PROGRESS OF THE WAR.

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2390, 20 February 1915, Page 6

PROGRESS OF THE WAR.

Germany's latest Note to America, intended apparently as an address to the world on the subject of German . woes and aspirations where commerce .and blockade are concerned, is one of the most childish and wonderfully involved messages ever sent forth in the realm of international diplomacy.. Except for its dominating tone of lament—a gratifying tribute to the potency and cfliciency of the British blockade—tho German Note says little clearly, and in several particulars it is directly contradictory. This is especially the ease where references to the intended treatment of neutral shipping are concerned. Assurances of consideration for neutral shipping are mingled with statements that a war zone will bo closod.with mines which will endanger all trade within that zono without distinction. In'one breath Germany- declares that her measures are aimed only at enemy merchantmen, and in the next goes on to laboriously explain that the conditions of her so-callcd blockade will make it impossible 1.0 differentiate offentiyel.v Rivjroy qtifl mu. U'fli nuijja.

That the Gorman Note is marked by a sublime disregard for truth may be seen in the opening sentence of the cabled summary, which declares that "Germany ha-s hitherto scrupulously observed all valid international rules." Every schoolboy in any civilised country knows that Germany has trampled on valid international rules as no nation has over done before in the modern history of the world. Recourse must be bad to the history of the Middle Ages to find a parallel for her savage violation of the neutrality of an unoffending nation and the unspeakable atrocities to which sho has subjected its population, not to mention her naval and air bombai dmenfcs of undefended towns.

_ If the German protestations are intended to apply only to sea warfare and commercial blockade, they are equally wide of the truth, for here Germany has plainly and without disguise abandoned legitimate warfare for common piracy. In its efforts to justify an indefensible position, the Note is &o obviously a web of untruths that its production can only bo attributed to seme strange kink in the German intellect producing an infinite belief in human gullibility.

• » t » The facts of tho position with which the German Note affects to deal are perfectly clear. Britain has established a legitimate blockade, which by the resultant depletion of. her enemy's resources is a vital factor in the war. It ia a blockade maintained in strict accordance with the rules of international law. Ships are seized only when inspection and search have disclosed that- they are bearing contraband destined for enemies of Britain and her Allies.- Under the British blockade every care is taken to safeguard life and legitimate neutral interests. Smarting under this blockade, and unable ' to break or weaken it by any act of legitimate i warfare, Germany has decided to sink without search or parley all ships coming within range of her submarines ■ By deeds as well'as words she has already shown that sho is prepared to sink ships without any inquiry as to their nationality or whether , they carry contraband or not. In its essentials the Note to America is_ an exposition of this policy—a policy that, apart from its criminality, can only be regarded as a signal confession of feebleness and failure.

t I • « No one is called upon to follow the peculiar tortuosities of tk German argument so far as the attempt to explain the existing position is concerned, and here the Note is interesting only because of its admissions. The most important admission of all is that Germany has to choose between tame acquiescence in starvation, as a'result of the successful British blockade ("murderous naval warfare," in the language of the Note) and the desperate courses which she is now meditating. This is more than hai been hoped for. It is testimony that the British Navy is doing even more effective work than had been supposed, and is playing a truly commandiig part in the war scaroely lessened by the fact that its natural antagonists have almost invariably refused to meet it in battle.

From the admissions which are its real starting point, the German Note goes on to a -.tatement of intentions which will command attention in every neutral trading country as well as in the. countries which are joined in the Entente. In its baldest form, the German announcement is that unless neiitral countries will assist Germany to break- down tho British blockade their shipping will subjected to every rigour of piratical attack. • It is impossible to read in any other w : ay the plaintive comparisons between tho free flow of arms and goods of all kinds from neutral countries to Britain and her Allies and the commercial isolation of Germany, the thinly veiled threats against neutral shipping and the quaint assurance that Germany would highly appreciate American assistance enabling it to import the necessaries of life and industrial raw material.

As Germany and all neutral countries perfectly well know, such 'pacific advances as the Note contains are saddled with impossible conditions. Neutral ships are offered immunity from German attack, but only if they will go out of business so far as the war zone is concerned or in some unexplained, fashion smash the blockade which is maintained by the might of the British Navy and it's Anies. Short of these impossible conditions—impossible as the tasks set by wicked fairies in the tales that used to be .written for children—the German Note is a' declaration not of war, but of piracy upon all the shipping coming within reach of damage by her submarines or mines, by way of revenge for the starvation whioh threatens the Fatherland as the outcome of her own aggressive militarism which provoked the necessity, of the British blockade. * * » * There, is no reason to doubt that Germany is as desperate as the Note indicates in face of tho blockade to which she is subjected, but probably her Best card at the moment is a hope that America and other neutral nations may be intimidated by her threats into making a great effort to soften the rigours of the blockade. ■There are elements of weakness in the foreign policy of the 1 United I States which lend a colour of reason to such a hope, but it is nevertheless doomed at its birth by the firm stand taken by the British Government and set forth in Sin Edward Gbby's masterly survev of'the contraband problem and tne blockade question m general. It is not impossible that neutral intervention may be attempted, but it is pretty safe to assume that Britain will decline to in any way slacken the pressure bearing upon her enemy, and that as timo goes on the pressure will be increased instead of being relieved. In any case, apart from tho overshadowing factor of belligerent necessity, neutral nations cannot well make any yery firm protest against the British blockade, in view of Germany's threats against shipping in general, supplemented as they are by tho blunt intimation of tho Gorman Ambassador to Norway that Germany is unable to offer 1 neutral ships any security. \

