LAND AND WATER 
September 4, 1915. 
disposal are taken into account. The perceJitage America, every reflective German v?ill know that 
of our total iiuHe in ships sunk by submarines civilisation has given its verdict and realise tha 
has been — and, in spite of recent increases, impossibility of fighUng a 
^ world that ia 
The thing would be intei- 
It is 
remains — utterly n^ligible. And this in spite of righteously in arms, xiie luiu^ wuuiu ue i 
the fact that the British Navy had never reckoned ligible if Germany contemplated surrender, 
upon the protection of our trade against sub- insanity if she still has any hopes of winning, 
marines as one of its necessary duties in war. Undoubtedly the path of the German states- 
The truth of the matter is, the campaign was men is encompassed by difficulties. They know 
started upon a series of false premisses. It is not already that America will not barter her rights 
necessary to enumerate these now, but the most or insist on concessions from Great Britain in con- 
prominent of them was the confidence that if any sideration for the immunity of her citizens from 
considerable number of merchant ships were sunk, attack at sea. Nor is it possible to find a formula 
either timidity would prevent shipowners from on which Germany can yield, which is not an 
sending their craft to sea or fear would make it admission that her previous conduct has been all 
impossible to man them. The imperturbable that Mr. Wilson described it to be. Lastly, she 
courage of our merchant fleet is reflected m the cannot promise not to sink merchantmen on sight 
significant fact that, m spite of unprecedented —with any intention of keeping that promise, 
demands by the Royal Navy on shipping, the and surely nothing else will satisfy America 
actual number of steamers entering and leaving —without reducing the submarine campaign to a 
the British and Irish ports are, generally speak- practical nullity. 
ing, greater now than they were a year ago. 
If, then Germany has gained nothing in this AEROPLANE v. SUBMARINE. 
oirection, she has certainly lost enormously in 
another. She has outraged almost every sea- Commander Bigsworth's achievement in 
faring nation. For just as Germany's threats sinking a submarine single-handed from an aero- 
have frightened no British vessels of? the seas, so, plane is particularly remarkable from the fact 
too, has It failed m frightening neutrals. So that, in the great discussion which took place 
much is this the case that, since February, when before the war, it was a main contention of those 
this undex-water war began, the German boats who maintained that the submarine had made it 
have sunk neutrals in quite disproportionate impossible for any surface ship— whether corn- 
numbers Norway Sweden, Denmark, Holland, mercial or armed— to keep the sea, that it was 
bparn, Greece, and America, all have supplied co-operation with aeroplanes that would make the 
victims in ships, and most m lives also. Their menace so formidable. Nothing, we were told, 
protests have been vain. America alone of all eould be hid from the aeroplane's eye. So soon as 
these countries commands the means of converting any ship moved it would be seen from the skies, 
protest into action. As we, and all well-informed whence the submarine would be guided to its 
Germans, know, a very considerable number of deadly and certain work. Sir Percy Scott's oppo- 
Amencan citizens, and those not the least in- nents retorted that it was far more probable that 
fluential m the counsels of their country, are in- the boot would be upon the other leg, for while 
sistent that American action is alr^dy overdue, nothing was known of the power of the seaplane 
At any i-ate, it is certain that the wholesale to communicate with a friendly submarine, it was 
murd^ of Americans has created an entirely new proved that a plane could, at least in certain con- 
i°lu . ^'".^ anti-German party in America, ditions, detect the under-water boat when sub- 
which, but for the submarine campaign, would 
never have existed at aD. 
Thus, this new and frightful measure which 
was to have undone the work of the British 
Fleet has really completed that work. It has 
made all nations admire the conduct of the 
British Navy; it has brought into relief the un- 
doubted fact that British sea-power has never 
been abused. The bond between Great Britain 
and the UnifpH 9tafp« vchinh „»;;• i V * a«- panacea nas oeen rouna lor dealing with the most 
purely a bustoL^lt'i'lfS'iife'.^?-!!!' .'"^-''T^ "Z »" ""-J S""™''™- I' -"not have 
merged. It seemed, then, that the submarine had 
lost more than it had gained by the developments 
Off aircraft. A year of submarine war has been, 
so far as the public is aware, almost entirely 
barren up to now of anything that showed that 
aeroplanes could help or hurt the submarine. 
Commander Bigsworth's success must not, then, 
be taken as affording grounds for a hope that a 
panacea has been found for dealing with the most 
purely a business one, must, if the submarine cam- 
paign continues, be converted into a political 
alliance, a dark prospect for a country in Ger- 
many s plight. The Chancellor, the financiers, 
and the diplomatists, therefore, see two things 
been this that Lord Selborne had in mind when 
he said that the menace was well in hand. Nor. I 
think, is it diflicult to see why this must be so. It 
is only in very special conditions of light and 
weather that boats can be detected with anv cer- 
very clearlv If AnJv\nc iaX" * Y- "'""p weainer mat Doats can be detected with anv cer- 
Germany must forthwith be^anSfoTET" TV^'"'''^ '^'^""'l '^^' ^" ^^''oplane would find 
is, the outlaw of the nations P^tibft^^^ l^"^^^ ''''^' °"^ 1° ^^^ conditions, and again onlv 
nal loss to Germany will w ZTu^ ^''*^'"' ^^ ^ ^^^^ combination of gre^t skill and grea^t 
for eSernally she hL nothTnl n^^^ t 27J''''h ^ -^^^'^""^ '^^' '^ ^'"^ ^^^^^ ^e dropped with 
reputation to k^ KKternTlW^ sufficient accuracy to do its work. One assumes 
incalculable The longer thT^^rV^- """^^.^ ^^^^ *^^ ^^"'b ^^'^^^^ ^ave to be so constnicted as 
greater the' fiinciil ?nd ^nomi?^^^^^^^^^ S' *" TPJ"^'" ^' " ^^^''"" ^^P*^' ^' ^'' ^"^ ^^^^e set to 
mnr. ,r«....„^-. i •!, f""^ economic Strain, the explode at a certain depth before being released. 
To judge the depth of submersion of any given 
submarine f i-om an aeroplane must be a 'task of 
extraordinary uncertainty, and it detracts 
nothing from the merit of the performance to sav 
that it can only in the rarest of circumstances be 
repeated. A. H. POLLEN. 
more important it will be to keep civilian op n on 
«« Z S- f PP°rt of Government action. So lon^ 
as the diplomatists can hold America off so £ 
significanee to the German people. If the piracy 
of Aon Tirpitz plunges Germany into war witj 
16 
