New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-03-22
Make U-Boat Piracy a Crime
Blu !. Hampden Dougherty

law. I recall no such case o. recent years
but. il mistake not, the statute OF 1919 is IN
substance still part of the criminal law OF
the United States.
The only rules recognized among the lead
ing nations OF the world governing the
conduct Of beligerents at sea are those
which were incorporated in the Declaration
of Paris in 1856, those formulated by the
two international conferences al The Hague
in 1899 and 1905, ard those set forth in the
Declaration of London in 1909. One will
look in vain in any of these for support Tor
Germany's pretensions to block neutral COM
merce or any sanction for the abhorrent
treatment she metes out to those who oppose
her will. The delegates who assembled IN
these conferences aimed to mitigate the
awfulness of war. not 10 intensity II, certain
" not to let loose upon non-combatants such
savarery as the modern world has never
before known. Imagine Germany's repre-
sentatives suggesting at The Hague or in
London that in case of imperious necessity
She should be at liberty to interdict neutral
commerce to the extent of her sovereign
pleasure, and TO sink without warning any
vessel daring to defy her will! Their pro-
posals would have been greeted as attempts
to revive cold blooded piracy upon colossal
scale. The nation that would dream of in
auguratins such warfare would have been
denounced as an enemy to society.
Before the Bar of History
Although. as / think, the law of nations
would teach the Kaiser's enemies or neutrals
how to deal with him should he ever fall
into their hands. nevertheless, in order to
obviate all possible doubt of the legality of
his punishment for future butcheres at sea,
the lawmakers of England and France, and
of the United States also, should, respect
fully urge. Immediately enact a statute max
ing the sinking of a Lusitania, Sussex, q
California, "a crime not only under the law OF
nations, but also by the positive law of their
respective commonwealths. All participants
accomplices. confederates of whatever rank
or station including the Satanic insprer and
chief. without whose authorization these
crimes would be forever impossible, here
after guilty of sinking any vessel entitled
under the laws Of the sea as interpreted by
civilized nations, to immunity from such
atrocious attacks, should be made punishable
with death. Whether such laws would serve
10 stop the commission of these offences, the
legitimacy Of the conviction of the wrong
doer would be beyond doubt before the bar
of history. 1t could not be objected that pun
ishment had been administered for an act
not crime by statute at the time of its COM
mission. Doubt could not overshadow the
legality of the Kaiser's execution, as, accord
ing to some historians, it does the beheading
of Charles | of England or Louis XVI OF
France. The jurisdiction of the nation
against whose subjects the offence was com
mitted to try and punish the offender would
be complete. To torpedo vessel flying the
American flag would be AZ much crime as
to land upon American soil and there kill
innocent women and children. To sink a
ship of British registry would be tantamount
to murder done upon British territory. Let
those whose acts can find no parallel except
among the worst monsters of the world be
warned of the possible fate in store for
them. Napoleon finally fell into the hands
of his enemies. A like destiny may overtake
William III. He should then be speedily, but
legitimately, executed. The fate OF thou
sands, whose lives, in violation of every code,
he has ordered to be sacrificed, calls for his
punishment. not as an act of repr'sal, but of
simple justice 1t insults the moral sense
of the world to treat his undersea hirelings,
in the event Of their capture, as prisoners
of war.
To conclude t seems to me that Pariia-
ments and Congresses ought at once to enact
laws to reach these awful instances of out
lawry. The welfare of society demands it,
in order TO prevent their recurrence.
Paris, France, Feb. II, 1917.