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In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the city of Washington, this 22d day of April, A. D. 1898, and of the independence of the United States the one [SEAL] hundred and twenty-second.

By the President:

JOHN SHERMAN

Secretary of State

WILLIAM MCKINLEY

146

The Secretary of State (Sherman) to Diplomatic Representatives

[Circular telegram]

WASHINGTON, April 22, 1898.

1

In event of hostilities between United States and Spain the policy of this Government will be not to resort to privateering but to adhere to the following recognized rules of international law.

First: The neutral flag covers enemy's goods, with the exception of contraband of war. Second: Neutral goods, with the exception of contraband of war, are not liable to capture under an enemy's flag, and Third: Blockades, in order to be binding must be effective. SHERMAN

147

Proclamation Regarding Spanish and Neutral Commerce, April 26, 1898 2

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

A PROCLAMATION

WHEREAS by an act of Congress approved April 25, 1898, it is declared that war exists and that war has existed since the 21st day of April, A. D. 1898, including said day, between the United States of America and the Kingdom of Spain; and

WHEREAS it being desirable that such war should be conducted upon principles in harmony with the present views of nations and sanctioned by their recent practice, it has already been announced that

1

MS., Instructions, Argentine Republic, vol. xvII, p. 344.

2 Foreign Relations, 1898, pp. 772-773.

the policy of this Government will be not to resort to privateering, but to adhere to the rules of the Declaration of Paris;

Now, THEREFORE, I, WILLIAM MCKINLEY, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the power vested in me by the Constitution and the laws, do hereby declare and proclaim:

1. The neutral flag covers enemy's goods, with the exception of contraband of war.

2. Neutral goods, not contraband of war, are not liable to confiscation under the enemy's flag.

3. Blockades in order to be binding must be effective.

4. Spanish merchant vessels, in any ports or places within the United States, shall be allowed till May 21, 1898, inclusive, for loading their cargoes and departing from such ports or places; and such Spanish merchant vessels, if met at sea by any United States ship, shall be permitted to continue their voyage, if, on examination of their papers, it shall appear that their cargoes were taken on board before the expiration of the above term; provided, that nothing herein contained shall apply to Spanish vessels having on board any officer in the military or naval service of the enemy, or any coal (except such as may be necessary for their voyage), or any other article prohibited or contraband of war, or any dispatch of or to the Spanish Government.

5. Any Spanish merchant vessel which, prior to April 21, 1898, shall have sailed from any foreign port bound for any port or place in the United States, shall be permitted to enter such port or place, and to discharge her cargo, and afterward forthwith to depart without molestation; and any such vessel, if met at sea by any United States ship, shall be permitted to continue her voyage to any port not blockaded.

6. The right of search is to be exercised with strict regard for the rights of neutrals, and the voyages of mail steamers are not to be interfered with except on the clearest grounds of suspicion of a violation of law in respect of contraband or blockade.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the city of Washington, on the twenty-sixth day of April, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and ninety-eight, and of the Independence of the United States the one hundred and twenty-second.

[SEAL]

By the President:

ALVEY A. ADEE

Acting Secretary of State

WILLIAM MCKINLEY

148

The Secretary of the Navy (Long) to Blockading Vessels and Cruisers 1

GENERAL ORDERS

No. 492.

WASHINGTON, June 20, 1898.

The following "Instructions to blockading vessels and cruisers," prepared by the Department of State, are published for the information and guidance of the naval service.

JOHN D. LONG,

INSTRUCTIONS TO BLOCKADING VESSELS AND CRUISERS

[Paragraphs 1, 2, 8, 11–13, 18–19]

1. Vessels of the United States, while engaged in blockading and cruising service, will be governed by the rules of international law, as laid down in the decisions of the courts and in the treaties and manuals furnished by the Naval Department to ships' libraries, and by the provisions of the treaties between the United States and other powers.

The following specific instructions are established for the guidance of officers of the United States:

2. A blockade to be effective and binding must be maintained by a force sufficient to render ingress to or egress from the port dangerous. If the blockading vessels be driven away by stress of weather, but return without delay to their stations, the continuity of the blockade is not thereby broken; but if they leave their stations voluntarily, except for purposes of the blockade, such as chasing a blockade runner, or are driven away by the enemy's force, the blockade is abandoned or broken. As the suspension of a blockade is a serious matter, involving a new notification, commanding officers will exercise especial care not to give grounds for complaints on this score.

