Great Britain

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXVII, Issue 67, 19 July 1915, Page 8

Great Britain

»*w« . “~THE LUSITANIA. I’.MTKU I’KICKS ASSOCIATION'. London. .July 17. Lord Mersey’s judgment is that the suhjnai• i ll e iutoiitlod to destroy the Lusitania, and also the people on hoard ; that the ship was not warned ; that she was unarmed; and that tier captain was not blameworthy. ihe whole hlaiue lor the cruel catastrophe rested with the perpetrators ol the crime. lie declined to discuss the evidence concerning the Admiralty’s precautions, hut said that it was plain that the Admiralty had devoted anxious care and thought to the submarine peril. They had collected all information likely to affect the Lusitania’s vo;.ape. ami had hilly advised Captain J'ur..,T. The latter, in some respects, had not followed the advice, but it is doubtful if the vessel would otherwise have reached Liverpool. Ihe Admiralty’s advice had not deprived him of his right to use his skill Anti judgment in a difficult situation. The omission to iollow that advice was not

attributable to negligence . Everything was,done to get out the oats, and the complaints thereanent, and also 'the allegations about leaky boats, were ill-founded. Lord Mersey added that no opportunity ol escape was afforded the Lusitania. She carried a number of eases of cartridges, which were shown on the manifest, and she was not violating any American law. He said that the torpedoing was done, not merely to sink the ship, but to destroy the lives of the passengers . Herman statements that the Lusitania • was armed were baseless inventions, condemning those who used them as a warning aaginst passengers sailing by the Lusitania. It was an aggravated crime, proving to have been deliberately planned. Sir R. Carson’s statement. that it was an act of deliberate murder, was not one whit too strong. The defenceless on board were doomed to death by the snhmaijfne’s crew acting under the direction’of the German Government’s officials. His opinion was that nothing in the cargo exploded.

Lord Mersey paid a tribute to the heroism of Leslie Morton, an eighteen-year-old sailor, who first sighted the torpedoers. He was afterwards thrown into the water, and was in instrumental in saving eighty or ninety passen-

«;ers. Mr Clem Edwards, on behalt ol the crew ol' the Lusitania, suggested that the costs ol' the seamen’s representation at the inquiry be borne by the nation, in the hope that it iniitht ultimately he included in the enemy’s indemnity. Lord Mersey invited Mr Edwards to discuss' the point with him at a more convenient season.