Mr. Hay to Señor Márquez.
Washington , August 1, 1900 .
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note of the 25th ultimo, touching the right of the insurrectionary forces now at war with the Government of Colombia to recognition as belligerents, and in reply I beg to say that the present attitude of affairs in Colombia appears to render it unnecessary to discuss the claims and doctrines announced in your note further than to say that at no time has the status of the insurgent movement seemed to require this Government to examine into the question of any possible claim to belligerent rights on their part from the view point of international law and precedent.
As to your further claim, that the vessels controlled by the insurgent forces “are according to the provisions of international law, subject to the same conditions as piratical vessels,” it does not appear necessary to enlarge upon the doctrine as enunciated, especially as it has heretofore been the occasion of extended correspondence between the two Governments. It will, I think, suffice to recall to your attention the note addressed by Mr. Secretary Bayard to your esteemed predecessor, Señor Becarra, under date of April 24, 1885, and especially to the following statement contained therein:
The Government of the United States can not regard as piratical vessels manned by parties in arms against the Government of the United States of Colombia, when such vessels are passing to and from ports held by such insurgents, or even when attacking ports in the possession of the National Government. In the late civil war, the United States at an early period of the struggle surrendered the position that those manning the Confederate cruisers were pirates under international law. The United States of Colombia can not, sooner or later, do otherwise than accept the same view. But, however this may be, no neutral power can acquiesce in the position now taken by the Colombian Government. Whatever be the demerits of the vessels in the power of the insurgents, or whatever may be the status of those manning them under the municipal law of Colombia, if they be brought by the act of the National Government within the operation of that law, there can be no question that such vessels, when engaged as above stated, are not, by the law of nations, pirates; nor can they be regarded as pirates by the United States. The status of purpose or of employment which the Government of Colombia seeks to create against such vessels by decreeing them to be pirates, is, of course, wholly distinct from their inherent status as floating property. On this latter point we are not as yet adequately informed. The commanders of the naval vessels of the United States on the Colombian coast have, however, been told that if conclusive proof be shown that any vessels belonging to citizens of the United States have been unlawfully taken from them, the recovery of such property by the owners, or by others acting in their behalf, to the end of its restoration to their legitimate control, is warrantable. Such a right is inherent, depending wholly upon the circumstances of the case, and can not be derived from or limited by any municipal decree of the Colombian Government like that which you now bring to my notice.
Accept, etc.