Sept. 27.
'The news,.that Germany is exerting very considerable' pressure upon the European neutral Powers to abandon their neutrality in her favour, is emphasized by the recent telegrams reporting the sinking of Swedish, and Finnish shipping carrying cargoes to Britain, by German submarines. That the whole procedure, which is hopelessly illegal, carries no weight with the German Government is apparent, for they are endeavouring to exercise the rights of blockade when in fact, in international law, no blockade exists. It Is necessary to recall that for a blockade to be legal it has to' be completely effective, or nearly so as to make very little difference. That the Geran submarine blockade of Britain is not complete or even approxiquently not the slightest justification for the sinking of neutral vessels by the German navy. The system of contraband control, which Great Britain has introduced, following the precedent of the last war, is an cenirely different matter as has already been Pointed out, and is, moreover, merely the Proper exercise of belligerent rights for which there is ample authority. New des-Datches, which have recently come to hand, suggest' that German representations have been addressed to neutral countries warning them that they would be guilty of a breach of neutrality if they entered into war trade agreements with Great Britain, the effect of which would be to limit their exports to Germany, and of overseas goods allowed to pass in transit over their territory into Germany. The answer to the German contention regarding goods in transit is simple. Neutrals are compelled to enter into agreement with the Allies whereby such goods do not reach Germany, because if they do not the Allies would stop them anyhow, and, perhaps, others as well, by belligerent action on the seas. In other words a neutral can only assure its own domestic supplies by unde: faking that what is allowed to pass the British and French, Meets will only' be used for the neutral's own purposes, and that it will not serve as an entrepot for the purpose of assisting Germany to make imports which otherwise she would be unable to do.
To sum up, the object of a neutral in agreeing with the Allies is not to assist them, or to harm Germany, but to make sure that its own normal needs will be supplied. This is perfectly legal, and something to which no valid objection can be taken. "As regards any war trade agreement to limit a neutral's exports to Germany to a certain maximum this can probably be justified by a reference to the need of the neutral to conserve its own resources, and this is particularly the case If the neutral has established a general system of export restrictions, and licensing. The technical *answer to an accusation of breach of neutrality is that the mere fact that a neutral enters into a war trade agree ment with one belligerent does not involve any breach of neutrality so long as the neutral does not refuse to discuss, and, other things being equal, to enter into a war trade agreement with the other belligerent. That this argument is a good one may be adduced from the fact that during the last war many neutrals had such agreements with Germany fy well as with the Allies. "It is of course true that if a neutral, say, for example, Den mark agrees with the Allies not to export more than a certain quantity of bacon to Germany she cannot subsequently agree to send her more than the stipulated amount without being guilty of a breach of neutral ity; on the other hand there is nothing to prevent her agreging with Germany that just she will not supply her with more than a certain amount of the comestible, s0 also will she not send to the Allies more than that amount. Broadly speaking a neutral should hot agree upon a restriction of her exports to one side which she is not in like circum stances prepared to place on exports to the other, nor agree to grant facilities or supplies to one, which she is not prepared, in the same conditions, to grant to the other, and provided these' rules are observed no infringement of neutrality is involved by entering into war trade agreements with either side. The only real test, however, is whether such agreements discriminate "in favour of one side or the other. If they do then there is definite breach of neutrality.
Under a recent agreement with Germany, Denmark may be held by implication to have undertaken to limit her exports to Great Britain in war tinie to "normal exports." 'There is nothing in this to preclude he: from also agreeing with Great Britain to place a like limitation upon her trade with Germany, and indeed if she did not do so, if, in fact, taking advantage of the situation,' she creased her exports to Germany over their normal volume, she would' be guilty of a breach of neutrality. She is certainly not bound to refrain from undertaking not to increase her trade with Germany. 'The experience of the last war was that when Great Britain, and France commenced. the system of contraband, in the absence of a complete blockade, which was difficult to maintain, certain' of the neutrals abut ting Germany saw their trade mount by leaps, and bounds, owing to the enormous amount of goods' in. transit for Germany which was passing through them. "It was possible by agreement with the neutrals and even with one source of supply, before the United States entered the war, for the Allies to establish control of the goods destined for neutral countries with the result that the system of contraband control proved an effective economic weapon. Tt is' that same system which is being applied now, and there Is every reason to believe it will prove just effective as Germany undoubtedly fears. It is because of that anxiety that the German Government is endeavouring to break down the system by menacing the neutrals with the threat that "he who is not for us_is against us: The German attitude, provided it is acquiesced in, would completely destroy the neutrality of those countries abutting Germany who are doing their utmost to keep out of this war. If Germany can obtain her way with regard to the passage of goods in transit she would undoubtedly do everything to refrain from further infringing Jor no choice in the matter. Contraband control provides for the stopping of supplies exceeding normal needs to the neutral countries, and as their normal needs are supplied. excess cargo will be stopped.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.