The reports from the Hague during the past week have
been voluminous rather than encouraging. The Times correspondent, however, dwells with legitimate satisfaction on the fact that the scheme for the High Prize Court, as finally drafted— which provides for a permanent Court of jurists—is essentially on the lines of the British proposals, though the risks and sacrifices involved in its establishment are greater for Britain than any other Power. With regard to the total abolition of the principle of contraband, although several of the Great Powers have refused to support the British proposal, the disposition of America to abandon the principle of conditional contraband is regarded as of hopeful augury. The divisions on the question of submarine mines in the Third Connroittee were so inconclusive, and the divergence of views so pronounced, as to illustrate the weakness and unwieldiness of the Conference at its worst.
