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408 HARVARD LAW REVIEW. agents, not as vehicles of information on the affairs of state. Such information as may be gathered by newspaper correspon- dents is of course not such as the government may rely on. Trust- worthy information sometimes comes from the government itself which is attacked. This happened (in cases about to be examined), where Colombia informed us of an insurrection in her territory, and requested us to treat the insurgents as pirates ; and where our Minister informed Belgium of our rebelHon, and requested the issuance of a proclamation against privateering. Our knowledge of the insurrection may be obtained from an invasion of our soil by the parties, as happened in the Canadian insurrection of 1837. If these means of information fail, the only safe course would seem to be that usually pursued by our government when a new state or government claims recognition as such, and the claim is disputed ; that is, a special commission should be sent to investigate and report upon the facts. Until information of the nature of the contest is obtained by our government in some such way, it is both undignified and unsafe to attempt to determine the state of facts in a foreign country. Supposing the existence of belligerency to have become known as a fact, the necessity of formally recognizing that fact remains to be shown. " To precipitate recognition must be regarded as an inimical act towards the original state government." ^ This neces- sity also is a matter of fact, and one the decision of which is a political, not a judicial question, but a question of the greatest delicacy, which ought to be determined only after a careful study of the precedents, both American and European. Let us there- fore examine historical instances of the recognition of belligerency. The first occasion for action on the part of the United States in the case of a war for independence occurred when the South American colonies of Spain revolted, early in the century. The first province to revolt was Buenos Ayres, which began hostilities in 1 8 10, though the actual declaration of independence did not occur till 1816. On September i, 1815, President Madison issued the following proclamation.^ " Whereas information has been received that sundry persons, citizens of the United States, ... are conspiring together to begin or set on foot ... a military expedition or enterprise against the dominions of Spain, 1 Walker's Science, p. 117. 2 Amer. State Papers, For. Relations, vol. iv. p. i.