New Britain herald., 1915-03-01
ALLIES S'pR0POS[DPLAN
 WITHOUT PRECEDENT
To Ao|d-Op Shipping to and From Germany and Austria.

Washington, March 1.-Inasmuch as the United States government had not been advised yesterday either through Ambassador Page or the
 British embassy here of the reported notification to neutrals of Great Brit aims intention to hold Up all shipping to and from Germany and Austria, officials were unable last night to ex- press any opinion upon this latest de- velopment.
 From the brief press report of Great Britains plan it was thought in official quarters that a blockade e~of an unprecedented character was In prospect, likely to involve many com- plicated questions of law. It was pointed out that no question has been the subject of more controversy in international law than that of block ade, and officials said that until the text of .England's declaration was re- ceived and carefully examined, it wsuld not be possible to discuss it's scope or say whether the United States would recognize it as binding l on it's vessels.
 Creates Widespread Interest.
 The proposed declaration by the allies created widespread interest among diplomats as well as officials. I Some of the foreign envoys from neu- tral countries were interested partic uarly in the intimation that England did not intend to maintain a block ade of the German coast, but would hold herself at liberty to stop all shipping no matter where encount= cred on the high seas, if bound to or from Germany.
 There is no exact precedent for such a policy, but it was considered likely in diplomatic circles that dis cussion as to it's validity and recog- hilton by neutrals would be based on the theory that "blockade' was be- ing attempted. International law has several rules as to the maintenance of a naval and commercial blackade, many of which have been incorporat- cd in conventions ratified by the pres ent belligerents as we'll as treaties between the United States and some ef,fhe European powers.
 :. Followed Rule.
 The Declaration of Paris, in 1856, which proclaimed that a blockade to be binding on neutrals must be et- fective," has been followed in rules
 
 E The Hague conference of 1907 added further rules and in the Declaration of OLndon, of 1909, were embodied the generally accepted principles of blockade England and France hay ing adopted as the basis of their in ternational law during the present war the Declaration of London, with certain modifications, that docu- ment proba bly, will be referred to in diplomatic controversies which may arise over the proposed step of the allies ne of the articles of this declaration says:
 ''The seizure of neutral vessels for violation of blockade may be made only within the radius of action of the ships of war assigned to maintain an effective blockade"
 Radius of Action "
 As for what constitutes the Ira allies One of the articles of this nation is given by the United States War college in one of it's publications as having been universally accepted
 When a government decides to undertake blockading operations against some part of the enemy coast 1t assigns a certain number of war ships to take part in the blockade, and intrusts the command of these to an officer whose duty is to insure by this means the effectiveness of the blockade. The commander of the na- val force thus formed distributes the ships placed at his disposal according to the configuration of the coast and tie geographical position of the , blockaded places, and gives each ship instructions as to the part which she Is to play, and especially as to the zone intrusted to her surveilance It is all of the zones of surveillance to- gether organized in such a manner that the blockade is effective that form the radius of action of the blockadng force.