We have dealt at length elsewhere with certain matters of
principle involved in the controversy between the American and British Governments as regards interference with neutral commerce. Here we may notice the text of the Note (not published in the English Press till Friday), which takes the form of a statement as to the serious condition of American foreign trade, "resulting from the frequent seizures and detentions of American cargoes destined to neutral European porta." The American Ambassador is instructed to assure the British Government that the protest is made "in the most friendly spirit." On the whole, the tone of the Note sustains this amicable aspiration. It is free from the language of menace—except, perhaps, for one somewhat ambiguous paragraph, and even here the intention is clearly not really hostile. The object is to show firmness, not to threaten.
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