Camas Prairie chronicle. [volume] (Cottonwood, Idaho) 1901-1917, 1915-08-06
FRIDAY, AUG 6, 1915.
FORTUNATE TONE OF THE
BRITISH DECLARATIONS.

BRITISH DECLlNAIlONN.
Had the controversy with Ger
many not arisen, the attitude of
Great Britain toward neutral
rights must certainly have Great
ed a delicate situation between
that country and the United
States. AS it is the German fric-
ton throws other contentious into
the shade, and yet that friction
would now seem to be modified
by the tenor of the present Brit
ish representations, which set
aside neutral rights and interests
as quite negligible with an abso-
luteness wholly characteristic of
the habitual British attitude to-
ward the rest of the world. The
international rules and practices
governing the disputed questions
have heretofore been reported by
the American state department
in various protests to the Brit
ish government, and seems to be
admitted, in the main, in the re-
plies printed today. The defense
is, in effect, that new conditions
have arisen which make establish
ed law inconvenient for belligrent
purposes, and therefore Great
Britain asserts the right and the
necessity of making its own law.
Appeals to diplomacy or to ar
j bitraton are proposed as rene.
dies for any individual injustice
the orders-in-council may work
The German government takes
substantially similar ground in its
issue with the state department
If the United States is to hole
e one belligerent to the terms Of
r established law it would seen
that it must hold the other equal
o ly accountable; or if it comedies
+ changed conditions to the one i
;; must do so equally to the other
a, "a Of course it is recognized tina
: in the one instance only propert!
= is at stake and in the other life
that is to say, Great Brit
r ain offers and is able to make in
" Identification for property wrong
fully taken, while Germany i
unable to restore life wrongful,
taken. But that distinction doe
not altogether meet the equitie
of the case. Great Britain delib
e erately makes war on American
e interests as a means of indirectl,
J. lnjuring an enemy people. Ger
many, on the other hand, make
r war, in this connection, only OF
i: Great Britain and intends no in
E. jury, direct or indirect, on Amer
g lean life and property. To sa
} that Incidental injury to Amer
= can life in such circumstances. i
view of all the facts, is casu
belli, can scarcely be maintaine
: at the bar of reason or of justice
|, We have no idea such contentio
will be sought to be maintained
except in diplomatic terminolog,
5 and then only for humanitaria
purposes, as an expression c
It what ought to be rather than c
: what must be.
Great Britain's declaratio
s therefore that it cannot abide b
). the law of nations in the trea
d ment of neutral commerce b.
cause of the novel conditions VI
der which the present war is b,
. ing fought can be regarded g
: distinctly favorable to the pre-.
ervation of the peace of tn
United States, since the Germa
It contention is thereby vindicate
a and since tolerance for the on
e connotes tolerance for the othe
It The application of the contentio
n however, is a different matte
r of course. and remains subject
limitations prescribed by GOO