LORD DUFFERIN AND THE MAINE

Waikato Argus, Volume IV, Issue 281, 30 April 1898, Page 1 (Supplement)

LORD DUFFERIN AND THE MAINE

The Marquis of Duffcrin was asked tho following question by the New York " World ":—" If the Maine explosion shall prove to have been caused by design, yet through no fault of the Spanish Government, what action of Spain would satisfy the diplomatic requirements of the situation P Could the crime be treated as a casus belli ?' His lordship's reply, which was cabled, and is printed in the " World," is as follows : —" In reply to the question contained in your letter, I can only say that, in ray opinion, the crime of a private individual, however wicked and abominable, anl hivever disastrous iu its couquenses, if omruitted on his own initiative, can never become a just ca<us belli between two nations. The other day the President of u South American Republic was murdered by a man alleged to be an Eugli-h subjW. The assassination of the chief of a Stite undoubtedly is one of tho most heino is offences in criminal catogory. Yet tv> one could contend that the Republic thus widowed of its chief would be entitled to make war on Groat Britain. History mentions other occasions where similar attempts upon the lives of rulers have been made without any question having ensued of hos'ilities between the injured country and the country of which the assassin was a subject, oveu though it might be a matter of common notoriety that a section of his compatrio's might be disposed to applaud the act. For instance, the assassin of the late President Cirnot was an Italian, yet on the occasion of tho President's lamented death tli9re was no question of war between Italy and France. The melancholy loss of life consequent upon the destruction of the Maine adds to tho horror of tho catastrophe, but would not remove it, even if the result of a crime which seems hardly probable, from tho catogory of cases to which I havo re f erred."