Cresco plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1913-1945, 1915-11-12
The Note to Britain.

The Note to Britain.
The long-awaited American note t
Great Britain. protecting against tn
illegal blockade of European ports ant
the violation of international law which
has cost American shipping millions O.
dollars, has been made public. Thu
note is dated Oct. 81 and has been Of
ficially received in London.
The document is comprehensive re
view of the grievances of the United
States and other neutral nations, fran
ed in the language of the lawyer, and
the law and precedent are most force
fully arrayed in support of the Ameri'
can contention.
The note denounces the paper
blockade against Germany as in viola
ton of law, denies the right of Great
Britain to hold up neutral ships on sus'
picion and refuses to accept as final the
rulings of the British prize court.
Referring to the paper" blockade,
Secretary Lansing says:
cit is incumbent upon the United
States government therefore, to give
the British government notice that the
blockade, which they claim to have in.
stituted under the order in council OF
March II, cannot be recognized as q
legal blockade by the United States. =
It has been pointed out repeatedly
that a blockade to be such in fact must
be complete and that the assumption
that such one exists about Germany
I is to deny the existence of obvious
facts.
The British contention is that the law
governing blockades is subject to new
construction because of changed con-
ditions in railroad, steamships and COM
mercial worlds. Germany made SINH
lar claims in justification of its sub
marine warfare. But the law stands
and Germany today is complying with
it. England must do the same or 60
on record as wilful violator of accept
ed rules in the framing of which she
had large part.
The note sums up the situation of
the United States on the grievances as
follows:
s'The United States, therefore, can
not submit to the curtailment of its
neutral rights by these measures,
which are admittedly retaliatory, and
therefore illegal, in conception and in
nature. and intended to punish the enc
mics Of Great Britain for alleged IL
localities on their part.
1.-THE United States might not be in
= position to object to them If its in
terests and the interests of all neutrals
were unaffected by them, but being at
fected. e cannot with complacence suf-
fer subordination of its rights and in
terests to the plea that the exceptional
geographic positions of the enemies of
Great Britain require or justify op-,
pressive and illegal practices.
sThe government of the United
States desires, therefore, to impress
most earnestly upon his majesty's gov
eminent that it must insist that the
relations between it and his majesty's
government be governed not by pol
lev Of expediency, but by those estab-
lished rules of international conduct
unon which Great Britain in the past
has held the United States to account
when the latter nation was belllger-
ent engaged in struggle for national
existence.
at is of the highest Importance to
neutrals not only of the present day
hut of the future that the principles of
international right be maintained I'M
impaired"
The case is complete and is stated
forcefully. 1t is the case Of all neu-
trail nations whose shipping has been in
terfered with by Great Britain's un-
lawful procedure on the high seas, an
insistence that the rights of all nations
be preserved in accordance with ac-
cepted rules.
What will be the nature of the Brit
ish reply of course is problematical.
There is no threat in the American
document although it is we'll known the
United States has, in an arms embargo,
a peaceful but powerful weapon should
it choose to use it.
In any event, the administration has
laid the foundation for successful
action for recovery of damages to
American shippers in arbitration courts.
The American demand in the case
against Great Britain, as in the case
against Germany, is for strict observ-
ance of law. The people Of the United
States as well as those of all other
neutral nations stand ..squarely for this
principle.
STATE OF OHIO, CITY OF TOLEDO.
Lucas County-ss