Bisbee daily review., 1915-06-13
HAGUE CONVENTION
 HAS ID BE ALTERED
 AFTER PRESENT WAR
OCCuranceS in the Present Great Conflict VIII NecesSitate Many Sweeping Changes in Hague Convention.

BERLIN. June l2.- Tho changes tha- the present war may render ne. cessary in the decreos of the Hague convention are discussed at consider able leneth in an article by Professor Si-uard lbscu, which is prominently published Tn the Vossische Zeiung New conditions and developments without precedent iu former history. says Prof lbsen must be provided for in new reeulauous and treaties Tn naval warfare. for example he ob- served
 "The right Co wage war at sea must be regulated anew In fact. this has never been established on firm basis But no one could have foreseeu that it rested on a founda. tiou so utterly unstable as events have proved.
 There have been many attempts to place the law for war at sea on a firm foundation. The second Hague convention and the London conference Of 1909 drew mp a whole list of repu- lations in relation Co sea warfare which altogether made a complete book of statutes on the subject But the difficulty was that many of these regulatious were either rendered un- workable by reservations or did not gain the force of law through failure Co obtain recognition from the govern emnts concerned This was the fault of the most important volume of de- clar8tious. the oft-Quoted London De- clarations. and England was able very soon without announcing any forma, breach of the law to overstep the boundaries of the agreement Natur. ally Germany went in for reprisals. and the result is a sea warfare which stands in contradiction to almost every International right that has so far been laid down
 However. uncertain the obligations were in the past. there were certain limitations which could not be over stepped. But it seems that at pres eut there is no limitation to the claim of every State to do as it pleases. The law Of contrahand has received a de- velopment which no one foresaw. The trade and the shipping of neutral countries have been placed under a control which has become humiliatinc. The sinking Of enemy merchant ships, which formerly was allowed only when unavoidable has now become a regular practice.
 "This condition of things is due to the working of two factors In the first place. sea warfare has become a much more intensive way than here. tofore anyone could have believed. a battle Of financial weapons. a bitter fight for tte. means of existence. In the second place the improvement Of the modern means of war. in particu. lar the submarines and mines. has de yeIope1 a kind Of war which is with out precedent in former history and which falls by necessity outside the range Of international law. which was adapted to conditions very different from the present
 AI this must be put right at the next Hague conference. It will be the aim oi the conference to make inter- national law as far as possible square with these new facts More than this one cannot say at- the present No one can say what regulations win be drawn up for contraband block. ades and other matters of this kind. or what code of conduct can be drawn up for combatants in this sphere of warfare. or what can be conceded tu ueutrals.
 These regulations must be drawn u7 in the light of experience and ac. s-=--a.-a.---