The Dominion. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 5, 1916. TIGHTENING THE GRIP

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2738, 5 April 1916, Page 4

The Dominion. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 5, 1916. TIGHTENING THE GRIP

The decision of the British Government to discard the articles of the Declaration of London which forbid the capture of ships proceeding to non-blockaded ports and limit the right of seizure to absolute and conditional contraband means a further tightening of the grip which the British Navy holds on the throat of Germany. The provisions of the Declaration of London do not form part of the law of England. When Parliament rejected the Naval Prize Bill in 1911, the Declaration became legally null and void, but its articles, with certain exceptions, were made binding.on the Navy at the beginning of the war by Order-in- . Council. Since then a number of its provisions have been modified or abrogated with the, object of enabling the British Fleet to establish a more effective blockade of the Central Powers. The hampering effects of the Declaration of London were referred to by Lord Beeesfobd in the course of a recent speech in the House of Lords. He asserted that the war could not be won by .proclamations and Orders-in-Coun-cil. ° A war could only be won by fighting. A thoroughly ' complete blockade was a matter of the first importance. The Navy knew that Germany's supplies could be cut off, but it was manacled and fettered by the Declaration of London. Lokd Bbkesford agreed that everything possible should be done to minimise inconvenience to neutrals, but wo must win the war, and in order to. ensure victory he contended that it was necessary to adopt the following measures :-r-

1. The Declaration of London should be formally and officially renounced by a member of the Government. 2. All commodities froing into Germany should he made absolute contraband. 3. The distinction between absolute and conditional contraband should be abolished. i. The doctrine of continuous voyage now applied to some articles of contraband should-.be applied to all contraband. 5. All enemy property in neutral ships should be confiscated. . 6. Ear greater use should be made of the Prize Court. , ■. 7. We should tighten the blockade and do away with divided control and all the committees, Orders-in-Council, proclamations, arrangements, etc. . '

In reply to the criticism of Loud Beresford and others, Lord Lansdowne stated that the Government had made considerable progress in the direction advocated by Lord Beresford. The abrogation of three more articles of the Declaration of London is another stop, in the same direction. Lord Lansdowne quoted facts and figures to show that the blockade has not been kj. ineffective as some critics appear to think. He remarked that if the people of Britain could, say for a fortnight, have a little experience- of the kind of conditions which were prevailing in Germany and Austria at the present time there would not be so much talk about the Government sitting with folded hands and doing nothing. He thought that the people would realise that they could, almost without turning a hair, submit to a great number of sacrifices before they approached the kind of plight to which, the Government's much derided efforts had brought the people of Austria and Germany. Opinions differ as to whether our enemies can be starved out or not, but it is quite certain that a large section of the inhabitants of Austria and Germany are finding it very hard to bear the severe privations caused by the curtailment of their food supplies. The real mind'of the German people is revealed far moro truly in. private letters than in official documents or censored newspaper articles. .Some letters taken from German prisoners recently captured by the French give vivid glimpses of the hardships experienced by the soldiers and the civil population. The following oxtracts enable one to realise the bitterness of the "plight" referred to by Lord Lansdowne :—

"November.— Yesterday we had a man from the 76th Regiment here. He told us terrible stories. For six or seven weeks thev received no supplies and had practically nothing to eat, until they were ordered to seize everything they could "Dec. 9.—ln the M2nd Regiment they have practically nothing to eat.' "Oct. 10-Soon w> shall not know what to buy. Everything is scarce and dear. The war must end soon, or we shall die of hunger, as they say our enemies are "Nov. 17.—1t is natural, that we should sometimes lose courage. No one can think of pleasure, as there is nothing but mourn, iwr and misery." "Nov 2(l—You simply ought to mutiny. Tim l - would be much better than to get killed or maimed. You have been at the war quite long onough, ■ and wo .women, too. have had quite enough of dying with ""Berlin, Nov. s.—The discontent caused bv the deamess of living is increasing. ,\'dd to that the want of work. The mora "of the people is very low. It will need vcrv little for their anger to break out. "Berlin, "Dec. 6.—We hope that the war will soon'finish. People are beginning to be restless, and provisions aro short. On Sutnrdav we had our first riot." "Clvai'lottenbiirg, Dec. 4.—No lmtter, no mnrnnrinci tio nothing. Who knon-« what is going t< happen in Borlln if there, la i M change?"

i A German wife, in a letter to her husband, states:—"We are so sorry that you have all the hard work to do and have only dry bread to cat. I should like to send vou butter every week, for I would do anything for my husband, but I can t. There are the children, who are always hungry."

Germany is the most thoroughly organised country in the world, and everything that science, invention, organisation, and State regulation can do to relieve the economic pressure caused by the blockade is being clone, and yet tho Government is finding it increasingly'difficult to feed the people. The British Navy is i not only cutting off the enemy's food supplies, it is- also depriving our foes of commodities of military importance. Germany is being pervaded by feelings of uncertainty, doubt, and despondency. This is the impression gained by a neutral, publicist who has recently visited tho country and ascertained the views of many leading men of all parties and classes, [in an article in tho London Times Ihe tells us that a German publicist of great repute admitted that the moral of the masses was weakening, and that German .victories in the field do not result in tho maintenance of a desirable standard of national economics. The increasing burdens of the people are not compensated for by tho resources of the i occupied territories, which have mostly been devastated. A« German Radical politioian expressed _ the opinion that "the present undeniable depression is a matter of underfeeding. The labouring people and the middle classes dependent upon fixed incomes are suffering terribly. In summing up his impressions the neutral publicist says: "I should not venture'to predict the exact number of months for which the- German people will be.able to bear the exhausting burden of the present depression. One thing, however, d have no Hesitation in saying, ±hc German people will be more than heroic and less than hi..man if they can stand this ever-increasing pressure ,for another year." The blockade of Germany may not be as com, plote or as effective as Lord Beresford thinks it ought to be and could be, but it is undoubtedly playing a great part in the war. It is shaking the nerve of the enemy. The Germans state that the Zeppelin raids will continue so long as Britain maintains her policy of starving Germany. Britain has replied by putting more power into ' her stranglehold.