The Blockade was debated in both Houses of Parliament on
Tuesday. In the Commons the attack on the Government's policy was led by Mr. Hewins. We were not doing enough, he declared, to cheek the activities of our enemies in the Nether- lands, in the Scandinavian countries, and in the United States. Lord Robert Cecil, in reply, defended the policy of the Foreign Office, and quoted full statistics in support of the action of his Department since its creation. The speech was not one which lends itself to summary, but on the whole we are of opinion that Lord Robert -Cecil was fully able to justify the action taken. The Blockade Minister has performed a colossally difficult task as well as it could be performed. Sir Edward Carson, who followed, would have nothing to do with the view that the Blockade should be left to the Admiralty. What was meant by this was that every ship going to a neutral port should be seized. Those who put forward that absurd suggestion meant that we should go to war with everybody. He was evidently satisfied that the Govenunent's policy was being properly carried out, and that it was the only possible policy. No one, he concluded, had been able to suggest a single step that had not been taken.
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