Dardanelles. [Cheers.] It is a good rule in war to concentrate your
forces on the main theatre and not to dissipate them in disconnected and
sporadic adventures, however promising they may appear to be. That
consideration, I need hardly say, has not been lost sight of in the
councils of the Allies. There has been and there will be no denudation
or impairment of the forces which are at work in Flanders, and both the
French and ourselves will continue to give them the fullest, and we
believe the most effective, support. Nor, what is equally important, has
there for the purpose of these operations been any weakening of the
grand fleet. [Cheers.] The enterprise which is now going on, and so far
has gone on in a manner which reflects, as I think the House will agree,
the highest credit on all concerned, was carefully considered and
conceived with very distinct and definite objects--political, strategic,
and economical. Some of these objects are so obvious as not to need
statement and others are of such a character that it is perhaps better
for the moment not to state them. [Laughter and cheers.] But I should
like to advert for a moment, without any attempt to forecast the future,
to two features in this matter. The first is, that it once more
indicates and illustrates the close co-operation of the Allies--in this
case the French and ourselves--in the new theatre and under somewhat
dissimilar conditions to those which have hitherto prevailed, and to
acknowledge what I am sure the House of Commons will be most ready to
acknowledge, that the splendid contingent from the French Navy that our
allies have supplied [cheers] is sharing to the full both the hazards
and the glory of the enterprise. [Cheers.] The other point on which I
think it is worth while to dwell for a moment is that this operation
shows in a very significant way the copiousness and the variety of our
naval resources. [Cheers.] In order to illustrate that remark, take the
names of the ships which have actually been mentioned in the published
dispatches. The Queen Elizabeth, [cheers,] the first ship to be
commissioned of the newest type of what are called superdreadnoughts,
with guns of power and range never hitherto known in naval warfare.
[Cheers.] Side by side with her is the Agamemnon, the immediate
predecessor of the dreadnought, and in association with them the
Triumph, the Cornwallis, the Irresistible, the Vengeance, and the
Albion--representing, I think I am right in saying, three or four
different types of the older predreadnought battleship which have been
so foolishly and so prematurely regarded in some quarters as obsolete or
negligible--all bringing to bear the power of their formidable
twelve-inch guns on the fortifications, with magnificent accuracy and
with deadly effects. [Cheers.] When, as I have said, these proceedings
are being conducted, so far as the navy is concerned, without
subtraction of any sort or kind from the strength and effectiveness of
the grand fleet, I think a word of congratulation is due to the
Admiralty for the way in which it has utilized all its resources.
[Cheers.]
I pass from that to another new factor in these military and naval
operations--the so-called German "blockade" of our coasts. [Cheers.] I
shall have to use some very plain language. [Cheers.] I may, perhaps,
preface what I have to say by the observation that it does not come upon
us as a surprise. [Cheers.] This war began on the part of Germany with
the cynical repudiation [cheers] of a solemn treaty on the avowed
grounds that when a nation's interests required it, right and good faith
must give way to force. ["Hear, hear!"] The war has been carried on,
therefore, with a systematic--not an impulsive or a casual--but a
systematic violation of all the conventions and practices by which
international agreements had sought to mitigate and to regularize the
clash of arms. [Cheers.] She has now, I will not say reached a climax,
for we do not know what may yet be to come, but she has taken a further
step without any precedent in history by mobilizing and organizing not
upon the surface but under the surface of the sea a campaign of piracy
and pillage. [Prolonged cheers.]
Are we--can we--here I address myself to the neutral countries of the
world--are we to or can we sit quiet as though we were still under the
protection of the restraining rules and the humanizing usages of
civilized warfare? [Cheers.] We think we cannot. [Cheers.] The enemy,
borrowing what I may, perhaps, for this purpose call a neutral flag from
the vocabulary of diplomacy, describe these newly adopted measures by a
grotesque and puerile perversion of language as a "blockade."
[Laughter.] What is a blockade? A blockade consists in sealing up the
war ports of a belligerent against sea-borne traffic by encircling their
coasts with an impenetrable ring of ships of war. [Cheers.]
Where are these ships of war? [Cheers.] Where is the German Navy?
