The New Zealand Tablet THURSDAY, APRIL 1, 1915. GERMAN NAVAL POLICY

New Zealand Tablet, 1 April 1915, Page 33

The New Zealand Tablet THURSDAY, APRIL 1, 1915. GERMAN NAVAL POLICY

£ ATE English and American papers throw rtj II some interesting side-lights on German yli vJfl uaval policy, and bring out some aspects of recent happenings and official utterances f) which have not, so far as we have seen, yet ;£» received publicity in this country. The k commonly accepted explanation, for example, at this end of the world, of the great running fight in the North Sea on January 24, which culminated in the sinking of the Blticher, ’ was that the Germans were on their way once again to shell some English seaside towns, and that they were surprised in the attempt. Well-informed English papers, however, discredit this theory. They point out that on previous occasions when the raiders came on such an errand they always crossed the North Sea by night, launched their bolt in the first hours of daylight, and steamed away again before any considerable British force had time to get near them. On January 24, however, the German ships were heading towards the English coast, and apparently still a long "way from it, in daylight. It looked as if they wanted to be discovered by the British ships. On being sighted and chased by British destroyers, they immediately turned tail._ No sensible person believes that the Germans are lacking in courage ; and their procedure in so promptly taking flight is certainly suspicious. What, then, was the object of their little excursion? Apparently nothing less than to draw the British ships on by appearing to run away from them, and so to entice them into a minefield and among submarines, or to destroy them singly during a long pursuit by dropping mines in their path. That, at any rate, is the London Spectator’s theory. It would seem as if Admiral Beatty took a similar view ; for in the very heat of victory, when it looked as if he had only .to steam a few more miles to be certain of sinking another cruiser, he deliberately refrained. Admiral Beatty is deservedly receiving as much applause for his level-headed-ness and sound judgment in knowing when to stop, as for the gallantry and dash which characterised his more spectacular work in this exciting skirmish. This new German manoeuvre is interesting as giving the British naval authorities a clue to the sort of wearing down tactics which they may expect Germany to pursue until she deems it safe to venture upon an open fight, and as indicating that the British Navy will have to fight with their heads as well as with their guns so long as this waiting long-range warfare continues.

American papers also throw a somewhat fuller light on .the means by which Germany proposed to make good her so-called blockade of British coasts. . The information is conveyed in the text of the German Government’s —published in full in the American pressto the American protest against the terms of the - war zone decree issued by the former on February 4. When that proclamation was made, the public mind in this country ran mostly to the thought of submarines. The German Note referred to, however, places most of the stress upon mines as the effective ‘ blockading ’ agent. ‘ Acting from this point of view,’ it says, ‘the German Admiralty proclaimed a naval war zone, whose limits it exactly defined. Germany, so far as possible, will seek to close this war zone with mines, and will also endeavor to destroy hostile merchant vessels in every other way. While the German Government, in taking action based upon this overpowering point of view, keeps itself far removed from all intentional destruction of neutral lives and property, on the other hand, it does not fail to recognise that, from the action to be taken against Great Britain, dangers arise which threaten all trade within the war zone without distinction. This is a natural result of mine warfare, which even under the strictest observance of the limits of international law, endangers every ship approaching the mine area.’ Again and again the Note warns neutral shipping that the only hope of safety is to keep away from the * war zone.’ ‘ The German Government,’ it continues, ‘ considers itself entitled to hope that all neutrals will acquiesce in these measures, as they have done in the case of the grievous damages inflicted upon them by British measures. ... In view of the fact that Germany gave the first proof of her good will in fixing a time limit of not less than fourteen days before the execution of said measures, so that neutral shipping might have an opportunity of making arrangements to avoid threatening danger, this can most surely be achieved by remaining away from the naval war zone. Neutral vessels which, despite this ample notice, which greatly affects the achievement of our aims in our Avar against Great Britain, enter these closed waters, will themselves bear the responsibility for any unfortunate accidents that may occur. Germany disclaims all responsibility for such accidents and their consequences.’ And again it says: ‘ Germany would be particularly grateful if the United States would urgently recommend to its merchant vessels to avoid the British naval Avar zone.’ It may well be that this repeated talk of the wholesale use of mines, and these urgent exhortations to keep away from the war zone, are very largely in the nature of bluff, used for the purpose of frightening neutrals from continuing their trade with Britain. But for whatever such utterances are worth, there they are, in the official document. * The Note affords striking and unmistakable evidence of the extent to which Germany is now feeling the economic pinch. There are repeated and undisguised references to the fact that her overseas food supply is now almost completely cut off, and to the grave danger of starvation which that entails. It may be that the numerous peace 1 feelers ’ that are a marked feature of several pro-German American papers that lie before us are an outcome of these references. It is a truism to say that every sensible person desires peace; and provided it be the right kind of peace, it cannot come a day too soon. ‘ The peace which the Holy Father invites us to implore from God,’ said Cardinal Amette, in a recent pastoral, ‘is the sweet and lasting peace which, according to the words of the Holy Book, is the work of justice the peace which supposes the triumph and the reign of right.’ And for that peacethe only genuine and enduring peacewe may all most heartily and sincerely pray.