THE NORTH SEA OUTRAGE

Evening Star, Issue 12365, 1 December 1904, Page 1

THE NORTH SEA OUTRAGE

FATEFUL DAYS. [Fnoii Oua Special CoaaESPONDENT.] LONDON, October 29. -there has been little in the aspect of the London streets to indicate the tension' of the past few daye. Neither the hurrying crowds nor the ceaseless rumble of the traffic conveyed any hint of a crisis in the affairs of the nation. Perhaps more people stopped to read the headlines of the evening bids, more newspapers were bought and eagerly scanned for latest news, but otherwise the metropolis went about its business much as usual. What has impressed me mist about the English people during this eventful week has been their admirable self-restraint m the face of extraordinary provocation. J 3f 6 c Cap . lhl l on Mond ay to find itsej face to face with a momentous issuea situation created by events without a paraM in modem times. The Russian Baltic squadron on its passage through the night had sailed ffito a fleet of British trawlers, and without any warning or excuse poured a fusillade of shirt and shell % upon the defenceless fisher craft 18 no nee d to recapitulate that amazing stoiy of wanton and qowardly aggrosAll the world knew it by Monday njght, and all the world wondered.” At first the whole thing seemed incredible, like an ugly vision But a* the details came pouring id, and the story of the fishermen Bt °°d m its full enormity, amazement 7>l, i SW f T ed up in indignation. It is doubtful whether the present generation has ever known another outburst of feeling so spontaneous and unanimous. The Press of the whole Kingdom spoke as with one voice in demanding prompt reparation and the punishment of the officers responsible for the outrage. For the moment there are no distinctions of party. Tho Liberal leaders are amongst the staunchest supporters of the Government in their demands. Lord Rosebery, in sending a generous donation in aid of the fisheTfolk. speaks of the act of the Baltic fleet as an unspeakable outrage.” Sir Henry Camp-peU-Baimerman, addressing a party gathering at Norwich, gpoke of “ the unparalleled and cruel outrage ” and “ the atrocious act,” and laid down as essential conditions of a settlement the very demands that the British has presented to the Czar on behalf of King Edward’s Government. Mr brooks, speaking on behalf of the Labor party, is as emphatic as the Liberal leaders in Ins denunciation of the Russians* cond. nf d_. Die whole nation is at one with Die King and his Ministers in the firm stand they have taken,, and in their responsible hands tho issue has been left, with perfect confidence in their ability to vindicate the honor of the nation.

