LAND AND WATER 
September 19, 1914 
to much unemplovmcnt— a goncral condition which is aheady 
characterised by 'the German Socialist newspaper I oruarls 
83 •' The Internal Danger." 
On the other hand, Dutch imports have risen very con- 
•iderably, and the effect of the British Navy is to that extent 
discredited. Sooner or later Holland will have to make her 
neutrality definite, or elso lake sides. The sheer brutality 
vith which Germany treated Belgium is thus explained. 1 le 
awful fate of Belgium was a broad hint to Uollaud. Thus the 
Dutch are placed between the millstones— German military 
force close by, and British naval force acting over perhaps a 
hundred miles away. Holland, like Belgium, will presently 
have to make her decision between present loss and future 
^*'°'An official German report admits the loss of the Hein, 
sunk by a subniai-ine. She is, however, no great loss as a 
/•■'htiiig unit, being rather inferior to our Spredi/. 
° An unofficial report says that the I'lithfindtr was sunk 
not by a mine, but by a submarine, and that that submarine 
was subsequently found and sunk. If this story be true, ib 
indicates considerable daring on the part of the Germaai sub- 
marine scn'ice, for it must have entailed a long above-water 
cruise, the distance which Gorman submarines can. travel 
under water being very small, probably an endurance of not 
more than fifty miles all told. If a submarine did deliver the 
attack, there is every probability that the story of her sub- 
sequent destruction is correct. 
THE BALTIC. 
A NUMBER of vague rumours when pieced together suggest 
that the greater part of Uio German Fleet is, or has been, 
operating in the Baltic, the older ships acting in the Aaland 
direction, and the Dreadnoughts, if any, cruising off Kiel 
mainly with the object of keeping Uicir crews fit. 
In the great Napoleonic Wars this " taking exercise out- 
side the backdoor " was not possible to any blockaded fleet. 
It is a very considerable asset to the Germans, and one which 
most of us have hitherto rather overlooked. It, of course, has 
not the same hardening effect as actual war service, bub there 
will necessarily be a vast difference between this " keeping 
the sea " and lying idle in harbour. 
The " right thing " for an inferior fleet is naturally some- 
what limited. Humanly speaking, it should never amount to 
very much. But the naval situation as I read it is that the 
Gei-man High Sea Fleet still continues to make no mistakes 
and to wait patiently in the hopes of our making some. 
Admiral Ingenholt is not to be lured out by the best of our 
devices. Our respect for him as a capable opponent should 
rise, not fall, accordingly. 
At the time of going to press there is a belated official 
German report, dated Monday, to the effect that the Baltic 
squadron, " which consists of twenty-nine units," has fifteen 
vessels in action. It probably refers to some destroyer or light 
cruiser action. 
THE FAR EAST, Etc. 
Herbertsuoe in Neu Pommern (formei'ly New Britain), 
■which was ceded to Germany in 1885, was attacked and cap- 
now far too strong to offer any chances of successful intern- 
ment in some Chinese harbour. The objective, if any, would 
probably be Chee-foo. 
CEM1AN POSSESSIOM ■■ 
BRlTliH WM 
KEU POMMEEN AND ADJACENT GERMAN POSSESSIONS. 
turcd by an Australian Naval force on the 11th and 12th. 
The capture is of importance, as it entailed the possession of 
a German wireless station, which might have been useful to 
any prcdatoiy cruiser making those waters. 
At KiaoChau the principal operations sccan to cc.nsist 
in German cilorts to lay fresh mines, and Japanese counter- 
efforts to prevent. Stories of the blockaded ciuisors 
endoavoui-ing to break out can be dismissed as possible ratlicr 
than probable. The blockading Japanese force must be by 
PORT ARTHUR (Japanese) 
KIAOCKAU 
iCerman) 
PLAN SHOWIXO THE SITUATION IN THE FAB EAST, 
ON THE HIGH SEAS GENERALLY. 
Last .Saturday brought the news of the capture of the 
Hamburg-American liner liethania, 7548 tons, off Jarniaica, into 
which port she was brought, with some 400 prisoners, mostly 
belonging to the crew of the lata ai-moured liner, Eaker 
Wilhelm der Grosse, which was sunk by the Iliyhflyer. The 
capture of various lesser ships was also reported, the total 
to date being 100. 
Meanwhile, several German cruisers are still afloat, but 
their interference with British trade has been trivial. German 
miscalculations in connection with commerce warfare have 
been vei-y considerable indeed ; for all the harm that has been 
done wo might just as well be at peace. 
On the German side, however, matters are becoming acute. 
Various important liners are held up at New York, where they 
are beingt maintained in idleness at vary heavy expense. 
Rumour has it that these ships have now received ordera to 
attempt a rush home. Rumour has probably anticipated 
actual orders, but such orders will no doubt eventually bo 
given. The projected sale to the United States of these big 
fast liners has fallen through, so they are lying at New York, 
unsaleable, earning nothing, and costing their usual upkeep. 
AVealthy as are the Hamburg-American Line and the Nord- 
Deutscher' Lloyd, a continuation of this state of affaire must 
bring them face to face with bankruptcy. 
If they can get the ships back there is a good prospect of 
sale to the Germany Navy. Hence the attempt to run home 
is fairly certain to occur at some time. 
Success is another niattor. The Channel is impossible. 
The only possible successful route is round the North of Scott- 
land. To slip tlu-ough here and so into the Baltic offei-s .=ome 
prospect of success on a dark night, but the outlook for the 
Germans is none too rosy, unless, of course, some co-incident 
fleet action bo taken. 
This course, however, is improbable, as the consequent 
risk would be altogether out of proportion to the possible gain. 
It would seem that, humanly speaking, the " silent 
pressure of Sea Power " is such tliat it is immaterial what the 
great German shipping lines do. Their choice is little but 
to try to discover which is the lessor of two evils. 
GERMANS— ROSE-COLOURED. 
Mn. William Heinemann has issued a two-shilling edition of 
F. W. Wile's book. Men Around the. Kaiser, which gives a fairly 
faithful picture of the leading men of Germany— as they app<»artd to 
Kuglish eyes before the great awakening of last month. The volume is 
frankly eulogistic; with Louvain and Dinant still in mind, we are but 
little inclined to agree with the a^ithor's views on, say, the Crown 
Prince or Btthmann-HolUveg. Bernstorff, again, is painted in very 
glowing colours ns "peculiarly at home in the American environment,' 
and it is not until we come on the sketches of Eeinhardt and Straus.«, 
and their like, that we are inclined to agreement with the estimates 
of these men as given here. Biographically, the book is of little value, 
and its personal appeal is weakened by the estimation in which these 
men are held at the present time; as a race, wo Engli.sh are naturally a 
little bi.i.ssod against the "men around the Kaiser," to say nothing of 
the Kaiser hiVnsclf, at present. The chief value of the book lies in its 
power to show ns what fools we were to believe— as the author believed 
when he wrote it^that the Germans are a civilised and peaceful peogle. 
13* 