[Cheers.] What has become of those gigantic battleships and cruisers on
which so many millions of money have been spent and in which such vast
hopes and ambitions have been invested? I think, if my memory serves
me, they have only twice during the course of these seven months been
seen upon the open sea. Their object in both cases was the same--murder,
[cheers,] civilian outrage, and wholesale destruction of property in
undefended seaside towns, and on each occasion when they caught sight of
the approach of a British force they showed a clean pair of heels, and
they hurried back at the top of their speed to the safe seclusion of
their mine fields and their closely guarded forts.
_Lord R. CECIL_--Not all. [Laughter.]
_Mr. ASQUITH_--No; some had misadventures on the way. ["Hear, hear!" and
laughter.] The plain truth is--the German fleet is not blockading,
cannot blockade, and never will blockade our coasts.
I propose now to read to the committee the statement which has been
prepared by his Majesty's Government and which will be public property
tomorrow. It declares, I hope in sufficiently plain and unmistakable
terms, the view which we take, not only of our rights, but of our duty.
[Cheers.]
Germany has declared that the English Channel, the north and west coasts
of France, and the waters around the British Isles are a "war area" and
has officially notified that all enemy ships found in that area will be
destroyed and that neutral vessels may be exposed to danger. This is, in
effect, a claim to torpedo at sight, without regard to the safety of
crew or passengers, any merchant vessel under any flag. As it is not in
the power of the German Admiralty to maintain any surface craft in these
waters, the attack can only be delivered by submarine agency. The law
and custom of nations in regard to attacks on commerce have always
presumed that the first duty of the captor of a merchant vessel is to
bring it before a prize court, where it may be tried, and where the
regularity of the capture may be challenged, and where neutrals may
recover their cargoes. The sinking of prizes is in itself a questionable
act, to be resorted to only in extraordinary circumstances and after
provision has been made for the safety of all the crew or passengers--if
there are passengers on board. The responsibility for discriminating
between neutral and enemy vessels, and between neutral and enemy cargo,
obviously rests with the attacking ship, whose duty it is to verify the
status and character of the vessel and cargo and to preserve all papers
before sinking or even capturing the ship. So, also, is the humane duty
to provide for the safety of the crews of merchant vessels, whether
neutral or enemy, an obligation on every belligerent. It is on this
basis that all previous discussions of the law for regulating warfare at
sea have proceeded.
The German submarine fulfills none of these obligations. She enjoys no
local command of the waters in which she operates. She does not take her
captures within the jurisdiction of a prize court; she carries no prize
crew which she can put on board the prize she seizes. She uses no
effective means of discriminating between a neutral and an enemy vessel;
she does not receive on board, for safety, the crew of the vessel she
sinks. Her methods of warfare are, therefore, entirely outside the scope
of any of the international instruments regulating operations against
commerce in time of war. The German declaration substitutes
indiscriminate destruction for regulated capture. [Cheers.] Germany is
adopting these methods against peaceful traders and non-combatant crews
with the avowed object of preventing commodities of all kinds, including
food for the civil population, from reaching or leaving the British
Isles and Northern France.
Her opponents are therefore driven to frame retaliatory measures [loud
cheers] in order, in their turn, to prevent commodities of any kind
[loud cheers] from reaching or leaving the German Empire. [Renewed
cheers.] These measures will, however, be enforced by the British and
French Governments, without risk to neutral ships or to neutral or
non-combatant lives, and with strict observance of the dictates of
humanity. The British and French Governments will therefore hold
themselves free to detain and take into port ships carrying goods of
presumed enemy destination, ownership, or origin. It is not intended to
confiscate such vessels or cargoes unless they would be otherwise liable
to confiscation. Vessels with cargoes which have sailed before this date
will not be affected. [Loud cheers.]
That, Sir, is our reply. [Cheers.] I may say, before I comment upon it,
that the suggestion which I see is put forward from a German quarter
that we have rejected some proposal or suggestion made to the two powers
by the United States Government--I will not say anything more than that
it is quite untrue. On the contrary, all we have said to the United
States Government is that we are taking it into careful consideration
in consultation with our allies.
