LAND AND WATEH 
September 19, 1914 
to niucli uuoniploymcnt— a general condition vhicli is already 
characterised by tlio German Socialist newspaper I orwarts 
as •• The Internal Danger." 
On tbo olLer haJid. Dutch imports have risen very con- 
»iderably, and the effect of tlic British Navy is to that extent 
discredited. Sooner or later Holland will have to make her 
neutrality definite, or else take sides. The .sheer brutality 
with which Germany treated Belgium is thus e.vplained. The 
awful fate of Belgium was a broad hint to Holland. Thus tho 
Dutch arc placetl between tho millstones — Gei-nian 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 
gain. 
An ofTicial German report admits the loss of the Htln, 
sunk by a submarine. She is, however, no great loss as a 
tighting unit, being rather infenor to our Spxdi/. 
An unofficial report says that the PnUifiiuhr 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 German sub- 
marino sci"vice, for it must have entailed a long above-water 
cruise, tlic distance which German subnjarines can travel 
under water being very small, probably an endurance of not 
more Uian 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 NUMBEn of vague rumours when pieced together suggest 
that the greater part of the German Fleet is, or has been, 
operati^ng in the Baltic, the older ships acting in the Aaland 
direction, and tho Dreadnoughts, if any, cruising off Kiel 
mainly with the object of keeping their 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 tho same hardening effect as actual war service, but 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 
veiy much. But tho naval situation as I read it is that the 
German High Sea Fleet still continues to make no mistakes 
and to wait patiently in tho 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 
Gorman 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. 
Herbertsiioe in Neu Pommern (formerly New Britain), 
which was ceded to Germany in 1S85, 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 bo Chce-foo. 
C^fiO 
^^^^^'''" 
pO 
mH^ 
pH 
CEKMAN POSSESSION W^ 
BRITISH WB 
NKU rOMMERN AND ADJACKNT GKUMAN' I'OSSKSSIOXS, 
tured by an Australian Naval force on the 11th and 1 2th. 
The captuix is of importance, as it entailed the possession of 
a^ German wireless station, which might have been useful to 
any predatoiy cruiser making those waters. 
At Kiao-Chau the principal operations seem to ciiisist 
in German efforts to lay fresh mines,. and Japanese counter- 
efforts to prevent. Stories of the blockaded cruisers 
endeavouring to break out can be dismissed as possible ratlicr 
than probable. The blockading Japanese force must bo by 
ARTHUR (Japanese) 
KIAO CHAU 
<Cerman) 
TLAN SHOWING THE SllUATION JN THE FAR EAST. 
ON THE HIGH SEAS GENERALLY. 
Last .Saturday brought the news of the capture of the 
Hamburg-American liner Brthania, 7548 tons, oft' Jamaica, into 
which port she was brought, with some 400 prisoners, mostly 
belonging to the crew of the late armouretl liner, Koixer 
Wilhelin der Grosse, which was sunk by the lliylifli/er. The 
captui'e of various lesser ships was also reported, the total 
to date being 190. 
Meanwhile, several German crui.sers arc still afloat, but 
their interference with British trade has been trivial. German 
miscalculations in connection with copimerce warfare have 
been very considerable indeed ; for all the harm that has been 
done we might just as well be at peace. 
*0u the German side, however, matters are becoming acute. 
Various imiportant liners are held up at New York, where they 
are being! maintained in idleness at vary heavy expense. 
Rumour has it that these ships have now received orders to 
attempt a rush home. Rumour has probably anticipated 
actual orders, but such ordei^s 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 upkec)i. 
Wealthy as arc the Hamburg-American Line and the Nord- 
Deutscher Lloyd, a continuation of this state of affairs 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 homo 
is fairly certain to occur at some time. 
Success is another matter. The Channel is impossible. 
The only possible successful route is round the North of Scot- 
land. To slip through hero and so into the Baltic offers some 
prospect of success on a dai-k night-, but the outlook for the 
Germans is none too rosy, unless, of course, some co-incident 
fleet action be 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 that it is immaterial what the 
great German shipping lines do. Their choice is little but 
to try to discover which is the lesser of two evils. 
GERMANS— ROSE-COLOURED. 
Mn. William Heinemann h.is issued a two-shilling edition of 
F. W. Wile's book, Men Around the Kaiser, whicli gives a fairly 
faithful picture of the leading men of Germany — as they api)o,nvcd to 
English 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 author's views f.n, say, the Crown 
Prince or Bothniannllollweg. liernstorff, again, is painted in very 
glowing colours as "peculiarly at home in the American environment," 
and it is not until we conic on the sketches of Reinhardt and .Strauss, 
and their like, that we are inclined to agreement with the estimates 
of these men as given here. Uiographically, the book is of little value, 
and its personal appeal is weakened by the estimation in wliieli these 
men arc held at tlie present time; as a race, we EnglLsh are naturally a 
little biassed against the "men around the Kaiser," to say nothing of 
the Kaiser himself, at present. The chief value of the book lies in its 
])ower to sliow us what fools we were to believe— as the author believed 
when he wrote it — that the Germans are a civilised and peaceful people. 
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