ascertain whether a suspected merchantman is in fact of belligerent nationality or is in fact carrying contraband under a neutral flag. "The Government of the United States desires to call the attention of the Imperial Government with the utmost earnestness to the fact that the objection to their present method of attack against the trade of their enemies lies in the practical impossibility of employing submarines in the destruction of commerce without disregarding those rules of fairness, reason, justice and humanity, which all modern opinion regards as imperative. It is practically impossible for officers of submarines to visit a merchantman at sea and examine her papers and cargo. It is practically impossible for them to make a prize of her; and, if they cannot put a prize crew on board, they cannot sink her without leaving her crew and all on board to the mercy of the sea in her small boats. . . . Manifestly, submarines cannot be used against merchantmen, as the last few weeks have shown, without an inevitable violation of many sacred principles of justice and humanity.' That condemnation applies to every ship which has been sunk by German submarines; and the more recent undertaking by Count Bernstorff to the United States Government, that warning will in future be given to 'liners' in order to enable passengers to take to the boats, in no way robs the American indictment of its wide implication. Happily the enemy has suffered for his inhuman and illegal acts materially as well as morally. While we have had to deplore the sinking of merchant ships, which we can replace, Germany's losses of submarines, with their highly trained crews-which are irreplaceable— have been, as the Admiralty have announced, 'important,' while Mr Balfour has described them in a letter to a correspondent as 'formidable.' The British Navy, suddenly opposed by an enemy recognising no law, developed with a speed and sureness of purpose unparalleled in the history of naval warfare, a defensive-offensive organisation, the efficiency of which will increase with the passing of time. Captain Persius, writing in the 'Berliner Tageblatt,' has confessed that 'the results of the activity of our submarines in their war on commerce are viewed in many quarters as, shall we say, extremely modest'; and that the Germans now realise that the British 'know how to defend themselves' and have 'devised many kinds of protective measures.' The hope of the peaceful shipping of the world resides in those improvised methods of the British Fleet as offering the only means of escape from a state of anarchy at sea whenever maritime war occurs. The submarine has arrived, and its development will persist. It may be that in a few years the navies of the world will possess under-water ships of 3000 or more tons displacement, carrying powerful armaments of quickfiring guns, in addition to torpedo tubes, with surface speeds exceeding twenty knots-being faster, therefore, than most battleships-and with the added defensive power derived from the ability to evade attack by submergence. Were such vessels able to pursue piratical tactics unimpeded, then indeed these islands might be exposed to the danger of starvation by a real blockade. But the skill and inventiveness of the Navy has hitherto conjured this danger with astonishing success. Apart from the deplorable incidents which have distinguished the progress of Germany's 'blockade,' in only three of the naval theatres have incidents occurred which call for notice-the Baltic, the Sea of Marmora, and the Black Sea. In each of these naval theatres the enemy had the advantage of superior naval power and in each he has suffered. The occurrences in the Baltic are still shrouded in the mist of war, and it is by no means certain what actual injury the Germans sustained. There is presumption for concluding, however, that the enemy endeavoured to translate his assumed naval power in these waters into military power, and in so doing-in the earlier operations against Windau and in the attacks on the Gulf of Riga-suffered heavy losses. These include the battleship Pommern,' sunk by a British submarine (Commander Max Horton, D.S.O.), the mining cruiser Albatross,' and a number of destroyers. The Russian naval staff have also claimed that a British submarine torpedoed the battle-cruiser Moltke,' but whether that ship was sunk or only damaged is still unknown. The Russians also asserted that the Germans had several cruisers 'damaged or sunk' during the effort to obtain command of the Gulf of Riga. In the Sea of Marmora the enemy has also been reminded that he has no monopoly of the power to use submarines. Early in August a British submarine, on the admission of the Turks, sank the battleship 'Hairredin Barbarossa,' a vessel of over 10,000 tons, which the Germans sold to the Porte in 1910 for 450,000l. Nor is that all. Owing to the activity of British submarines, the enemy's use of the Sea of Marmora for military purposes has been seriously curtailed; and a reign of terror has been created at Constantinople owing to the sinking of transports and storeships and the damage sustained by the wharves. Much the same conditions have been created by the Russian fleet in the Black Sea. Not only have Turkish positions of military importance been bombarded, but several hundred sailing vessels, carrying war and other material, have been destroyed. In these three theatres, where the enemy thought himself immune from serious danger, he has not only been placed on the defensive, but has been compelled by the risks involved to deny himself the military advantages which he thought to enjoy in virtue of his superiority in naval materiel. To sum up, in Mr Balfour's words: 'No German ship is to be found on the ocean; Allied commerce is more secure from attack, legitimate and illegitimate, than it was after Trafalgar; the German High Sea Fleet has not as yet ventured beyond the security of its protected waters; no invasion has been attempted of these islands; British troops, in numbers unparalleled in history, have moved to and from across the seas and have been effectively supported on shore. The greatest of military Powers has seen its colonies wrested from it one by one, and has not been able to land a man or a gun in their defence.' ARCHIBALD Hurd. CORRIGENDUM.-In No. 444, p. 272, last line, for "right bank" read "left bank." INDEX TO THE TWO HUNDRED AND TWENTY-FOURTH VOLUME OF THE QUARTERLY REVIEW. [Titles of Articles are printed in heavier type. The names of authors of A. Abercrombie, Lascelles, "The War Abydos, harbour, 117-position, ib. Adriatic, The, and Italy, 327. See Aliens, Enemy, The Treatment Allen, Fanny, her letters, 546-548- Allen, John Bartlett, his daughters, Allens, Wedgwoods, and Darwins, 540-their correspondence, ib.- Vol. 224.-No. 445. Allied Powers, The Economic Aluminium, history of the discovery, Ambulance motors, the use of, in Ameer Ali, Rt Hon., 'The Caliphate,' American Loan, The, and Ex- Army, British, casualties, 151. Army, numbers required to replace Ashley, W. J., 'Germany's Food Atlay, J. B., his views on Inter- Austria, possessions on the Adriatic 458. Austria, Modern, 463-problem of 2 R nationalities, 466-power of re- Austria-Hungary, campaign against Bauer, Prof., on the average con- Beck, James, 'Evidence in the Case,' Beer, G. L., British Colonial Policy,' Belcher, Henry, 'The First American Belgium, result of the war, 202. Bible, the English, character of the Birth-rate, result of the decrease, 92. Bodley, J. E. C., his essay The Bon, M. Le, 'Lois Psychologiques Books, Some, on the War, 483- · |