Men talked of nothing else all the week, but the situation was for the most part discussed calmly and deliberately. There may have been, indeed there was, a strong desire to see ibis egregious squadron brought sharply to its bearings, but that feeling was not expressed in any spirit of braggadocio. Still, the strong undercurrent of feeling was very noticeable, and though most people keep their language well under control, there are alw ays some fiery spirits who de* cline to measure their words on such a topic. .The Government ought to allow a trawler fleet to brine them into Portsmouth,” said 1 one man in the train ; “ Berrsford ought to £ro on board ‘ Roddyvenrki’s ’ ship and knock him overboard,” declared another. If Charlie at Gib., and Togo somewhere else aren’t enough to settle the lot, Pm done!” said a Radical fire-eater at a meet , ing .down in Poplar. This sort of. talk j -was the exception, not the rule, but it was i very evident all the same that the,genera] public are more strongly anti-Russian tow than they were anti-Boer in the period just preceding the war in South Africa. —ln the Balance.— The absurd “explanations” ptt forward by the Russians excited general derision. If it were not so ludicrous one might have , aimost admired the audacity which could impel these alleged sailors to offer the excuse that there were two Japanese torpedo beats amongst the trawlers, and to maintain that one of these was sent to the bottom by the Russian guns. The Baltic squadron seems to have started on its voyage in a state of nervous apprehension not far removed from panic. The amazing excuse offered by the Russian officers for the outrage on the fishing boats is not the least disgraceful feature of their delirious cruise. As Mr Labouchere puts it, “it shows ns the invincihje armada which has gone forth to restore Russian supremacy in the Pacific, creeping along on the threshold of its enterprise like a nurserymaid in a dark churchyard pursued by bogeys of her own imagination, quaking at every object in the landscape, and ready to shriek and run if a bat flaps its wings or a neighboring donkey brays.’ That is the ludicrous side of the affair—an aspect which has made the Baltic squadron the laughing stock of the world, and brought shame and derision upon the nation which, sent it forth. But one cannot laugh away the callous brutality which prompted the Russians to sail away without offering any assistance to the deI fenceless boats they had battered, or making nny attempt to rescue the crew of the sinking trawler. Nor did the first attitude of the Russian Government help to mend matters. Its dilatory methods, its evasions and futile “explanations” all tended to aggravate a situation which delay rendered hourly more serious. It seemed almost incredible that the Russian Anglophobes would make their Admiral’s almost outrageous blunder a pretext for plunging their country mto a war with Great Britain, yet it is now evident that up till yesterday we were i° n the very brink of war. j To-day all danger of war seems happily at ?? .^, r Balfour announced last night that Russia has conceded all the British demands, including the punishment of the officers responsible for the outrage, and precautions against the recurrence of such „ Th ® Baltic fleet, it fc stated, will be detained at Vigo pending the examination of the officers by an international board of inquiry Tims the crisis has ended I "Li B** 0 ® T’ th But it was touch land gev Mr Balfour declared that in all ins long experience no question had given so great a shock to the public mind, or had brought this country so near to the edee of a great war with a first-class Power. To have averted that tragedy by a settlement honorable to both Powers is a victory- for '—-i public justice, and common

—" England’s Dead."— * Tho funeral at Hull of the victims of the .North oea outrage was marked by a deeplyfcignificant outburst of public sympathy, it vas a scene perhaps without parallel in history. The obsequies of two -humble fishermen sent a whole city into mourning, and evoked a display of sympathy and sorrow such as the death of the greatest in the land could scarce produce. It was the spontaneous tribute of a free people to the humble victims of a wrong which, through them, touched the nation’s honor and called for reparation alike to the individual and to the nation. No ceremony of the kind in recent years can be compared with this. The special correspondent of ‘The Times'’ declares that London’s great pageants—the jubilees, Queen Victoria’s funeral, the military triumphs, the Coronation—were none of them so impressive as the scene at Hull cn Thursday. Ho added : I do not -wish to exaggerate, and to some eyes it may have appeared dull and uninteresting. • There was no pomp, no color, no glitter; but there was a pathos, a solemnity, beyond

