GERMAN POINTS OF VIEW.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVII, Issue 30, 4 February 1916, Page 4

GERMAN POINTS OF VIEW.

In the light of its record, it is difficult to think well of the men in the German Navy, but one would naturally like to be-. lieTe that there are many humane and chivalrous men in a service which has been so covered with infamy. It i* pleasant, therefore, to read in the revelations of the " Daily Mail's" correspondent in the Near East, that th« German naval men he met at Constantinople differ widely from the swaggering Prussian Army type, and that the sinking of the Lusitania was not popular in the Navy. That the average officer the German Navy is a better type than his cousin of the army is quite possible. The sea has a great influence on character, and even a Prussian may be softened and a little humbled by its alternating war and peace. Some day we may lind out that the order to sink merchantmen, full of non-combatants, was deeply resented in the German navy, but that discipline prevailed over conscience. Another interesting point made by the correspondent is the wholesome respect felt for the British Navy. There is no reason at all to doubt this. It is German policy to write as if the British Fleet was hiding and the Germans longed for the day when the two fleets would come to grips, but no German sailors can have any illusions as to the situation. When the German Chief of Staff says that it does not rest with the Germans to say whether there will be a great battle, he is deliberately lying to impress Americans. There is proof that the realities of the naval blockade are coming home to the people as well. During the last few months some remarkable admissions of British supremacy have been published in Germany. For instance, Professor Gerhard Schott, who is wellknown in shipping circles, recently delivered at Hamburg a lecture curiously at variance with official utterances and Press articles designed to blind Germans to the truth. "We, indeed," said Professor Schott, "are feeling in our flesh England's world domination at sea. The ships of our mercantile marine the second greatest in the world, are' lying idle in our own ports or in those of neutral States; our colonies cannot be protected by us from the shores of our own country; our wireless stations are destroyed, our cables are cut, and we are cut off from all oversea traffic. And the enemy who has inflicted upon us all this undeniable damage is England. It must be noted that this damage is done to us, not in virtue of any military ;qr naval successes during the war—it nas been inflicted without Enjdand being compelled to attack us at aIT She can keep her navy back in safety in some port, and merely support with her army the armies of the French or the Serbians. Her mercantile is in a position to pursue its tasks a....05t as little undisturbed as in peace times; the departures of the mail steamers are announced and actually take place a3 usual; and our submarine war carT orffy" disturb, but by no means stop, the oversea commerce." This is the most candid admission we have seen of the completeness of our victory at Bea. The last part is particularly interesting, because Germane have been systematically deluded as to the success of their submarine "blockade. ,. But the Professor made another admission, perhaps even more remarkable. One constantly sees in German statements the phrase "freedom of the seas." Germany, we are repeatedly told, is fighting for the "freedom of the seas," against that tyrant of the oceans, Britain. Exactly what this fine-sounding phrase means we have not hitherto been told, but Professor Schott is obligingly instructive. "For the freedom of the seas is not an absolute kind of freedom in the sense that the natural geographical points dominating the sea routes should belong to nobody—for that is impossible; but is a relative term signifying that thdse points should not all lie in a single country's hands. The freedom of the seas is a question of might and not a matter of paper agreements." In other woTds, if Germany were strong endigh there would be freedom of the seas —for Germany.