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for misunderstanding, Lord Lyons offered in behalf of the British Government the following declaration: "Her Majesty's Government. understands Article XV. in this sense, that, in time of war, a belligerent, a signatory of the convention, shall be free to act in regard to submarine cables as if the convention did not exist." The Belgian delegates submitted a declaration of the same tenor.

Submarine Telegraphic Cables in their International Relations, by
George Grafton Wilson, Naval War College, Aug. 1901, 13.

During the war with Spain, officers of the United States on several occasions cut submarine cables owned by neutrals, in order to prevent the adversary from making use of them in furtherance of hostile designs. The protection of submarine cables outside territorial waters is regulated by the international convention signed at Paris, March 14, 1884. This convention, to which the United States is a party, expressly provides that its stipulations "shall in nowise affect the liberty of action of belligerents." The precedents as to such action, prior to the war with Spain, were not numerous, since communication by cables is a comparatively recent thing. On the outbreak of the war, the Government of the United States considered “the advantage of declaring telegraph cables neutral," and to that end directed its naval forces in Cuban waters to refrain from interfering with them till further orders. This inhibition evidently was soon revoked. Early in May, 1898, two out of three cables were cut near Cienfuegos, with a view to sever connection with Havana. On May 16, an unsuccessful effort was made to cut the Santiago de Cuba-Jamaica cables; and two days later one of them was severed 1.3 miles off Morro Castle. May 20, the cable connecting Cuba and Hayti was broken outside the marine league off Mole St. Nicholas. July 11, the cable connecting Santa Cruz del Sur, Trinidad, Cienfuegos, and Havana, with Manzanillo and the east of Cuba, was cut; as was also, five days later, the line connecting Santa Cruz and Jucaro. All or nearly all the cables were the property of neutrals. The neutral (British) cable from Bolinao, in the Philippines, to Hong Kong was cut by Admiral Dewey. In all these cases the object of the interruption was to confuse and frustrate the military operations, whether offensive or defensive, of the enemy.

Naval Operations of the War with Spain, 176, 186, 208, 209, 210, 211, 244, 255; and supra, § 1039.

IV. PRISONERS.

$1177.

"The Attorney-General of the United States has given it as his opinion, and in it I concur, that any American citizen, being a

pilot, may lawfully exercise his usual functions as pilot on board of any vessel of war; and if during his employment on board an engagement shall take place, his being on board is not to be considered as criminal, but accidental and innocent."

Mr. Randolph, Sec. of State, to Mr. Fauchet, Sept. 17, 1794, 7 MS. Dom.
Let. 268.

A French decree "that every foreigner found on board the vessels of war or of commerce of the enemy is to be treated as a prisoner of war, and can have no right to the protection of the diplomatic and commercial agents of his nation," is in contravention of the law of nations.

Mr. Madison, Sec. of State, report, Jan. 25, 1806, 15 MS. Dom. Let. 70.

"9. The crews of blockade runners are not enemies and should be treated not as prisoners of war, but with every consideration. Any of the officers or crew, however, whose testimony before the prize court may be desired, should be detained as witnesses."

Instructions to U. S. Blockading Vessels and Cruisers, General Orders,
No. 492, June 20, 1898, For. Rel. 1898, 781.

See Mr. Seward, Sec. of State, to Mr. Welles, Sec. of Navy, May 5, 1864,
64 MS. Dom. Let. 207.

Count Bismarck in 1870 denied that sailors on captured merchant vessels could be made prisoners of war, and threatened and executed reprisals on France for acting on that principle. (Hall, Int. Law, 5th ed. 407.)

After the outbreak of war between the United States and Spain in 1898, various Spanish merchant vessels, captured as prize by the American naval forces, were sent to Key West for judicial proceedings. The officers and crews, in order to afford them subsistence, were turned over to the military authorities and were "harbored and protected" at the Key West barracks. June 24, 1898, the United States, being desirous of making an arrangement for sending them away, notified the French ambassador, who was charged with the care of Spanish interests, that it would give instructions for their subsistence and protection on their way to a place of embarcation. June 30, 1898, notice was given that they would be sent to New York, where it was requested that they should be committed to the care of the consul-general of Austria-Hungary, to whom the protection of Spanish interests at that port was entrusted.

In a case where a Spanish brig flying the flag of Honduras was captured while attempting to run the blockade of Havana, and was condemned and ordered to be sold, the United States, while disclaiming any desire to detain the persons found on board, stated that it did not think itself under " any obligation to provide them with the means of transportation, especially as the devices resorted to by the

brig for the purpose of escaping lawful capture must have been known to those on board."

For. Rel. 1898, 789, 795–800.

The Spanish steamer Panama, while on a voyage from New York to Havana, was, after the outbreak of war, between the United States and Spain, captured as prize by the American naval forces. Among those found on board was a Spanish subject, who gave his name as Mr. Jiminez Zapatero. As he had in his possession a lot of coast charts, which he threw overboard, and as he had in his trunk epaulets and a sword, and admitted that he had some years before been an officer in the Spanish navy, he was held as a military person and was sent to Fortress Monroe as a prisoner of war. Orders were given to furnish him with accommodations and treat him according to the rank that he should claim, but, as he refused to make any statement beyond giving his name, he was held as a private. After the conclusion of the protocol of Aug. 12, 1898, as a preliminary to the conclusion of a peace, he was released.

