Birmingham age-herald., 1895-03-18
SECRETARY GRESHAM h His Demand for an Apology
 From Spain,
ACCORDING go PRECEDENT
And interrS tional Law, Is Per fN . fectl'sGorrect and Will
 @ Sustained.

WAsS soToN, March 17.-Speaking of the 4 Inca incident and Secretary Gres- ham's dispatch to our minister at Madrid Insisting upon its disavowal of the unau- thorized act and that positive orders be given to Spanish naval commanders not to interfere with the passage of mail steamers through a recognized and legitimate chan mel of commerce, one of the best informed
 authorities on international law in Wash ingtou said to the United Press today:
 .'Assuming the facts to bs as stated,
 there can be no question as to the sound
 ness of Secretary Gresham's position under
 the principles of international law as now
 recognized and practlced.
 ''One hundred years ago, when the sea
 was overrun with pirates aud privateers, the report of vessel or search was recog- nizsd under certain contingencies. But these only applied to recognized existing state of war. There is no such condition in this case.
 "Even if there were, no nation of late years has had warrant for stopping vessel flying a friendly flag on the high seas, nor
 has the right been recognized for war vessel, under any circumstances, to fire
 solid shot at the flag of any merchant vessel
 flying any flag in which the commander of
 that war vessel is attempting to intercept
 her.
 sSupposing, for the sake of argument,
 that the Allianca was misusing the Ameri-
 can flag Gas was actually the case with the
 Virginius, for the execution of whose crew the United States exacted heavy indemnity from Spaip) If they were, to punish the vessel for this misuse of the flag would rest with the United States alone and not with | Spain.n
 .'Is that actually a fact,'' was asked, "that the Virginius had no right to fly the United States flag and yet the United States exacted an indemnity and an apology rom Spain on her account"
 "Certainly,' was the reply, "but the irregularity of her clearance from Jamaica was not discovered until after the demand for indemnity and apology had been made aud acceded to. That, however, was not a matter that concerned the Spaniards at all. 1t was purely a question Tor the United States 10 deal with. The ouiy notice we took of it was to remit the salute and hold on 10 the indemnity. If you will turn to page 975 of Foreign Relations, 1874, you will find this telegram from Secretary of State Hamilton Fish to Minister Dan l Hick!es at Madrid:
 torney- general decides that the yirginius was not rightfully carrying the flag of the United States at fhe time. of her capture, consequently the salute will be spontane- ously dispensed witn.'
 ''But, as l was about to say when you interru pted ne, the assumption that there is the slightest obligation on the part of the Allianca to show that she was more than one marine league from shore when nreu upon is entirely unwarranted. II she had been within half mile of the Cuban coast the alleged action of the Spanish man-of- war would have been just as unjustihaole as if she had been Atty miles out at sea. h the case of the seIzare of four American l ttxn h. GFaa1 ia fl teen years ago our government success fully asserted and sustained tue principie that in time of peace no forcible lnterven- tion with American steamships would ps permitted, whether within three miles oi shore or not. Our state department then laid down the dictum that the right of ex- amiuing ships' letters within the marine league of shore in time of peace was con- fined to revenue vessels and could not De extended to warships, and we declared
 most positively that1he worlds commerce
 was not to be impeded by driving ships or
 friendly nations out of their course Into
 adverse winds and currents to avoid dis
 courteous acts.
 Urhe same doctrine has been sustained
 in many other cases. We have held open
 the Straits of Magellan, though they are
 ba, Q mile across at their narrowest
 point and are absolutely within the domain
 of one of the South American states. The award of the emperor of Germany, on
 similar question in regard to the Strait or
 Juan de Fuca and the channels between
 the continent and Vancouver island, suo-
 mitted to his arbitration by Great Britain
 took similar ground. You will find that
 case set out in Treaties and c onventions of
 the United States' page 497. In short the
 right of any merchant vessel to traverse
 any channel in time of peace, whether
 within three miles of shore or not, is sus-
 tained by universally accepted international
 law and no ship ot war or any nation un-
 der asy pretext has the right to stop or
 search her or eveu to ask an explanation of
 her papers.
 ssThe case in point is almost exactly par.
 alIel to this. Suppose there was Fenian
 uprising in Ireland and French mall
 steamer should be hailed of Queenstown
 by a British man -of-w war, and failing to
 heave to should be dred upon with solid
 shot, do you think that France would
 wait for an investigation as to how far that steamer was from shore before demanding
 an apology, or do you think she would
 have been satisfied by statement after ten
 days had elapsed that no report had yet
 been received from the offending war ship, and it was uot necessary to wait until both sides had been heardf Spain is in the
 wrong in this matter, and 1 feel sure will in due time admit it.
 "What if she does notf'
 ssWby, then, in such an unfriendly as-
 pect of affairs all that the United States authorities need to do would be to relax their vigilance at Tampa and other ports, and the Cuban question would soon Bettlo