Now the committee will have observed that in the statement which I have
just read of the retaliatory measures we propose to adopt, the words
"blockade" and "contraband" and other technical terms of international
law do not occur. And advisedly so. In dealing with an opponent who has
openly repudiated all the principles both of law and of humanity we are
not going to allow our efforts to be strangled in a network of juridical
niceties. [Cheers.] We do not intend to put into operation any measures
which we do not think to be effective, [cheers,] and I need not say we
shall carefully avoid any measure which would violate the rules either
of humanity or of honesty. But, subject to those two conditions, I say
not only to our enemy, but I say it on behalf of the Government, and I
hope on behalf of the House of Commons, that under existing conditions
there is no form of economic pressure to which we do not consider
ourselves entitled to resort. [Loud cheers.] If, as a consequence,
neutrals suffer inconvenience and loss of trade, we regret it, but we
beg them to remember that this phase of the war was not initiated by us.
[Cheers.] We do not propose either to assassinate their seamen or to
destroy their goods. What we are doing we do solely in self-defense.
If, again, as is possible, hardship is caused to the civil and
non-combatant population of the enemy by the cutting off of supplies, we
are not doing more in this respect than was done in the days when
Germany still acknowledged the authority of the law of nations
sanctioned by the first and the greatest of her Chancellors, and as
practiced by the expressed declaration of his successor. We are quite
prepared to submit to the arbitrament of neutral opinion in this war in
the circumstances in which we have been placed. We have been moderate
and restrained, and we have abstained from things which we were provoked
and tempted to do, and we have adopted the policy which recommends
itself to reason, common sense, and to justice.
This new aspect of the war only serves to illustrate and to emphasize
the truth that the gravity and the magnitude of the task which we have
undertaken does not diminish, but increases, as the months roll by. The
call for men to join our fighting forces, which is our primary need, has
been and is being nobly responded to here at home and throughout the
empire. That call, we say with all plainness and directness, was never
more urgent or more imperious than today. For this is a war not only of
men but of material. To take only one illustration, the expenditure upon
ammunition on both sides has been on a scale and at a rate which is not
only without all precedent but is far in excess of any expert forecast.
At such a time patriotism has cast a heavy burden on the shoulders of
all who are engaged in trades or manufactures which directly or
indirectly minister to the equipment of our forces. It is a burden, let
me add, which falls, or ought to fall, with even weight on both
employers and employed. [Cheers.] Differences as to remuneration or as
to profit, as to hours and conditions of labor, which in ordinary times
might well justify a temporary cessation of work should no longer be
allowed to do so. The first duty of all concerned is to go on producing
with might and main what the safety of the State requires, [cheers,] and
if this is done I can say with perfect confidence the Government on its
part will insure a prompt and equitable settlement of disputed points,
and in cases of proved necessity will give on behalf of the State such
help as is in their power. [Cheers.] Sailors and soldiers, employers and
workmen in the industrial world are all at this moment partners and
co-operators in one great enterprise. The men in the shipyards and the
engineering shops, the workers in the textile factories, the miner who
sends the coal to the surface, the dockyard laborer who helps to load
and unload the ships, and those who employ and organize and supervise
their labors are one and all rendering to their country a service as
vital and as indispensable as the gallant men who line the trenches in
Flanders or in France or who are bombarding fortresses in the
Dardanelles. [Cheers.]
I hear sometimes whispers, hardly more than whispers, of possible terms
of peace. Peace is the greatest human good, but this is not the time to
talk of peace. Those who talk of peace, however excellent their
intentions, are in my judgment victims, I will not say of wanton, but of
grievous self-delusion. Just now we are in the stress and tumult of a
tempest which is shaking the foundations of the earth. The time to talk
of peace is when the great tasks in which we and our allies embarked on
the long and stormy voyage are within sight of accomplishment. Speaking
at the Guildhall at the Lord Mayor's banquet last November I used this
language, which has since been repeated almost in the same terms by the
Prime Minister of France, and which I believe represents the settled
sentiment and purpose of the country. I said:
We shall never sheathe the sword which we have not lightly
drawn until Belgium recovers in full measure all and more than
she has sacrificed, until France is adequately secured against
the menace of aggression, until the rights of the smaller
nationalities of Europe are placed upon an unassailable
foundation, and until the military domination of Prussia is
wholly and finally destroyed. [Cheers.]
What I said early in November, now, after four months, I repeat today.
