PROGRESS OF THE WAR.

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2386, 16 February 1915, Page 4

PROGRESS OF THE WAR.

A considerable stir appears to have been created in Germany by the .American Note conveying a firm warning that unpleasant _ consequences will follow if piratical attacks are made upon American ships by German submarines. Some of the German newspapers, have betaken themselves to a policy of blustering abuse which should do a good deal to harden American feeling against their country. Apparently, these newspapers represent a section of public opinion in Germany unable to realise that piratical outrages no longer command even toleration in a world which ages ago armed itself against the criminal and the murderer. While the German Press, or a section of_ it, is expending itself in vituperation, grave anxiety is said to reign in official circles in the Fatherland. There is talk of a visit by the Imperial Chancellor to the Kaiser (who is vexing himself with war problems on the Eastern front), and an Amsterdam forecast of the German reply to the American Note declares that it will be couched in apologetic terms, - but will guarantee the inviolability of American ships only if America prohibits the use of its flag by belligerent ships. * * » a

America is not likely to be satisfied with any such reply for the good and sufficient reason that it stipulates impossible conditions as the basis of an understanding. The use of neutral flags by belligerent ships is an established and recognised strategem in war, and as such can be abolished only by a general agreement of nations. A neutral is always entitled to protest to a belligerent when its interests are touched but it would be an unheard of tbiDg that a neutral should demand that a belligerent divest itself, during the course of a war, of any privilege from which it derives advantage or strength. It would be-as reasonable that' a neutral should ask a belligerent to divest itself of some portion of its armament as that it should abstain from a stratagem sanctioned by usage. The absurdity of the request which Germany is •said to contemplate addressing to America is, of course, heightened by the fact that German ships have on a number of occasions during the present war made use of an alien flag.

* * * # The essential fact to bo borne in mind, and it is one that doubtless will not bo overlooked in America, is that the use of an alien flag by a belligerent would impose no danger upon the ships of tho country to which the flag belongs, so long as the ordinary laws of war were observed. It is open to the warships of a belligerent Power to stop vessels on the high seas and definitely ascertain then- nationality, and under these circumstancos the use of a neutral flag for purposes of concealment would inflict no wrong upon its rightful owners. It is because Germany lias departed from fchc laws of war to embark upon a career of piracy and murder that neutral merchantmen, as woll as those, of belligerent Powers opposed t.n Gonn&ny, ,a.n> rsoowd to ,unpre« catep-ted jscwis. iox

this position rests wholly upon Germany, and America would cover itself with infamy if it allowed that country to intimidate it and in any way evade its responsibility so far as American shins are ooncerned. ■ * * * * A possible hint as to the present location of some of the German submarines is to be' found in a message which states that neutral sailing ships and fishing-boats have been warned to keep away from the Schleswig-Holstein coast until further notice. * * * * The Times naval correspondent, it will be observed, declares that the great- aorial raid on Belgium has rendered futile the German attempts to develop submarine bases on the Belgian coast. ;On the reports cabled, this seems a somewhat optimistic estimate of the result of the raid, but possibly the Times correspondent speaks from information not available here. » * * * News of the East Prussian campaign shows that it is developing on the lines forecasted by the Russians during the last day or two. In the Lyck-Rajgrod-Grajevo region, that is to say, at the south-eastern corner of East Prussia-, the Russians are fighting a stubborn rearguard action. Lyck is thirteen miles on the German side of the frontier. Rajgrod and Grajevo are in Poland, just outside the East Prussian frontier, the former place due east of Lyck, and Grajevo south-east. Further north the Russians are falling back, before a great German force, upon the Niemen line, the fortress line which lies about fifty miles east of the East Prussian frontier. * * * * • Acrivm on the 1 East i Prussian front appears to have induced a comparative lull in many other parts of the long Eastern line, and so far as the Carpathians are concerned, the Russians seem to .be content meantime to hold' the passes, and so block an, Austro-German advance into Galicia. They report repulsing attacks upon their positions and capturing many prisoners, but make little mention of aggressive activities.

The report that the Russians had been compelled to retire in Bukowina, (the province at the eastern extremity of Galicia), but would hold Czemowitz, the capital of Bukowina, which Ues about 15 miles west of the p ( oint at which the frontiers of Russia, Rumania, and Galicia meet, seems to have been a little premature, for it is reported to-dav that the Austro-Germans were repulsed in serious attacks on the Russian entrenchments north of Kimpolung, a town in the southern part of Bukowina, sixty miles 60Uth of' Czernowitz. More than this, it is stated that the Russians counter-attacked, broke the Austro-German line at three points, and compelled a retirement. _It would appear, therefore, that if the Russians are retiring from Bukowina, they are not doing it under compulsion. Czernowitz, is being fortified, but this may possibly be only a measure "of precaution. » * * *

Additions _ are made to-day to the list of atrocities alleged against the Germans in Belgium which will arouse sentiments of horror 'and indignation throughout the civilised world. Some of the stories of German atrocities may possibly have been overdrawn, but there seems to be no doubt that deeds have' been committed by the officers and soldiers of the German armies which would blacken the name even of a nation of savages. Stupid efforts, finding their keenest expression in the Chant of Hate, are being made in Germany to elevate hatred of her enemies, and especially of England, into a sort of national religion, but if one-half of the indictment framed against her soldiers is true, Germany is in a fair way to awaken in every civilised nation a feeling not so much of hate as of lasting detestation and repugnance, very much the passionless but relentless spirit which has inspired men to instinotively wage implacable war on every possible occasion against the < tiger and the shark. -