The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-12-09

Nv u bheS WIS WI "o
thought her too hasty, the step hav-
ing been taken before the flrst battle
Of Bull Run. Presently, as Judge
HARLAN has pointed out in FORD VS..
SuRGET, we, ourselves, acknowledged that
tho dictates of humanity required even
our own Government to recognize the Con.
federatcs as belllgerents. Touching the
same point, MANNING says, In the Law Of
Nations:
"The concession Of beiiigerent rights may, a q car-
tain epoch Of the strife. DO claimed both in the inter.
csts OF humanity and Of neutral States. There
always, indeed. arrives . moment at which such o
concession Il made tas In the case of the late Southern
insurrection I'm the United states) By the very Govern
ment against which the revolt takes place"
MANNING goes on to say that the main
difficulty encountered by third parties lies
In a%scertaining the moment proper for what
is called the recognition of belligerency:
"It must neither be 80 premature ss to embarrass
q friendly Government in supproesing what may
provo to be only q transient or partial display Of dis
order or t~reachery. nor. on the other hand. 90 dila-
tory az to protract the Inconvenience and cruelty in.
cident to a contest conducted on a large scale. apart
from all the humane nlioviations which the laws Of
civilized war have introduced"
Az to what constitutes prematureness,
and what dilatoriness, our Government. Of
course, should consider the circumstance
Of each particular case, but always in the
light Of its own precedents. During the
struggle of the Spanish-American main
land colonists for their independence, as
we have seen, and again upon the revolt Of
the Texans from Mexican rule, the United
States granted, at a very early period in
the contest, the rights of belligerency to
the insurgents.
OF course, 1t Is a condition precedent to
the recognition of rebels as belligerents.
that the conflict shall be one which will be
regarded as war in the sense of international
law. BLUNTsCHL1 says:
Every struggle with the armed hand. oven when
It may be organized in q military manner. Is not .
war. When. in southern Italy. brigands form them.
selves into armed troops. regularly commanded. and
give battle to the Government troops. they do not. for
that reason. constitute . belligerent party. but only
bands Of malefnctors. Tho distinction rests upon
this. that war 10 a political struggle. engaged in for
political ends. Brigands neither aspire to defend the
existing political system nor to create q new one;
they obey only the guilty desire OF obtaining by vio-
lence control OF the persons and possessions OF their
neighbors. They properly fall. therefore. within the
Jurisdiction OF criminal tribunals. and the law OF
nations 10 not concerned with them."
BLUNTsCHLI proceeds to observe:
ut Is q different matter whom. in . State. o large
party OF citizens or subjects, convinced OF the neces-
sity Of q revolution. or of the Justice Of their claims.
take up arms. organize themselves in . military man
ner, and oppose regular troops to the troops Of the Gov.
eminent It cannot be maintained that such an or
ganized body Of citizens, animated by o political pur-
pose. docs not possess o possible aptitude for tho Gro
alton OF . now State"
1t is precisely on this question of possible
rebels as mere belligerents rests, and not
at all upon their possession of the much
ampler qualifications prescribed for a rec
ognition Of independence. This will be
clear II we bear in mind how the terms are
define by the authorities. LoR1MER LAW
of Nations) defines belliRerency as follows !:
"Belligerents have an International existence for
one purpose only. viz, for the purpose Of fighting.
and thus ascertaining. by the verdict Of battle. their
further right to full final recognition"
Elsewhere the SAM authority says, with
regard to the lowest grade of recognition,
that, namely, of b~elligerency:
There Is the recognition of the inchoate State as o
Jural claimant for separate recognition. that Is to say.
the acknowledgment of its right to contend for its
recognition. or. to borrow o phrase from municipal
law. of Its title to sue.' The form which recognition
usually assumes at this stage IL that of . concession
OF belligerent rights"
The claim to be recognized as belligerents
by no means depends, as President GRANT
imagined, upon the ability of rebels to
exhibit their possession of all the proofs
and Incidents of Statehood which would
be required for the recognition of their
independence. Concerning this point,
BLUNTsCHLI says:
1.-THE quality of belligerents is accorded to armed
parties. who. without having received from an al
ready existing State the right to combat with armed
forces, have militariiy organized themselves. and
struggle in good faith. within their own State. for
political right"
Touching the same point, HALL nterna
tional Law, remarks:
''As soon as q considerable population 10 arrayed IT
arms. with the professed object o. obtaining politica
ends. II resembles q State too nearly for It to be posi-
BILE to treat individuals belonging to such populations
as criminals. 1t would be inhuman for the enemy t
execute its prisoners; II would be still moro inhumar
for foreign nations to capture and hang the crews o.
warships as pirates. Humanity requires that suci
n community be treated as belligerents."
So much for the confusion of thought be
trayed in one of the passages from Presi
dent GRANTS message of Dec. 7, 1875
which is quoted by Mr.. MCKINLEY: a con
fusion between q recognition of belliger
ency and II recognition of independence
and the respective requirements therefor
as defined by the law of nations. Now lie
us glance at the second assertion, that GU,
recognition of the Cubans as belligerent
would do them more harm han good.
1t might be sufficient to reply that tn
Cubans are the best judges of that, unles
we are to carry our assumption of a pater
nal attitude to lengths oddly inconsisten
with our simultaneous refusal to maintain
neutrality between the Cubans and thei
oppressors. 1t Is certain that q recognition
of belligerency and its invariable conse
quent, a proclamation of neutrality, wer
things passionately desired by the Spanish
American insurgents in the first quarter o
this century and again by the Texans in tn
thirties. Here we may observe that LORI
MED Tay IF Natinnal altar pninfinn ~,