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law required, but did everything which was humanly possible, by preventive vigilance, as well as by punitive prosecution, to discharge the nentral obligations of the United States.

Did the American Government, at any time, or on any occasion, either willfully or with culpable negligence, fail to discharge those obligations? We deny it; although, in the midst of almost continual warfare, both in Europe and America, it is possible that violations of law may have occurred, in spite of all preventive efforts of that Government. What then? If we did injury to Spain we repaired that injury. The treaty of amity, settlement, and limits between the United States and Spain, of February 22, 1819, disposed of all this subject by mutual concessions, renunciations, or indemnifications, in the following article, namely:

ARTICLE IX. The two high contracting parties, animated with the most earnest desire of conciliation, and with the object of putting an end to all the differences which have existed between them and of confirming the good understanding which they wish to be forever maintained between them, reciprocally renounce all claims for damages or injuries which they themselves, as well as their respective citizens and subjects, may have suffered until the time of signing this treaty.

The renunciation of the United States will extend to all the injuries mentioned in the convention of the 11th of August, 1802.

2. To all claims on account of prizes made by French privateers, and condemned by French consuls, within the territory and jurisdiction of Spain.

3. To all claims of indemnities on account of the suspension of the right of deposit at New Orleans, in 1802.

4. To all claims of citizens of the United States upon the government of Spain, arising from the unlawful seizures at sea, and in the ports and territories of Spain or the Spanish colonies.

5. To all claims of citizens of the United States upon the Spanish Government, statements of which, soliciting the interposition of the Government of the United States, have been presented to the Department of State, or to the minister of the United States in Spain, since the date of the convention of 1802, and until the signature of this treaty.

The renunciation of His Catholic Majesty extends—

1. To all the injuries mentioned in the convention of the 11th of August, 1802.

2. To the sums which His Catholic Majesty advanced for the return of Captain Pike from the Provincias Internas.

3. To all injuries caused by the expedition of Miranda, that was fitted out and equipped at New York

4. To all claims of Spanish subjects upon the Government of the United States arising from unlawful seizures at sea, or within the ports and territorial jurisdiction of the United States.

5. Finally, to all the claims of subjects of His Catholic Majesty upon the Government of the United States, in which the interposition of His Catholic Majesty's Government has been solicited before the date of this treaty, and since the date of the convention of 1802, or which may have been made to the department of foreign affairs of his Majesty, or to his minister in the United States.1

This high Tribunal perceives that, in view of this treaty, it is vain for the British Case to attempt to revive controversy on the subject. Both Spain and the United States had mutual causes of reclamation, which both governments frankly settled and terminated by amicable convention, to their mutual satisfaction, and on conditions which cannot be questioned by any other government.

One thing more in this relation. We respectfully request the Tribunal to observe that neither Spain nor the United States supposed that damages or injuries done by one government to another were mere indirect damages or injuries, and so not comprehended in the terms of a treaty, expressly professing to dispose of "all claims," "all questions," and all differences."

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'The United States Statutes at Large, vol. viii, p. 258.

Spain and the United States by this treaty "reciprocally renounced all claims for damages or injuries which they themselves, as well as their respective citizens and subjects, may have suffered." They rightly supposed that a blow struck by one government at another is a direct wrong, sounding in direct damages, and calling for direct compensation, quite as much at least as a blow struck by one government at individual subjects of another government.

War between Por

(d) The British Case also calls in question the conduct of the United States in reference to the war between Portugal and the tugal and the Banda Banda Oriental. This matter is thoroughly and exhaustively discussed in the correspondence appended to the American Case. It also receives satisfactory exposition in the Case itself.

Oriental.

We, therefore, content ourselves here with reference to the voluminous documents annexed to the American Counter Case, which manifest the unceasing efforts of the American Government to prevent its citizens from taking part in that war, or doing any acts prejudicial to the Portuguese Government.

tion.

(e) The British Case makes reference to the acts of William Walker, Walker's expedi and other adventurers of that sort, who, at a certain period, embarked in expeditions of adventure to Central America. The United States, in extenuation of the fact that some expeditions of this class escaped the vigilance of the American Government, do not plead either the extent of the coasts of the United States, and consequent difficulty of surveillance, nor the disturbed state of the countries which were the objects of such expeditions, as we might do, but we pass over all that class of considerations to say that the American Government, in these occurrences, exerted all its power, legal and political, to prevent, repress, and punish everything contrary to its duties of neutrality or its rights as a sovereign.

The successive Presidents of the United States acted efficiently in the premises by proclamations to all citizens generally, and by instructions and orders to officers, civil and military; and the Attorney-General of the United States directed the prosecution and secured the conviction of leading offenders; and the naval officers of the United States even proceeded to break up such enterprises by military interposition either on the high seas, or in the ports of Central America, in action not unlike that of the British Government in the affair of Terceira. We entreat the members of the Tribunal to peruse the documents, in this relation, contained in the appendix to the American Counter Case, to which we confidently point as furnishing complete vindication of the United States in the premises.

