The Spectator at war: Rules of war

From ‘The New Naval Measures and the United States’, The Spectator, 6 March 1915:

Britain proposes to stop all German imports and exports by the general pressure of her naval strength, whereas the United States says that we ought to use this pressure only in accordance with what have hitherto been regarded as the laws of blockade. The United States says, in effect: “Proclaim a blockade such as we have experienced of read of in past wars – a proper blockade with legal sanction and everything handsome about it – and we shall have no right to complain, even though none of our trade can pierce the line. What we cannot tolerate is that you should net upon a general principle, and that we should never know how and where the stroke will fall upon our trade.” Our answer to that should be clear and explicit. Germany has declared her intention to try to starve us out, disregarding for the purpose all the rules of war and all the dictates of humanity.