We have not relaxed nor shall we relax in the pursuit of every one and
all of the aims which I have described. These are great purposes, and to
achieve them we must draw upon all our resources, both material and
spiritual. On the one side, the material side, the demands presented in
these votes is for men, for money, for the fullest equipment of the
purposes of war. On the other side, what I have called the spiritual
side, the appeal is to those ancient inbred qualities of our race which
have never failed us in times of stress--qualities of self-mastery,
self-sacrifice, patience, tenacity, willingness to bear one another's
burdens, a unity which springs from the dominating sense of a common
duty, unfailing faith, inflexible resolve. [Loud cheers.]
Sweden's Scandinavian Leadership
By a Swedish Political Expert
[From THE NEW YORK TIMES, Feb. 4, 1915.]
In common with a majority of the other countries of Europe, Sweden has
had a full measure of experience in the difficulties confronting neutral
powers while a world struggle like the present European conflict is in
progress, and has learned that, even if it may prove effective in
averting blood-shed, neutrality does not by any means insure a nation
against the other vicissitudes of war. Aside from operations of a purely
military character, the groups of belligerent powers are carrying on a
commercial warfare of constantly increasing intensity. It is
characteristic, perhaps, that both parties to the struggle, as time goes
on, appear to become more and more indifferent to the injury
incidentally inflicted on neutral countries.
Geographically situated so that it might provide easy transit for
shipments both to Russia and to the German Empire, Sweden, as a matter
of course, has become the object of lively interest to both groups of
warring nations in their dual concern of securing advantages to
themselves and placing obstacles in the way of the enemy. From the very
beginning, however, Sweden has maintained an attitude of strictest
neutrality and of loyal impartiality toward both sides in the struggle.
It is the object of this article to set forth as briefly as possible the
manner in which the neutrality of Sweden has been made manifest.
Immediately after the war broke out in August last year the Swedish
Government proclaimed its intention to remain neutral throughout the
conflict. Simultaneous action was taken by the Government for the
strengthening of the country's defenses, in the firm conviction that
only if there was behind it the armed strength with which to enforce it
would the neutrality of Sweden be respected. A move of the most profound
significance--the first in our endeavors to create in Scandinavia a
neutral "centre" and to gird ourselves with a greater strength to make
our peaceful intentions effective--was made on Aug. 8 of last year, when
the Foreign Ministers of Sweden and Norway appeared in the
representative assemblies of both peoples and delivered identically
worded explanatory communications in which was embodied a statement to
the effect that the Swedish and Norwegian Governments had agreed to
maintain their neutrality throughout the war at any cost, and that the
two Governments had exchanged mutually binding and satisfactory
assurances with a view to preventing any situation growing out of the
state of war in Europe from precipitating either country into acts of
hostility directed against the other.
In the meantime, neutral commerce and shipping during the months that
followed were exposed to most serious infringements by the warring
powers, such as the closing of ports by mines; limitations in the rights
of neutral shipping to the use of the sea (mare libre) and of other
established routes of maritime trade; arbitrary broadening in the
definition of what shall constitute contraband of war, &c. As an
instance it may be stated that England for a time treated magnetic iron
ore as contraband of war and that Germany still persists in so
regarding certain classes of manufactured wood. In both these instances
Swedish exports have suffered severely. On initiative taken by the
Swedish Government in the middle of last November the Governments of
Sweden, Denmark, and Norway lodged identically worded protests with the
envoys of certain of the powers engaged in the war against measures
taken by them which threatened serious disturbance to neutral traffic.
[Illustration: SIR PERCY SCOTT
British Admiral, Who Asserted Before the War Began That the Submarine
Had Sounded the Deathknell of the Dreadnought
_(Photo from Rogers)_]
[Illustration: GENERAL LOUIS BOTHA
The Famous Boer Leader, Premier of the Union of South Africa, Now
Commanding the British South African Forces
_(Photo from Paul Thompson)_]
One further step--of the utmost importance through what it accomplished
toward establishing firmly the position of the neutral States in the
north--was the meeting between the Kings of Sweden, Norway, and Denmark
at Malmö on Dec. 19 last. This meeting was especially designed to
provide an opportunity for taking counsel together regarding means which
may be resorted to for the purpose of limiting and counteracting the
economical difficulties imposed on the three countries through the war.
The meeting at Malmö served not only to give most powerful expression to
the common determination of the northern kingdoms to remain neutral, but
it became the means also of agreeing upon and adopting a modus vivendi
for continued co-operation between the three countries during the war
for the protection of interests they have in common.
