ownership and right to control
the navy.
There is, however, another view. They
have unquestionably established block
ade. 1t Is an effective blockade and not
mere paper proclamation, and all the ma
items represented by their warships at Rio
have, in fact, recognized that blockade.
Benham came very near to breaking the
blockade and did ignore 1t finally. His
threat that if the vessel he was conveying
was interfered with he would sink the rebel
warehips has been virtually approved by
his government. Now, suppose that he had
been attacked and had actually carried out
his threat, who would have called him to
account
The Weight of Opinion.
AI,ths suppostion is likely at any mo-
mcnt to become fact, the important ques-
ton is, How would Bcnham or any other
naval commander be dealt WITH That is
Brazl's navy. If any of the ships are sunk,
il will he Brazips loss. and vet it is not easy
"a nomc.i,.a of Rrazu beiny p,,t in the ab
eurd ,ttitude of callipg ms to account for
I,'s,,.,',,;,,, ,,asseIs which arc hIockadinv
Le, c,I,iroi
mo cnr;ous feature Of the case is that
ar,atia,,s ,ayo en- comnI,centIv waited
nn ,bn rahnIs and the Hrozilian GOVERN
,,,art (;rent pritain sav the members of
tI,n houee committee is not in the habit of
,,I1,,,.i,,,, ln,. trada to II. intarrn,,tea for
sIi,,Lt roounne and vnt comnlainta hive
lorn. ~, III. far month; from brr simmer,
Inn tLc,, l,,,fs,.o ,(,ons ,voitino Ia he drli,.
or,d -. i}io' and Gnu find uo rasnousihlp mar
tirstod ra1 With Rut when orr own BEN
Lop,' couvoved one of their shins merely
fnr rho ,,,,rnosc nf securino, ,yatrr there wa.
Gn,oi,tI,i,rst 81 ro,,,, in F,,land Thorn
,,,,st ~, ,.,,,,,,Lin,, LocI, of tIis Ia II tbet
-, ,.,,,,.o,.- ~, ,i,I. ., s,,o,aad opI
na'r..t,l,Iisi, tt,,nr,r,ir.i in lt,,vilg Az nrnc.
',,, ,Ii,,io,, il, ,I, ho,,ec com
,,i,tcn.n,,,,,. -. hlncl,,iino mr.
,in, ,ni.,l,, l.. dnol, v.i,h -. nir,tcs If thnv
elo,,II ,antlrc any shin saaliog tn enter
lhn barhor
l., IccI-ir,, for nrocedn,t. tho. on. most
,,c.,l,. Ia ,7;rt ,i,,,,oyt to l,,t t.t of tho
,,,,co f,,,,,,s ..J,..,nili, ~ Tor,rn,cby -
W.. so,l,r l., iii. c,,tr",, ;, r..-olntio,,ar,,
,,rfv in sT,vico n,r,;u.t S,,f, ohtainn1
,,,r,r In Tho uortbr,st,rn nro,.i,cas Iono
i,o,,,I, o.t,iIi.h g, ,o,,,j 1anco If ,,,,,,a,,,
mcnt. They issued letters Of lnaraae and
commissioned rriyatcers, who set up their
Aesdaualter, ON Galveston island.
The Mexican end of the combination was
soon DESTROYED, but under the leadership of
the notorious jean Laiittc the Galveston
islanders took ont commissions from viiri-
Gus Central and south American rcvou-
tiuuary governments and proclaimed the
"Rcpuhlic of Campeachy.r They had req
MAR admiralty court and the form OF a gov
eminent. condemned prizes and carried on
maritime war so eoergeticaliv that Spanish
commerce was driven from the gulf of
Mexico How long this might have gone
on and what the standing of the Republic
az Campeachvr would have been among ma
tons is only matter for conjecture, for La
tltte's men made the mistake of capturing
the American vessel whercupon the Unit
ed States sent. its navy 10 Galveston island.
burned the town of Campeachy and scat
tered .afitte's gang.
Mr.. Money of the house committee main