The Press. Tuesday, January 21, 1919. Freedom of the seas.

Press, Volume LV, Issue 16426, 21 January 1919, Page 6

The Press. Tuesday, January 21, 1919. Freedom of the seas.

The momentous Peace Conference which has now opened in Paris will fail in its highest purpose if it merely prescribes the terms on which Germany is to be granted peace, and docs not lay the foundations of a lasting settlement. It will not be an easy task. "We talk "lightly of a League of Nations, and !"I am not sure that those who talk " about it realise what it means,'' said Lord Robert Cecil very pertinently not long ago. "We have," he said, "to *' reconcile two principles, both entitled "to our warmest support—national "sovereignty and international co- " operation. Only those who have " tried in detail to reconcile these prin."ciples know the difficulties of tho "task." Lord Robert Cecil held that the attempt ought nevertheless to be made —that we ought to -Establish a system which would be a guarantee to our descendants that they shall be free from tho evils we havo gone through. So far most of us agree, and there will be very general sympathy with the further suggestion that to approach the task in the right spirit we must cast asido selfish aims, ambitions, and aspirations. It is when we leave generalities and come to details that difficulties arise. Much can be accomplished if tho two great English-speaking nations can come to an agreement. No question of territorial adjustment, or even of the regulation of commerce is likely to constitute any serious ground of difference —the one cloud on an otherwise fair horizon is the question of seapower. It was most unfortunate that President Wilson should have adopted from the Germans that specious phrase, " freedom of the seas,"' a phrase all the more unfortunate because, so far as we are aware, he has never defined what he means by it. This point was referred ,to by Admiral Suns in blunt

sailor fashion at a luncheon given by tho British Government to a party of American editors. After remarking that the co-operation between the American and British navies left nothing to be desired, he said:—• Perhaps they would like him to oxplain ■what was meant by tho freedom of the seas. (Laughtor.) So far as ho had been able to find, nobody on this side or in correspondence with those on the other side, had tho remotest idea of what it meant. (T,anphter.) So far as history recorded. the power of Groat Britain had permitted absolute freedom of the seas to everybody. Any vessel could *»o into any British port on tho same ronditions as a British ship. It has often been remarked that naval men mako the best diplomats, and it is I unfortunate that the beneficial effoct of this speech of Admiral Sims, in which he did no more.than bare justice to England and her navy, was so soon to bo destroyed by Secretary Daniels in-

sisting that his country must have the largest navy in the world. English opinion on this all important subject "was, wo think, fairly represented at a public meeting, convened by tho Xavy League, held iu London a few weeks ago. Lord Beresford moved a resolution calling on the Government to declare that in negotiating terms of peace, "so-called 'freedom of the seas' "shall not form a basis of discussion." After repeating that nobody seemed to know exactly what "freedom of the "seas" meant, Lord Beresford said the Germans understood it as meaning that they were to have command of the seas. Everybody knew tho lino they would take if they had command of tho seas. They had sunk 14,000,000 tons of shipping; they had murdered 17,000 of the finest 6oamon in the world; and they had done what British seamen would never forget or forgive—they had prostituted tho chivalry of the seas. Mr Gibson Bowles, in seconding tho motion, said very truly that we who livod in islands had no choice what our defence must be. By the tea alone could an enemy approach us. On tho eea alone could wo rely to defend ourselves against him. It was by the defence of sea communications alone that tho great fabric of the British Empire had to bo kept together. England had always put forward all her strength to maintain froodom of navigation of the seas in peace, but freedom of navigation in time of war was another thing. It was a vaguo term. As definod by the Ger-

mans, it meant Gorman domination of the seas, and meant, according to Count von Hertling, a former German Chancellor, and Count Reventlow, that England was to give up Gibraltar, Malta, Aden, Hong-Kong, the Falkland Islands, and probably tho Orkneys, and the Scillies, and perhaps the'lsle' of "Wight, that Germany might take them, and with them the mastery of the seas. Wo have already had moro than one narrow escape of losing our sea supremacy, and if that had gone, the cause of civilisation would have gone with :t. The Hun would have triumphed. Lord Boresford, in the speech to which we have referred, said that at -tho beginning of the war wo were in a tremendous ■„ danger that the public had not realised. The trade routes were our weak points, and our food supply was only ensured so long as thoso routes were protected. If the Germans had known they could have

sent out 140 cruisers and armed merchant ships before the war and sunk a thousand ships in ten days. But even this was hardly the worst danger with which we havo been threatened. We have to thank this Houses of Lords that the Pecfaration of London, by which the most important maritime rights of England wero surrendered, was not finally ratified'. It was agreed to by the House of Commons, acting on the recommendation of Sir Edward Grey. . It was approved by the Imperial Conference, and our two New' Zealand delegates, we are sorry to say, voted in its favour. Had it been ratified, we should have found ourselves early in the war faced with two alternatives —we must either have treated the Declaration as a scrap of paper, or we should have been so hampered that I we should have lost the war. We must never be placed in a position of such peril again. No matter what else we * give up. wo must not surrender—even ' to a League of Nations—our maritime * rights. It is to be hoped that every 3 representative of the Empire will stand 1 firm as a rock on this one point.