The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1896-03-04
And the Conditions Calling For
Their Recognition.
HIGH LEGAL AUTHORITIES
Advantages and Disadvantages
to Both Contestants.
MUST BE CONSIDERED
The Cubans, When Fully Recognized,
to Have Equal Rights in Our Ports
and Territory to Those
of Spain.

The recent action OF congress looh-
ing to the recognition Of the belllg-
erency of the Cuban insurgents has
provoked general discussion in dip
lomatic and official circles as to what
are the rights of belligerents, as well
as the conditions that call for their
recognition by neutral nations 1t is
conceded as a general proposition that
when an insurgent body becomes a
belligerent one passes from'a band Of
men of no standing to the place of an
organized, political entity having
equal rights to those of the govern
ment it attacks, in the ports and terri
tory Of the countries that recognize
its belligerency; so that for the practi-
cal purposes of warfare it has the
rights of a sovereign state.
Mr. John ID. Moore, formerly of the
State Department and now of Column
bus College, who is a recognized au-
thority on international law, says:
when you recognize an insurgent as
a beligerent, you grant to him the
same rights in your ports that the 9th
err party has; that is the substance of
belligerent rights"
In Dana's edition of Wheaton the
question is treated in part as follows:
''The recognition of belligerent rights
is not solely to the advantage of the in
surgents They gain the great adj
vantage of a recognized status, and the
opportunity to employ commissioned
cruisers at sea, and to exert all the
power known to maritime warfare,
Ef aav,a%sD1, IS fc4saffTY1
They can obtain abroad loans, military
and naval material, and enlist men, as
against everything but neutrality
laws; their flag and commissions are
acknowledged, their revenue laws are
political recognition. On the other
hand, the parent government Is re-
lieyed from responsibility for acts
done in the insurgent territory: its
blockade of its own ports is respected,
and it acquires a right 10 exert. against
neutral commerce, all the powers of a
party to a maritime war.
WHAT MUST BE CONSIDERED.
~ The foreign state is bound
and entitled to consider the preceding
history of the parties; the magnitude
and completeness Of the political and
military organizations and prepare
tions on each side; the probable ex-
tent of the conflict by sea and land;
the probable extent and rapidity of its
development, and, above all, the prob
ability that its own merchant vessels,
naval officers, and consuls may be pre-
cipitated into sudden and difficult
complications abroad. The best that
can be said is that the foreign state
may protect itself by a seasonable de
cision either upon q test case that
arises or BY q general prospective de
cision-while, on the other hand. If ii
makes the recognition prematurely, it
IS liable to the suspicion Of an I'M
friendly purpose to the parent state
As showing what the other party
| gains by the recognition Of the bellig-
ereney of insurgents, Wharton's digest
| quotes from Demands Neutrality OF
| Great Britain as follows:
1T is easy to see what they (the
Inited States gained (by the acknowI-
| edgement OF Confederate belIiger-
ency) They gained the liberty to ex-
ercisc against British ships on the
| high seas the rights to visit and search.
| OF capturing contraband and of block
ade, rights which spring solely from
| the relation of belligerent and neutral.
and which the neutral acknowledges
| by recognizing the existence Of that
relation. The advantage reaped in
maritime war by the exercise of such
rights fall, where there is a disparity
OF force, into the hands of the stronger
| belligerent; where the disparity is
great he has monopoly Of them. for
h4s 10 ltaIA tn. c4a H.
and drive him from the sea-
JUDGE GRIER'S REMARKS.
Judge Grier, of the Supreme Court.
~ announcing the decision in the prize
cases, spoke Of war and belligerency as
follows:
y civil war is never solemn1y de-
clared; II becomes such by it's accidents
the number, power and organization
Of the persons who originate and carry
IL on. When the party in rebellion oc-
eupY and hold in hostile manner a
certain portion Of territory; have de
clared their independence; have cast
off allegiance; have organized armies;
have commenced hostiIities against
their former sovereign, the world ac-
knoWledges them as belligerents, and
the contest war"
wharton also quotes the following
from Addy's Kent:
1T has been the constant practice
Of European nations and Of the United
States to look upon belligerency as a
fact rather than principle, holding
with Canning. that q certain degree
Of force and consistency acquired by
mass Of population engaged in a war
entitled that population tobetreated
belligerept."
PROF. WooLsEY'S VIEWS.
Prof r. s. WooIsey, professor of in
ternational law at Yale Law School,
speaking OF the effects of the recogni-
ton OF the belligerency of the Cuban
revolution, said that while it gave the
insurgents certain secondary war
rights in regard to neutrals and
somewhat higher standing, it also gave
Spain much more important privileges,
among them the right of search on the
high seas, the right to blockade the