(mode) may be less precise in international law than in private law, but it is not useless. If, in case of a dispute as to the character of the clause, the matter should be submitted to arbitration, the arbitrator would, in default of clear indications, pronounce for the recognition. sub modo rather than for the conditional recognition, seeing that the rule is irrevocability and that acts are not presumed to be done under conditions. And as independence, the essential and fundamental right of states, forms the rule, it is necessary, from the moment that a new state has been recognized, that the restriction imposed by the modus. should be construed strictly.

Examples of restrictions imposed on the independence of a new state are the permanent neutrality of Belgium; the restrictions safeguarding religious liberty, imposed not only on Bulgaria, a semisovereign state, by Art. V. of the treaty of Berlin, but also on Montenegro by Art. XXVII. of the same treaty, on Servia by Art. XXXV., and on Roumania by Art. XLIV.; the restrictions imposed on the Independent State of the Congo in favor of commercial freedom, by the general act of the Congress of Berlin of February 26, 1885.

It goes without saying that a state may be recognized as a sovereign state without being recognized as a member of the society of nations. Such was the case of Turkey before 1856; such is still the case with divers Asiatic states with which Europe and America entertain continual and more and more intimate relations, while refusing, rightly or wrongly, to comprehend them in the international community. Rivier, Principes du Droit des Gens, I. 57-61.

II. RECOGNTION OF NEW STATES.

1. REVOLUTION IN SPANISH AMERICA.
§ 28.

The invasion of Spain in 1808, resulting in the enforced abdication of Charles IV. and the transfer to Napoleon of all right and titles to the Spanish Crown and its colonial possessions, was followed in some of the Spanish colonies in America by the formation of loyal juntas, modeled on those that were organized in Spain, for the purpose of resisting, in the name of Ferdinand VII., son of the dethroned monarch, the new government, of which Joseph Bonaparte, who was crowned King of Spain at Bayonne on June 15, 1808, was the nominal head. Owing to various causes, among which was the refusal of the regency at Cadiz to recognize the American juntas, the loyalist movement in the colonies, which was originally levelled against the Napoleonic government in Spain, was succeeded by a movement for independence of Spain itself. But previously to this transformation an attempt was made to enter into diplomatic relations with the United States.

Revolt at Caracas.

Agents accredited to United States.

2. VENEZUELAN PROVINCES.

$ 29.

In 1810, the victory of Napoleon in Spain appearing to be complete, the principal inhabitants of Caracas, in the name of Ferdinand VII., deposed the Spanish colonial officials and elected a supreme junta, called the "Junta Conservatoria." April 25, 1810, the president and vice-president of this junta addressed to the Secretary of State of the United States a letter accrediting Don Juan Vicente Bolivar and Don Telesforo Ozea as bearers of the intelligence that Venezuela had severed her allegiance to Spain." In the course of 1810 and 1811 several papers relating to the political affairs of Venezuela were presented to the Department of State. The first recorded acknowledgment of any of these communications is found in a letter of Mr. Monroe, Secretary of State, of December 19, 1811, in which he states that he had laid before the President a copy of the declaration of independence of the provinces of Venezuela, which Don Telesforo Ozea had presented to him, and that the President had received it with the interest the matter deserved."

In his annual message to Congress of November 5, 1811, President Madison said: "In contemplating the scenes which disPresident Madison's tinguish this momentous epoch, and estimating their Message, Novemclaims to our attention, it is impossible to overlook ber 5, 1811. those developing themselves among the great communities which occupy the southern portion of our own hemisphere and extend into our neighborhood. An enlarged philanthropy and an enlightened forecast concur in imposing on the national councils an obligation to take a deep interest in their destinies, to cherish reciprocal sentiments of good will, to regard the progress of events, and not to be unprepared for whatever order of things may be ultimately established." This part of the message was referred in the House to a select committee, which inquired of the Secretary of State whether it was known to the Government that any of the Spanish-American provinces "have declared themselves independent, or that material changes have taken place in their political relations." Mr. Monroe in reply transmitted a copy of the Venezuelan declaration, and added: "This act was communicated to this Government by order of the Congress, composed of deputies from those provinces, assembled at Caracas. It is not ascertained that any other of the Spanish provinces have as yet entered into similar declarations; but it is known

a Papers relative to the revolted Spanish provinces, MSS. Dept. of State.
Richardson, Messages and Papers of the Presidents, I. 494.

cAnnals 12th Cong., I. 335.

that most, if not all of them, on the continent are in a revolutionary state. The progress made in that direction by some of them will best appear in the documents which have already been communicated to you. The committee, December 10, 1811, reported a joint resolution to the effect that the United States beheld "with friendly interest the establishment of independent sovereignties by the Spanish provinces in America, consequent upon the actual state of the monarch to which they belonged; that, as neighbors and inhabitants of t! me hemisphere, the United States feel great solicitude for their welfare, and that, when those provinces shall have attained the condition of nations by the just exercise of their rights, the Senate and House of Representatives will unite with the Executive in establishing with them, as sovereign and independent states, such amicable relations and commercial intercourse as may require their legislative authority." No action on this resolution was taken.

Temporary reascendency of Spain.

In 1812 Caracas was destroyed by an earthquake, and many of the inhabitants of the country perished. The colonial troops were demoralized; Miranda capitulated, and from that time till 1819 the Spanish forces, under General Morillo, maintained their ascendency. By an act of May 8, 1812, "for the relief of citizens of Venezuela," Congress authorized the President to purchase $50,000 worth of provisions and "to tender. the same in the name of the Government of the United States to that of Venezuela for the relief of the citizens who have suffered by the late earthquake." This act was carried into effect, Mr. Alexander Scott, who had been designated as an agent to visit the country, being directed to proceed in one of the vessels carrying the provisions and to aid in their distribution.

