New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-01-25
The Freedom Of the Seas

asked on Tuesday: What does Mr.. Wilson
mean, also, when he says that the paths
of the seas must alike in law and In fact
be free and that That freedom is the sine
qua non Of peace"
"Tbe Post" thinks il knows what the
President meant. It quotes sentence
near the end Of his address to the Senate
in which he said: al am proposing
that freedom of the seas which in inter
national conference after international
conference representatives of the United
States have urged with the eloquenee OF
those who are the convinced disciples OF
liberty" The last minute qualification OF
his earlier sweepdng statement that the
maths of the seas must alike in law and
in fact be free" commits the President, In
"The POSTS opinion, merely to that mi
croscopic extension Of neutral rights which
the American delegates to the second
Hague conference in 1907 tried vainly to
get incorporated into revision OF the
rules Of warfare at sea.
The Hague conference voted down the
American amenomcnO "hiSh iS@~ 90 '
lows:
"The private property Of all citizens or
subjects Of the signatory powers, with the
execution Of coHtrabGnd Of 10aT, shall be
exempt from capture and seizure on the
sea by the armed vessels or by the mill
tary forces of any Of the signatory pow
srs."
In 1907 this amendment might have rep
resented material extension Of the rights
of neutrals. 1t represents nothing OF that
sort to-day. The present conflict has revo-
lutionized all the old practices of war at
sea. The powers which control the sea
have not only declared practically every
article Of commerce contraband, but have
declared blockades against the countries
of the Central European alliance which
exceed in severity even our own blockade
Of the Confederate States from 1861 to
1866. Neutral commerce with the neutral
states adjacent to Germany is regulated
as completely by the Entente Allies as If
those states constituted a part Of the
blockaded enemy area.
Had the amendment which the American
delegates to the Hague Conference support
ed been adopted in 1907, instead Of being
defeated, the situation of the neutral ma
tons in this war would have been not a
whit better. Neither would the situation OF
the belligerent nations have been materi-
ally improved. Great Britain's Orders in
Council have seen to it that freedom of
commerce anywhere within the European
zone. except between the Allied Powers
themselves or between them and neutrals
has been virtually extinguished.
We think it preposterous, therefore, &c
hold that President Wilson had in mind the
modest and inconsequential revision Of the
rules Of war at sea which "The Post" say;
he had when he talked on Monday about
making the seas free. He must have hac
something bigger and more effective thar
that in view when he used this expansive
and spacious, If also somewhat enigmatic
language;
''No doubt somewhat practical reconsid
Grafton Of many Of the rules Of interna'
tional practice hitherto sought 10 be estab-
lished may be necessary in order to make
the seas indeed free and common, in practi-
cally all circumstances, for the use OF
mankind, but the motive for such changes
is compelling"
Those large accents would hardly have
been wasted on the familiar proposition
now absolutely dwarfed in importance, &c
make all private property, not contTGbdnd
immune from capture at sea.
If the paths of the seas are TO be made
free in any ineligible sense, commercial
hlockades must be abandoned. The con-
traband list must also either be rigidly
restricted or abolished. On the same day
that President Wilson was talking to the
Senate the American Institute Of Interna-
tonal Law, sitting in Havana, Cuba, was
receiving the draft Of new code Of mari
time neutrality, prepared by its secretary
Or. Alexandra Aware, working in con-
junction with Mr.. Lansing, Mr.. Wilson's
Secretary Of State This code makes real
changes in the rules Of warfare at sea
changes which would 10 some extent jug
tfy Mr.. Wilson's buoyant rhetoric II
abollshes commercial blockades, forbids the
capture of private property at sea, abol-
ishes the right Of search and prohibits the
confscation or examination Of mail, wheth-
or enemy or neutral
The adoption of such code would be a
long step toward the free use Of the paths
of the seas Yet the general impression
given Of Mr. WILSON'S address of last
Monday (given. Of course, in a measure
by its looseness and vagueness) was that
he would go much further even than the
new code goes which his Secretary Of
State has fathered.