Page:Harvard Law Review Volume 9.djvu/437

409 RECOGNITION OF CUBAN BELLIGERENCY, 409 with which the United States are happily at peace :. . . I have therefore thought fit to issue this my proclamation, warning and enjoining all faithful citizens ... to withdraw from the same without delay." It will be noticed that in this proclamation the President re- frained from the recital of a revolt in the Spanish provinces. The first of^cial notice of the civil war seems to have occurred in the message of President Monroe to Congress, November 17, 1818.^^ This appears to have been relied on by the courts of the United States as a recognition by the executive of the belligerency of Spanish America.^ The President simply stated that " the civil war which has so long prevailed between Spain and the provinces in South America, still continues without any prospect of its speedy termination." When Texas revolted from Mexico, its belligerency seems in the same way to have been assumed, but never to have been recog- nized in any formal manner. The first public notice taken of this rebellion seems to have been connected with the recognition of her independence.^ Only once, apparently, has a President by his proclamation called the attention of the country to a foreign insurrection: this was in the case of the Canadian revolt of 1837. An insurrectionary movement was made in Upper Canada with a view to reforming the government. The insurgents formed a provisional government, with one Mackenzie as chairman pro tern. Navy Island, in the Canadian portion of the Niagara River, was occupied, and a proclamation issued from there calling for aid in revolutionizing the province. One Van Rensselaer, an American citizen, was given command of the forces. The steamboat Caroline^ owned by an American citizen, was said to be" helping the insur- gents. Under orders from the British commander, a party crossed the river, took possession of the Caroline within the territory of New York, drove ofT her crew, destroyed her, and returned to Canada.* 1 4 Wheat. App. 23. 2 The Divma Pastora, 4 Wheat, 52 {1819). Texas, June 18, 1836; the- President then communicated to Congress such information as he had (24 Br. & For. St. Pap. 1267), and appointed a Commissioner to investigate, whose reports were transmitted to Congress a few months later (2^ id. 1352), with a message advising that recognition of independence be delayed. Recognition of bel- ligerency seems never to have been desired. Law, p. 177.
 * Congress passed a resolution looking toward recognition of the independence of
 * For this statement I am principally indebted to Dr. Snow, Cas. and Op. on Intern.