BUCCANEERS OF EUROPE

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2387, 17 February 1915, Page 4

BUCCANEERS OF EUROPE

Through Amsterdam, which seems during the course of the war to have become a sort of clearing-house for German and Austrian official communiques, press fulminations, and the authoritative contentions of persons in high plaees, the German Legation has in the clearest possible language stated the terms of German naval policy towards merchant shipping after February 18—next Thursday. British coastal waters are to be treated by Germany as an absolute danger zone for all merchantmen,' of whatever flag. Neutral shipping entering zone, armed or unarmed, will do" so at their own risk. The German War Staff, apparently, has become so infuriated by-the ruse adopted by tho Lusitania in completing _ under the instructions of the British Admiralty, the latter portion of her voyage from New York toLiverpool under tho flag of the United States—a ruse for which precendent is asserted —that a policy which practically amounts to "shooting on sight" has been adopted as a reply. . The obvious purpose of this attitude is to terrorise neutral countries and force them to resist the use of their respective flags as a ruse dc guerre by belligerents generally, and Great Britain particularly. It has heen amply demonstrated already that Germany cares not a snap of her fingers for Haguo Conventions, war regulations, or the ethics, of campaigning by civilised nations. But although she may snap her fingers, she cannot escape that ultimate responsibility which the Allies, by force majeure, can, and undoubtedly will compel her to face and discharge to the uttermost farthing. Attached to the fourth agreement in the list of Conventions adopted by the Hague Conference of 1907 is a set of War Regulations, and with the exception of _ one point —forbidding compulsion of the population of occupied territory to give information respecting the army of the other belligerent or its means- of defence (Article 44) — regarding which Germany, Austria, Russia, and Japan were unable to agree, all the belligerents engaged in the present war have ratified both the Convention and the Regulations to which they are an appendix. The mind of the contracting Powers is expressed in the preamble, the signatories, we are told, being , animated by "the interests of humanity and the ever-increasing requirements of civilisation," and "diminishing, as far as military necessities permit, the evils of war. The Convention required the Contracting Powers to issue instructions to their armed forces in accordance with the spirit and intention of the War Regulations. Not only that, but the signatories were bound to the observance of these Regulations by a special clause, which provided that:

"Th" belligerent party ,who shall violate the provisions of tho said Regulations shall be bound, if the case arises, to pay an indemnity. It shall be responsible "for all acts done by persons forming part of its armed forces."

It is curious to note how Britain, France, 'and Germany, long before the war, embodied the principles of the AVar Regulations in their respective War Staff Manuals. Britain and France each published expositions of the laws and usages of war which honestly and adequately reflected the mind of the Hague Conference. But Germany's Kriegsbrauch In Landkriege, _as the enemy's' war manual is officially described, is a horse of another colour, and the terms of the publication have received ample corroboration not only by commentators of accepted authority, but by the quent conduct of Germany in tho theatre of war. Here is a significant fragment from the Gorman War Manual:

"A war conducted with energy cannot bo confined'to attacking the combatants of tho enemy and its fortifications. It must .at the same time be directed to the destruction of tho wholo of its intellectual and material resources."

"Humane considerations," it is specifically added, "can only come into play in so far as the nature and object of the war permit." One could almost believe that the author of the German AVar Manual was no less a person than , General vou Berniiardi himself, for it is a curious ccho of such phrases as "tho weakest must always succumb," and "all progress is elimination," with which tho mouthpiece of pan-Ger-manism has plentifully besprinkled iiis now notorious bouk, Germany and the /text- War. In the meantime, Germany, her contempt for "scraps of paper" notwithstanding, is bound, willy-nilly, by the terms of the proviso in the Hague' War deciiysa tlwt tb#

violators of these regulations must nay the price, and if she adds barefaced piracy to hor already long list of international crimes, the price will be a staggering one—but she will be compelled, by force, to pay it.