The Dominion. THURSDAY, AUGUST 10, 1916. THE FAILURE OF THE NEUTRAL NATIONS

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2846, 10 August 1916, Page 4

The Dominion. THURSDAY, AUGUST 10, 1916. THE FAILURE OF THE NEUTRAL NATIONS

The spectacle presented by those neutral nations whose subjects hayo been made .the victims of German "frightfulness" is an amazing one. America set the fashion of meek submission when Pkesident Wilson made his protest against the callous murder of American citizens on tho Lusitanja and failed to make good his lioid words. Insult followed on insult, and injury on injury, and Wic great American nation through /.its governors failed to secure the redress it claimed from Germany. President Wilson was strung on with, promises and half-promises, ' and the American nation has been treated with thinly-veiled contempt, much to the anger and disgust of a great proportion of its citizens. Holland has had her trading vessels sunk without warning, and without justification, and her feeble protests have been' lightly brushed aside. Norway, Sweden, and Denmark havo. all suffered at tho hands of. Germany in breach of international /law, and their protests also have met with little more than formal acknowledgment. The step now taken by Germany in capturing a Swedish vessel and taking it into a Swedish port to coal is a fitting climax to the sorry tale. It serves to show the utter contempt with which the Germans have como to regard their neutral neighbours. No insult is too gross to heap upon them. Even a Danish excursion steamer packed, with school children is seized by the sea pirates and forced off to a German port a prize of war. Sweden is making protests against'tho latest affront placed' upon her, and Denmark no doubt will make protest against the seizuro of her excursion steamer and the capture of her school children. It is possible that these latest exploits of the German Navy may bring matters to a crisis, but he wonld be a bold man who would predict anything of the kind. The neutral nations of the world have not cut an heroic figure in this great war.' They have passed- over the inhuman crimes of Germany without ono single word of protest, save only whero they themselves were directly affected. Tho shameful disregard shown by Germany for international law and the laws of civilised warfare was their concern, just as it was the concern of the belligerents. The introduction of methods arid engines of warfare prohibited by civilised nations could not be ignored by neutral nations which were parties to the agreements governing the conduct of war without encouraging the belief that they condoned such breaches. Their weakness in this respect has been in a measure an encouragement to Germany to prosecute her vile schemes and to pile infamy on infamy. It must be admitted that in the earlier stages of the war the smaller' nations, close neighbours of Germany, would have required some courage to have made individual protests against the atrocious conduct of the Germanic Powers, but a united protest headed by America could and should have been made in the name pf humanity and international honour. But nothing was done and the neutral nations of the world cannot escape the responsibility which must attach to the failure of their Governments to place on record the horror and repugnance they must have felt. It may bo said with some confidence that, had united protest been made at the outset of tho war, the neutral nations themselves would, have been spared much of the Joss and suffering they have since endured as the result of German "fnghtfulness."