The authorities cited at the bar would, if there were any doubt, be decisive of the question. But we think it too clear to require any aid from authority."

§ 106. Status of Cuba.-The same questions that arose after the War of 1812, and the Mexican War, have arisen not only in regard to the territory which was actually ceded by Spain to the United States, but also in regard to Cuba, which was not ceded to the United States, although Spain relinquished her sovereignty thereover, the United States assuming by the terms of the treaty the obligations arising under international law by reason of the occupation of the Island by the mili

tary forces of this country.

What the internal relations of the United States and Cuba may be is beyond the province of this volume: but undoubtedly, so far as foreign relations are concerned, the decision Supreme Court in Fleming vs. Page is directly in At the present time there is no local government

of the

point. of Cuba, and if any question should arise involving foreign powers, it would have to be settled through the medium of the United States Government, as the military forces of the United States are in occupation of the Island.1

§ 106.

1NOTE AS TO STATUS OF CUBA.

.

The principal executive, congressional and judicial precedents relating to Cuba and the status thereof, so far as its relations with the United States are concerned are: (1) The Teller resolution of April 20, 1898; (2) the stipulations in regard to Cuba in the treaty with Spain of December 10, 1898; (3) The Foraker Amendment as to franchises in Cuba; (4) the executive orders relating to the government of Cuba and the regulation of its commerce, as promulgated by the President through the War Department; (5) the decision of the United States Supreme Court in the case of Neely vs. Henkel, in regard to the extradition of Neely under the statute passed in regard to the extradition of prisoners pation of the military forces thereof; (6) the Platt amendment in regard to the relations of the United States to Cuba, and the establishment thereof, and the Cuban constitution.

The documents referred to will be given in order below with the exception of the decision in Neely vs. Henkel, which appears as a footnote to section 107, post.

1. THE TELLER RESOLUTION.

(No. 24.) Joint resolution for the recognition of the independence

of the people of Cuba, demanding that the Government of Spain relin

§ 107. Status of Cuba involved in the Neely case; extradition. The status of Cuba was involved and determined

quish its authority and government in the Island of Cuba, and to withdraw its land and naval forces from Cuba and Cuban waters, and directing the President of the United States to use the land and naval forces of the United States to carry these resolutions into effect.

"Whereas the abhorrent conditions which have existed for more than three years in the Island of Cuba, so near our own borders, have shocked the moral sense of the people of the United States, have been a disgrace to Christian civilization, culminating, as they have, in the destruction of a United States battleship, with two hundred and sixty-six of its officers and crew, while on a friendly visit in the harbor of Havana, and cannot longer be endured, as has been set forth by the President of the United States in his message to Congress, of April eleventh, eighteen hundred and ninety-eight, upon which the action of Congress was invited: Therefore,

"Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, First. That the people of the Island of Cuba are, and of right ought to be, free and independent.

"Second. That it is the duty of the United States to demand, and the Government of the United States does hereby demand, that the Government of Spain at once relinquish its authority and government in the Island of Cuba and withdraw its land and naval forces from Cuba and Cuban waters.

"Third. That the President of the United States be, and he hereby is, directed and empowered to use the entire land and naval forces of the United States, and to call into the actual service of the United States the militia of the several States, to such extent as may be necessary to carry these resolutions into effect.

"Fourth. That the United States hereby disclaims any disposition or intention to exercise sovereignty, jurisdiction, or control over said Island except for the pacification thereof, and asserts its determination, when that is accomplished, to leave the government and control of the Island to its people."

"Approved, April 20, 1898." (U. S. Stat. at Large, Vol. 30, pp. 738

739.)

2. STIPULATIONS AS TO CUBA IN TREATY WITH SPAIN, 1898. "ARTICLE I. Spain relinquishes all claim of sovereignty over and title to Cuba.

"And as the Island is, upon its evacuation by Spain, to be occupied by the United States, the United States will, so long as such occupation shall last, assume and discharge the obligations that may under international law result from the fact of its occupation, for the protection of life and property."

“ARTICLE XVI. It is understood that any obligations assumed in this treaty by the United States with respect to Cuba are limited to the time of its occupancy thereof; but it will, upon the termination of such oc

in decisions already made by the Circuit Courts of the United States, and is also involved in questions which have been submitted to the Supreme Court.

cupancy, advise any Government established in the island to assume the same obligations." 30 U. S. Stat. at Large, 1754-1761.

3.

THE FORAKER AMENDMENT AS TO FRANCHISES IN CUBA.

66

Chap. 423 (army appropriation bill), 55th Congress, Sess. III, approved March 3, 1899: "§ 2, That no property, franchises, or concessions of any kind whatever shall be granted by the United States, or by any military or other authority whatever, in the Island of Cuba during the occupation thereof by the United States." 30 U. S. Stat. at Large, 1064, p. 1074.

to its

4. EXECUTIVE ORDERS RELATING TO CUBA.

Immediately after the exchange of the treaty of peace and even prior ratification, Spain withdrew from Cuba and relinquished all Sovereignty thereover. The formal act took place on January 1, 1899, and on that day the Military Governor, Major General John R. Brooke, U.S. A., appointed by the President of the United States, assumed control of the Island.

The best synopsis of the orders issued by the Military Governor, and the method of administering the affairs of the Island of Cuba will be found in the civil report of Major General John R. Brooke, October 1, 1899, published by the War Department, Washington, 1900; special attention is called to the report of Major Edgar S. Dudley, Judge-Advocate, U. S. V.,-Judge-Advocate for the Division of Cuba, September 30, Pages 163 et seq. of Major General Brooke's report, and to the lists

1899,

and synopses of military orders at pages 167, et seq., and 429, et seq. of the same volume.

