Evening star., 1898-03-25
SPAIN'S CONTENTION
No Government Has a Right to In
tervene in Cuba.
A DIPLOMAT GIVES HIS VIEWS
His Idea of international Law Set
Forth.
INSURGENTS CONDITION

A diplomat well acquainted with the Span
ish point of view regarding the question of
intervention by the United States In Cuba
expressed himself to a reporter of The
Evening Star as follows:
THE Washington Evening Star of March
II published an article which, both in It's
subject matter and it's FORM differs from
the generality of the articles which ap-
pear In the American press. It's author
showing not only a degree of learning not
common among newspaper writer's, but also
the ability to present with elegance Of style
to the public the reasons which In his judg-
ment exist for the Intervention Of the
United States in the Cuban question.
1T has never occurred to my mind to
answer any Of the innumerabls articles
which the sensational press has published
in regard to the Cuban insurrection, sup
porting and defending the revolutionists
and asking the governments Of Cleveland
and Mckinley to do the most extraordinary
things and to take ths widest measures in
favor OF the Independence of the Spanish
island. Such articles, which show the gross
ignorance of their authors and total want
of knowledge of the question they treat,
and in which, for the most part, they do
not even themselves seem to know what
they wish to say, are unworthy ef being
read, and still less Of being answered.
The True Ground for Intervention.
''Ths article in The Evening Star, which.
I regret. is anonymous, is not Of that kind,
and although it reasons from false premises
and makes absurd comparisons, it cannot
be denied that it brings the question to the
true ground on which such questions should
be discussed. the doctrinal ground seeking
in thu principles of law and Of morality the
arguments for the debate.
"Of course. in order that the article should
have the effect which its author intended
he was obliged to argue from falsified
facts. and to give a distorted Interpretation
to the legal maxims ON which 1t Is based,
but. notwithstanding all this, there are
such sound and important authorities and
hesitate to enter on a discussion Of the
theory of Intervention, admitting the falss
hypothesis of The Evening Star.
THE article Is based on certain views set
forth by Lawrence in his Principles of In
ternational Law" with which, more or less
capriciously mingled together and applied
to the situation of the Grand Antilia, 1t Is
sought to prove that there exists ground
for Intervention by the United States.
aside from the fact that besides Law
renee, and anterior to him, there ara writ
ers on international law whose authority
Is as great IL not greater than his, the dis
tinguished American writer himself says:
1t cannot be claimed that Intervention in
the internal affairs of q nation would be
lawful in order to bestow upon it liberal In
stitutions just as 1t would not be permis-
sible to introduce into 1t despotic govern
ment' (Commentaire sur les elements du
droit International. par William Beach Law
renee. ancisn Mintstre des Etats Unis
d'Amerique Londres)
And in another passage, speaking of the
former conflicts in the states. he says that
the negotiations relative to mediation In
that case imply in themselves the separate
existence of each one OF the belliserents.
irfn vxyh{ {Nb ho nj N Or1n q
not ordinarily disposed to admit for the In
surgent party
Tho War of Secession. !
Lawrence cites, In this connection. sew
eral cases in which mediation was rejected.
and among them that of the war of seceJ-
sion Of the United States of America, in
which all foreign mediation was rejected
energetically by the Washington govern
ment from the beginning of the struggle.
In the instructions given by the Secretary
OF State. Mr. Seward, to the minister at
Pa ris, Mr.. Dayton, on April ", 1861, are
these words: "A foreign Intervention would
oblige us to treat those who should at
tempt it as allies of the revolutionist party
and to make war upon them as our ene-
mics. Far from being bettered. the situa-
tion would become more serious, il tine
themselves to intervene. The President and
the people of the United States consider
that the Union, whose existence would thus
be jeopardized, would prefer to incur all
the expense and all the sacrifices of
armed struggle against the whole world If
such a struggle should be inevitable
''rhese words of Secretary Seward ap-
pear to us SO noble, SO sublime. that we
can find no better one with which to an
Sver the article of The Evening Star.
The author of that article will thus per-
ceiVe that II is not necessary to have re-
course to other authorities nor to employ
r,fh har fhon n tn rnF i-
theories. II the United States suspecting,
in 1861, that the European powers would
intervene in their lamentabie struggle. gave
so energetic and decisive an answer, found
ed in the sacred right of independence and
sovereignty which every nation possesses,
1t ought not to surprise her that Spain
should follow her example and reject abso-
lutely and utterly and with all her energy
the idea that foreign power should pre-
tend to interfere in her internal affairs, to
the manifest violation of all the rights Of
her legitimate sovereignty, and all the prin-
CiIles OF international law and morality,
universally acknowledged. Let The Even
Ing Star put in the mouth of each and
every Spaniard the words of Mr.. Seward,
and it will have the answer which the dis
coverers of America make to her designs
Of Intervention
when a nation like Spain Is in question,
the pages of whose history are filled with
noble and glorious achievements, to speak
to her Of Intervention in her affairs is to
NrBet her race, her character and her
ideas. Let the author of the article in
The Evening Star recall the only occasion
on which Spain saw her sovereignty men
aced. when almost all the nations of Eu-
rope had already submitted to the yoke of
Napoleon, and he will see that, as Mac
auley has said, the Iberian race would shed
its last drop of blood before 1t would con-
sent to see its national honor and dignity
injured in the slightest degree. Spain, that
in uniting her different kingdoms in the
fifteenth century, laid the foundation Ct
her nationality, that In Bailen defended
her Independence, and in Cadiz established
the cause Of modern democracy, cannot
admit, and will never admit that any otner
nation, however great and powerful 1t may
be. shall dare to interfere in her Internal
affairs even though that nation had a his
tory and traditions as glorious as her own.
But. returning to the theory of inter-
yention. or non-intervention, from the le-
gal point OF view, I think that the United
States. who are such friends of progress
and Of modernism in all the departments
of life, and who are justly regarded as a
model Of advancement, should adopt also
the new theories in International law which
are today sustained by the best authorities,
and, as is well known, the modern liberal
school proclaims the doctrine of absolute
non-interventien. based on the individual
principle of the community Of nations.
May he Exceutfona