Evening star., 1916-01-15
AdmiraIty's Recommendations
as to Germany Likely Will
Be Carried Out.
ORDERS IN COUNCIL ARE
NOT FULLY EFFECTIVE
Opposition Of United States G.us,e.
England to Shift Toward Amer.
can Contentious.

LONDON. January 15.-That Great
Britain will soon announce the estab-
lishment of an actual blockade of Ger
many and her allies. thereby suppressed
ing the condition which had been es-
tablished by the orders in council, was
the statement made today by Ameri-
cans who have been in close contact
with the machinery of the British or
ders in council In consequence OF their
acting here as representatives OF
American shippers whose business had
been affected by the execution of the
orders.
A person who can speak authorita-
lively and who has acted rs repre-
sentative of American interests in
connection with British prize court
proceedings. reviewed today for the
Associated Press the evolution or the
orders in council. He said:
The British government shows an
unmistakable tendency now to SHIFT
around to the persistently expressed
American contention that the interna-
tional law which prevailed before the
present war must ultimately govern
Great Britain's assertion of her sea
power.
Urged Actual Blockade.
at is well known that when the war
began the admiralty urged upon the
foreign Office the necessity for the dec
laration of an actual blockade. but the
latter believed that the susceptibilities
of neutrals could be better met by
orders in council. and. after the adop-
tion of these, the government began Its
linterminable agreements with neutrals.
These agreements might have sue
ceeded had it not been for the opposi-
tion of the United States, which took
the stand from the first that the orders
in council were illegal and that, there
fore. even veiled or sub rosa recogni-
tion of them, in forms similar to the
Danish agreement and the Netherlands
overseas trust. would be a surrender
of American sovereignty under inter-
national law.
Even though not indorsing the atti-
tude of the biggest of the neutrals. the
smaller neutral states began to chafe
under the agreements. which are criti-
cised as being partial. Furthermore
these agreements have always been a
direct negation of Sir Samuel Evans
famous dictum that it is inconceivable
that the British government would is
sue any orders in council which prize
court could consider as nugatory IN
recognized international law. The com.
promise out of court by the British
government with the Chicago packers
is the best concrete evidence or the
modification of the orders In council TO
law existing before the war. There Is
other evideuce of such modification and
striking tribute to the old interna-
tional law is seen in the growing
recognition of the fact that. despite its
flimsy structure, it is the only possible
code for the settlement OF the prob
LENS raised by the relations of bellig-
erents with neutrals
Substitution Expected.
.~. r,.t.,,... otta,,pte IN Suhsft-
tute a code of her own that would not
form dangerous precedents when she
herself may be a neutral are doomed
to fail, and I should not be surprised II
the foreign office adopts the course
recommended by the admiralty and de-
clares an actual blockade; II Is sIgnin
cant in this connection that the recent
parliamentary white paper when de
Tended the British blockade, used the
word blockade. and did not emphasize
the fact that orders in council had been
adopted as a reprisal measure, as did
Mr.. Asquith when they were first
adopted.
How strictly an actual blockade has
been enforced is a subject of specula-
| ton.
the recent heavy shipments to Den
mark. under the Danish agreement
the price of the German mark, ana
there are many strong adherents. hoth
in and out of parliament OF the poic!
of letting Germany import anything
except actual contra band. while keep
ing an ironclad barrier against her eN-
ports. But the British public has been
taught to believe in the efficiency of
the German food blockade. and the
government may not dare to open the
gates except in the form of sub rosa
agreements. like the very effective
Danish agreement. Ever British ON.
cials admit that a declaration OF actual
blockade would have strong backing
in American precedents which are now
lacking for the orders in council.