One of those difficult questions of the rights of neutrals
which always crop up in war-time is creating some excitement in America. The Russians are reported to have " sown " the sea outside Port Arthur to a distance far beyond their three-mile jurisdiction with floating mines, one of which is believed to have destroyed the great Japanese battleship Hatsuse.' This practice is considered by jurists an offence against international law. The Americans have taken up the question with warmth, and remonstrances will, it is said, be addressed to St. Petersburg. The Russians reply that no rule has ever been laid down on the subject, and that, if it had been, they are guiltless, for the floating mines reported must have broken away from their moorings within the three- mile limit. • In any case, it would seem that a new danger to neutral shipping has arisen in the most recent developments of marine mining.
