“The independence of a nation is absolute, and not subject to
qualification; so that nations, in respect of their intercourse
under the Common Law, are peers or equals.… Power and weakness
do not in this respect give rise to any distinction.… It
results from this equality, that whatever is lawful for
one nation is equally lawful for another, and whatever is
unjustifiable in the one is equally unjustifiable in the
other.”[71]
In our own country, Chancellor Kent, a great authority, gives the rule
with perfect clearness and simplicity:--
“Nations are equal in respect to each other, and entitled to
claim equal consideration for their rights, whatever may be
their relative dimensions or strength, or however greatly they
may differ in government, religion, or manners. This perfect
equality and entire independence of all distinct states is a
fundamental principle of Public Law.”[72]
General Halleck, whose work is not surpassed by any other in practical
value, while quoting especially Vattel and Sir William Scott, says with
much sententiousness:--
“All sovereign states, without respect to their relative power,
are, in the eye of International Law, equal, being endowed with
the same natural rights, bound by the same duties, and subject
to the same obligations.”[73]
Thus does each authority reflect the others, while the whole together
present the Equality of Nations as a guiding principle not to be
neglected or dishonored.
The record already considered shows how this principle has been
openly defied by our Government in the treatment of the Black
Republic,--first, in the menace of war by Rear-Admiral Poor, and,
secondly, in the manner of the menace,--being in substance and in form.
In both respects the Admiral did what he would not have done to a
powerful nation, what he would not have done to any white nation, and
what we should never allow any nation to do to us.
Hayti was weak, and the gallant Admiral, rowing ashore, pushed to the
Executive Mansion, where, after what he called “a friendly visit,”
he struck at the independence of the Black Republic, pointing from
the windows of the Executive Mansion to his powerful armament, and
threatening to employ it against the Haytian capital or in sinking
Haytian ships. For the present I consider this unprecedented insolence
only so far as it was an offence against the Equality of Nations, and
here it may be tried easily. Think you that we should have done this
thing to England, France, or Spain? Think you that any foreign power
could have done it to us? But if right in us toward Hayti, it would be
right in us toward England, France, or Spain; and it would be right
in any foreign power toward us. If it were right in us toward Hayti,
then might England, France, Spain, or Hayti herself do the same to us.
Imagine a foreign fleet anchored off Alexandria, while the admiral,
pulling ashore in his boat, hurries to the Executive Mansion, and then,
after announcing a friendly visit, points to his war-ships visible from
the windows, and menaces their thunder. Or to be more precise, suppose
the Haytian Navy to return the compliment here in the Potomac. But just
in proportion as we condemn any foreign fleet, including the Haytian
Navy, doing this thing, do we condemn ourselves. The case is clear. We
did not treat Hayti as our peer. The great principle of the Equality of
Nations was openly set at nought.
To extenuate this plain outrage, I have heard it said, that, in our
relations with Hayti, we are not bound by the same rules of conduct
applicable to other nations. So I have heard; and this, indeed, is
the only possible defence for the outrage. As in other days it was
proclaimed that a black man had no rights which a white man was bound
to respect, so this defence assumes the same thing of the Black
Republic. But at last the black man has obtained Equal Rights; and so,
I insist, has the Black Republic. As well deny the one as the other. By
an Act of Congress, drawn by myself and approved by Abraham Lincoln in
the session of 1862, diplomatic relations were established between the
United States and Hayti, and the President was expressly authorized to
appoint diplomatic representatives there. At first we were represented
by a Commissioner and Consul-General; now it is by a Minister Resident
and Consul-General. Thus, by Act of Congress and the appointment of a
Minister, have we recognized the Equal Rights of Hayti in the Family
of Nations, and placed the Black Republic under the safeguard of that
great axiom of International Law which makes it impossible for us to do
unto her what we would not allow her to do unto us. In harmony with the
United States, the “Almanach de Gotha,” where is the authentic, if not
official, list of nations entitled to Equal Rights, contains the name
of Hayti. Thus is the Black Republic enrolled as an equal; and yet have
we struck at this equality. How often have I pleaded that all men are
equal before the Law! And now I plead that all nations are equal before
the Law, without distinction of color.