Cuba.

(f) We make the same observation as to the alleged absence of due comportment on the part of the United States, either at the present time or heretofore, in reference to the Spanish possessions in Cuba. The documents annexed to the Counter Case, we confidently believe, will satisfy this Tribunal of the rightfulness of the conduct of the United States in this behalf.

Here, also, we call attention to signal proofs of the upright spirit and just action of the United States with reference to the rebels of Spain, in contrast with the temper and action of Great Britain with reference to the rebels of the United States.

In the first place, the President of the United States did not jump to make recognition of the belligerence of the Cubans, upon the first rumor of a gun having been fired by or against them; and to this day he

has resisted temptation and pursuasion to take that step, moved to abstinence by his own conviction of public duty and right.

Secondly, in case after case, Cubans seeking to fit out vessels in the ports of the United States have been arrested, and their attempts. broken up by the executive interposition of the President.

Thirdly, Spain, as the treaty friend of the United States, has not been subjected to the wrong of seeing her rebels raised in the ports of theUnited States to the level of herself their sovereign; but, on the contrary, has been allowed, as she had a right to do, openly to build or purchase men-of-war in the United States.

Finally, no cruisers have sailed from the ports of the United Statesto prey on the commerce of Spain. Therefore, if, which we deny, Spain suffered any damages in the premises at the hands of the American Government, those damages must be of the nature which Great Britain regards as indirect damages, and therefore never in any circumstances due from one to another gonernment.

(g) Allusion also occurs, in the British Case or Counter Case, to some occasions in which persons in the United States have invaded, or attempted to invade, the Canadian Dominion.

Fenians.

Such occurrences have existed, as they do in all frontier countries. As to the first of them, it deserves to be stated that special provisions of law were enacted to enable the President of the United States more effectually to discharge the duties of the Government toward Great Britain.

In reference to that, and some other occurrences of the same nature, it is well to note the testimony borne by Sir Roundell Palmer in a speech made by him in the House of Commons, already quoted on a particular point, and in which he further says:

I wish to impress upon the House that, as far as the enforcement of their foreignenlistment act is concerned, we have absolutely no grievance against them, (the United States.) They have again and again restored prizes captured in violation of that act. As recently as the Russian war, in a case where we complained that a vessel called the Maury was fitted out in violation of the foreign-enlistment act, they immediately detained that vessel, her clearance was stopped, and an inquiry was subsequently directed, and that inquiry, conducted entirely to our satisfaction, ended in our expressing a belief that there were no real grounds for the suspicion entertained. In the interest of peace and amity between the two countries, therefore, I wish the House to understand that we have no grievance against them with regard to the foreign-enlistment act, and that it deeply concerns our honor to enforce the foreign-enlistment

act.

In reference to later incidents of the same class, in which Irishmen in the United States have attempted to invade Canada, we present the testimony of the British minister in the United States, whose dispatch testifies in terms which may fitly close this part of the present Argument, as follows:

WASHINGTON, July 13, 1866.

SIR: I have duly reported to Her Majesty's Government the disturbances that lately took place on the frontiers of New Brunswick and Canada, and the measures taken by the Government of the United States to prevent those expeditions of armed men, in breach of the neutrality laws, from being carried into effect.

I am directed by Her Majesty's government, in reply, to state that for some months past they have observed with regret, though without alarm, the organization of the Fenians in the United States; but they have invariably abstained from making any official representation to the cabinet at Washington, because they felt they had no right, as indeed they had no desire, to interfere with the administration of the law in the United States. They had, moreover, a perfect conviction that if ever the time came for the fulfillment by the United States of the obligations which international law imposes upon friendly and allied governments, that Government would take all the measures. which those obligations and regard for its own honor might call upon it to perform.

1 Hansard's Debates, vol. clxxiii, p. 955.

Her Majesty's Government rejoice to find that this confidence has been fully justified by the result, and that the Government of the United States acted, when the moment for acting came, with a vigor, a promptness, and a sincerity which call forth the warmest acknowledgments.

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I am, in consequence, instructed to express to the Government of the United States the thanks of Her Majesty and Her Majesty's Government for the friendly and energetic assistance which they have afforded in defeating the attempts to disturb the peace of Her Majesty's possessions in North America.

I have the honor to be, with the highest consideration, sir, your most obedient, humble servant,

Hon. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, &c., &c.1

FREDERICK W. B. BRUCE.

