Mr. Wilson’s Note
Sir,—I may perhaps be permitted to endorse every word of the high praise bestowed in your leading article of this morning upon the Note addressed to Germany by the Government of the United States. The frequent mentions which it contains of “American ships,” “American citizens,” and the like, were, no doubt, natural and necessary, as establishing the locus standi of that Government in the controversy which it is carrying on. But we find also in the Note matters of even more transcendent interest, relating to the hitherto universally accepted doctrines of international law, applicable to the treatment of enemy as well as of neutral vessels.
It may suffice to cite the paragraph which assumes as indisputable
“the rule that the lives of non-combatants, whether they be of neutral citizenship or citizens of one of the nations at war, cannot lawfully or rightfully be put in jeopardy by the capture or destruction of unarmed merchantmen,”
as also
“the obligation to take the usual precaution of visit and search to ascertain whether a suspected merchantman is in fact of belligerent nationality, or is in fact carrying contraband under a neutral flag.”
[I assume that the word “unarmed” here does not exclude the case of a vessel carrying arms solely for defence.]
The Note also recognises, what you some time ago allowed me to point out,
“the practical impossibility of employing submarines in the destruction of commerce without disregarding those rules of fairness, reason, justice, and humanity which modern opinion regards as imperative.”
Adding:—
“It is practically impossible for them to make a prize of her, and if they cannot put a prize crew on board, they cannot sink her without leaving her crew and all on board her to the mercy of the sea in her small boats.”
Nothing could be more satisfactory than the views thus authoritatively put forth, first as to the applicable law, and secondly as to the means by which its prescriptions can be carried out.
I am, Sir, your obedient servant,
T. E. HOLLAND
Brighton, May 15 (1915).
Cf. supra, p. 70.