The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1902-03-22
HE FAVORS THE NEGR0CN NOT RECOERMETHUEN RELEASED
The Recovery of Damages From Spain
Us National and Individual Sailors
Cannot Great Damages

'hHII'I 'iI'II i'NHItefHt
! WASHINGTON. u. c.. March G-Thc
Spanish treaty claims commission today
handed down decision against the
claimants for death and injuries rec
ceiNed by officers and seameu i'm the
wreck of the battle ship Maine in Ha-
vana harbOr
The decision is rendered i'm the case
of Harry S. Mccain and will be q great
/ disappointment To many claimants
| There have been filed with the COM
mission claims aggregating about S.
100000 growing out of the destruction of
the Maine, and the total would probably
have reached S5,0O0,OOO had the decision
/ been favorable to the claimants The
decision was as follows:
individual claims of citizens of one
nation may arise against the govern
/ ment of another nation for redress of
/ injuries to persons or property which
such citizens may have sustained from
/ such government or any of its agents.
/ But such individual claims do not
arise i'm favor of the officers and sea-
men of ship of war who receive, i'm the
line of duty, injuries to their persons for
which a foreign government is respon-
sible. The claim against the foreign
government is wholly national, and all
injuries to such officers and seamen are
marged i'm the national injury, and they
/ can look only to their own government
/ for such remuneration as it may choose
/ to give to them.
"A seaman injured by the explosion
/ which destroyed the battle ship Maine
in the harbor of Havana, cuba, on Fe-
bruary 10, 1895 had no individual claim
against Spain, even if that government
was responsible to the United States
for the explosion, and therefore such a
. seaman is not entitled TO an award in
his favor from the Spanish treaty act of
b Congress of March 90, 1901, to adjudicate
. all individual claims of citizens of the
United States against Spain which the
United States released to Spain and
/ agreed to pay by the treaty of peace Of
/ December TO- 1895"
Commissioner Chambers filed a dis
senting opinion. He held that the dam
. age resulting from the destruction of
the Maine may be divided into two dis
tinct parts: The damage done to the ma
ton, including the indignity sustained,
and the damage done to the individual.
IF no war had ensued," said Judge
Chambers, IF no treaty of peace had
been made, the government Of the Unit
ed States would have owed it, as a plain
duty under international law to the
survivors Of that disaster, or to the
families of such as were dead, the coll
lection from the government of Spain
of reasonable compensation for such
injuries inflicted i'm time of peace in the
waters of a friendly state"
The commissioner laid down the fol-
lowing proposition: "A sailor neither
fOrfeits nor valves any of his individual
rights as a citizen, except such as con-
fiict with the loyal, effective discharge
of his duties as a sailor; that he as
sumes no risks that result from forces
Wrongfully put in operation by the Gull
pable negligence or acts of a foreign
government; that he has the same right
any other citizen has to claim indem-
nifty for wrongs done by foreign gov
'ernments in time of peace
Commissioner Chambers cited a num-
Der. OF eases bearing upon the question
at issue, among them that of the attack
on the sailors of the Baltimore at VAL
paraiso Chile. Speaking of President
Harrison's message to Congress on the
subject, he says:
"All through the discussion, bring
ing to bear upon it's many phases the
great store of legal wisdom which made
him conspicuous among many Presi-
dents noted for legal ability, he keeps
plainly i'm view the purely national de-
mand for insult to the uniform and the
demand for reparatiOn on behalf or the
individual. The collection and
payment of the indemnity to the in
jured sailors or their personal represen-
. tatives, exactly as the government has
so often done i'm other instances for prl-
vate citizens is a natural sequence of
President Harrison's reasoning"
The commissioner remarks: "As a
matter of fact as we'll as Of law the
$751; 600 was paid by the government of
Chile to our government for distribu-
ton among the families of the two men
p killed and those who received personal
injuries in the attack
Commissioner Chambers says that if
, the City of Washington, lying near the
! Maine at Havana, had been blown up
, and its sailors killed, this commission
would present to the people of the Unit
ed States and of the civilized world the
, anomalous aspect of investigating for
, the purpose of adiudicating, according
to the merits of the several cases and
the principles of equity and of interna-
, tiOnal law the claims of all these pri-
vate citizens who We're injured or kill
ed upon the merchant ship while the
claims of the equally unfortunate sailor
citizens, whose injuries We're received or
; whose lives were sacrificed while in the
line of duty at the same instant of time
on the battleship Maine are denied a
hearing To my mind no principle of
law, divine or human, international or
municipal recognizes or could justify
such an homogeneous procedure
AuHnAH RRUHuRR