The evening herald. [volume] (Shenandoah, Pa.) 1891-1966, 1896-03-14
RECOGNITION OF BELL1aERENTs.

In view of the fact that Congress has sug-
gested to the President the ACCESSIBILITY of
making formal recognition of the Cuban
revolutionists as belligerents, and that such
recognition by the Executive is within the
range of possibility, it is both interesting and
instructive to learn from such reliable
source as the New York sun just what
recognition of belligcrcnts' means in con-
nection with the Cuban question. 1t is
proper to say, perhaps, that the full meaning
ofsuch action ON the part Of President Clcyc-
land is not rightully understood by the
people generally.
The sun divides the question into two
parts. In the first place what would such
recognition not dc? Here is point on which
there is wide msapprehension. The sun
says: 1T viii not directly facilitate the ship
ment from United States ports Of the arms
and ammunition Indispensable to the triumph
Of the Cuban cause. 1t will still be incum-
bent upon us to fulfill the duties prescribed
for neutrals by international law and defined
in our federal revised statutes. Indeed, if
we may judge from the Itata case, there is
some ground for contending that the dispatch
or preparation of an expedition for the succor
Of the insurgents is less distinctly a breach of
neutrality while the insurgents are un-
recognized, than it would be after they had
acquired the status of beligerency, However
that may be, this much is true that, should
the Federal statutes continue to be enforced
with yigor, it will be every bit as difficult
after we have officially acknowledged the
existence OF war in Cuba to leave the Amer
lean ports, as it is now. That is to say, the
Federal officers would be bound to exercise
the same vigilance; but it may be that the
task imposed would prove beyond their
powers"
On the other hand, the beneficial re
suits of recognition are shown to be
very important. when the Cuban
revolutionary government is recognized
as helligercnt it will undoubtedly be
able TO raise considerable amount Of
money in this country, and perhaps in
Europe by the sale Of bonds. Its friends
and sympthizers in the United States
would thus be enabled to purchase
much larger quantities of the munitions
of war than have been hitherto attanable,
and to organize a much larger number of
expeditions, out of which the chances are
that several would manage to ovade our
Federal officials and effect landing ON the
island"
Then again the Cuban revolutionary
government once recognized as a belligercnt
may issue letters of marque, and the officers
and crews of vessels thus commissioned can
not, if captured by the Spaniards, be sum
marily killed as pirates, but must be treated
as prisoners Of war. The same privileges
and immunties will accrue to the officers
and men Of their land forces these can no
longer, when taken prisoners, be tried by
court martial and summanly shot; they
will be entitled to the humane treatment
accorded to prisoners Of war by civilized
nations. Should such treatment be denied
to them by the Spanish authorities, the
public opinion of the world would be SC
strongly enlisted in the Cuban cause that the
moral pressure for the Intervention Of the
United States might become irresistible"
The conclusion reached by the Sun is that
the direct and immediate result Of rocog
nizing the Cuban insurgents as belligerents
although they have been sometimes over
estimated, will be of considerable import
ance," and that ''the indirect and eventual
consequences of such an act will in all likeli
hood be tantamount to the liberation and
salvation of the island"