The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1896-03-08
AS A BELLIGERENT.
Effects That Would Follow the
Recognition Of Cuba.
SPAIN WOULD PROFIT, TOO.
She Would Gain the Right OF Search
-Opiuions of Writers on Inter-
national Law
New York Sun


what circumstances they may be conferred
upon reveIuiionists When an insurg-nt
becomes a belligerent the body which has
opposed Itself TO the existing government
and d@ma nded and fought for an indepen-
dent government passes from a band Of
men Of no standing 10 the place of an or
ganized political entity having equal rights
TO those Of the government II attacks
in the ports and territory of the countries
that recognize its beIhgerency. and for the
practical Purposes OF carrying on its war
fare II has The rights OF sovereign power.
although the question Of the recognition OF
its Independence l. separate from that OF
It's beiiigerency.
when ar insurgent becomes a beiliser-
ent, wnsn you recognize an insurgent as a
belligeTent. you grant TO him the same
rights in your ports that the other party
has. said Prof. J. b. Moore. who lectures
on International Ian at Columbia college:
THAT IS the substance of belligereat
rights
The recognition OF belligerent rights is
not solely 10 the advantage OF the insJr-
gents" X. II. Dana, jr.. says in d note IN
his famous edition OF Wheaton. They
gam the great advantage of a recognized
status. and the opportunity 10 employ COM
missoned cruisers al sea, and 10 exert all
the power known to maritime warfare.
with The sanction of foreign nations. They
can obtain abroad loans. military and ma
val material. and enlist men, as az INST
everything but neutrality laws. their rag
and commissions are acknowledged. their
revenue laws are respected and they ac-
Guire quasi-politioal recognition on the
other hand the parent government IS re-
lieved from responsibility for acts done in
the insurgent territory; its blockade of its
Own ports is respected. and il acquires a
Tiglt to exert against neutral commerce,
all the powers Of a party 10 u maFitime
war"
Ia another part of the same note, which
IS upon the recos milton OF an insurSent
as a belligerent. Dana s;Ss:
The foreign state is bound and entitled
to consider the preceding history OF the
parties: the magnitude and completeness
Of the political ana military organizations
aud preparations on each side the prob
able extent of the conflict by sea and iand
the probable extent and rapidity of its de-
yclopment. and. above all, the probability
that its own merchant vessels naval Off
GERS and consus may be precipiJated into
sudden and difficult complications abroad
The best that can be said is that the for
egn state may protect itself by season.
able decision-either upon test case that
arises or by a general prospective deci-
slon-while, on the other hand If II makes
the recognition prcmaturely. ii is liable to
the suspicion Of an unfriendly purpose TO
the parent state"
The whole passage. parts of which only
are quoted above. it is pointed out in
'Wharton's International Law Digest" is
cited by Sir A Cockburn in his opinion in
the Geneva tribunal. with this prefix:
The principles by which neutral state
should be governed as TO the circam-
stances ander which or the period al which
to scNnoH ledge The belligerent status of
insurgents have been nowhere more ably
or more fully stated than BY Mr.. Dana. in
his edition of Wheaton. in a note"
on tho subject OF what the other party
gains by the recognition OF Insurgents as
bellsgerents, Wharton's work presents
this excerpt from Bernard's Neutrality
OF Great Britain.
1T Is easy 20 see that they Ohe United
states gained tby the acknowledgment
OF Confederate belligersncy). They gained
the liberty to exercise against British Sims
on the high seas the rights of visit and
search. OF capturing Coniraband and Of
blockade, rights which spring solely from
the relation OF bellIserent and neutral.
and which the neutral acknowledges bv
recognizing the existence Of that relation.
The advantages reaped IN maritime war
by the exercise OF such rights fall Where
there is disparity OF force. into the
hands Of the stronger helligerent. where
the disparity Is great he has a MONOPOLY
of them. for he is able to .hut up his
enemy IN port and drive hth from the
sea"
But with the results 10 the insurgents OF
the recognition of them as bellgerents a
neutral government is not primarily con-
cerncd
II is a we'll known fact" said Secretary
of state Forsyth to Mr. Gorostiza. under
date Of September ~ 1896 according 10
| Whartons Digest. that vessels OF tha
South American provinces We're admitted
into the ports OF the United States under
their own or any other hsgs from the
commencement Of the revolution. and ~ ts
equally true that throughout the variols
civll contests that have taken place az d.
i~reat periods among the states that
sprung from that revolution the vessels
~ ctca % the coateudirg parties have
b. II alike permitted 20 enter the por-s a
/ TINS country II has mover been held Pc
cts~ary as a preliminary 10 the extension
| NJ the rights of hospitality 10 either thar
! the chances of thc VAR should ~ balanced
and the probability OF The eventual sue
cess determined For This purpose 7 has
! been deemed Sufficient that the parry had
| deri8f'd rs independence and at the tins,
! Wa actually maintaining IT,
such having b on the course hitherto
I plrs.i'd Dos thi- government. however I'M
/ p"flant II might Ice % consider the Prob
( aNiiity 81 SAGE eSs. ~ d questiou should
arise as 20 the recognition -
sc Independence cs Texas IL
( Is rot 10 b. sNnectet that il shosi4 he
l mai" prey >ql.Site 70 The mere exer-is,
+ 81 hoSpl- a!t'y implied hy fhe admissions Of
! 'Ae vessels of that country into our ,,or-S.
tat exclusion ~ the vessels OF
( Texas. h'ie ihoss W Mexico are admitted
/ o. not deemed compatible with the etrl-;
H- o.