“May. 14, 1915, 
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4 
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~ LUSITANIA AND INTERNATIONAL LAW 
Tae Fring LInEs oF THE OCEAN CODE 
d Says the New York EvENING Post in a review of the 
a questions of international law arising from the Lusi- 
tania’ incident: 
a The case of the Lusitania is not quite so simple as it 
appears to the man in the street, who can think only of 
the horror of the tragedy. The law of the sea draws very 
fine lines. ‘Thus, had the submarine given 30 minutes’ 
warning to the crew and passengers, the exploit would 
have gone down in history as one of the most brilliant 
in annals of naval warfare. 
Again, the question whether the ship was convoyed 
is of enormous importance. There has already appeared 
a vast deal of criticism of the British admiralty for its 
failure to protect the Lusitania. But those who are so 
glibly finding fault are ignorant of the fact that if the 
ship was convoyed, even by a couple of torpedo boats, 
the submarine was entitled under law of the sea to treat 
her precisely as if she were a man-of-war. This has al- 
ways been the case, even during the Napoleonic days. 
It may well be that the admiralty deemed it wiser 
not to convoy the Lusitania for this very reason. Ac- 
cording to survivors, the appearance on the surface of 
the submarine and the discharge of the torpedoes took 
place so suddenly that, if destroyers or torpedo boats 
had been accompanying the great liner, they could not 
have saved her. It is plain, therefore, that our govern- 
ment cannot be certain of the exact culpability of the 
Germans until this question of the convoy is definitely 
settled. 
The question of the ammunition on board has both- 
ered many amateur authorities on international law, and 
‘even some people in responsible positions. Without rea- 
son, however. The fact that the Lusitania had several 
thousand boxes of ammunition in her hold did not in 
any wise alter her status as a merchant ship entitled to 
sufficient time to let her crew and passengers escape be- 
fore the ship was sunk. It gives the Germans a talking 
point, but does not alter the essential situation, which is 
this: Up to this time the law of the sea demanded the 
removal of crew and passengers, when the prize could not 
be taken into a harbor. 
It is a curious fact that there are some defenders of 
Germany’s torpedoing the Lusitania to be found in Wash- 
ington: these club strategists insist that the warning given 
in New York before the Lusitania sailed was a cOmpli- 
ance with the warning demanded by international law— 
which is, of course, an absolute absurdity, since the warn- 
ing has always related to captured ships when in the 
presence of the enemy man-of-war. Driven from this 
position, they point out that a submarine could not stop 
the Lusitania merely by appearing on the surface, either 
in front of the liner or upon her beam, and ordering her 
to stop. 
They maintain, therefore, that the submarine could 
only do what she did, or else admit her impotency. To 
this the answer is, that if we are to have submarine war- 
fare hereafter, some adjustment of international law will 
indubitably have to be made to cover this and other new 
points raised by the use of the new weapon of sea war- 
fare; but that no nation has the right to change inter- 
national law to suit itself in the middle of a war. 
It is no defence, experts in international law point 
out, to say that Germany was forced to this action by 
England’s efforts to blockade her ports and starve out 
her women and children. The United States government 
from 1861 to 1865 blockaded the coast of the confederate 
government for the express purpose of bringing about 
the end of the rebellion by starving out the confederate 
armies. 
No one criticises the policy of the North in estab- 
lishing that blockade as a military measure, and certainly 
the confederates did not consider that the blockade gave 
them the right to violate international law. And the 
blockade, be it noted, did drive the Confederacy to the 
use of what were practically submarine boats, with a 
success in sinking federal blockaders that is astounding 
to those not familiar with the facts. One might almost 
say that the Germans are merely beginning where the con- 
federates left off. 
AY 18 is now an easily remembered date, requiring no 
especial reminder of its significance as the day de- 
voted to peace and arbitration; but this year it makes a 
stronger appeal than ever before to the heart and con- 
science of our nation. While there are those who decry 
the entire peace movement at this time as a harping upon 
“peace when there is no peace,” the best thought of the 
day is centered upon it and the keenest intellects are 
studying the best way to attain the much desired condi- 
tion. 
In view of the events now transpiring across the sea, 
it seems incredible that war should be longer advocated 
by any one accustomed to look beneath the surface of . 
things, or who is interested in the future welfare of the 
nations or of the human race. Never in the world’s his- 
tory has there been such an accumulation of horrors as 
those which characterize the present conflict. Never such 
sacrifice of life, such suffering, such destruction of the 
flower of physical manhood; or so many wrecked homes, 
blighted lives and crushed aspirations. There are so 
many sorrowing women and little children who have been 
defrauded of a happy childhood. And for what, and to 
what purpose? A mere dream—of power, of prestige, 
of fear. 
It is an encouraging omen that in the present conflict 
the element of personal glory seem lacking. No names 
appear likely to be emblazoned especially high upon the 
roll of fame to distract the attention of hero-worshippers 
from the hard, cold facts of present-day “civilized war- 
fare.” Stripped of romance and personal adulation, the 
folly and actual imbecility of the present carnage stand 
out stark and grim against the desolation of lands and of 
peoples whom God intended for happiness and prosperity. 
Let every heart and every mind be opened wide to 
absorb the lessons of Peace and Arbitration day, and 
alert. to apply them when the opportunity shall appear, 
as in the natural course of events it must, in the not dis- 
tant future—Tnre NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF PATRIOTIC 
INSTRUCTORS. 
101 Tremont Street, Boston,*Mass. 
