AMERICAN NOTES TO THE BELLIGERENTS

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2682, 31 January 1916, Page 5

AMERICAN NOTES TO THE BELLIGERENTS

ETHICS OF SEA WARFARE PRESIDENT WILSON UTTERS A .. WAKING . SENSATIONAL FINALE TO BRITISH PARLIAMENT The most prominent features of the news to-day are the enemy's attacks on the Western front, and a somewhat remarkable speech by . President Wilson on the outlook for the United States during the com-. ing critical days. The fighting on the Western line was severe; the Germans made repeated attacks at different points, and lost heavily. There have been no great developments in the Balkans, nor on the Russian front. The recent defeat of the Senussi in Egypt appears to have been more thorough than was at first indicated; their losses were severe, and their Bedouin auxiliaries are reported to bo deserting freely. America has fired a double-barrelled gun' at the belligerent Powers. President Wilson, in a speech, has stressed the importance of naval and military preparedness in America, hinting that circumstances may constrain her to adopt a different attitude in connection with the war. The circumstances of tho world to-day, he adds, are such that he cannot estimate what their international,relations will be to-morrow. Contemporaneously, the President's Secretary of State (Mr. Lansing) announces, in a Note to the belligerents, that United State? ports will be closed to aimed merchantmen unless the belligerent Governments are prepared to subscribe to certain conditions of sea warfare which he sets out. There is practically no change in Mesopotamia. Sir Percy Lake (commander-in-chief in the Middle East) has joined General Aylmer's force, which is fighting its way to the relief of General Townshend's force at Kut-el-Amara.