Failing, any relief by the interposition of neutral nations, Germany is, no doubt, willing to go to desperate lengths to .make the seas around Britain impossible to shipping, but there is good reason to believe that the task is a long way beyond her powers. Mentii'.n of minesowing as an adjunct (a the submarine campaign is more interesting as an admission of weakness than as uridiHonitl threat, (or Gorman akijjft attcmi>,tin|s to ccw.

mines in British waters will be exposed to very much greater difficulties and risks than submarines deputed to make stealthy attacks on merchant ships. * * #' * Still anothor possibility is opened up by the German Ambassa'dor in .Norway, who .has alitady been quoted. He says that there will be embittered fighting on the British coast during next week If this is anything but bombast, it docs not improve the German outlook. It is true that a number of British ships exposed on patrol duty have fallen victims to German submarines, and that on two occasions British ships have been beaten by overwhelmingly superior German foroe but in the mam the story of naval conflict between the two nations is one of almost unmitigated disaster from the German point of view, and only the retiring disposition of German warships has prevented the story being amplified. * ». * »■ Howevek, it is unlikely that Germany will take avoidable risks of open conflict in pursuing her campaign against British and neutral shipping. She may quite possibly succeed in destroying a considerable number of merchant ships, but it is unlikely that she will achieve in this way any perceptible relief from the oppressive blockade against which she is now protesting, and there is reason to hope that the activities of the Navy will result in inflicting their merited 'ate upon at least a proportion of the. German piratical sea-raiders. ' * * * * A late message upholds the view that Germany is mainly intent upon attempting to use the United States as a lever in reducing the pressure of the British blockade. Even in Germany, however, the attempt is evidently not regarded as hopeful, for public feeling in that country is becoming so antagonistic to Americans that a number of them are leaving. A remarkable testimony to the effect of the blockade is furnished in the report that the German Government intends, in order to restrict food consumption, to compel five millions of its citizens, who possess independent means, but are ineligible for military service, to take up Sieir in neutral countries until the war is over.

< * . * * CoiipaeativeliY little news is available to-day from the main theatres in East: and West. The Russian retirement into' Poland from East Prussia continues, and the Germans claiin to have increased their 'total of prisoners t0,64,000, and that they have captured, .also, a considerable amount of artillery and material. Russian accounts of the operations go little beyond the bare statement that desperate fighting has occurred at various points along the front: It may- be accepted that the Russians are being heavily pounded in their retreat, put they have on a number of occasions turned, after such an experience, to inflict a crushing defeat upon their pursuing enemy, and the present retreat was undertaken with a similar object in view. In the Carpathian? the Russians appear to be comfortably holding their own. To-day they report repulsing attacks and inflicting loss upon the enemy at a number of places on the front extending eastward along the mountains from- their battle-line in Western Galicia. ••• ,

• * As regards the operations in the Western theatre ■ the-Allies report a continuance of the sucoesses which have rewarded their efforts for some time past, and the ;Germans have lost heavily in abortive efforts to regain trenches recently lost. Progress by the Allies is reported at. many points in the Argonne and elsewhere. . : . - * * * ' * On the Lorraine border, southwest, of the great German fortress of Metz, which covers the frontier in that region, _ the Allies have captured the hill position which was recently occupied by the Germans in face of their advance. A Paris newspaper, acoirding to a message' published to-day, _ declares that the Germans are mining Metz Cathedral, in order to blow it up if they are compelled to abandon the town. This seems almost unbelievable, but if it is true Aii- j WS -i the prospect of an Allied advance through Lorraine is very seriously regarded by the Germans. * * * *

Somewhat conflicting accounts are given of- the fighting in - Bukowina, at the eastern end of Galicia, where the Russians have recently been retiring before heavy Auatro-German forces. A message from Petrograd states that Russian detachments are falling back beyond tlie Pruth, a river which runs across the northern fringe of Bukowina into Buinania, and passes a_ mile or two north of Uzcrnowitz (in north-eastern Bukowina). Mr. Martin Donohoe, on t.|ie other hand, reports that the Russians have beaten off the Austrouerraans and that the Czernowitz district is free of the enemy who are retiring. Mr. Donohoe's message is dated at London one day earlier than the one from Petrograd. Apart from the fact that the respective times of 'dispatch are not indicated, tlie messages leave the actual position in doubt. Possibly the retirement across the. Pruth relates to north-western Bukowina and not to the neighbourhood of Czernowitz. A defeat at the latter place would be serious in view of the announced intention of the Russians of -holding it as one flank of a lino extending across the northern - end of Bukowina. * .* . K * The Turkish attack on the Suez Canal a few weeks ago is interestingly reviewed by Captain Bean (the Commonwealth official correspondjont). He makes it clear that the Ottoman advance was no mere reconnaissance, but was intended to be driven home. Thirty thousand men, about a third of the Turkish Army, reached a camp in the elevated ground thirty miles east of Isfiiailia, a mid-way point on the canal, so that the foTce which was so decisively defeated on the east bank of tho canal was probably more numerous than reports' at the time indicated. That tW Turks did not develop the attack in even greater strength was probably due to difficulties of desert transport and to tho disorganisation in the army of invasion which a number of messages have emphasised. There seems to be no immediate prospect of a renewal °/ 11 <l(itac l c ) for Captain Bean states that the nearest Turkish force is at Icifefc sixty miles distant from 'j tho canal. ,