The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-04-05
PHELPS PLEA FOR SPAIN.

| comments from the press. Mr.. Phelps
position as an ex-diplomat and an au-
| thority on all questions of international
law, make any thing he may say on a
great public question worthy of con-
sideration, whether or no one agrees
with him.
With the position he has taken in
! this letter to Governor Morton it is
quite impossible to agree generally.
First, Mr. Phelps says that %Until the
report Of the board of inquiry was re-
| ceived it was not easy to know with
certainty how far the situation might
be complicated by facts or questions
arising out of the disaster to the Maine.
But as no completely on the part of
spain in that calamity is found to ex-
lst' that branch of the subject may be
Tor the present dismissed"
Had that board held that Spain was
the agent that caused the explosion
which blew up the Maine, it would have
exceeded its functions; but that board
dld ind, in its opinion, that the dis
aster could have been produced only
by the explosion of a mine situated
under the bottom of the ship" There
Is no question in the mind of any per-
son having common sense as to who
placed that mine there in the first in
stance. 1t was placed there by Span-
ish authorities. Having dispatched
this branch of the subject so lightly it
is not at all surprising that Mr. Phelps
should have espoused the cause of
Spain so ardently as he does.
Mr.. Phelps says, There seems to be
an impression among unrefecting peo-
PIE that what is called international
law IS merely a scholastic science, of
no practical Importance, and to which
Americans are quite superior. They do
not perceive that it is as impossible
Tor d nation to make a law for itself
in its relations with other countries as
IT Is for an individual to do so in re-
spect to his own conduct in the COM
ulunity in which he lives" If any one
thinks that international law is merely
a scholastic science of no practical i'm
portance, and that Americans are quite
superior TO it, then such one does but
deceive himself. But, really, are there
many who think this way? Has not
Mr.. Phelps raised up an imaginary
being for the mere pleasure of knock
ing it down?
The distinguished professor of inter-
national law in Yale University says
that 1T has been claimed by some of
the advocates of war that Spain must
be held responsible to US for the loss
of the Maine, whether her government
is to blame for it or not This PROPOSE
ton they will find it difficult to support
But if even her negligence were the
cause of the disaster, her liability is
questionable
Against that opinion, coming from
the source it does, we would not pre-
sumo to put our own, but we have no
hesitancy in placing that of a gentle |
man no less learned in the law of ma
tons than himself against it. We |
place against it the opinion of Mr. |
Frederic r. Coudert. The question |
Spain may be held liable for
the loss of the Maine and its unfortu-
rate men is a question. of fact" he |
says. There can be no doubt, there is
none in my mind. that Spain is liable
to the United States in damages, even
if she We're innocent of any actual
wrong doing, provided she did not ex-
ercise that degree of diligence which
she owed the United States under all
the circumstances of the case.
If the Maine was placed Immediately
over a mine. and that mine was ex-
Dloded by the act of any person what
ever, the case is much stronger, and
I would be difficult for Spain to avoid
for the disaster" That
answers Mr.. Phelps sufficiently, and
he answer is by an authority quite his
equal.
Mr.. Phelps asks who the real insur-
gents are. They are a body of men
If uncertain number" says he, who
Keep out of sight, who have no capital,
II abiding place, or attempt at organ
zed government (unless in a junta in
he city of New York;, mere guerrillas
md bandits who have been carrying
N what they call warfare by crimes
lot recognized as war in any civilized
country; by destroying the homes and
Industries of the people Of the island
lot in arms, until it has become desc
alton; by blowing up with dynamite
rains which contained only peaceable
ravelers, and numbering in cold blood
Spanish officer bearing under a flag of
ruce, the offer of autonomy. Their
orce is made up of Cubans, negroes,
enegades and Adventures of all sorts
rom the United States and elsewhere. {
8 theirs the cause we are TO take up?
an it be claimed to be the office of :
to drive out the Established
overnment of the island, the only gov
rnment there is there. and to turn
yer the population to the tender mer- =
les OF such a band as this?''
During the war of the American
evolution the capital was somewhat :
Migratory, while the Tories, who rep
esented wealth and society and fixed q
had much the same con-
.mpt for the American rebels that Mr. :.
helps has for the Cuban rebels. If
was not good form to be a Con- +
mental, it was at least good patriot
m. Weyler himself could scarcely il
amt blacker picture OF the insur- \
ents than this.
Having denounced the Cubans, Mr. .
helps seems to have thought it in t
Imbent upon him to denounce all /
mericans who do not think as he says, ;,
I'D most of his article is far more de- =
Inciation than calm thought. AL "
Tough the eminence from which he $
peaks is high and his utterances are
;sumed to be more or less oracular, ,,
i'll he can descend from his eminence h