The Dominion. TUESDAY, AUGUST 24, 1915. NOT WAR, BUT MURDER

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2548, 24 August 1915, Page 4

The Dominion. TUESDAY, AUGUST 24, 1915. NOT WAR, BUT MURDER

The shelling of the stranded British submarine El 3 in neutral waters by German destroyers adds one more crime to the long and terrible list fdr ( which Germany must be brought to judgment. It was a deliberate, coldblooded, and' utterly inexcusable ' breach of International taw as well as of the laws of humanity. The shameful act was committed in the : presence of independent witnesses— ' the officers and crews of three Danish ■ torpedo-boats and a number of Danish fishermen. The commander of the submarine and his men. were quite , defenceless, and we are told that while tho crew were in the water the Germans, fired on. them with shrapnel and machine-guns. This sort of thing is not warfare, but wilful murder, and leading Swedish newspapers do not hesitate to brand it as such. British seamen' could never be guilty of such atrocious conduct. iWhafc would we have thought if our bluejackets, after the Battle of the Falkland Islands, had turned their guns upon tho German sailors clinging to the floating wreckage from their sunken cruisers, and utterly helpless in the ice-cold water? Tho whole Empiro would have felt an overwhelming sense of shame had such a thing occurred. The idea of butchering the survivors from that beaten and battered German squadron never for a moment entered into tho minds of our men. ' As . soon as tho fight was over, their one desire was to ' rescue, not to murder, and they succeeded in, saving about two hundred men, including tho captain of the Gneiscnau. In a graphic description of tho action, an officer of the Kent (Commander Eric Wharton) shows' how quickly and heartily British sailors, having fought and conquered, turn to the rescue of their helpless foes: •\ It is near dusk now, T. 30 (writes Commander Wharton), and we have been two hours in action. Up comes every ono from below, from casemates aiul turrets, to stare and rejoice, but they are all immediately hustled away to do what can bo done to save life. All our boats are ridoled, and none of them can be repaired for an hour.- Wo do What we can with lifebuoys and lumps of wood paid astern, but it's mighty little; it's a loppy sea, and dreadfully cold. All this part was beastly. There wore so many of them in sight, and ne could do so little till our boats wore patchod. At last we could lower one cutter and tho galley, and even then life-saving was 110 easy job. X was in tho galley, and plunged about for twenty 'minutes to get ono man. Altogether wo got on board about a dozen, five of whom wore really "goners" when wo hoisted them on board. Tho other seven liavo flourished aud are really quite normal again now. When the Blutchcr was sunk similar efforts were made to rescue the survivors. This is the chivalrous British way, but the officers and men of the German destroyers who tired shrapnel at the defenceless crew of El 3 had no more idea of chivalry than a_pa,ck of hungry wolves, Tho Danes hu.vc bow had an. iß.oi:tjAQit,v, of KfiiflK soajfithiM oil

German blood lust at close quarters and it is not surprising to learn that "the incident has stirred public feeling to its depth." On© of the outstanding features of the outrage is the contemptuous indifforencc with which the Germans regard the rights of neutrals. The Danish papers de- ■ clarc that excuse or explanation is impossible. They point out that there was a deliberate violation of Danish territory,• and cold-blooded murder of a defenceless crew who were seen on the decks in careless ■attitudes trusting to the protection of neutral waters. And yet there are people who tell us that it would be wrong to punish or humiliate this outlaw State which tramples on the moral law, openly defies the law of nations, and stifles the most'elementary instincts of humanity. , It is reasonable to assume that the German destroyers which were guilty of t'.to Saltholm outrage are known, and that the names of. their commanders can bo ascertained. All the facts of the case should be placed on record, so that when the settling day arrives strict justice may be meted out to those responsible for the crime. Such men are not honourable foes. They are criminals, and should be treated as criminals. The fine courage displayed by our men in their 'day. of misfortune formed a striking contrast to the gross brutality of their adversaries. Throughout this- terrible war British sailors and British soldiers have shown that steadiness and steadfastness in the face of death which is one of the finest characteristics of our Army and Navy. They are daily risking their lives—for us. And how cheerfully they are doing it! Thousands of them nave already ' made that supreme act of self-sacri-fice described with such grand simplicity in the imperishable sentence, "Greater' love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his lifo for his friends." We must not, we dare not, forget that unless the whole Empire puts its whole power; into the struggle all this sacrifice will have been in vain.