n shipping and
commerce on the high seas under British municipal law as follows:

"The Government of the United States has, therefore, viewed with
surprise and concern the attempt of His Majesty's Government to confer
upon the British prize courts jurisdiction by this illegal exercise of
force in order that these courts may apply to vessels and cargoes of
neutral nationalities, seized on the high seas, municipal laws and
orders which can only rightfully be enforceable within the territorial
waters of Great Britain, or against vessels of British nationality
when on the high seas.

"In these circumstances the United States Government feels that it
cannot reasonably be expected to advise its citizens to seek redress
before tribunals which are, in its opinion, unauthorized by the
unrestricted application of international law to grant reparation, nor
to refrain from presenting their claims directly to the British
Government through diplomatic channels."

The note, as the foregoing series of excerpts show, presented an array
of legal arguments formidable enough to persuade any nation at war of
its wrongdoing in adopting practices that caused serious money losses
to American interests and demoralized American trade with neutral
Europe. Great Britain, however, showed that she was not governed by
international law except in so far as it was susceptible to an elastic
interpretation, and held, by implication, that a policy of expediency
imposed by modern war conditions condoned, if it did not also
sanction, infractions.

Nothing in Great Britain's subsequent actions, nor in the utterances
of her statesmen, could be construed as promising any abatement of the
conditions. In fact, there was an outcry in England that the German
blockade should be more stringent by extending it to all neutral
ports. Sir Edward Grey duly convinced the House of Commons that the
Government could not contemplate such a course, which he viewed as
needless, as well as a wrong to neutrals.

As to the hostility of the neutrals to British blockade methods, Sir
Edward Grey said:

"What I would say to neutrals is this: There is one main question to
be answered--Do they admit our right to apply the principles which
were applied by the American Government in the war between the North
and South--to apply those principles to modern conditions, and to do
our best to prevent trade with the enemy through neutral countries?

"If they say 'Yes'--as they are boun