The Roanoke daily times. (Roanoke, Va.) 1895-1897, 1896-08-16

tc'iots-Spain's Council Prepares a
Voluminous Report.
Washington August 15.-The Spanish
government is preparing bill of dam
uges to be presented to the United States
on account of numerous expeditions al
legged to have gone from our shores to the
relief of the Cuban insurgents, and in
support of its claim to reparation intends
to invoke the precedent established by the
United States against Great Britain in
the celebrated Alabama claims awards
made by the Geneva arbitration tribunal
There have been reports heretofore that
Spain at the proper time would present q
ser es OF claims on account of the use the
insurgents had made of the United States
as base of supplies for hostile operations
IN Cuba, but these were nothing more
than rumors until to-day when Govern
ment officers received copies of n reDort
to the Spanish legation made by it's legal
adviser, Calderon Carlisle. The report is
handsomely printed in pamphlet form
and with its five appendices makes book
of over 300 pages. 1t is entitled GA re-
port to the Spanish Legation with refer
ence to the legal aspect of hostilitics com
mitted by vessels specially adapted, in
whole or in part, within the United States
to warlike uses and by military expedi-
tions ana enterprises carried on from the
territory of the United States against the
Spanish dominion in Cuba during the
present insurrection.
The report has evidently been prepared
with great care and under Special ipstruc
lions from the Spanish government. De-
tailed accounts of the more notorious al
legged iilibustering expeditions are given.
The i've sets of appendices include neu-
trailty proclamations issued by various
Presidents from Washington to CIeye-
land; citations of all the laws ever in
force in the United States bearing en- the
dealings with foreign nations; charges to
grand Juries on the subject of nc utrality
made by Chief Justice Jay, Justice Nc
Lean, during the rebellion in Canada in
1893, and Justice Campbell in 1855, when
there were filibustering expeditions
against the island of Cuba.
The Wdborg case recently decided bv the
United States supreme court is also cited
and referred to as the one solitary conyic-
ton obtained in the United States since
the beginning of the present Cuban insur-
rection. The attorney says it is thought
proper to show from the case of the Ge-
neva award against Great Britain what
nation, and also to recall the attitude of
Spain towards the United States during
the civil war. Cuba, says the attorney,
is only lew leagues from our ports.
while the Southern Confederacy was 3. 900
miles from Great Britain, but the British
possessions of Nassau were only n few
leagues from our coast, while the govern
ment of Madrid is more than 5000 miles
away, yet the principles indicated and
enforced by the United States against
Great Britain as those which should have
governed her conduct would seem to be
clearly applicable to the duties and obi
cations OF the United States towards
Spain in the present instance
In reviewing the Geneva award the re-
port says that it was clear that the United
States made its complaint mainly upon
the fitting out and shipping from England
OF vessels and supplies. Each of the
different Cuban expeditions is dealt with
separately, the case of the Commodore -
being the last, and it is stated that as the
report is being written it is reported that
the revenue cutters were watching the
Commodore which had shippd arms
The authorities, it is added have taken
no notice of these reports or the special
adaptation for warlike Uses of additions
made to her equipment.
LII concluding the nrSt section of his re-
port, Nr. Carlisle says that the powers
vested in the Presidents of the United
States have not been effectively used for
the purpose of preventing the carrying on
of military expeditions forbidden by the
statutes. The United States, he saws.
at Geneva that no nation can
under cover of the deficiencies of its own
law disregard duties towards another
power. 1t is pointed out that the insur-
rection is not n gigantic civil war like
that of the rebellion, and that the insur-
gents have not established their rights to
be recognized as belligerents Their ne
cessities and their means do not require n
navy, but they have to be furnished arms
and ammunition and these they can OBJ
tain only by means of hostile expeditions
carried on from the United States. What
ever preteXt and attempts may be made
to carry on these expeditions as peaceful
and lawful voyages, the facts remain,
says the attorney, that from the begin
ming of the instruction the base of sup
plies for war material has been in the
United States This branch of Mr.. Car
isles report concludes as follows:
ITO tolerate this state of affairs and
these acts is a violation of the treaties of
under the law of nations as
they have been proclaimed to the rest of
the world by the United States. To pre-
vent and punish these acts, which are in
of the statute laws of this coun-
try, it is believed that the federal govern
ment has all the attribute of sovereignty
with respect to the subject under discus
sion and has for their exercise the appro-
pirate agencies which are recognized
-