NEUTRAL SHIPPING.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXX, Issue 59, 26 October 1914, Page 4

NEUTRAL SHIPPING.

According to the Manchester Guardian the “amazing fact that British cruisers are not arresting German reservists on neutral boat* is apparently duo to our acceptance of a certain interpretation of a phrase in the Declaration of London.” The extent of the advantage that the Imperial Government is sacrificing by its observance of the Declaration of London is not indicated in the cablegrams, but tiro wisdom ot the wish to observe scrupulously the rights and privileges of neutrals can hardly be doubted. The Declaration of London was drafted primarily in the interests of neutrals, and Britain, as the belligerent in possession of the seas at the present time, has a peculiar interest in treating neutral shipping not merely justly, but generously. The goodwill of the nations outside the war area is worth a great deal to Britain, and there is evidence that it is beinn won by the attitude of the fleet towards neutral shipping. In days lone pa«t. when the British Admiralty in-

sjsted upon the “right of search” on tlie high seas in a very aggressive way, the British Navy was regarded as an instrument of oppression by every foreigner.