The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1915-03-23
PEOPLES FORUM


Hands Off
Editor Virginian:
Sir,--It is natural and obvious consequence
II the general disturbance of trade and com
merce resulting from the European war that
! We should become FESTIVE under tho restraints
with which our communication with European
nations both belligerent and neutral, has been
visited as the allied powers and the confederate
Germans and Austrians have In mutual retalia-
ton alternately approached point threaten
ing tho utter extinction Of American commerce
with the European market.
The American manufacturer unstudied in the
uiceties Of international law, if, indeed there be
any such definite BODY of law. would find lit
tie satisfaction in tho assurance that German
and English naval commanders could Justify
their aggressons upon neutral merchant ships
hy appeal to the principles precedents OF
what is merely the ghost of a system of juris-
prudence. The fact of the business is, might
wen be imagined, that under no circumstances
is the force of the maxim inter leges
silent, more apparent than in the of
armed conflict in which the leading commercial
and military powers o. the world engaged
IN life and death struggle and the history
Of mankind ubounds IN evidence of the truth of
this saying. Doctrnaires may IN the quetude
CT the study elaborate upon the dogmas o
Vattel, Grotue and Puffendorf, and conceive
that they have built fabric of juridical
science which will obtain the suffrage Of man
kind the common law of the nations, but
very slight acquaintance with history suffces
IL show tina. the limitations which the prIu-
ctpIes OF this ideal science impose are In times
ot stress Of national peril. Of profound
popular excitement hut withes OF straw. There
l4s nc such thing; when war is fragrant right
is interpreted in terms Of force, and the dicta of
prlze-courts the resolutions of cabinets and
solennest treaties arc forgotten or are whistled
down with the wind Sauve qu peut is the
word. which being translated. NAV be rendered
Each man for himself and the devil take the
hindmost." Napoleon made little account OF the
abstract doctrines OF the publcists: his Cont
&Fu1 foot - all 4y4a
ditions Of the writer's the subject Of inter
national law. England, relying then as now,
upon the efficiency Of her navy. early in the
nineteenth century aroused the ire of the
Young American rep1blc BY claiming the I'M
rest ricted right OF seizure and search von the
/ high seas. and her iusistanee upon this
! brought on the War of 1912, of which the Gull
mination the battle of New Orleans and the
defeat OF Packenham ny Andrew Jackson. The
Federal Government. in our own Civil War.
eNinced blind disregard on more than oc-
cason OF its international duty declared
by the text-writers and in one instance. II VIC
remember Alright its warships into the
harhor of Itio de Janerio to cut out and de-
f4roy the Confederate cruiser Florida: in an
other, defied tho neutral flag of England TO
effect the CAPTURE OF Mason ana Slidei and
to convey them aboard the San Jacinto To a
Federal prison place Of detention. Small
wonder, therefore. that in the stress of battle
both German. English and French should refuse
to he held within the straight limits of the
doctrines, SO plausible in the piping times OF
peace when mankind approach With some
degree ~ philosophy the abstract questions
Involved bat 50 awkward when the task is 70
lay the enemy 10y the heels by boot, or crook.
We might as we'll to use the expression of
the card table. LAY hand In this great
crisis. snce protest against the INVASION az
the tightful privileges, so To speak. Of ArnerI-
can traders is 10 purpose unless also
mean to enforce these protests by the mailed
hand. which is to say. by means of 14-inch
guns and divers and sundry blue-coated sailors
TO man them. The question recurs; If we are
to stop short of actual war. what we going
10 do about it,: and fancy that with al,
\ object lesson yividly before us OF the horrors
OF modern war. tho element among Us who
would demand armed Intervention by the United
States in the present struggle. would be numeri-
, calS very small Nor is there any real or Ger
tain reason. the combat progresses why the
combatants should not admouish all strangers
TO clear the ring and stand aside until the DIFF
ficulty is settled hammer and tougs War as
il is being waged in Europe is no opera bouffe
performance. nor has Il been Of this char
acter when il was waged Ia dead earnest.
Rules OF civilized warfare" is a meaningless
phrase. ansexpression, indeed that involves an
essential contradiction in terms.
The indignation which the German Govern
ment manifested at what IT pleased TO term
the "murderous" policy OF England In her at
tempt to starve the civil population of Germany
lie sheer affectation the exclusion OF foodstuffs
from German ports by means of the search and
seizure OF merchant ships the high seas
greater hardship than would blockade. and
even the most bcnignant of the authorities on
the subject accord the right Of the nation possess
ing the superior fleet sin being Theoretically
to seal the ports of the other belligerent In
fact, It was Just this process that enabled the
Federal Government finally to overthrow the
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