THE FREEDOM OF THE SEAS.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVI, Issue 181, 31 July 1915, Page 4

THE FREEDOM OF THE SEAS.

One of the claims, made by CJermanv is thai she is lighting for "the freedom of the seas"; in other words, the immunity of merchants ships from capttrro or attack in time of war. Fn olden days, knights errant were wont to buckle on their armour and sally forth on a chivalrous mission to redress wrongs and rescue innocent captives. Tint the tierman submarine of to-day is a poor oitb stitiite for the knight errant of old. aril their method.- would cause those chevaliers to shudder with horror. Two significant facts were recorded in yesterday's cable messages. The first of tlic.se ie that up to date nearly 1000 li\es have been lost by submarine attacks'on unarmed merchantmen; th-? second is, that in spite of the American note of warning, these sharks in human guise slill continue to sink merchantmen (to cay nothing of trawlers I without notice and without any attempt to Rave the crews. But lot us examine Germany'b contention in regard to ••the. freedom of the .seas." Some yearn ago. it was proposed at an international conference of th? Powers that merchantmen should not be liable to capture in lime of war. Th" motion war, IoM. mainly, it was Raid, through the opposition of Crc.it Britain, the British Government contending that their interests would be adversely affected by such a measure. But since then, it wu-. publicly announced in the House of Commons that (Jreat Britain wa*> willing to reconsider the matter. The hint was not taken by Germany, who had denounced Hritain as a ■■pirate" owing to her opposition to the project, but was now unwilling to reopen the disrue*;on. This was long before tho out break of the present hostiiitie.s. but Germany was already bent on her schemes of conquest, lo which her whole attention was devoted. Now. the principle tha.t merchant vessels should be immune from capture by belligerents in time of war may seem very hiniple. but ;ir- a matter of fact it is bceet with many complications. In the timt place, there is the vexed question ot contraband. The term "contraband of war" has never been satisfactorily defined, and at present every nation interprets it in ite o«n way. So comprehensive are the various definitions, that it i* scarcely possible for a vessel to load a earjfo of any kind without its containing some article which has been declared contraband of war by one or other of the belligerent Power?. Vet, it is very necessary that there should !;e a clear and gener.il understanding Oil this head. for. needless to say. even if merchantmen were immune from cap ture. this would not apply to those whirl) carried contraband.

Then tlu-rr i- the question of block a<!e. The principle of blockade is recog-ni.-ed by'ill nation.-, for a blockade is merely a eiege by so. and any belligerent har- km much rigiu to besiege a town by f-ca a.i by land. But vessels, even belongIng to neutrals, if they attempt to enier a* UorVtd'ul portrait liable-to capture, with all their cargo,'and their "ere.v ran be treated as prisoners of war —this, too, though they carry no contraband. Nor are they liable to capture merely when attempting to "run the blockade.' . If their papers show t';u: they are destined to a port which has been declared in a state of blockade by a belligerent, they can be stopped and captured, even on tar high tea.-, by a warship of that belligerent. This, again, brings up a third ques j tion, that of right of search. It w evidtnt that, in order tc verily the bona|flc!ee of any ship encountered on the high seas', the right to board and examine i that vessel, and see that her papers are lin order, must be conceded; otherwise it is impowMble to ascertain whether or not she is flying false colours, whether she :i~ curving contraband, or .whether *>'ac ,< destined to ft blockaded port. The right of f-earch also involves the right to *top a vessel, and to sink her if she re- | fiieea to stop when challenged. Thifi was i rero/jnieed recently by President Wilson jv>ben a ship conveying American passen- , "civ had been sunk by a German sub ; marine after refusing to stop when bulled. It was held that in this else the. [submarine had acted within her riahte. according to international law. Npedlesw ito cay. the sinking of the Lufiitania was 11r.t a case of this kind: here no warning nas given. The condit-fons of naval warfare have 'changed greatly since the conference above referred to was held, and Ureat ISritain hoe indicated hei willingness to ciiscuse the matter anew, stipulating only that her interests should be safeguarded. It is more than probable that the whole .-abject will again come up for discussion lat the close of the present war. and the question of contraband, immunity of capture, and similar subjects will be settled, lit is hoped, once for nil. ! But. it may be argued , , what is the use of attempting to lay down any rules v.ben flermany has clearly declared that she »ill not be bound by international law when-she consider* it expedient to ignore it. She i.« lighting for her pxist■rnce. *he says, and will not he tied down Ib\ dogmatic rule*, li is the tame old story. When Frederick the Oreat made an unprovoked attack on Austria, he rushed his troops through neutral Paxony. justif\inj his action by the statement that he, knew Austria was preparing to attack Prussia, and that he would not wait til! she was ready, but would choose his own time for the attack. It w,ib the same specious argument, dished up in another form. But the matter can be looked at from another standpoint. We have not yet an international tribunal, where defaulting and criminal nations can bo arraigned at the har of justice, or it would fare ill with Germany. But there is such a .tl.ing ns international public opinion. I which lur> condemned fiermany's action J throughout. Neutral nations also have rights which they enn enforce by armed j force. In his recent Note to Germany. jPiesident Wilson clearly tells her that jehe must, submit to international law or it.'ke the consequences. If the principle that "might is right" is applicable in Germany, it is also applicable in the United States. The tiger hns no sense of honour, yet ho will abandon hi* oxIpcctcd.prcy when he .seee the hunter's i rifle levelled at his head.