For. Rel. 1898, 794, 798, 809.

During the war between the United States and Spain, in 1898, the officers and crews of various Spanish vessels which were captured as prize by the American forces were, while in the custody of the latter, allowed to send to and receive from their families in Spain open communications, as well as to correspond in the same manner with the owners of the vessels.

For. Rel. 1898, 789-790, 792, 793, 794.

In July, 1898, the United States proposed to allow 1,600 Spanish sailors held at Portsmouth, N. H., as prisoners of war, to return on parole if the Spanish Government would send a neutral ship for them.

The Spanish Government declined the offer on the ground that the Spanish naval code imposed a penalty upon prisoners of war who obtain their release by giving their promise not to bear arms again against the enemy. The Spanish Government added that, although this restriction would seem to apply rather to officers than to common seamen, from whom such an engagement was not generally expected, the ministry of marine did not feel itself in a position to consent to the adoption of a course with regard to one class of naval forces which would be punished as a fault with regard to another.

For. Rel. 1898, 996–998.

It was stated by the Japanese minister in Washington, on April 9, 1904, that his Government had released all the passengers on board

of Russian merchant vessels captured by Japanese cruisers, and even the officers and members of the crew, except those whose presence was deemed necessary in the trial before the admiralty court.

For. Rel. 1904, 433, 434.

In May, 1904, the Japanese Government sought the return by Russia of the crew of a Japanese vessel which had been sunk by the Russian fleet off the coast of Corea, as had been done by the Russians in the case of another Japanese vessel. The matter was submitted to the viceroy who, for considerations pertaining to the war," declined to grant the request. (For. Rel. 1904, 435, 436, 721.)

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V. TREATMENT OF SICK AND WOUNDED.

§ 1178.

By a convention signed at Geneva, Oct. 20, 1868, by representatives of North Germany, Austria, Baden, Bavaria, BelAdditional articles gium, Denmark, France, Great Britain, Italy, The to the Geneva Con- Netherlands, Sweden and Norway, Switzerland, Turkey, and Wurtemburg, fifteen articles were proposed to be added to the convention of Aug. 22, 1864. Of these articles, ten (VI.-XV., inclusive) related to marine warfare.

vention.

In the subsequent discussions, an amendment to Art. IX. was proposed by France; and in a correspondence between England and France, Art. X. was elucidated. The fifteen articles, commonly called the " additional articles of 1868," with the French amendment to Art. IX. in brackets, and the elucidations of Art. X. annexed to the text, are as follows:

“ARTICLE I. The persons designated in Article II of the Conventon shall, after the occupation by the enemy, continue to fulfil their duties, according to their wants, to the sick and wounded in the ambulance or the hospital which they serve. When they request to withdraw, the commander of the occupying troops shall fix the time of departure, which he shall only be allowed to delay for a short time in case of military necessity.

"ART. II. Arrangements will have to be made by the belligerent powers to ensure to the neutralized person, fallen into the hands of the army of the enemy, the entire enjoyment of his salary.

"ART. III. Under the conditions provided for in Articles I. and IV. of the Convention, the name ambulance' applies to field hospitals and other temporary establishments, which follow the troops on the field of battle to receive the sick and wounded.

"ART. IV. In conformity with the spirit of Article V. of the Convention, and to the reservations contained in the protocol of 1864, it is explained that for the appointment of the charges relative to the quartering of troops, and of the contributions of war, account only

shall be taken in an equitable manner of the charitable zeal displayed by the inhabitants.

“ART. V. In addition to Article VI. of the Convention, it is stipulated that, with the reservation of officers whose detention might be important to the fate of arms and within the limits fixed by the second paragraph of that article, the wounded fallen into the hands of the enemy shall be sent back to their country after they are cured, or sooner, if possible, on condition, nevertheless, of not again bearing arms during the continuance of the war.

ARTICLES CONCERNING NAVAL FORCES.

"ART. VI. The boats which, at their own risk and peril, during and after an engagement pick up the shipwrecked or wounded, or which, having picked them up, convey them on board a neutral or hospital ship, shall enjoy, until the accomplishment of their mission, the character of neutrality, so far as the circumstances of the engagement and the position of the ships engaged will permit.

"The appreciation of these circumstances is entrusted to the humanity of all the combatants. The wrecked and wounded thus picked up and saved must not serve again during the continuance of the war.

"ART. VII. The religious, medical, and hospital staff of any captured vessel are declared neutral, and, on leaving the ship, may remove the articles and surgical instruments which are their private property. "ART. VIII. The staff designated in the preceding article must continue to fulfil their functions in the captured ship, assisting in the removal of the wounded made by the victorious party; they will then be at liberty to return to their country, in conformity with the second paragraph of the first additional article.

“The stipulations of the second additional article are applicable to the pay and allowance of the staff.

"ART. IX. The military hospital ships remain under martial law in all that concerns their stores; they become the property of the captor, but the latter must not divert them from their special appropriation during the continuance of the war.

"[The vessels not equipped for fighting, which, during peace, the government shall have officially declared to be intended to serve as floating hospital ships, shall, however, enjoy during the war complete. neutrality, both as regards stores, and also as regards their staff, provided their equipment is exclusively appropriated to the special service on which they are employed.]

"ART. X. Any merchantman, to whatever nation she may belong. charged exclusively with removal of sick and wounded, is protected by neutrality, but the mere fact, noted on the ship's books, of the

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