Birmingham state herald., 1897-03-21
INTERNATIONAL QUESTION Why Should the United States
 Recognize THE CRETAN BLOCKADE ? Text of the Official Notice to Greece Dssected and Discussed at Lenth-A One
 Sided Paper.


 the Sun Printing and Publishing Associa- tion)-Why should not :he government of the United States refuse to recognize the blockade of Crete? The terms of the official notice of the blockade which were issued by the British government in Lon don today are a direct viola tion Of the laws of nations. The no.ice directs: The ships of the six powers or neutral powers may enter into the ports occupied by the powers and land their merchandise, but only If it is not for the Greek troops on the island These ships may be visited by other ships of the international fleets.
 If any ship or officer of the blockadlng fleet undertakes to enforce these reguia- tions against vessel carrying the Amer ican flag it will be an act of war against the United States. There can be little doubt about the correctness Of thls view. Sir Walter Phillimore, who IS a strong authority upon international law, mus puts the case of rights even of British ci.izenS:
 "One should know whether the govern ment has consulted its legal advisers as to certain eventualities which are not unlikely to follow upon this so-calIeu blockade of Crete. Suppose that Brit ish ship, seeing chance of doing good trade in provisions, sails for a port in Crete. She will be perfectly in her legal rights and it will be illegal to stop her.
  so It will not be a case of trading with an enemy, and nothing short of an ac; or parliament can take away the right or any British subject to go to or trade with Crete. Suppose this ship was stopped and turned back. There will be an ire sisl.ibla claim for damages a the suit of the sufferers against the captain of the British man-of-war. suppose her frigate had sunk her. The damage will be greater. Suppose one of her crew is drowned. I see no defense to an indict- ment for murder.
 "The rights of an American vessel would, of course, be stronger. Secretary Sherman will receive today from MT. Pauncef1te, or through the Am rican en- bassy here, a formal notice of the block ade from Lord Salisbury. Every Amerl- can in London is anxious to know what his answer will be. It is mot only splendid opportunity to make use of the tremendous mcral influence which dec laration of the American view of the eastern policy of the great powers, but it is of genuine practical importance as well. It is the avowed purpose of the six powers to Starve out the Greek troops in Crete. No account is made of the in cidental starvation of the native popun- tion There is food enough now in the interior of the island to last several weeks. It is entirely within the rights of the people of New York, for instance, to send carg'oi of supplies to the beleag uered inha bitants. Is the adminstratio dl NdSH1ilS lcH ready 10 enforce tflat right?"
 A subject which has disturbed large class of Englishmen this week, much more than the crisis in the east, is a deci- sion of the full court of the queens bench, to the effect that betting ring at race track is "a place" within the meaning of the anti gambling law of 1853. This is really a serious matter compared with which such trifles as the blockade of Crete or the impending war between Greece Turkey sidered. Nearly all the newspapers of England condemn the monstrous decision of the appeal court or rather the law which it has made. It means death blow to turf betting in England and as this is one of the most sacred institu- tions of this country, the great popular uprising of the past few days is by no means surprising. It must be admitted that the court had no choice in the mat ter. Its decision was pronounced by Sir Henry Hawkins. who is one of the leading spirits of the Jockey club and who is often described as the sporting judge"
 It would have been absurd, as he him. self reluctantly declared from the bench to rule that betting enclosure at race track was not "a place., but England is speaking almost as with one voice in the matter. The Pail Mall Gazette in a patriotic, soul-stirring leader on the sub ject, points out the dreadful conse- quences of the courts action. Bookmak- CTS ana Inelr CllSntS, IL says, dFe 10 De Qe- prived of the guarantees implied by de- posits, and acknowledgements and are to be reduced to betting on the nod. with all its temptations to repudiation and evasion of settlement. It is the old story of legisla ton attempting and sig nally failing to regulate morality. The law as declared by the decision, is down. right nonsense. It must, of course, be amended
 There is no doubt about the public re- sponse to this appeal. England may be indifferent to the slaughter of a few thousand Armenians or to the shelling of Christian nuns by British ships, but a grievance such as this last must and will be wiped out The storm of public protest is so great that it has frightened the anti-gambling league, which was the plaintiff in the case which caused the decision. Its secretary has hastened to avert the threatened doom of himself and his associates by writing to the Pall- Mall Gazette that the editor "is quite mistaken in supposing that any legal or legislative aim of ours have ever been made to sweep away betting altogether. All we ever dreamed of attempting was the suppression of betting as trade, to which ninc-tenths of the evils of betting are traceable."
 ment of the act of 1853 which will enable Englishmen once more to bet on the derby without running the risk of the loser repudiating his losses, will be speed fly introduced Tn parliament. PerndpS it will be allowed to pass by unanimous consent
 Some very mean men have got 10 work in connection with Queen Victoria's forthcoming so-called diamond jubilee and they are having very good time, despite the denunciations of people who think they have monopoly of all the virtues The sinners on this occasion are the owners of house property in the poorer quarters along the route of the royal prOceSSiOn on June 22, This class of property Is almost invaria bly, let on weekly or monthly tenance. but the com- mon people, obvious of their frail tenure have been letting their windows at prices pay rent for whole year. This has axcoadinnIv s,rieued the vhn