The sun., 1895-03-18
merchant vessel fying any flag except that Of
tho Mnr ycsaal All iemniinR 10 In tercnnt her.


tho war vessel attempting 10 intercept her.
"Supposing, for the sake OF argument that the
Allianca was misusing the American flag 'ns
was actually the case with the Virginus, for tho
execution of hose crew tho United states ex-
acted heavy indemnity from SPAIN. tho power
to punish the vessel for this misuse OF the Amer
lean flag would rest with the United States
alone and not with Spain. But OF course there
is no such supposition rs to the misuse OF flag
possible in case of a steamer belonging to n
regular United States mail line"
rs II actually n fact" was asked. that tho
virgnius had no right to fly tho United States
Gag, and yet the United States exacted an In
demnity and an apology from Spain on her ac-
count?"
Certainly" was tho reply but the irreEu-
larity OF her clearance from Jamaica was not
discovered until after the demand for indemnity
and apology had been made and acceded to.
That, however was not n matter that concerned
the Spaniards at all. 1t was purely question
for the United States to deal with. The only
notice we took of II was to remit the salute and
hold on to the indemnity. II you will turn to
page 915, Foreign Relations, 1874 you will
find this telegram from Secretary of State Ham,
ilton Fish to Minister Dan Sickles at Madrid:
"wAsHiSorox. Dec. 90. 1873 The Attorney. General
decides that the virsinius not rshtfuiy carrying
the flag OF the United States at the time OF her cap
ture; consequently the salute will be spontaneously
dispensed with
but, as ! was about to say when you inter-
rupted me, the assumption that there Is the
slightest obligation on tho part of tho Allanca
to show that she was moro than one marine
league from shore when fired upon is entirely
unwarranted. II she had been within half a
mile of the Cuban coast, the alleged action OF
the Spanish man-of-war would have been lust
fa1~1 ,t,o ;I,,
out at sea. 1t the case of the seizure of four
American schooners off Cuba by Spanish au-
thorities fifteen years ago. our Govern
ment successfully asserted and sustained
the principle that in time of peace
no forcible intervention with American ships
could be permitted, whether they were within
three miles of shore or not Our State Depart
ment then laid down the dict,tm that the right
Of examining ships letters within the marine
league of shore in time of peace was confined
to revenue vessels and could not be extended to
war ships, and we declared most positively that
the worlds commerce was not to be inpeded by
driving ships of friendly nations out of their
course into adverse winds and currents to avoid
discourteous acts.
Tho same doctrine has been sustained in
many other cases. We have held open the
Straits of Magellan though they are barely
mile across at their na.rowest point and are
absolutely within tho domain of one Of the
South American States. The award of the En-
peror OF Germany on q similar question in re-
gard to the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the chan
nels between tho continent and Vancouver
Island, submitted TO his arbitration by Great
Britain, took uimilar grounds. You will find
that case set out in " Treaties end Conventions
of the United States" page 497. In short, the
absolute right Of any merchant vessel to trav-
,b, In of yhat bar
within three miles of shore or not 4, sustained
by universally accepted international law. and
no ship of war OF any nation, under any pretext.
has the right to stop or search her, or even to
ask an examination Of her papers.
..The casa in noint is almost exaotly narallol