Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1900-09-08

5.I
the iikel In held to be an infringement
&c the law OF nations. and II furnishes
To the offended state casus belli.
In the same way every representative
enjoys the primordial right to com
municate freely with his government.
Therefore. Independently OF any
other grievances that the allied powers
may have against China. that simple
fact OF the willful interruption OF COM
munication between the foreign en-.
yoys and their respective governments
would constitute in itself q caSus
belli Which the powers would have
been justified In rescnting by war As
Secretary Hay, In his dispatch Of July
30th last 10 the Chinese government.
well observed, free communication is
demanded as a matter of absolute
right and not as favor. and the Chi.
nese government, possessing the power
TO give such communication, puts itself
In an unfriendly attitude by denying
It,"
Another question arises whether the
powers would have been justified In
sacrificing the lives OF their represent.
atives. even If il were certain that the
Chinese government would have put
into execution its threat to murder
their ENJOYS in case the forces of the
allies should advance toward the Celes-
tian capital. In short, can state
waive its treaty or other rights simply
because another power threatens to
put TO death the representatives of the
former in order to compel such state TO
accept its views?
This question may be safely answer
ed in the negative. Notwithstanding
the certainty of the sacrifice of the
lives of the ENJOYS. Between sacritic-
ing the interests of the state in general
and that of certain of its subjects, no
matter how exalted the position which
they occupy and how precious their
lives may be, the choice would I'M
doubtedly fall to the latter,
II may be again asked whether the
allied powers would have been justi
fled under the circumstances in retail
iating or, to adopt the technical express.
sion, in resorting 10 reprisals against
the very persons of the Chinese diplo-
matte agents abroad. In Il word, can
the various governments in their turn
imprison, maltreat or massacre the
Chinese representatives In the event OF
It's being proved that the central au-
thorities nj Picking were guilty of pre-
venting the ENJOYS from communicate
ing with their governments and of APP
proving or countenancing such acts
committed by insurgents or its subor-
dinate authorities Now as to the first
ii. e.. imprisonment, interruption of
free communication and the like-some
modern authorities of the law of ma
tons seem to favor such reprlsals as
a measure not incompatible with the
principles of justice. Among them
the eminent continental writer Blum
schli sanctions such a proceeding in
order, as he says, to show to the other
party the injustice Of Its own conduct.
The same authority and Philllmore,
among Others consider that such acts
as above described committed against
the person of an envoy are of interim
tional concern and that they may be
treated as an offense against all ma
lions and In general a violation of the
rules Of international law.
The other ground of intervention as
above alluded to is the lack of protec-
ton afforded by the Chinese govern
ment TO foreign subjects in general
and the consequent massacres OF nu-
merous missionaries and others. When
a state is either utterly incapable OF
extending or unwilling TO afford its
protection to aliens who reside In her
territory by virtue of treaty right or
otherwise, the powers whose subjects
have been maltreated are entitled TO
take all measures in order to save the
lives of their citizens and even declare
war should such measures not appear
to be effective. But supposng the peo-
pie who have been so Ill treated are
subjects of that very offending state,
but are connected with the foreign
powers by the similarity of faith, 1t
may be asked whether in such case
the foreign powers would have any
right TO intervene in the internal az
fairs Of such state. In word, II the
Boxers or the Chinese In general were
limiting their sphere of action TO the
massacre of Christian Chinese only, as
the Turks did during their last exploits
with the Armenians. could the allied
powers resort TO Intervention?
Intervention on grounds Of religious
persecution is not sanctioned by the
majority of the authorities on interna-
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