In this manner Sweden has led in a movement to establish for the
northern countries a potential policy of neutrality with the practical
aim of limiting and reducing to a minimum the economical difficulties
consequent upon the existing state of war.
From what already has been said it appears clearly, too, how completely
without justification have been the accusations which have been voiced
from time to time in the press of countries that enter into either of
the belligerent groups--that Sweden, now in one respect and now in
another, had shown partiality to the adversary. Thus, suspicion has been
cast, with no justification whatever, on the circumstance that during
the last month Sweden has imported large quantities of necessaries
which would have been both valuable and helpful to the belligerents. And
yet, this increase in the Swedish imports is very readily explained on
the ground that it was necessary, partly, in order to make up for an
existing shortage in supplies due to stopped traffic during the first
months of the war, and, partly, to insure ability to fill Swedish
demands for some time to come. A country which desires to remain neutral
is not in a position to submit to dictation from any of the belligerent
nations, but this very thing is frequently interpreted by one party to a
struggle as involving an understanding with the other.
But Sweden's peaceful resolve and her fixed determination to maintain
her life as a nation against all attempts at encroachment would count
for little if behind her word there did not exist the strength to make
it good and material resources to fall back on when the demand comes.
That these exist in Sweden will be shown in the following with some data
of Sweden's economics.
With a population of 5,700,000, distributed over an area of 448,000
square kilometers, (170,977 square miles,) as compared with 9,415,000
square kilometers (3,025,600 square miles) in the United States, Sweden,
in comparison with European countries in general, is very sparsely
inhabited. The possibilities for growth and development, however, are
great owing to natural resources, which are both rich and varied. Of
Sweden's area, 40,000 square kilometers (15,266 square miles) is
cultivated land. The value of the annual production of grain is
estimated at about 340,000,000 kroner, (about $91,900,000,) offset by an
import of grain which exceeds the export by about 70,000,000 kroner,
(about $18,900,000.) From this it appears that agriculture as yet
retains its place as the principal industry of the country. With the
bigger half of the country's area timber and the rivers well adapted to
logging, Sweden quite naturally has become one of the foremost countries
in the world in the export of lumber, wood pulp, and manufactured wood.
Another natural product of Sweden, and one of the utmost importance, is
iron ore, of which there was exported in 1913 to the value of about
69,000,000 kroner, (about $18,500,000,) chiefly from the large mineral
fields in the northernmost part of the country. Besides this production
of raw material, Sweden has important manufacturing industries which
thrive as a result of the abundant supply of water power, an extensive
network of railroads, and a shipping industry which is in a state of
flourishing development.
The total output of our Swedish industries (mining not included) in 1912
was appraised at a net (manufacturing) value of 1,778,000,000 kroner,
(about $481,600,000.) Of this total, 476,000,000 kroner (about
$128,600,000) represents foodstuffs and luxuries, 353,000,000 kroner
(about $95,400,000) wood products, &c.; 222,000,000 kroner ($60,000,000)
textile products, and so on.
A few figures will illustrate Sweden's exchange of products with foreign
countries. In 1912 the foreign trade of Sweden reached a total of
1,554,000,000 kroner, (about $420,000,000.) The imports aggregated
794,000,000 kroner (about $214,600,000) and the exports 760,000,000
kroner, (about $205,400,000,) thus showing a relatively advantageous
trade balance. Of the imported values, 28 per cent. was foodstuffs and
luxuries, 45 per cent. raw materials, and 26 per cent. articles
manufactured either wholly or in part. Of the exports, 14 per cent. was
foodstuffs and luxuries, 23 per cent. raw materials, and not less than
63 per cent. articles of manufacture, finished completely or in part.
The principal industrial products represented among these exports are
enumerated here:
Kroner
Wood products 1,912,000,000 $516,700,000[1]
Pulp and paper 134,000,000 36,000,000
Metal products 105,000,000 28,400,000
Machinery 56,000,000 15,400,000
Matches 16,000,000 4,300,000
Pottery products 15,000,000 4,000,000
[Footnote 1: The amounts in this column are close approximates.]
With regard to our exports, there have been especially large increases
in those of pulp and machinery. The principal types of machinery which
figure among the exports of Sweden are milk separators, oil motors,
telephone apparatus, electric engines, and ball bearings. In these
exports are plainly indicated the inventive genius of the Swedes and
their aptitude for technical and industrial pursuits.