I pass to another matter which is not mentioned in the gracious speech, although some of us might have expected that it would have been mentioned. I mean the Declaration of London. We all of us welcome the attempts which have been made, not without a considerable amount of success, to settle by peaceful means international difficulties and complications. In 1907 this country became a party to a convention entered into at The Hague for the establishment of an international prize court, and we have lately had another conference in this city for the purpose of drawing up the rules under which this international prize court is to do its work. The noble earl opposite must be aware that the publication of these rules has created very grave apprehensions in the minds of the commercial public. I wish carefully to guard myself against accepting all the criticisms which have been leveled at these rules. I am quite ready to admit that it is our business to compare the state of things which might arise under these rules, not with an ideal condition of things which we should like to arrive at if we could, but with the actual condition of things which takes place under the national rules by which foreign powers are at present guided. But making allowance for all this, I am bound to say that as to some points the uneasiness to which expression has been given does not seem to me altogether unreasonable. While I take it that most of us would be glad to see an international prize court substituted for the national prize courts with 17 H. L. Deb., 5 s., 17. The address of the King at the formal opening of the Parliament, February 6. * Lord Landsdowne, the Unionist (Opposition; Majority) leader in the House of Lords, was especially conspicuous this session because of his position in regard to the Parliament bill which raised a constitutional issue that dominated the entire session. He tried to secure a reform of the House of Lords that would meet with the approval of the Liberals, but when that failed and it became clear that the Government would not consent to any amendment of its bill, Lansdowne, followed by most of his party, took the stand that they must yield to the superior force. In the contest between the Government and the Opposition over the naval prize bill and the Declaration of London Lansdowne retained his position as majority leader in the upper house. 3 which we now have to be content, we should, most of us, be inclined to say that our approval was subject to two conditions the satisfactory constitution of the court itself and the satisfactory framing of the rules which the court will have to administer. The position of this country is different from that of any other; and for that reason we are surely right if we regard these questions with a more critical eye than other powers regard them. This country, owing to its insular position, is entirely dependent upon sea-borne supplies. We are constantly told that it is our business to maintain the command of the sea, and we are told with great confidence that we may depend upon maintaining that command. But be that command never so well maintained, does it not yet remain the case that in time of war the great ocean highways cannot be so thoroughly policed as to render it possible for trade to flow along them quite in its normal fashion? Our supplies must run the gauntlet of an enemy's cruisers, and the question which people are asking themselves is whether these new rules will really render it easier or more difficult for those supplies to reach our shores. It is impossible to discuss so intricate a subject upon an occasion like this: but I do wish to express my hope that His Majesty's Government will spare no pains to take into their confidence the representatives of the great commercial interests who, I think I am right in saying, had no part in the discussions which took place in London, and that they will endeavor, before these new regulations are ratified, to satisfy themselves that they are not really open to those objections which have been urged with so much force in many influential quarters. ADDRESS IN REPLY TO KING'S SPEECH.1 The LORD PRIVY SEAL and SECRETARY OF STATE FOR INDIA (the Earl of Crewe).2 The noble marquess mentioned two other subjects on which I ought to say a word. He spoke of the Declaration of London, and I was again grateful for a certain caution which he gave. So far as I have had the opportunity of reading comments upon the situation created by the promulgation of the Declaration of London, it seems to me that many people are disposed to forget that it is not a question of our being able to promulgate and enforce a system of international 17 H. L. Deb., 5 s., 38. 2 The task of defending the Declaration of London and the naval prize bill in the House of Lords fell to Lord Crewe, the Liberal leader in that body. In March, however, he suffered a severe physical breakdown that necessitated his absence from Parliament for some months, during which time Viscount Morley assumed his leadership. |