AN ARCTIC RESIDENCE 239 



Its importance in 1916 was due to the fact that 

 the large food supply furnished by the northern 

 seas was for the most part being collected, and sent 

 through neutral waters to Germany. It is true 

 that at this date we had established a blockade 

 of our chief enemy, but in point of fact before 

 America came in to the war, and made our grip 

 on the Central Empires a more or less real one, 

 the numerous back-doors of import and export 

 between Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Holland and 

 Germany were to all intents and purposes open, 

 and used to the utmost extent that was possible 

 by neutrals whose sole purpose was not the triumph 

 of Right over Wrong, but personal gain. 



There is an old sentiment in England — ^unfor- 

 tunately a wholly erroneous one — ^that in the 

 Great War Norway was heart and soul with the 

 Allies. This view in the first place is gathered 

 partly from the experience of tourists and sportsmen, 

 who are, as a rule, incapable of judging the race 

 as a whole, owing to their want of knowledge of 

 the language, and the fact that hotel-keepers, 

 peasants, and hunters of the interior have a pre- 

 ference for Englishmen, who had always spent their 

 money freely in those northern towns and wilds. 

 In the second place, our people thought that the 

 views expressed in such excellent papers as the 

 Aftenposten and the Tidens Tegn — always largely 

 quoted by our own newspapers — represented the 

 national opinion, whereas it only voiced the senti- 

 ment of the people of Christiania and small scattered 

 groups of the more intellectual in various coast 

 towns, such as Christiansund and Trondhjem. 



The true facts of the case, as well known to the 



