I regret as much as does the author of this article that an
unjustified shadow has been cast upon the picture, so flattering
for the self-esteem of Great Britain, by certain English press
criticisms upon the battle of Jutland. I indorse his view the more
willingly because, on first receiving the news of that memorable
naval combat, I wrote for the Matin an article in which I extolled
Admiral Beatty's spirit of decision and very opportune resolution,
in not hesitating to throw himself, despite the inferiority of
his forces, at the head of the whole German fleet to checkmate its
designs, and in hanging on firmly until the arrival of English
reinforcements, as Nelson himself undoubtedly would have done in
such a case.
Mr. Frothingham holds that the German fleet had not been led into
a trap. Here, perhaps, something turns on the meaning given to
particular words. A trap may be reasonably defined as an unforeseen and
unfavorable position. Was it a deliberately sought or an unforeseen
result that at 9 P. M. the German fleet was so placed that it had
between it and its bases a hostile fleet which, as Mr. Frothingham
tells us, still had an "overwhelming superiority in ships and guns?"
Was such a position favorable or unfavorable? Surely there can be but
one answer to each of these questions.