"THE BABY-KILLERS"

Evening Post, Volume LXXXVIII, Issue 150, 22 December 1914, Page 6

"THE BABY-KILLERS "

When Walpole heard the Jingoes of his day ringing the church bells in their enthusiasm over the war with Spain, he said : " They will soon be wringing their hands." One is reminded of the great Peace Minister's prophecy by demonstration which have taken place in Berlin over the latest exploit of German valour and culture. Half-a-dozen German warships cteal out of port under cover of darknets, elud© the British patrols, teach the eastern coast of England by daybreak, spend an hour shelling several sea -coast towns, of which only one was fortified, and then disappear in the mist before any hatm is done to them. On tho strength of their returning uninjured from this wondrous feat of arms, which is absolutely devoid of military value, and hap produced no fruits beyond the destruction of a small amount of property and the deaths of a small number of people, mostly civilians, the flags have been flying in the German capital, the bells are ringing, and tnere » a loud popular demand for tho presentation of the iron crose to everybody concerned in so" gallant an enterprise. In view of the threatened shortage of the munitions of war. the Germans would 6urely be wise not to waste their iron in this wholesale fashion, and would it not be well for them t6 display a little economy in jubilation? The present hysterics certainly suggest that the good people of Berlin have had little lately upon whicn to vent their patriotic enthusiasm, and that their hatred of Britain is so intense and so blind that even the slaughter of British women and children ib a matter for exultation. Mr. Churchill hao described the occasion with his usual felicity. German military calculators have thrown calculation to the winds, her strategists are lost to all sense of proportion, and the whole nation is frenzied with joy by the slaughter of English people, " irrespective of sex, age, or condition." " Whatever feats of arms the German navy may hereafter perform," cays "Mr. Churchill, ' the stigma of the ' Baby-killers of Scarborough ' will brand their officers and men while sailors sail the seas." Many indeed have been Germany's violations of the laws of war and humanity, but here is one which stands by itself and can be obscured by no official denials. The bells of Berlin will surely Boon be ringing to a different tune.