The Dominion. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 26, 1916. BRITAIN'S CONTROVERSY WITH AMERICA

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2678, 26 January 1916, Page 4

The Dominion. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 26, 1916. BRITAIN'S CONTROVERSY WITH AMERICA

The increasing effectiveness of the blockade of Germany established by the British Navy has been accompanied by a corresponding increase in tho vigour of the pro-German propaganda in America. _ The agents of Germany and Austria are doing their utmost to stir up ill-feeling against Britain and her Allies, and are making a trump card' of the friction which has arisen regarding interference with American trade. The latest information goes to show that_ this anti-British agitation is making some headway. It is being conducted in- a most thorough and systematic manner by men who are not hampered by-any scruples whatever. There are signs that AngloAmerican relations are now approaching a critical point. In summing up the results of the first year of the war Mr. ■ Buchan remarks t-hatt the relations between Britain and the United States were, in spite of very real goodwill on both sides, moving to an impasse. The blockade, "since it could not be made fully effective, was not in accord with the accepted principles of international law." Britain justified her action by the exceptional character of the eircumstances_ and by the "international anarchism of Germany," and reminded the American Government of the precedent established' by the novel methods adopted by America during the Civil War. The protests raised by the United States find some support in tho letter of the law, but Britain can reasonably hold that her blockade methods are in accordance with the spirit of the law. Sir Edward Grey has strong ground for his assertion that the measures resorted to "conform to the spirit and principles of the essence of the rules of . war." He points out with great force that the admitted- right to establish a block■ade is of no value save in so far as it gives power to cut off sea-borne exports and imports, and he declines to accept the contention that if a belligerent is so circumstanced that his commerce can pass through adjacent neutral ports as easily as through ports in his own territory, bis opponent has no right to interfere. The American Government has declared its readiness to take into account "the great changes which have occurred in the conditions and means of naval warfare since the rules hitherto governing legal blockade were formulated." America has also admitted that "the form of close blockade, with its cordon of ships in the immediate ofling of the blockaded ports, is no longer practicable in the face of an enemy possessing the means and opportunity to make an effective defence by means of submarines, mines, and aircraft." Having accepted these qualifications, America can hardly resist Sir Edward Grey's contention that a belligerent does not "any fundamental principle of international law by applying a blockade in such a way as to cut off the enemy's commerce with foreign countries through neutral ports if the circumstances render such an application of the principles of blockade the only means of making it effective." There is undoubtedly a strong feeling that the measures which Britain has hitherto adopted for tho purpose of minimising the loss and inconvenience to neutrals ought to be abandoned, and a complete blockade established. This would regularise the position from the legal point of view, and do away with much of the existing doubt and uncertainty as to the'position of neutral commerce. It is stated that our friends in America are in favour of this course. The placing of cotton on the list of contraband has been sharply criticised in America, and yet we are now told by Bbwatpr Williams, a mu.au nlantey and a rsDyesentativo of im-

[jortanfc cotton interests, that the Southern States have not suffered by this step. Men like Senator Lodge and _ Senator Williams ' voico tlio opinion of the best section of the people of the United States when they contend that in this war there arc infinitely greater tilings at staico than dollars and trade The Allies are fighting for the world's freedom against a brutal and despotic Power, and they are entitled to the sympathy of every lover of liberty. In a recent debate in the American Congress Senator Lodge said:

Although I am as anxious as anyono can be to care for our rights iu trade if they are violated, to. me American lives are more important than Amorican dollars. The body of an innocent child floating dead on the water, the victim of the destruction of an unarmed vessel, is to me a more poignant and a moro tragic spectacle than an unsold bale of cotton. ... I am not willing to get into a passion over an infringement of our trade, and then allow American citizens to lose their lives and pass it by in frigid silence. ... I think the United States stands for something higher in. the world than mere trade and mere dollars. 1 do not want to see our citizens wronged in their property, but I think we should als.- stand, and above all, for mornlity and humanity in the dealings of natioris with each other.

We are told that Senator Lodge's spceoh made a profound impression on the Seriate. A resolution had been moved calling upon the Committee on Foreign Relations to investigate the' obstructions" placed by Britain on comraercc with neutral ports of Northern Europe. On the motion of Senator Lodge an amendment was agreed to asking the Committee also to investigate the destruction of the Lusitania, Arabic, Gulflight, Falaba, Ancona, Hesperian, and Petrolite; and to report upon the incidents referred to by the President when he declared that certain persons "have formed plots to destroy property; they have entered into conspiracies against the neutrality of the Government; they have sought to pry into every confidential transaction of the Government" in order to serve interests alien to those of the United States. If the pro-German propaganda is making progress in America, it is also well to know that "leaders of thought are growing more and more dissatisfied with the easy official acceptance of German crime." But Britain cannot afford to allow the result of the, great struggle'in which she is engaged to depend to any material extent upon the state of public opinion in America or any other country. The possibility of the stoppage of munition supplies from the United States is'a renioto one, but it cannot be ignored. Mr. Asquith probably had some such possibility in his mind when he recently insisted upon the necessity of increasing the British output. It is desirable that our Empire should bo able to rely entirely upon its own resources in regard to war munitions. This is one of the lessons which our controversy with America has emphasised.