8. A vessel under any circumstances resisting visit, destroying her papers, presenting fraudulent papers, or attempting to escape, should be sent in for adjudication. The liability of a blockade runner to capture and condemnation begins with and terminates with her voyage. If there is good evidence that she sailed with intent to evade the blockade, she is good prize from the moment she appears upon the high seas. Similarly, if she has succeeded in escaping from a blockaded port she is liable to capture at any time before she reaches her home port. But with the termination of the voyage the offense ends.

11. Blockade running is a distinct offense, and subjects the vessel attempting, or sailing with the intent, to commit it, to seizure without regard to the nature of her cargo. The presence of contraband of war in the cargo becomes a distinct cause of seizure of the vessel,

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where she is bound to a port of the enemy not blockaded, and to which, contraband of war excepted, she is free to trade.

12. The belligerent right of search may be exercised without previous notice, upon all neutral vessels after the beginning of war, to determine their nationality, the character of their cargo, and the ports between which they are trading.

13. This right should be exercised with tact and consideration, and in strict conformity with treaty provisions, wherever they exist. The following directions are given, subject to any special treaty stipulations: After firing a blank charge, and causing the vessel to lie to, the cruiser should send a small boat, no larger than a whaleboat, with an officer to conduct the search. There may be arms in the boat, but the men should not wear them on their persons. The officer wearing only his side arms, and accompanied on board by not more than two men of his boat's crew, unarmed, should first examine the vessel's papers to ascertain her nationality and her ports of departure and destination. If she is neutral, and trading between neutral ports, the examination goes no further. If she is neutral, and bound to an enemy's port not blockaded, the papers which indicate the character of her cargo should be examined. If these show contraband of war the vessel should be seized; if not, she should be set free, unless, by reason of strong grounds of suspicion, a further search should seem to be requisite.

18. The President, by his proclamation of April 26, 1898, declared: "1. The neutral flag covers enemy's goods, with the exception of contraband of war."

19. The term contraband of war comprehends only articles having a belligerent destination, as to an enemy's port or fleet. With this explanation, the following articles are, for the present, to be treated as contraband:

Absolutely contraband.-Ordnance; machine guns and their appliances, and the parts thereof; armor plate and whatever pertains to the offensive and defensive armament of naval vessels; arms and instruments of iron, steel, brass, or copper, or of any other material, such arms and instruments being specially adapted for use in war by land or sea; torpedoes and their appurtenances; cases for mines, of whatever material; engineering and transport materials, such as gun carriages, caissons, cartridge boxes, campaigning forges, canteens, pontoons; ordnance stores; portable range finders; signal flags destined for naval use; ammunition and explosives of all kinds; machinery for the manufacture of arms and munitions of war; saltpeter; military accouterments and equipments of all sorts; horses. Conditionally contraband.-Coal, when destined for a naval station, a port of call, or a ship or ships of the enemy; materials for the construction of railways or telegraphs, and money, when such ma

terials or money are destined for the enemy's forces; provisions, when destined for an enemy's ship or ships, or for a place that is besieged.

149

Proclamation Regarding the Blockade of Certain Ports of Southern
Cuba and the Port of San Juan, Porto Rico, June 27, 1898 1
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES

A PROCLAMATION

WHEREAS for the reasons set forth in my proclamation of April 22, 1898, a blockade of the ports on the northern coast of Cuba, from Cardenas to Bahia Honda, inclusive, and of the port of Cienfuegos, on the south coast of Cuba, was declared to have been instituted; and WHEREAS it has become desirable to extend the blockade to other Spanish ports:

Now, THEREFORE, I, WILLIAM MCKINLEY, President of the United States, do hereby declare and proclaim that, in addition to the blockade of the ports specified in my proclamation of April 22, 1898, the United States of America has instituted and will maintain an effective blockade of all the ports on the south coast of Cuba, from Cape Frances to Cape Cruz, inclusive, and also of the port of San Juan, in the island of Porto Rico.

Neutral vessels lying in any of the ports to which the blockade is by the present proclamation extended will be allowed thirty days to issue therefrom with cargo.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the city of Washington, this twenty-seventh day of June, A. D. 1898, and of the Independence of the United States the one hundred and twenty-second.

[SEAL]

By the President:

WILLIAM MCKINLEY

J. B. MOORE

Acting Secretary of State

150

Message of President McKinley to Congress, December 5, 1898 2

[Extract]

The experiences of the last year bring forcibly home to us a sense of the burdens and the waste of war. We desire, in common with most civilized nations, to reduce to the lowest possible point the dam

1 Foreign Relations, 1898, pp. 773–774.
2 'Foreign Relations, 1898, pp. XLIX-XCV.

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