The Twin Falls times. [volume] (Twin Falls, Idaho) 1905-1916, 1916-09-14

time mediation was offered and the
sitting of the court at Niagara Falls.
Even had the United States deter
mined to go to war to drive out Huerta
and had it with that in view rejected
the offer of mediation, the forces OF
this country could under no circum
stances have accomplished the result
by July Is. So far as Huerta was con-
cerned the expedition got results"
Had it gone on, there can be no ques-
ton that the dictator would have been
eliminated, but at a great cost of blood
and treasure and at the end of a long
war.
Huerta gone; who should then apol-
ogize for the Tampico incident? Car
rama? Surely he was not a party to
the offense. Would you hold Huerta
in the country by some occult means
and make him come across? l repeat,
who would apologize?
This question has never been ans
wered. Some indeed, but not the
shrewd national political leaders, have
intimated that Huerta represented the
country and that his successor Car
rama, succeeded him in that capacity
and should be made to apologize for
the acts of the man against whom he
was fighting at the time that the Incl
dent occurred The theory is hardly
worth answering since it has not been
put forth by respectable authority, but
a word in regard to the status of the
parties involved might not be amiss
in order to clear up Misrepresentation
on the part of some relative to the
position in international affairs that
Huerta and Carranza then occupied
with reference to the United States.
In an opinion handed down in 1858
by Attorney General Black in the case
of the Georgiana and Lizzie Thomp-
son the status of unrecognized revOlu-
tionary forces is set forth as follows:
"a revolutionary party like a belli-
gerent power. is supreme over the
country it conquers as far and as long
as its arms can carry and maintain it.
Although it has been doubted
whether a mere body of rebellious men
can claim all the rights of a separate
power on the high seas, without abso-
lutte or qualified recognition from
I foreign governments, there is no au-
thority for a doubt that parties to
civil war have a right to conduct it
with all the incidents of lawful war
fare within the territory to which they
both belong" The opinion was to the
effect that where a ship obtained GUS
tom house clearances from one fac
ton it could not be punished or mo-
Tested by the other when the latter
triumphed. The rule is a good one
and works both ways. If Carranza
could not lawfully hold an American
responsible for an insult to the Huerta
forces, he could not under interna-
tional law be held responsible for an
insult offered by Huerta or his forces.
So far as the salute was concerned,
the flight of Huerta ended the Incl
dent. Nor did the transactions had
with the Huerta government consti-
tute recognition. The appointment of
a special representative by President
Taylor to go to Hungary during the
Kossuth rebellion there did not con-
stitute recognition of the insurgent
government. During the administra-
ton President Hays the United
States refused recognition to Presi-
dent Diaz for a whole year and to
President Blanco of Venezuela for a
year and a half and we had represen-
tatives at the capitals of Mexico and
Venezuela during the entire time VINO
had all sorts of informal negotiations
with the powers in charge. France
informally received Benjamin Frank
lin, who represented the colonies, for
years before according recognition to
the United States.
The soundness of yielding to media
ton, judged by the historic policy OF
the United States, and the benefits
flowing from such acceptance of me-
diation by the A. B. c. powers are
open questions which l hope to dis
cuss later but the intimation thai
when Huerta fled somebody not at al
connected with him should have beer
compelled to apologize is too absurd
to merit further discussion.