Evening star., 1898-03-31
IN THE BEGINNING.
HOW war fs Declared Among the Nm.
SOnS of the World

HOW war f~ Declared Among the Na.
tfons of the World.
From the New Orleans Picayune
In Great Britain and most other monar-
chicai governments the power to declare
war Is the exclusive prerogative OF the
crown. But In this country, when it is
decided that we have a casus belli on our
haHos ana that war must or ought to be
made, Ii is necessary to begin proceedings
In accordance with that clause i'm the fed
eral Constitution which stipuiates that the
sole power to declare war rests in Con-
sress The President may recommend IL,
or even urge it. as he has done on two oc-
cSsions in our history, but Congress must
agree with him and pass the enabling act
DeIore a state OF war can exist And in
TINS necessary action of the federal iegis-
iature He unlimited possibilities of unlimited
Peffers and Joneses and Their six-aay ora
tors putting of the opening of hostilities
Tor an indefinite period.
In the matter of war with other nations
we nave only two precedents to go upon
the war with England I'm 1872 and the war
with Mexico in 1885, and for certain rea-
sens neither OF these is very helpful for
present guidance. Looking back upon II
unanimous in the conviction that the war
OF lsl2 was perfectly justifiable, and the
only wonder is that the American people
OF that day endured the studied insults
eAHA outidStcuS COLUuct OF the English
land and sea long as they did without
STRIKING back. But clear and good as the
pfohocatlon Tor that war seems to us now,
l. IN diu not seem so to all the people then.
me question whether war with England
should be declared was made n party issue
between the federalists, led by Randolph.
ana the republicans led by Clay the for
I'er declaring that peace ought to be MAIN
,dined at almost any price, and the latter
insisting that not day ought to he lost
Ia aVenging the wrongs which America had
suffered at the hands OF England There
was fierce and acrimonious debate on
tne SUBJECT, lasting through the whole ses-
SION or 1S1l-12, and the act declaring war
was passed finally by the lower house with
majority of only thirty votes and after
ward in the Senate by O majority of only
six. The war hawks" as they were called
were mostly southern men while New
England and New York were the s'hot BEDS
or the peacemakers
In the case of the Mexican war matters
moved more rapidly We are far from ba-
ing nnarimous at this time as to the me-
cessity OF the Righteousness of that strug-
gIe on cur part, but the people then were
Practically unanimous in support Of it,
But after the deliberate and legislative
stage of proceedings is over and war has
been actually declared by act of Con-
gress there are certain observances en-
Joined upon us by international law which
would prevent our pouncing forthwith upon
the N1zcaya- III IL were in the harbor at
that time. or doing violence to the first
"
One of the darkest deeds set down to the
credit of Napoleon is that, upon the rup-
ture with England after the peace of
Amiens. he ordered the Immediate arrest
OF all Englishmen then in France between
sixteen and sixty years of age and kept
most of them imprisoned for more than
ten years Even the Turks feel compelled
to do better than that in these times for
on the outbreak OF the late war with
Greece they gave all the Greeks on Turkish
territory thirty days 10 get beyond their
reach II they could. The exact number of
Gays OF grace to be given to an enemy un-
Ger such circumstances does not appear to
be fixed by any law. but the period must
be long enough to give every fair
chance to look out for himself The am
bassadors and other resident ofic'ais Of
the opposing nation must he given official
rotice that their room is better than their
company. and time to shake off our dust
from, their feet in dignifed wav. When
all this mas been done. and the President
has issued his proclamation and his call
for men. when the governors have re-
snopded the munitions have been prepared
the equpments provided. the big guns made
ready. the decks cleared then and not
until then. viii we be prepared to engage
in the heroic business Of vindicatinp ma
tional honor and slaushtering our fellow
men