ANOTHER REBUFF

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3003, 14 February 1917, Page 6

ANOTHER REBUFF

Ihe American people we are told to-day' are impatient with President WAson's waiting policy and would welcome that overt act on tlio part of Germany which would precipitate war. This in a general way may be true enough. A largo section of tho American people must Wo smarting under the contemptuous treatment -accorded the- United States by Germany; but to tho onlooker President Wilson would appear to bo doing rather better than usual in his dealings wi'th the Hun. Tho announcement in to-day's messages of the reply sent by the State Department at Washington to the German Government's latest effort to smooth oyer tho submarine treachery must prove decidedly unpalatablo to Herr von Bethmann-lloll-weg- and his lord and .master the Ivaiser.' It would seem that tho German War Lords condescended to notify their .willingness to negotiato with the United States provided the so-called commercial blockaclo against England is nbt broken thereby. In other words, they were prepared to discuss tho submarine situation _ with America provided that America would stultify itself by ignoring tho fact that .jits warnings had been set at dcfiance and the pledge it had _ been given broken. It is hardly likely that this proposal was intended as the affront it really is. Rather is it probable that it is' but another instance of German ignorance and blundering based on the belief'that President Wilson's anxiety to avoid war-' would lead him to Swallow any bait presented in tho guise of an offer to negotiate- . Tho answer, as stated, must have proved disconcerting. • It is in the nature,of a very emphatic rebuff and an unpleasant reminder of past bad faith. The President refused to enter into any discussion with the German Government concerning the submarine policy .it is now pursuing unless and until t?» German Government its assurance to act in accordance wffe tho general principles of visit-,• search, and destruction' of mercantile vessels recognised by international law that such vessels sh'ould not bo sunk without warning and without saving human lives, unless the ship attempts to escape or offers resistance. In other words, President Wilson has refused to even discuss the question of submarine warfare, unless Germany first abandons the indiscriminate sinking of mercantile vessels, which she has determined on, and which she is now' to the best of her ability practising. There is no sign of weakness or hesitation in the President's answer, and the overtures of the German Chancellor will in all probability have tho effect of hardening American opinion an! strengthening the determination of the AVasliington authorities-to "see the thing' through." President Wilson's past • dalliance and obliquity. of vision are not calculated to inspire a confident judgment as to his.,, probable course of conduct, but his more recent actions encourage tho belief that he will not retract from tho position ho has now taken up in regard, to submarine piracy.-