on the part of European nations. The _Itata_,
an armed vessel commanded by a naval officer of the insurgent fleet,
manned by its sailors and with soldiers on board, was seized under
process of the United States court at San Diego, Cal., for a violation
of our neutrality laws. While in the custody of an officer of the court
the vessel was forcibly wrested from his control and put to sea. It
would have been inconsistent with the dignity and self-respect of this
Government not to have insisted that the _Itata_ should be returned to
San Diego to abide the judgment of the court. This was so clear to the
junta of the Congressional party, established at Iquique, that before
the arrival of the _Itata_ at that port the secretary of foreign
relations of the Provisional Government addressed to Rear-Admiral Brown,
commanding the United States naval forces, a communication, from which
the following is an extract:

The Provisional Government has learned by the cablegrams of the
Associated Press that the transport _Itata_, detained in San Diego by
order of the United States for taking on board munitions of war, and
in possession of the marshal, left the port, carrying on board this
official, who was landed at a point near the coast, and then continued
her voyage. * * * If this news be correct this Government would deplore
the conduct of the _Itata_, and as an evidence that it is not disposed
to support or agree to the infraction of the laws of the United States
the undersigned takes advantage of the personal relations you have been
good enough to maintain with him since your arrival in this port to
declare to you that as soon as she is within reach of our orders his
Government will put the _Itata_, with the arms and munitions she took
on board in San Diego, at the disposition of the United States.

A trial in the district court of the United States for the southern
district of California has recently resulted in a decision holding,
among other things, that inasmuch as the Congressional party had not
been recognized as a belligerent the acts done in its interest could not
be a violation of our neutrality laws. From this judgment the United
States has appealed, not that the condemnation of the vessel is a matter
of importance, but that we may know what the present state of our law
is; for if this construction of the statute is correct there is obvious
necessity for revision and amendment.

During the progr