The

These orders show that up to this time Cuba is under a strictly military government, and that both as to military and civil jurisdiction the authority of the commander in the field is practically supreme. orders are promulgated by the Military Governor and are as a general rule

War

Department. The rules of international law as to military occupancy control the relation of the United States with Cuba, and the President as Commander in Chief is supreme in power, acting, as must necessarily be the case, through the War Department and the Military Gov

ernor.

5. DECISION IN NEELY VS. HENKEL.

See note A to § 107, p. 178, post.

6. THE PLATT AMENDMENT AS TO RELATIONS WITH CUBA.

During the fall of 1900, General Leonard Wood, Military Governor of Cuba, promulgated an order permitting the people of Cuba to hold a Constitutional convention: That convention met at Havana and prepared

Persons charged with committing crimes in Cuba, and who have come to the United States, have been arrested, and in

a proposed constitution for Cuba. It ignored the relations of the United States with Cuba and accordingly, prior to March 4, 1901, when Congress adjourned, questions arose as to the course to be pursued by the President in regard to withdrawing the United States troops from Cuba if a constitution satisfactory to the United States should be adopted. The terms upon which Congress authorized the President to withdraw the troops were formulated in a series of resolutions prepared by the HonORABLE ORVILLE H. PLATT, senator from Connecticut, and offered by him in the Senate on February 27, 1901, as an amendment to the then pending army appropriation bill. They were adopted and incorporated in the bill and subsequently were accepted by the House, and the bill thus amended became a law by approval of the President on March 2, 1901.

The amendment as adopted is as follows:

"That in fulfillment of the declaration contained in the joint resolution approved April 20, 1898, entitled, 'For the recognition of the independence of the people of Cuba, demanding that the Government of Spain relinquish its authority and government in the Island of Cuba, and to withdraw its land and naval forces from Cuba and Cuban waters, and directing the President of the United States to use the land and naval forces of the United States to carry these resolutions into effect,' the President is hereby authorized to ‘leave the government and control of the Island of Cuba to its people' so soon as a government shall have been established in said island under a constitution which, either as a part thereof or in any ordinance appended thereto, shall define the future relations of the United States with Cuba, substantially as follows:

"I. That the government of Cuba shall never enter into any treaty or other compact with any foreign power or powers which will impair or tend to impair the independence of Cuba, nor in any manner authorize or permit any foreign power or powers to obtain by colonization or for military or naval purposes or otherwise, lodgment in, or control over any portion of said island.

"II. That said government shall not assume or contract any public debt, to pay the interest upon which, and to make reasonable sinking fund provision for the ultimate discharge of which, the ordinary revenues of the islands, after defraying the current expenses of Government, shall be inadequate.

"III. That the government of Cuba consents that the United States may exercise the right to intervene for the preservation of Cuban independence, the maintenance of a government adequate for the protection of life, property, and individual liberty, and for discharging the obligations with respect to Cuba imposed by the treaty of Paris on the United States, now to be assumed and undertaken by the government of Cuba.

"IV. That all Acts of the United States in Cuba during its military occupancy thereof are ratified and validated, and all lawful rights acquired thereunder shall be maintained and protected.

some cases transferred to Cuba, while in others (notably in the case of one Neely) the right of the government to transfer or extradite them from places in the United States to Cuba was challenged and submitted to the Supreme Court.

In the case of Neely, who was about to be transferred to Cuba under an act of Congress specially passed for that purpose, Justice Lacombe refused to release him on habeas cor

"V. That the government of Cuba will execute, and as far as necessary extend, the plans already devised or other plans to be mutually agreed upon, for the sanitation of the cities of the island, to the end that a recurrence of epidemic and infectious diseases may be prevented, thereby assuring protection to the people and commerce of Cuba, as well as to the commerce of the southern ports of the United States and the people residing therein.

"VI. That the Isle of Pines shall be omitted from the proposed constitutional boundaries of Cuba, the title thereto being left to future adjustment by treaty.

"VII. That to enable the United States to maintain the independence of Cuba, and to protect the people thereof, as well as for its own defense, the government of Cuba will sell or lease to the United States lands necessary for coaling or naval stations at certain specified points, to be agreed upon with the President of the United States.

"VIII. That by way of further assurance, the government of Cuba will embody the foregoing provisions in a permanent treaty with the United States."

As to many of the points therein contained the Platt amendment, as it is called, is really nothing more than a very broad construction of the Monroe Doctrine as it could be enunciated in regard to Cuba even if the terms of the Amendment were not incorporated in the Cuban Constitution or in any treaty. The United States having expended several hundred million dollars in relieving both Cuba and ourselves from the intolerable condition caused by the misgovernment of Spain, should certainly have the right before withdrawing from Cuba and leaving the inhabitants of that island to govern themselves, to properly protect the interests of the United States, so that no European complications can ever again arise in regard to that Island, which, while it should be selfgoverned, should not be left in such a position that it could again menace our own peace and safety, or require our intervention, as would undoubtedly be the case if it were permitted to make treaties with, or borrow money from, European governments. To the author it seems as though Senator Platt had, with his usual good sense and thorough mastery of international and constitutional law, formulated in the amendment which will always be associated with his name, a practical and complete solution of the whole question. Cuba will obtain her selfgovernment, and the United States will be relieved from fear of foreign complications, and at the same time the pledge contained in the Teller resolution of April 20, 1898, will be fully complied with.