The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-04-28

direct information from London, as III 10
said the Foreign Office has no occasion W
communicate with the British representa-
tive at Washington.
There can be no doubt that the action Oh
the Nicaraguan Government IN declaring
Corinto closed port has seriously coiil-
plicated the most troublesome question:
and even if there is no resort TO hostllltieS
at present, it opens prospect OF alarming
events in the future, which may, ana, III
fact are even regarded as likely 10 involve
the United States directly In the affair, III
spite of the earnest disposition OF the au-
ministration to avoid the enlargement.
The action means that no goods can now
be entered at Corinto, port whlch mas
heretofore received over half OF the imports
into the country, without violating the
national law of Nicaragua. The British
NAV collect duties if any goods enter the
Mace Int the latter would be liable to
seizure the moment they crossed the Brit
isb lines into the interior. They must do
this to find a market, for the coast, being
unhealthy, is thinly populated, and the
great consuming class of the population
lives in the interior.
mort. therefore, will probably be to divert
nearly all if not the entire import trade of
the place to San Juan del Sur, or perhaps
Realaio, seaport near by, for it is i'm
probable that many merchants will take
the chances of getting their goods into
Nicaragua through the British lines
Under the circumstances. In this case
the length of the stay of the
British at Corinto is predetermined, con-
ditional as it is upon collecting enough
revenue from customs to make good the
indemnity demanded. But another con-
sheraton arises at this point, for our
Government has been assured that the
occupation will not be permanent, and
indeed the first paragraph of the Clayton
Bulwer treaty expressly pledges Great
Britain against any occupation of Near
aguan territory. So the problem will arise
how to collect the indemnity within a
reasonable time. This may be settled
summarily by simply extending the occu-
patton and blockade beyond Corinto, so as
to include all of the Pacific ports of Near
aqua. From the disposition shown by the
Nicaraguans at present this can be done
only by force and is likely to add very
largely to the expense incurred in the col
lection of the indemnity, which items will
surely be added by the British to the
original sum.
This course, moreover, will seriously en-
barass the commerce Of the United States,
and on this point Great Britain has given
Secretary Gresham certain assurances Of
the manner in which the British may be
sure of attaining their ends by prompt
declaration of war and an invasion of Mic
aragua, involving the capture of the capt.
tai, Managua, and the imposition upon the
Nicaraguans of the British terms as the
price of peace.
1t may be that the British government
will be driven to the latter course in the
interest of trade, our own as we'll as that of
her own merchants, which she is bound to
safeguard. If goods entered at Corinto after
payment of duty to the British occupants
should be seized in the interior the own
ers, British or American, would have every
claim for reparation. The only question is
as to whose duty it would be to secure this
whether the United States would feel
bound to intervene in the case of an Amer
lean merchant in such case and therein
lies one of the factors which may involve
our country directly in the dispute. 1t
has been asserted as a hard-and-fast rule of
international law that duties cannot be
twice collected, and our Government has
taken an advanced position on this dues
ton.
At one time, when the diplomatic rela-
tions between Great Britain and Mexico
were interrupted and a revolutionary move
ment was in progress in the latter country,
a British ship entering one of the revolu-
tionary ports of Mexico paid duties upon
her goods to the insurgents. Afterward
the Mexican Government again assessed
the duties upon the same goods, holding
that the insurgents had no authority to
make the first collection and refusing to
recognize it. The British Minister, Sir.
Edward Thornton, appealed to our coun-
try, Great Britain having no representa-
tive in Mexico, to secure the release of the
goods from this imposition. We acted
very promptly and obliged the Mexicans to
release the goods and to acknowledge
the principle that duties cannot be twice
levied. This case differs in many impor-
tant features from the present one from
the closure of Corinto and it is difficult to
ascertain the application of international
law in this case, although the general
broad principle would seem to be similar.