The Influence of Submarine Cables 



business messages in open text were al- 

 lowed to be sent and received from Ha- 

 vana, but only under strict military cen- 

 sorship. Similar action was taken at 

 Havana by the Governor-General of Cuba, 

 who established a rigid Spanish military 

 censorship, so that all messages were sub- 

 ject to double scrutiny. 



By his instructions General Greely 

 recognized the existence of five classes of 

 cables : 



First: Those of which the termini are 

 in the enemy's country; for instance, the 

 Cuba Submarine Cable system along the 

 south coast of Cuba. 



Second : Cables which directly connect 

 countries at war, so that each belligerent 

 controls one end of cable; for instance, 

 that of the International Oceanic Tele- 

 graph Company between Florida and 

 Havana. 



Third : Where one end of the cable is 

 in the enemy's country and the other in 

 neutral territory; for instance, the West 

 India and Panama cables extending 

 through Cuba to Porto Rico, and thence 

 to Saint Thomas. 



Fourth: Where a cable extends from 

 the coast of an offensive belligerent to a 

 neutral country contiguous to the terri- 

 tory of the defensive belligerent ; for in- 

 stance, the Haiti Cable from New York 

 City to Haiti, where there is direct cable 

 connection with the Island of Cuba. 



Fifth : Cables having one terminus in 

 the territory of the offensive belligerent 

 and the other in neutral regions remote 

 from the scene of hostility ; for instance, 

 the Atlantic cables connecting the United 

 States with Europe. 



To cables of the first class, whether the 

 property of the defending enemy or a 

 neutral corporation, was applied the sim- 

 ple and well-known rule that they are sub- 

 ject to the vicissitudes of war, and that 

 being in use for war purposes they are 

 proper objects of offensive military op- 

 erations. The orders issued to the offi- 

 cers of the Signal Corps looked upon 

 these cables, whether they were laid in 



the high sea or along the immediate 

 coast, as liable to seizure and total de- 

 struction. 



Cables of the second class were easily 

 dealt with. The cables between Key West 

 and Havana were taken possession of, 

 militarily, by Spain in Cuba and by the 

 American Army in Key West. Messages 

 going and coming were subjected to the 

 most rigid military censorship at both 

 ends of the cable. Only messages in plain 

 text bearing upon business and social sub- 

 jects were permitted, and where any sus- 

 picion existed as to the loyalty of the 

 sender were either refused or not sent. 

 Exceptional cipher messages were per- 

 mitted as a matter of courtesy and favor 

 to selected diplomatic representatives of 

 neutral nations. 



The cables of the third class were 

 viewed as contraband of war ; but it was 

 also recognized that their liability to de- 

 struction depended in a measure on the 

 locality of the cable. General Greely 

 recognized as unsettled and of doubtful 

 expediency the right of any belligerent to 

 raise from the bottom and destroy on the 

 high sea a neutral cable, merely on the 

 ground that such cable landed in a hostile 

 country. He, however, applied a more 

 rigid rule to such portions of cables, cable 

 huts, instruments, etc., as were located 

 within the territorial jurisdiction of the 

 enemy. This rule was based on the prin- 

 ciple that such cable property, whether be- 

 longing to an enemy or to neutral corpora- 

 tions, is not only subject to the vicissi- 

 tudes of war, but, being contraband of 

 war, is a legitimate object of military 

 operations. In accordance with this view 

 his orders to Colonel James Allen, Signal 

 Corps, charged him to use his utmost ef- 

 forts to cut off the south coast of Cuba 

 any cable that could be grappled and 

 picked up, either within a marine league 

 of the coast, or within range of Spanish 

 batteries. 



In Cuba and Porto Rico, during the 

 Spanish-American War, certain neutral 

 cable stations of this class fell within the 



