Bonners Ferry herald. [volume] (Bonners Ferry, Idaho) 1904-current, 1915-11-12
NOTE BY LANSING STATES IN
TENT TO CHAMPION INTEG-
RlTY NEUTRALs' RIGHTS.
RAPS HER BLOCKADE ORDER
Will Not Allow Expediency to Be Gov
erning Policy-Prize Court Juris-
diction Not ecognized-Cannot
Submit to Expediency.

ain, made public here today, covering
exhaustively British interference with
American trade since the beginning of
the European war, declares that the
so-called blockade instituted by the al
lies against enemy countries on March
II, is ineffective, illegal and indefens-
ible."
Notice is served that the American
government "can not submit to the
curtailment Of its neutral right, and it
can not with complacence suffer fur
Their subordination of its rights and
interests"
Expediency Not to Govern.
Ambassador Page, to whom the note
was sent by special messenger for de-
livery to the London foreign office,
was instructed by Secretary Lansing
"to impress most earnestly" upon the
British government that the United
States government must insist that the
relations between it and his majesty's
government be governed, not by a
policy of expediency, but by those es-
tablished rules of international con-
duct to which Great Britain in the past
has held the United States to account
when the latter nation was belliger-
ent engaged in a struggle for national
existence.
Declaring the United States "unhesi-
Itatingly assumes" the task of cham
pioning the integrity of neutral rights,
the note proclaims that the American
government will devote its energies to
the task of exercising them with an
impartial attitude.
The note, nearly $4,000 words in
length, was made public by agreement
between the state department and the
British foreign office. 1t carries with
it voluminous appendix, giving the
text of American naval instructions
issued in 1862 and a summary, and
table showing hundreds of vessels de-
tanned by British authorities since the
beginning of the present war.
Deals With All Phases of Contraband
The body of the note is divided into
35 points, dealing with all phases of
the contraband question, seizures and
detentions, prior to, as well as after,
the so-called blockade was instituted,
and announces that separate com
munication will be sent soon dealing
particularly with the "propriety and
right of the British government to
include in their list of contraband of
war certain articles which have been
so included"
In conclusion, after an argument on
the law and facts, Secretary Lansing
says:
II believe it has been conclusively
shown that the methods sought to be
employed by Great Britain to obtain
and use evidence of enemy destination
of cargoes bound for neutral ports and
to impose a contraband character
upon such cargoes are without justi-
fication; that the blockade, on which
such methods are partly founded, is in
effective, illegal and indefensible;
that the judicial procedure offered as
a means of reparation for an interna-
tional injury is inherently defective
for the purpose, and that in many
cases jurisdiction is asserted in viola
ton of the law of nations.
Can Not Submit to CurtaIment.
1.-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 en-
emies of Great Britain for alleged il
LOCALITIES on their part. The United
States might not be in a position to
object to them if its interests and the
interests of all neutrals were unaf-
fected by them, but, being affected, it
= can not with complacence suffer fur
Their subordination of its rights and
interests to the plea that the excep-
tional geographic position of the enc
mics of Great Britain require or justi-
fly oppressive and illegal practices.
1.-THE government of the United
States desires, therefore, to impress
most earnestly upon his majesty's gov
eminent that it must insist that the re-
lations between it and his majesty's
government be governed, not by pol
icy Of expediency, but by those estab-
lished rules Of international conduct
upon which Great Britain in the past
} has held the United States to account
when the latter nation was a belliger-
ent engaged in struggle for national
! existence. It is of the highest i'm
portance to neutrals not only of the
present day, but of the future, that the
principles Of international right be
} maintained unimpaired.
America Champion of Neutral Rights.
This task of championing the in
tegrity of neutral rights, which have
received the sanction of the civilized
!, world against the lawless conduct of
!, belligerents arising out of the bitter
ness of the great conflict which is