Bellevue (Borough of Pennsylvania)

Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)

a borough of Pennsylvania in Allegheny co. It is on the Pittsburgh, Ft. Wayne, and Chicago railroad, and on the Ohio river. It adjoins Pittsburgh, of which it is a suburb. There is a large hospital and a memorial park. Pop. (1910) 6,323; (1920) 8,198. BELLIGERENT. When two sovereign states (nations) are at war with each other, both are "belligerents" under international law and are recognized by neutral states as possessing certain privileges technically known as "belligerent rights." Where one of the parties to the war is not a state, but a group or faction in revolt against the government of its parent state, the revolting faction does not acquire the status of belligerency and become entitled to belligerent rights merely through the fact of being engaged Whether in war. this is accorded, either by the parent state status other states, depends upon conditions. The parent state will in many most cases accord it reluctantly all. Other states will in general be , if at guided by considerations of their own interest and convenience and will as a rule insist upon certain conditions, of which the following are the most important: The revolting faction must have established a stable government able to maintain order within the territory under its control; the objects sought by this government must be litical, not personal; hostilities must be pocarried on in accordance with the rules of civilized warfare; the proportions of the revolt must be such as to justify belief in its possible success. Even when all of these conditions exist, a neutral state friendly to the parent state will be slow to recognize tion as a belligerent unless its own interthe revolting facests are threatened; as for example, in cases where the field of hostilities is near the border of the neutral state, or where the war includes at sea covering the routes of neutral operations commerce. A neutral state, having decided to recognize a revolting faction as a belligerent, usually gives formal notice of such recognition by issuing a tion defining the new attitude which it proclamaproposes to assume toward the parties to the war. This attitude having been announced rights result, so far as the recognizing , the following belligerent state is concerned: 1. The right to establish and maintain a blockade. 2. The right for vessels of war of the belligerent to visit merchant vessels of the neutral on the high seas, to examine their papers, and to search for contraband of war. This is technically known as the right of "visit and search." 3. The right for vessels of war of the belligerent to enter the harbors of the neutral state, subject to certain limitations as to length of stay and the kind and quantity of supplies that may be received. As a general rule, not more than three vessels of war of a belligerent are permitted in a neutral port at one time. The length of stay is limited to twentyfour hours except where the weather or the condition of the ships makes it unsafe to put to sea. If vessels of war of both belligerents are in a neutral harbor simultaneously, a period of not less than twenty-four hours must elapse after the departure of one of these before the other is permitted to depart. Only sufficient supplies of fuel may be taken to enable the belligerent ship to reach the nearest home port. Only such repairs may be made as are necessary to make the vessel seaworthy. A belligerent vessel of war which remains in a neutral port beyond the prescribed time limit thereby loses the right to leave the port during the continuance of the war and must be prevented from leaving by disabling the machinery or by other effective steps taken by the neutral authorities. Such a ship is technically "interned." Belligerents are required by international law to respect the neutrality of other powers by complying loyally with all of the above requirements, and, in general, by refraining, in neutral territory or neutral waters, from all acts which could subject the neutral government to the charge of failing in its duty toward the other belligerent. No act of hostility can be performed within the waters of a neutral, which waters extend to a line three miles off the coast, nor can the right of visit and search be exercised in such waters. The status of a revolting faction which has not yet been recognized as a belligerent is that of "insurgency," and the recognition accorded at this stage goes no farther than is essential for the transaction of absolutely necessary business; such, for example, as arranging for the security of the life and property of foreign citizens resident within the territory controlled by the insurgent authorities. The privileges which may be accorded to insurgents are not clearly defined, nor is the practice uniform. It is certain that insurgent ships have no right of "visit and search," and no right to enter neutral ports. Nor may they blockade the ports of the parent state even when, as in the case of the Brazilian insurgents in 1893, they have control of the entire navy of the state. On the other hand, the parent state is not in a position to blockade the insurgent ports. In the nature of the case, a sovereign state cannot blockade itself, and so long as the war is held to be merely an insurrection, the ports controlled by the insurgents are theoretically subject to the laws of the state itself, not to international law. And blockade is a function of international, not of municipal, law. At the beginning of the American Civil War, in 1861, the Federal Government declared a blockade of the Confederate ports, thereby inadvertently recognizing the Confederacy as a belligerent power; and Great Britain and other European powers immediately accorded the same recognition, in spite of protests from the United States Government. It sometimes happens that the parent state recognizes the belligerency of an insurgent faction for the purpose of relieving itself of responsibility for the actions of the insurgents. So long as the state maintains that the struggle going on within its borders is merely an insurrection, not a war, just so long the state remains responsible to the world for damage done to other powers by the insurgents. With the recognition of belligerency by the parent state, this responsibility ceases. Similarly, if the parent state refuses recognition but other states grant it, the responsibility ceases for damage suffered by such states but not for states which have not granted recognition. It is sometimes stated, even by authorities on international law, that insurgents have no standing in law and that they are subject to treatment as pirates and outlaws. This view cannot be maintained. Their rights, although limited and undefined, are real, and unquestionably include the right to treatment in accordance with the laws of war so long as they themselves observe these laws. The recognition of belligerency is a very different thing from the recognition of independence. The two may go together, but whereas the recognition of independence carries with it that of belligerency, the converse is far from being the case. Belligerency without independence gives no right to diplomatic representation at a foreign capital, although envoys are sometimes informally received as a matter of convenience.