Protest as to Amelia
Island.

In his annual message of December 2, 1817, President Monroe stated that orders had been issued for the suppression of an establishment formed at Amelia Island "by persons claiming to act under the authority of some of the [Spanish] colonies." When the occupation of the island by the forces of the United States under these orders was reported, "Vicente Pazos, representing himself as the deputed agent of the authorities acting in the name of the Republics of Venezuela, New Granada, and Mexico," on March 11, 1818, addressed to the House of Representatives a protest. A discussion ensued, in which Mr. Forsyth declared that "the question for the House to consider was whether, when the Constitution has placed the conduct of our foreign relations with the Executive, a

a Am. State Pap., For. Rel. III. 539.

Am. State Pap., For. Rel. III. 538; Annals, 12th Cong., I. 427–428.

e Int. Arbitrations, IV. 4392–4394. See, infra, § 72.

d Am. State Pap., For. Rel. IV. 130.

e Annals, 15 Cong. 1 Sess. I. 406-408.

foreign agent shall be permitted to appeal from the Executive to this House." The House, by a vote of 127 to 28, refused to receive the protest." This protest was made by virtue of authority given by Don Lino de Clemente, at Philadelphia, as deputy from Venezuela. Later Mr. de Clemente presented himself at Washington, on December 11, 1818, as Venezuela's "representative near the United States." Mr. Adams, on the ground that he had authorized the protest above referred to, and that he had also issued at Philadelphia a paper purporting to be a commission to a foreign officer to undertake an expedition in violation of the laws of the United States, refused to confer with him or to receive from him any further communication.

3. UNITED PROVINCES OF SOUTH AMERICA.

$ 30.

May 25, 1810, there assembled at Buenos Ayres, agreeably to the summons of the viceroy, a junta of nine persons, with Assemblies at Bue- full powers. This was the first step in the revolution. nos Ayres and Six years later, on July 9, 1816, a congress at Tucuman Tucuman. declared the United Provinces of Rio de la Plata to be

a free and independent nation.

nition.

Thereupon Colonel Don Martin Thompson, who had previously been sent to the United States as agent of the government Demand for recog- of Buenos Ayres, was ordered to discontinue the exercise of his functions, and an appointment as agent of the United Provinces of South America was given to Don Manuel Hermenegildo de Aguirre, who also bore a semi-private authority from Chile to purchase ships of war and warlike materials. His commission did not invest him with rank as a public minister, nor did he bear a full power to negotiate as such. "Neither the letter of which he was the bearer, nor he himself, at his first interviews with the Secretary of State, suggested that he was authorized to ask the acknowledgment of his government as independent; a circumstance which derived. additional weight from the fact that his predecessor, Don Martin Thompson, had been dismissed for having transcended his powers. Such a demand was made by him, however, in a letter of December 16, 1817, which was followed by conferences with the Secretary of State. In these conferences he stated, in response to Mr. Adams's inquiries, that the government whose acknowledgment he desired "was the country which had, before the revolution, been the

@ Davis, Treaty Notes, Treaty vol., 1776–1887, p. 1270; Annals, 15 Cong. 1 Sess. 1251, 1262, 1268.

Am. State Pap., For. Rel. IV. 412, 414.

Am. State Pap., For. Rel. IV. 228. June 26, 1810, Mr. Joel R. Poinsett was appointed "agent to Buenos Ayres." See, infra, § 72.

viceroyalty of La Plata." When asked whether this did not include Montevideo, and the territory occupied by the Portuguese; the Banda Oriental, understood to be under the government of Artigas, and several provinces still in the undisputed possession of Spain, he replied that it did, but that Artigas, though hostile to the government of Buenos Ayres, supported the cause of independence, and that Portugal could not ultimately maintain possession of Montevideo. Mr. Adams stated that any acknowledgment of the government of La Plata was deemed by the President to be for the time inexpedient."

"In the draft of a letter to Mr. Aguirre

Opinion of Mr.
Adams.

* * *

I have stated to him the grounds upon which the Government of the United States have been deterred from an acknowledg ment of that of Buenos Ayres as including the dominion of the whole viceroyalty of the La Plata. The result of the late campaign in Venezuela, by comparing the royal and the republican bulletins, has been so far disadvantageous to the latter that they have undoubtedly failed in obtaining possession of any part of the coast. They have, therefore, at least one more campaign to contest, to go through, for which they will need several months of preparation. Bolivar appears to have resigned the chief military command to Paez, and the army is to be reorganized. But the royalists do not appear to have gained any ground, and are evidently too much weakened by their losses to act upon the offensive. In this state the independence of Venezuela can scarcely be considered in a condition to claim the recognition of neutral powers. But there is a stage in such contests when the parties struggling for independence have, as I conceive, a right to demand its acknowledgment by neutral parties, and when the acknowledgment may be granted without departure from the obligations of neutrality. It is the stage when independence is established as a matter of fact so as to leave the chances of the opposite party to recover their dominion utterly desperate. The neutral nation must, of course, judge for itself when this period has arrived; and as the belligerent nation has the same right to judge for itself, it is very likely to judge differently from the neutral and to make it a cause or pretext for war, as Great Britain did expressly against France in our Revolution, and substantially against Holland. If war thus results in point of fact from the measure of recognizing a contested independence, the moral right or wrong of the war depends upon the justice and sincerity and prudence with which the recognizing nation took the step. I am satisfied that the cause of the South Americans, so far as it consists in the assertion of independence against Spain, is just. But the justice of a cause, however it may enlist individual feelings in its favor, is not sufficient to justify third parties in siding with it. The

a Am. St. Pap., For. Rel. IV. 173–183.