Evening star., 1939-09-10

back to its original position IN time OF
war. The United States, always more
interested in the safety of its commerce
than in naval domination, has been the
outstanding proponent Of the idea.
The United States fought Great
Britain in 1912 because its vessels were
stopped on the high seas by British
men-of-war, their goods dragged into
English prize courts and their seamen
impressed. And the most direct cause
of this countrys declaration Of state
of war with Germany in 1917 was Ber-
Inns unrestricted submarine warfare
against neutral vessels in the war zone
"A denial of Americas right to trade
safely with Europe.
For many decades before the World
War, it had been generally accepted
rule of warfare at sea that belligerent
raider, when attacking an enemy mer-
chantman, must take Its crew aboard
or otherwise insure their safety before
shelling the vessel.
Invention of the submarine, however,
brought new problem. Not only were
the undersea boats able to strike sud-
denly, without warning, but their
cramped quarters provided no room for
those who had been aboard the attacked
merchant ship. During the World War.
submarines for the first time showed
on a large scale the increased terror
they had introduced into warfare against
commercial ships.
Submarine Rules Agreed Upon.
This problem was frst considered by
the great sea powers at the Washington
Naval Conference Of 1922. They faced
a dilemma-whether the effectiveness Of
the submarine should be modified by
subjecting 1t to the same rules OF war
fare that applied to surface raiders, or
whether to deny the protection formerly
afforded to the crew and passengers OF
raided merchant ships. The conference
decided upon the more humane course,
drafting a treaty which required sub
marines to observe the same rules as
cruisers and other raiders.
This part of the Washington treaty,
however, failed to become effective be-
cause France did not ratify 1t. Conse-
quently, the question was taken up again
when the Washington treaty was revised
at the London Naval Conference Of 1880.
There, in the following form, an agree
ment was signed and ratified by the
United States, Great Britain, France,
Italy and Japan:
I'm their action with regard to mer-
chant ships, submarines must conform
to the rules of international law to which
surface vessels are subject. In particular,
except in the case of persistent refusal
to stop upon being duly summoned, or Of
active resistance to visit or search,
warship, whether surface vessel or sub
marine, may not sink or render incapable
of navigation a merchant vessel without
having first placed passengers, crew and
ships papers in place of safety.
For this purpose, the ships boats are
not regarded as place of safety unless
the safety of the passengers and crew
is assured in the existing sea and
weather conditions by the proximity of
land. or the presence of another vessel
which is in position to take them
on board.
"The high contracting parties invite
all other powers to express their assent
to the above rule"
Germany Accepts Doctrine.
| When, at the London Conference of
1886, the naval treaty again was revised,
this provision regarding submarines was
placed in a separate protocol and nations
other than the signatories of the orig
inal treaties were asked to subscribe to it..
Germany was one of those accepting
this new rule of the sea. Therefore,
if. as the British admiralty charges, a
German submarine sank the Athena
without warning and without any effort
to insure the safety of its passengers,
Germany would apepar to be guilty not
only of flagrant violation of estab-
lished international law, but also Of a
clear-cut treaty pledge.
Although the laws of the sea as they
apply to belligerents and neutrals have
never been codified with the precision
of domestic law, they were best summed
in modern times in the protocols adopted
by The Hague Conference Of 1907. Virtu-
ally every nation in the world was
represented there.
The articles in The Hague conventions
which seem most likely to have some
bearing upon the interests and conduct
of the United States during the present
war are these:
when a ship has been captured in
the territorial waters of neutral power
this power must employ, If the prize is
still within its jurisdiction, the means
at its disposal to release the prize with
its officers and crew and to intern the
prize crew. If the prize is not in the
jurisdiction of the neutral power, the
captor government, on the demand of
that power, must liberate the prize with
its officers and crew."
Can Fuel in Neutral Ports.
ct is provided, however, that a prize
captured outside the territorial waters
Of a neutral may be brought into a
neutral port for necessary fuel. provi-
sions or supplies without the captorl