2«fnm population of Hull ia S' “d evory man, woman, and footed to be m the streets. They toed the route for the whole five miles, P l aC « twent y dee P. and all businew and traffic were entirely suspended. Si oorteue moved slowly to theceme- !!*£. ° efcwe£n dense and silent rows of The perfect silence which ~ er - the> v ™ fc assemblage was infltefy movmg. The demeanor of the byetanders wifs one of the most remarkable £“*"?•* bave neverseen anything like it, and it was everywhere the same. The day was lovely, a perfect autumn afternoon, windless and cloud, less; one could see every face and note every expression. The people not only stood m perfect order and in silence, but they wore a look of gravity and reverence I have never seen in a crowd before. Diere were thousands of the roughest working men there for hours, but I saw none of them even smoking. I saw no one talking and laughing, but scores ol women crying. There was hardly more sign of curiosity than of flippancy in theii faces. In point of fact,, there was nothem to see. They had come to honor the dead, and never were dead ' more truly honored. To see the place all so grave and still along that extended line produced an indescribable impression. No man can laugh, at the dead, but dead who can move a multitude in this way are few indeed, and behind the peopli of Hull one felt the nation was standing, for these are England’s dead. —“Room for Rozhdesventsfcy I” In the thick of their righteous indigo?, tion at tho danger of what the * Evening News’ aptly termed “The Mad Dog Fleet' 5 the average Englishman could not repress * sardonic smile at the first excuse made foC Admiral Rozhdesventsky by his friends oft the Continent. It was cabled for our edifb cation and instruction that the Admiral, before setting sail for the Par East, had, in view of warning received (from German sources) that attempts would b© made to damage his fleet whilst it was still in European waters, made known his intention to “ fire upon any vessel approaching too near ” his ships. Therefore the blame for the unfortunate affair in the North Sea (said tho Admiral’s apologists) rested as much on the British Government as on the Russian Admiral. The fishermen ought to have been warned by our Government to keep we!) away from the vicinity of the Russian fleet! But who knew what route the Russians would take? Their Admiral—wisely enough if he deemed his fleet to be in danger from Japanese torpedo boat attacks—chose a course which took him anywhere from 60 to 100 miles west of the track he inight be expected to make in the North Sea passage. compasses on his ships were out of order indeed, he must nave noiown that the course he shaped would take him right into the Dogger fishing belt. The Admiral, who spent some time at Hull whilst a naval attache, could scarcely be ignorant of the fact that a fishing fleet with trawls down could not, if it would, get out of his way. Yet a second apologist tells us that the fir,here were ordered by signal to clear off, that their refusal to do so was taken as indicative of some sinister design, and that Ihe Russian Admiral was fully justified in “ taking precautions for the safety of his fleet. A third apologist considers the “ mistake ” to have been quite natural. In view of tho fact that Japanese war vessels of any description could not well have been in the North Sea without somebody knowing of their presence, he urges that the officers of the Baltic fleet would naturally look for danger from some other source. What morn reasonable than to suspect the wily Jap of having supplied torpedo outfits to the inno-cent-looking British trawlers, which, by reason of their occupation, would lie able to get near to the Russian ships without attracting attention ? From another quarter it is alleged that Rozhdestvensky received categorical instructions from his own Admiralty not only authorising but obliging him to fire upon all ships approaching too close to his squadron. It is incredible that he received such orders, but that ho behaved as though he had done so is a fact. We know for a certainty that before running amok the North Sea fishing fleet his cruisers had let fly solid shot at two tramp steamers flyuig the Norwegian and Swedish flag respectively, but -without harming them. Other ships may have “ come too cl ore ” to Rozhdcsventsky’s craft and have failed to report their reception by reason of the fact that they have shared the fate of the trawler Crane. —“A Regrettable Incident.”—

Even in our great anger at the outrageous behaviour of the Baltic fleet, there is room for some small regret that the lower claevs of London should have been permitted to give vert to their feelings by insulting the Russian Ambaseador. Count Benckcndotff was absent from London when tho news of the outrage reached ns, but returned the moment ho heard the grave tidings. The evening newspapers on Monday got wind of his movements, and published as “ stop press” news the fact thalt he would arrive at Victoria at ten o’clock that night. A little thought would most surely have led to editorial suppression of this intelligence. In the excited state of public opinion, its publication was certain to produce untoward results. In consequence of the intimation Victoria station was the rendezvous for a host of turbulent larrikins of both sexes, and when the Ambassador arrived ’be was Elected with a- storm of “Boos,” groans, howls, cat-oalls, and insulting remarks. Hie carriage was followed from the station to the Embassy in Cheshtun place, where ho was again made the subject of a vocal demonstration the reverse of complimentary. Happily no attempt at violence of any kind was made, and not even a rime was thrown at the Embassy windows. Possibly the presence of a strong posse of police deterred the wilder elements of tho crowd from inhibiting anger by stone-throwing, or perhaps it was only lock of ammunition common to wood-paved streets that prevented the crowd indulging in this popular method of “letting off steam.” The newspapers which told the time and place of the Rusritm Ambassador's arrival 'touch lightly on this “regrettable incident,”’ and seem to count it' to our populace for righteousness that the Russian Ambassador was able to go from Victoria station to Cheshom place without having his carnage windows smashed, and 1 that the Embassy itself bears no outward and visible signs of London’s wrath over the North Sea murders. It is certainly a case of “no thanks to them ” that Count Benckendorff escaped with a whole skin.