The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-03-03
conrrc.- nna nrIIirerent Rieh,..

/ Congress and BeIIigerent Rights.
/ The senate and the House having passed
/ resolutions favoring the granting OF bel
Iieerent rights 10 the Cuban insurgents
and the taking OF steps looking to
wards the independence OF the insurgents.
the President has the assurance OF the
support OF congress If ne should consider
il advisable 10 extend a helping hand to
them. What course will the President
pursue2
We do not think he viii do anything
Immediately that would tend 10 imperil
the friendly relations between the Uni
ted States and saDin. unless he were salts
fed that what he proposed 10 90 would
be Of great benefit 70 the insurgents. AS
far as We can see. the granting OF beilig-
erent rights 10 the Cubans at this time
would be Of no practical benefit to them.
Whatever moral benefit that is 10 DE OBJ
tanned from the resolutions that congress
has passed the Cubans viii get without
any action on the part of the President,
and the moral benefit is considerable.
since il amounts TO an assurance that
the insurgents can depend upon material
help from the United States when they
possess ability to maintain an indcpcnd-
ent government.
AT present they have no civil govern
ment Of any kind. They are not able
to hold any town in which TO set up "A
government. They have no established
tribunals Of any sort. in any part of the
island. and there are no reasons for think
ing they Will have any in the near flu
ture. While such state of affairs exists
the granting Of bclligerent right would
be of no benefit to the insurgents. and
would be practically without precedent in
International law. 1t would be an act
at which Spain would have excuse for
taking offense.
What would the insurgents gain from
a recognition of their belligerency? We
do not sec that they would gain anything
in particular. as far as helping their
cause is concerned. If they had the
means they might purchase and commits
sion cruisers and make war on Span's
commerce. As a matter of fact, how
ever, they have no warships and no means
of getting any
On the other hand, the granting of bel
ligerent rights to the insurgents would
give Spain the right to blockade all the
Cuban ports against all American YES
sells. and to search all American merchant
vessels that attempted to enter those
ports. That would interfere greatly with
our commerce with Cuba, which amounts
to about S25.OOO,OO0 a year. There is an
other thing that the President must take
into account. A vast amount of proper
ty in Cuba is owned by Americans. The
granting of belligerent rights to the in
surgents would relieve Spain Of all re-
sponsibility for the preservation of this
property. At present Spain is accountable
for whatever property of Americans that
may be destroyed.
There is no doubt that the sympathy
OF the American people is with the in
surgents, but because it is, it doesn't fol-
low that the United States should take a
step that would injure their own inter-
ests without benehtting the insurgents.
If the insurgents should achieve such
success as to warrant a belief that they
could maintain an independent govern
ment, the United States would then no
doubt give them material aid and they
could afford to do so then.