We remark, in passing, that in all the cases referred to by Sir Frederick Bruce and Sir Roundell Palmer, of the conduct of the United States in relation to Great Britain, this conduct has been the same at all times in relation to other governments. As we are entitled to the ascription of " a vigor, a promptness, and a sincerity which call forth the warmest acknowledgments," in the former class of occurrences, so we are in the latter, the British Case and Counter Case to the contrary notwithstanding. In every instance of attempt to violate our neutrality, on the part whether of governments or of private persons, we have set in action all the juridical machinery of the municipal law; we have pushed into vigilance our custom-house officers, which England has, and our districtattorneys and marshals, which England has not; but in addition to and beyond all that, the President of the United States acted in advance to enforce, not diligence only, but active vigilance, on all subordinate officers of the Government; and when wrong-doers manifested obstinate persistence of wrong, the military and naval officers, of character and discretion, like General Scott, Admiral Paulding, and General Meade were employed to apply to such persons the only method of prevention applicable to the case, namely, force, to maintain the domestic order and foreign peace of the Government.

We regret, and have sufficient cause to regret, as the present controversy shows, that Great Britain, who cannot blind herself to the vigor, promptness, and sincerity manifested by the American Government in repressing such acts in America, has not manifested equal vigor, promptness, and sincerity herself in repressing similar acts in Great Britain. (h) The counsel of the United States would gladly abstain from reference to another occurrence in this class of incidents, beduring the Crimean cause, unlike what has gone before, it is not of a defensive, but of an accusatory character.

British enlistments

war.

It singularly happens, while Great Britain, in her Case and Counter Case, is so careful to recount what she assumes to be the imperfections of the United States, in the execution of our foreign-enlistment act, heaping up a long train of accusations against us, she forgets that the most serious of all the occasions, in which the United States have been called on to act, was the attempt of Great Britain, to the prejudice of Russia, to violate, on a large scale, the neutrality of the United States. And the occasion is the more remarkable, seeing that the British ministers themselves, with characteristic misconception of the whole subject of neutral rights and duties, procured a special act of Parliament to be passed for the single and precise object of enabling them to invade the sovereignty, and to violate the local laws, of every country in Europe and America.

We allude to the act of Parliament, passed at an early day during the war between Great Britain and Russia, professedly and avowedly to enlist soldiers abroad of its own authority for service against Russia.

Documents annexed to the American Case, vol. ii., p. 130.

We understand how the British ministers fell into the error of thus exposing to the gaze of the world, on this occasion, the difficulty of obtaining troops at home. In former wars, as we in the United States had sad experience, it had been the custom of Great Britain thus to act, at a period of time when the enlistment of foreign troops was a practice all but universal in Europe.

But what we should not understand, but for the false theory which pervades the Case and Counter Case of Great Britain here, is, that the British ministers should have imagined that the rights of Great Britain, as respects all foreign governments, are determinable by an act of Parliament.

On both points British ministers appear to entertain consistent theory. The neutral obligations of Great Britain, as respects any foreign government, are but such as are set forth in an act of Parliament; and Parliament is to determine her rights as respects foreign governments. On both related points they act and think as if no law of nations existed, or, at least, as if an act of Parliament could dictate the law of nations for all other governments.

That enlistment of troops in any country, for foreign service, can only be made lawfully with the consent of the local government, is elementary doctrine of public law.1

It is equally well established at the present time that, if such enlistment be allowed by a neutral to one belligerent, it must be allowed to the adverse belligerent; and, since the publication of Sir Robert Phillimore's great work on international law, probably no person, even in Great Britain, would dispute the proposition.

It took time, however, for British jurists to open their eyes to this self-evident doctrine of neutrality. Wildman seems to have little or no conception of that point, and it needed that Manning should enter into elaborate argumentation on the subject, as if it were a wholly new question, in order to introduce the rightful opinion into Great Britain.3

And yet Great Britain herself had manifested, by several acts of Parliament, that she saw clearly the inconvenience and the wrongfulness of foreign governments, or private persons, enlisting troops within the jurisdiction of Great Britain, without the authorization of the government.1

There never was any doubt or hesitation upon this subject in the United States. Our statesmen, beginning with Mr. Jefferson, at all times have unequivocally and positively maintained it; and our jurists, such as Wheaton, Lawrence, Kent, and Halleck, are careful to state the doctrine with explicitness. At the present day, in presence of the extensive erudition and systematic completeness with which Sir Robert Phillimore has expounded the principles of international law, including this point in all its relations," it might seem that the truth would be accepted in Great Britain.

Nevertheless the same old error still lingers there, if we may judge from the tenor of the British Case and Counter Case; that "insularity" of legal perception, of which eminent English jurists speak, still ope

Wolff, Jus gentium, s. 747. Vattel, Droit des gens, éd. Pradier-Fodéré, liv. iii, chap. 7, s. 449. Klüber, Droit des gens modernes de l'Europe, s. 285. Martens, Précis du droit des gens, s. 30. Galiani, Dei doveri de principi neutrali, p. 325. Hautefeuille, Droits et devoirs des nations neutres, tome i, 312, 313. Riquelme, Derecho publico internacional, tom. i, p. 144.

2 International Law, vol. i, p. 64.

3 Law of Nations, book iii, chap. 1.

'See numerous acts of Parliament on this subject, collected in Phillimore's International Law, vol. 1, p. 212.

5 Vol. iii, p. 209 et

seq.

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