A good deal of concern has been expressed recently that
the Government should have allowed enemy reservists to be con- veyed to Europe in the ships of neutral Powers. The Government have now decided that reservists thus conveyed shall no longer be exempt from seizure. We believe that this change of policy is not merely rational but—what is more important—in accordance with international law. The crux of the question is the meaning of the word "embodied." Our right to arrest "any individual embodied in the armed forces of the enemy" is undisputed; but according to one interpre- tation reservists travelling, as it were, privately and in order to be embodied, but not yet embodied, should be exempt from arrest. The Government, in fact, in adhering temporarily to this interpretation, acted on an extreme scruple, and we confess that so long as they were in doubt about the literal meaning of the law we could not blame them. We are heartily in favour of treating neutral ships with great consideration. The gain of stopping a comparatively few reservists might be entirely counterbalanced by tension in our relations with neutral Powers. But the Government have felt able to reverse their policy, no doubt on full legal advice, and we are glad of it.
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