SWEDEN AND THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2655, 29 December 1915, Page 5

SWEDEN AND THE WAR

—« -" , THE BALTIC BLOCKADE' FEARS FOR TRADE WITH THE HUNS A Stockholm correspondent- wrote t< the "Manchester Guardian" on Octobei M:— . " . Since last Monday, when British sub litarines sank or drove ashore four German cargo steamers, the "British Baltic blockade" occupies the • Swedisl l'ress almost to the exclusion of all wai hows Irani remoter parts. The "blockade" fills the chief news pages of the more important newspapers, and; there are long leading articles and special articles by naval correspondents, chiefly from the standpoint of Sweden's own interests. Interviews are published witli the German dap tains, descriptions oi the submarines, and'accounts of incidents supposed to have occurred when the German steamers were stopped. Thj blockade is uniting in. a critical attitude towards England the Right and Left parties, which up to the present have been engaged in a violent feud— the Right, or "Moderates" as they call themselves, being predominantly proGerman, and the Left predominantly but not exclusively pro-Entente. The union is brought about by the belief that Great Britain is resolved to stop all Swedo-Germau trade, in Swedish as well as in German bottoms, and that this action threatens Sweden's eeonomio ■position eeriously. .' Nearly all-newspapers agree that the "blockade" is rii'o'ro effective than was , to be expected, judging frqm Germany's •; experience around British coasts.' The '.'Aftonbladet" points out that the British submarines have a relatively .easy task,- as they know exactly the German trade routes, hut against this must 00 set the fact that the German, cruisers and destroyers have only a small area of water in which to hunt for submarines. • Each_ German captain ■who came ashore, imagined, that ho was ' the only victim, and was surprised to hear of companions in misfortune. TiTe '•Stockholms Dagblad'' implies that the • Germans are much upset, and that captains of ships in Swedish ports do not know , what to do. ' "The captains ot 'ships which came into the Oxelosund expressed a distinct displeasure, that ttie German fleet was proving unable to protect German trade against English submarines, fill the more because they had : been assured thht no danger whatever ■ existed on the routes from Germany to Sweden." Russo-Brltish Crews. This newspaper affirms that there are five' British submarines operating. Other newspapers say seven. A German reserve officer, Captain Schultz, who came ashore from the sunk ..German steamer,' Pornambnco, declares that the crew ot the.El9 consisted of both Russians and Englishmen. Schultz announced that lie . formerly served 611 German submarines, 'and helped to 6ink eighteen British steamers. Newspapers conclude that if this is true the Germans are putting on each steamer a submarine expert, whose function is to help steamers to avoid dangers. No other explanation can be given of such an expert German naval officer serving on,a second r rate tramp steamer. The. Swedish crew of the He/singborg steamer Marta', which was stopped by a submarine, El 9, confirms the story that the crow is partly Russian. ' All accounts agree that the subr marine commanders acted humanely and courteously, and it is due to this that no Germans have lost their lives so far. treat the submarine activity as. a blow to Sweden. A-few r 3ays before the Germania incident an evening paper complained that Sweden had not herself 'mined the Oeresund /.months-before the Germans mined it, as it js_ "a vital Swedish interest that no British submarines should 'be in the " Baltic." The "Stockholms Dagblad" ,- says that "consternation" reigned in the Oxelosund district when the submarine raiding first became ' intense, and" the evening "Aftonbladet," ' the most Germanophile newspaper in this 'city, declared that "if England succeeds in stopping German-Swedish traffic our position becomes desperate." ' .Why this should be so is pointed out in articles by the Conservative Riksdag member, "Captain Ernest LiljedahL Captain Liljedahl _is an industrious writer, whose chief theme 'is - that Sweden's interests are solid with Germany's—so solid that the sinking of the Lusitania was defended by him in the Press. It is a Swedish interest, says Liljedahl, that the British Fleet should be excluded altogether from the Baltic. "A-successful English trade blockade of the Baltic coast of Ger- ■ many would mean that all our relations with that Empire would be broken off. The Swedes are before all things a Baltic people. In towns and parishes on'the Baltic coast .live 80 per cent. pur population." ; For 'that .reason Liljedahl attacks such Swedish news- , papers as. protested against Germany's mining of the Oeresund. "However locally, troublesome this mining may prove to be for Sweden, we must hope that it/will prove effective. It serves Sweden's interests as much as it serves Germany's." ' Fear of a Blockade. Hsaded by the evening "Allehanda" (so strongly Germanophile that it pub* lishes articles demanding Sweden's participation in the war on Germany's side), the Press complains of the taking into Reval by a British submarine of the Gefle_ steamer. Nike, which was Jaden with iron ore. The morning papers all assume that Great Britain is claiming, ■or will claim, that the submarine watch in the Baltic constitutes a and they argue that, it'constitutes no such' thing. Even the "Dagen-s Nyheter," the chief Liberal , newspaper, which is strongly proEntente, demands .that Sweden makes it clear that "she does not recognise that might is right." Until the submarine activity began, the favourite form of retaliation against Great Britain was either the stoppage of the postal traffic with Russia via Haparanda and Tornea, or a sharpening ; of the Royal Decreo of May, l which forbade the through transit to Russia- of all goods on Sweden's own export prohibition list. Now newspapers demand that Swedish ships be convoyed, and that measures other tlian mere demands for apologies bo taken in case of violation of territorial water neutrality. The_ "Activist" agitation, which aims 'at bringing Sweden into the war on Germany's side, was tending to decline when the Germania affair and the submarine raids gave it new food. In a recent number "Det -Nya Sverige," a journal ontirely devoted to championing Activism, demands tliat Sweden shall .play the role Prussia played in 1566. This, it is explained, means that Sweden must go to war; and that, as part of her policy she must unite to herself forcibly the sister Scandinavian States. Nobody, takes _ this seriously; but it would be a mistakejin England to ignore' Activism or to imagine that quarlels with Sweden over shipping or contraband questions could not possibly lead to war. Feeling here is extremely bitter, and the majority of newspapers preach that the war is already decided 111 Germany's favour; from which ;t follows, they think, that Sweden could intervene without risk.