NOTES AND COMMENTS.

Press, Volume LIV, Issue 16208, 10 May 1918, Page 7

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

There is a remarkable difference between the tone of the German official communique, regarding the Zeebrugge raid, issued shortly after that affair, and tliat of the "Frankfurter Zeitung," of this week. The formr.r spoke of the enterprise '•which was conceived on a large scale and planned regardless of sacrifice," as having been- "frustrated." This extraordinary misstatement of facts was quite up to the high level of mendacity characteristic of official Germati reports. Possibly at the time it was made the German authorities hope;l that the "bottling-up" process effected by the British raiders was less '•onipleto than it appeared to bo. They have since learned that their hopes were misplaced. The raid, as a matter of fact, was even more successful than even the British believed. The Zcebrugge channel, ns viewed by our ;iir:nen, is "absolutely unusable,'' "dredging is most difficult," and there is a danger of the harbour silting up. this being due to the fact that the blockship Thetis, which was so pounded by the shore batteries that she had to be sunk before she reached the month of the canal, is resting on the shoal inside the harbour.

The success of the raid is the lucre remarkable because, as is now allowed to be known, the Germans had i'or

some time been continuously devising new methods for the defence of Zeebrugge from the sea and the air. As an anti-aircraft measure they used to send up every night some 20 unmanned captive balloons fastened to an electrified steel wire, forming a great danger to airmen who might come in contact with them. They also "inployed numerous armoured motor-boats of great speed, manned by two sailors each, while marine nets were spread far to seaward. These nets were no doubt those mentioned in the Admiralty's narrative as having l'oulcd the propeller of the Thetis, thus rendering her unmanageable and necessitating her being sunk prematurely. It turns out that in addition to the eleven New Zealanders who took part in the raid, the attacking party included twelve Australian ratings -<nd an Australian officer* Lieutenant Bill-yard-Leake, of Tasmania, aged 22, who commanded the cruiser-blockship Iphigenia, one of the two sunk in tho canal itself. A West Australian on board this vessel concluded his description of tho affair with the romark:—"Take it from me, as a dinkum Australian, there is nothing wrong with the British naval officers," this tribute being drawn from him, apparently, by his recollection of seeing the commander of the cruiser Vindictive drawing alongside a mole, amid a tornado of shells, "as if he owned the place."

Tho Emperor of Atistria lVill find it even more difficult to disavow the authorship of his. secoild peace letter, mentioned in to-day's cables, than was the case with the first one. The text of .this sccond letter has not reached this part of; the world jet, but from a message in Australian papers of April 19th, it appears that it was written in response to a request frdm M. Ribot, tho French Premier, after tho lattor had shown the first letter to Mr Lloyd George and Baron Sonriino, the Italian Premier, for more details. The Emperor's seebnd letter w'as of siich a nature that tho Allies unanimously agreed not to respond to it. It was evident that Austria hoped to detach Franco from lier Allies by offering what she did not possess, and not jnentioning what she ought to credit to Italy.

The first letter, it will be remembered, Was „ Written by the Emperor in March last year to .Prince, Sixte, of Bourbon, liis brother-in-law, arid by the latter communicated to M. Foincare, President of France, who, with the Prince's consent, forwarded it to M. Ribot. It contained a definite offer Oil . the Emperor's part to support France's claims to Alsace-Lorraine, and iii consequence of the effect that the disclosure of its contents produced in Germany, and Jlttiong' a certain section in Austria, the Emperor KilTl hastily disowned it. It was given out officially in Vienna that thb fetter had been fraudulently altered;. Prince Sixte, it was ailegedj had instituted negotiations to prodube a rapprqjSEfioment between the belligerents. Enlperor Carl Wfrote him ii private letter > act destined for M.- Poincare, or containing instructions to initiate any negotiations. The letter contained no mention of Belgium, and ' stated, regarding Alsace-Lorraine; that Austria would support the French claims, if tlioy were just, but thatjthey were unjust. A further oxlanatioil was to the effect Hint the letter was written to Prince Sixte by his mother, and that the Emperor had added certain words over his own signature..

In view of these statements it is of interest to quote some passages of this famous ietter. <I No one can dlsputej" said the writer ( "the..military advantages won by my troops, especially lh the Balkans. France, on her 6ide, has shown a magnificent power of resistance and elan. . . ; it is particularly agreeable to me that, though momentarily opponents; iiO real divergence in yiews and aspirations separates my Empire and France. lam justified in hoping that niy, lively sympathies foi' France are joined with those prevalent in the monarch 3*, and will forever prevent a return to a state of war for which 110 responsibility can be assigned. To this end, and to show the reality of these sentiments, I bog you to convey secretly and unofficially to M. Poincare that I shall support by every Ineans, using all my personal influence with my allies, France's just claius regarding Alsace-Lorraine." As for Belgium, that country, in tho writer's opinion, should bo entirely reestablished in her sovereignty, keeping the whole of her African possessions, without prejudice, as compensation for her loSii." Serbia, he continued. should be re-established ih sovereignty. "We are ready to assure to her an equitable and natural access to the Adriatic besides extensive economic; concessions, but AustriaHungarv will demand assurances, guaranteed by the Entente Powers, that Serbia will suppress any political society tending to the disintegration of Austria-Hungary." Finally the writer asked the Prince to ascertain the opinion. firstly of France and England, with n view to preparing the ground with the Entente for the opening of official negotiations.

Only a very credulous person would, after reading that letter, accept the Emperor Carl's indignant disavowal of what he termed Ckmenceau's "false and untrue statement," that he recognised that France had a just claim to requisition Alsace and Lorraine, "at a moment when the Austro-Hungarian guns were thundering jointly . with German cannon on the Western front. I was fighting for these provinces," he added, "exactly as if it were a question of defending my own lands. ' The remarkable circumstance connected with the second letter is that Mr Lloyd George seems to have been stronglv inclined to regard it as a genuine basis on which to open effective peace negotiations. How he reconciled that view with "his knowledge of the attitude of the Kaiser and of the latter's regard for treaties has u-: to be explained.