MR. A. J. BALFOUR ON THE TIDE OF VICTORY.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 5, Issue 217, 13 October 1916, Page 4 (Supplement)

MR. A. J. BALFOUR ON THE TIDE OF VICTORY.

On the completion of the second year of war, August 4, Mr. A. J. Balfour, First Lord of the Admiralty, issued an important statement, in the course of which ho says: — '"The cecond anniversary of the British declaration of war provides a fitting opportunity for a brief survey of the present naval situation. The consequences, material and moral, of the Jutland battle cannot be easily overlooked; an Allied diplomatist assured roe that he considered it the turning point of the-war. ''The tide, which had long ceased to help our enemies, began from that moment to flow strongly in our favour. Tliis much, at least, is rue, that every week which has passed since the German fle°t was driven, damaged, into port has seen now successes for the Allies in one part or other of the field of operations. It would be an error, how. ever, to suppose that the naval victory changed the situation ;what t did was to confirm it. "Before the Jutland battle, as after, the German fleet was imprisoned. Th<« battle was an attempt to break the bars and burst the confining gates. It failed, and with its failure the High Seas Fleet sank again into impotence. The Germans claim Jutland as a victory, but in essence they admit the contrary, since the object of a naval battte i.s to obtain command of the sea; and it is certain that Germany has not obtained the command, while Great Britain has not lost it. Tests cf t : hs assertion are easy to apply. Has the grip of the British blockade relaxed since May 31 ? Has it not. on the contrary, tightened? "Th,o Germans themselves will admit the increasing difficulty of importing raw materials and foodstuffs and of exporting their manufactures; hen-o the violence of the>'r invectives against Great Britain."

MUNITIONS FLOW INCREASES. Mr. Balfour argues that if they had felt themselves on the way to maritime equality the Germans would not have so loudly advertise-, tlie Deutschland incident, the whole interest of which, in German eyes, was to prove their ability to elude the barrier raised by tlie British fleet between them and tie outer world. As further proof of the " impotence" of tho German fleet, Mr. Balfour points to the ever-increas-ing flow of men and munitions from England pouring across the Channel to France. "It has reached Colossal proportions," ho continues. "Its effects on tho war may well, be decisive. Yet never has it b?on more secure from attack by enemy batleships or cruisers than it has been since the German 'victory' of Jutland." The First Lord refers to German exhortatons to look at the map and see the extent of German successes, and adds: " That depends on what maps you take. Even the map of Europe shows an ever-shrinking battle line. But look at the map of the world. A'l ol Germany's colonies are gone except East Africa, which even as I write seems slipping from her grasp. Has the battla of Jutland opened the small est prospect of Germany regaining these colonies or given a moment'syespite to the hard-pressed colonists ;n Germans East Africa."

FAILURE OF SUBMARINES. Mr. Balfour advises those rcqu'riug further proofs of the valiu* the Germans attach to their "victorious fleet" > to study the German policy of submarine warfare, and says : "The advantage of submarine attacks on commerce is that they cannot be controlled by superior fleet power in the same way as attacks by cruisers; a disadvantage is that they cannot be carried on a large scale consistently with the laws of war or the requirements of humanity. They make, therefore, a double appeal to German militarism—an appeal to its prudence and an appeal to its brutality. "The Germans knew that their 'victorious' fleet was useless. It could he kept safe in harbour while the submarine warfare went on merrily outside. They knew that submarines cannot be brought to action by battleships or battle cruisers. They thought, therefore, that to these new commerce destroyers our merchant ships must fall an easy prey, unprotected- by our ships of war and unable to protect themselves. "They were wrong ; n both respects, and doubtless it is their iwrath at tin skill and energy with which British merchant captains and British crews have defended the lives and propertv under their charge that his driven the German Admiralty into its latest and stupidest act of calculated ferocity—the judicial murder of Captain Fryatt." The First Lord contends that the e-ase is not worth arguing, that it : s sueless to do the German military authorities the injustice of supposing they wore animated by solicitude for the principles of international law, and accidentally blundered.

CALLS GERMANS BLUNDERERS. "The illegality of their folly." he continues "was of a different kind. It flowed from a .different source. •They knew that Captain ijryatt was doing his duty, and they resolved at all costs t discourage imitation. "What blunderers they are! They know how to manipulate machines, but of managing men they know less than nothing. They are always wrong, beeasue they always suppo.se that if they behave like brutes they can cow their enemies into behaving like coward*. Small :s their knowledge of our merchant seamen. I doubt whether one can be found who has not resolved to defend himself to the last against piratical attack. But if there is such i one. deivnd upon it, he w : ll bo cured by the last exhibition of German civilisation. And what must neutrals think of all this? "The freedom of the sea means to Germany that the German Navy is to behave at sea as the German Army behaves on land. It means that neither enemy civilians nor neutrals may rights against militant Germany; that tlmsv-who do not res'st will be drowned, jmd tliae who do will lie shot. "'Already 241 neutral merchantmen have been sunk in defiance of law and humanity, end the number daily grows. M:ink : nd. with the experience nl two years of war behind 't, lias made up its mind :<bcui German culture, h ! - not. I think, without mater'al for farming a judgment about Gorman freedom."