Evening star., 1896-03-02
What They Are and the Conditions
Calling for Their Recognition.
EXPRESSIONS OF LEGAL AUTHORITIES
Advantages and Disadvantages to
Both the Contestants.
P RE S mt APPLICATION

TO the recognition Of the belligerency of
the Cuban insurgents has provoked q gen.
eral discussion in diplomatic and official
circles as to what are the rights OF beIlig-
erents, as well the conditions that call
Tor their recognition by neutral nations.
1t is conceded as a general proposition that
when an insurgent body becomes beliiy-
erent it passes from band of men OF no
standing to the place of an organized. po-
litical entity. having equal rights to those
of the government it attacks. in the ports
and territory of the countries that -ecog-
n:ze its bellgerency; SO that for the prac-
ucal purposes of warfare ii mas the rights
Of sovereign state.
What Some Authorities Say.
Mr.. John b. Moore. formerly of the State
Department and now of Columbia College,
who is a recognized authority on Int=rna-
tional law, says: when you recognize an
msurgent belliSerent, you grant 10
him the same rights in your ports that the
other party has; that is the substance of
beliIgercDt rights
In Danas edition of Wheaton the ques-
tion is treated in part as follows: 'rhe
recognition of beiliRerent rights is not sole
ly TO the advantage of the insurgents. They
gain the great advantage of a recognized
status, and the opportunity 10 employ COM
missioned cruisers at sea, and to exert all
The power known to maritime warfare
with the sanction of foreign nations. They
can obtain abroad loans, military and naval
material, and enlist men. against every
thing but neutrality laws; their flag and
commissions are acknowledged their rev.
enue laws are respected, and they acquire
a quasi-political recognition. On the other
hand, the parent government is relieved
from responsibility for acts done In the in
surgent territory; its blockade OF ITS own
ports is respected, and il acquires right
to exert, against neutral commerce, all the
powers of party to maritime war
What Must BE Considered.
"> The foreign state is bound and
entitled to consider the preceding history
of the parties the magnitude and complete
ness of the political and military organiZa-
tions and preparations each side; the
probable extent of the conflict by and
land; the probable extent and rapidty of
its development. and, above all. the proba-
bility that Its own merchant vessels naval
officers, and consuls may be precpita ted
into sudden and difficult complications
abroad. The best that can be said is that
the foreign state may protect itself by
seasorabe decision either upon a test case
that arises or by a general prospective
decision-while, on the other hand, if il
makes tie recognition prematurely. il Is
liable to the suspicion of an unfriendly
purpose to the parent state"
As showing what the other party gains
by the recognition of the beiligerency of
insurgents. Wharton's digest quotes from
Bernard's Neutrality of Great Britain as
follows:
1T is easy TO what they Ghe United
States gained Cby the acknowledgment of
confederate beligerency). They gained the
liberty to exercise against British ships on
the hiign seas the rights 10 visit and search,
OF capturing contraband and of blockade,
rights which spring solely from the rela-
ton of belligerent and neutral, and which
the neutral acknowledges by recognizing
the existence of that relation. The advan-
reaDeu he
else of such rights fall where there is a
disparity of force. into the hands of the
stronger belliserent; where the disparity is
great he has monopoly of them, for he is
able to shut up his enemy in port and drive
him from the sea.
Judge Grier's Remarks,
Judge Grier of the Supreme Court in an
nouncing the decision in the prize cases.
spoke CT war and belligerency as follows:
"A civil war is never solemnly declared;
it becomes such by its accidents-the num-
ber, power, and organization of the persons
who originate and carry il on. When the
party in rebellion occupy and hold in a hos
tile manner certain portion of territory:
have declared their independence; have cast
off allegiance; have organized armies; have
commenced hostilities against their former
sovereign, the world acknowledges them as
belligerents, and the contest a war"
Wharton also quotes the following from
Addy's Kent:
IL mas DeeN the constant practice OF Euro
pean nations and of the United States to
look upon belligerency fact rather than
a principle holding with Canning, that
certain degree of force and consistency ac-
quired by mass of population engase in
war entitled that population to be treated
as belligerent.'"
Prof. Woolse!'s Views.
Prof. T. S. Woolsey. professor of inter-
national law at Yale Law School. speaking
of the effects of the recognition of The bel
liSerency of the Cuban revolution, said that
while ii gave the insurgents certain eecond-
ary war rights in regard to neutrals and a
somewhat higher standing, 1t also gave
Spain much more important privileges,
among them the right of search on the high
seas, the right to blockade Cuban ports and
immunity from responsibility for damages
done to American property by the Cuban
insurgents.
Spain, I'm his opinion. gained rather than
lost from recognition of belligerency by this
country, which, Oh the whole he deemed
inadvisable though opinion on that point
could not be stated with absolute positive
ness. He thought ii probable that inter-
vention at later date on grounds of hu-
manity, if affairs In Cuba reach a sufficient
ly serious condition, was better than action
IN the dlrecllon OF recognizing bellisereacy
now. The professor expressed the fear that
the United States is creating a series If ex-
ceedngly dangerous precedents.
Secretary Sewnrd's Letter.
A letter written by Secretary Seward 20
Minister Dayton in 1853 in regard to the war
of France against Mexico has a special ap-
plication to the Cuban case of today. He
said:
Difficult the exercise of self-goveln-
ment there (MeXico) has proved to he it is
nevertheless, quite certain that the attempt
to maintain foreign authority there would
encounter insurmountable embarra ssment
The country possesses immense, practically
ineXhaustible resources. They invite for
eign labor and capital from all foreign coun-
tries to become naturaliZed and Incorporated
with the resources of the country and of the
continent, while all attempts to acquire
them by force must meet with the most an
noying and injurious hindrance and resist
ance.
This is equally true of Mexico and of
every portion of the American continent
1T is more than hundred years since any
foreign state has successfully planted a new
colony in America, or even strengthened it's
hold upon any previously existing here
Through all the social disturbances which
attend q change from the colonial state 10 IN
dependence and the substitution of the DEM
ocratic for the monarchical system of gov
ernment, 1t still seems to us that the Span
iSh-American states are steadily advancing