The St. Joseph observer., 1917-02-17

war is always sufficiently difficult. In
wrapped itself completely around the
globe, and in which no continent or
no sea is free from the belligerent
flags, the position is more difficult
than ever. The numbers of the pow
.rs engaged in the war have become
such that nearly every neutral coun-
try is surrounded by them, and the
stakes at issue are so colossal that the
belligerent powers are by no means
too careful as to what may happen to
the interests of neutrals during the
struggle. The question of blockade,
for instance, which has always been
fraught with immense possibilities OF
friction between neutrals and bellig-
erents, has been stretched to the
breaking point, again and again, dur
ing the present war. When, during
the war of the North and the South,
the North established the precedent
of the continuous voyage, 1t establish
ed precedent to which the neutrals
of that day bowed, but which it was
perfectly certain that they would no!
only accept but stretch to the utmost
in the event of themselves becoming
belligerents. So 1t has come about
that, under what the government in
Berlin has defined as the law of ne
cessity, things have been done by one
power which have led to reprisals by
other powers with the result that the
neutral, submitting to the breaches of
international law by one side, has
been faced by the argument of the
other side, that If you submit, by re-
naming neutral to this infringement
of the law of nations, you cannot
to that infringement, because that in
fringement is a natural corollary to
this infringement.
It Is not too much to say that the
President Of the United States has Of
ten recognized what may be called the
Jedburgh justice of this line of argu-
ment. He has probably realized that
the theory of the continuous voyage
was as trying to the neutrals of the
period of the Civil War as the mod
ern theories of blockade, established
by the neutrals of those days, may
be to the late belligerents of the days
OF the Civil War. So long, he has said
in effect, as the questions at issue are
questions Of commerce. questions
which, indeed, can even be settled, in
their material aspect, by a tribunal
after the war, I will not press what /
conceive to be the indubitably just
claims O. the nation over whose des-
tines ! preside. But when 1t comes to
the question of the destruction of life,
when that life is taken in defiance
not only of international law, but OF
all the conventions OF The Hague
tribunals, it is absolutely necessary
that / should interfere, If for no 9TH
er reason than this, that though the
value OF a cargo may be recovered,
on the establishment Of peace, human
lives lost through infringement of in
ternational law cannot be regained.
Such being the case, Mr.. Wilson
has made 1t perfectly clear, ever since
the opening days of the struggle, that
a distinct line must be drawn between
what might be described as infringe
ment OF international law, with re-
spect to trade. and disregard of in
ternational law, with respect to life
His position has been a distinctly diff
ficult one, and his great difficulty has
arisen from the fact that the United
States is not a national unit in race
like most of the kingdoms of the Old
World, but is, as has been often said,
the melting pot of the nations. AS a
result, the syinpathies of a large part
of the people OF the United States
have been thrown on the side of the
belligerents whose actions have in
terfered with the trade OF the coun-
try, whilst the sympathies of another
section have naturally gravitated to
the side of those whose actions have
endangered the lives OF citizens of the
United States. A more difficult situ-
alton It would. perhaps, have been
impossible for any chief magistrate
10 be placed in. and probably when
the storm of controversy has passed
away. the President will have more
justice done to him, In this respect,
than is possible whilst the storm lasts.
1t is true that in all this the moral
tiles of the controversy are being left
out of the question. But the fact is
that the moralities OF the question are
30 obscured to people, blinded by ma
tional passions and political preju-
diees, and warped in their judgment
by ex parte presentations Of the case.
as to be practically nonexistent to
than The Prasidant sitting IN the