Evening star., 1916-04-12
Stand at Wars Beginning.


AT the beginning of the war his
ma jesty's government adhered to ar
ticles As and Al of the declaration of
London, as interpreted by the report
of the drafting committee. They took
this step as a matter of convenience,
being at liberty, as the declaration was
an unratified instrument. to cancel at
any time their adherence, provided al
ways that their subsequent action did
not conflict with the general principles
of international law. When the Ger
man authorities began to remove able
bodied persons of military age from the
occupied portions of France and Bel
gium, his majesty's government, as in
dicated in the circular note which 1
had the honor to address on the 4th of
November, 1914. to the representatives
of neutral powers in London, felt that
they could no longer accept the re-
strictive Interpretation placed for prac-
tical reasons on the terms of article
A. of the declaration of London by the
report of the drafting committee. and
that they must arrest all enemy reServ-
lists found on board neutral ships on
the high seas, no matter where they
might be met.
Attempt Conditioned.
II am aware that the United States
earlv in .the war that the belligerent
powers should adopt the declaration of
London in its entirety as a code of in
ternational naval law. did not find
general acceptance, have declared that
they no longer consider the declara-
ton as being in force. / have referred
at some length to the bearings of the
declaration on the position of his
H.,
because article Al represents the
latest, if not the only, attempt to ar
rive at a definition. by common consent
of the chief maritime nations. of the
law in regard to the matter. The at
tempt was necessarily conditioned by
the experience of previous wars, and
the definition was reached after
weighing the claims and the conven-
ience of neutral shipping against the
Importance to belligerent powers, as
shown by the experience of previous
wars, of preventing enemy subjects
from proceeding to their destination
and pursuing the hostile purposes for
which they were organized
Glasses Not Protected.
1T is evident. however. from the
foregoing observations that the princi-
nle toften contended for in the past
nv certain continental nations) that
there are certain classes of persons
who are not protected by neutral
eae on the high seas and may, there
fore. without any invasion of the SOW
ereign rights of the neutral be removed
from a neutral chip is now generally
admitted The carriage of such per-
sons may in some cases amount to un-
neutral service, rendering the ship liable
10 condemnation; but even when this
10 not So the removal of such persons
from neutral ship by belligerent
does not Justify any complaint by the
in the present case is, therefore.
wbether the character and position of
tha nersons removed from the China
were such as to bring the case within
the principle enunciated above.
Cites Dangerous Activities.
"1,be present war has shown that the
helligerent activity of the enemies of this
country Is by no means confined to the
actual theaters of military and naval
onerations and that there is no limit to
the methods by which Germany in par
ticular seeks to secure victory for her
arms The hostile efforts of the enemy
nave shown, and continue to show, them
selves on neutral soil in many parts of
the world in political intrigues, reyolu-
tionary plots, schemes for attacking the
sea borne trade of this country and her
allies endeavors to facilitate the opera-
tions of ships engaged in this task, and
in criminal enterprises of different kinds
directed against the property of neutrals
feet been extended far beyond the bounds
T1sNCtin,,e6 ~, Sooon5