L A -\ U AND WATER. 
Octoter 2. 1915. 
THE "KOENIGSBERG" AFFAIR. 
By A. H. POLLEN. 
lo •ccordaocc with tbt rti>uircni(iils ol Ibt I'rtss Bureau. whiJi docs not «bjccl lo Iht fublitalioD as censored, and t.-Iits no 
irsptnk.bility lor Ibt ceiicclnciLs ol Ibe klatrmenlt. 
AN engaceuient to Icrtiiif in Paris prevoHts 
me, this week, tioni britiging any nav;il 
event under review that is leporttd 
later than the nioining vA' Suiuiay, 
September 26. Two matter.*? of moment are in- 
rluded in the news of the day : The apjsarcnt 
fiurren ler of Berlin to Washington, and the 
renewal of the bombardment of Zeebjugge. 
Dutch acconnts say that no le.ss than thij-.ty 
ships took part in this operation; bnt we nnist 
Ix-ware of forming very s.inguine hopes as to the ; 
amount of damage such boml ardments can inflict. 
There are at Zeebrugge niaTiy points the subjec- 
tion of which to high explosive shell fire would ; 
embarrass the -."nemy very seriously. There ari>, , 
for instance, the lock-gates and the submarine 
depots in the canal l)eyonil. There are, too, the 
heavy gun emplacements, the magazines, and so 
forth. But bombardments have to be cari-ied out 
from distances so great as to make both the ainiing 
and the control of the guns extraordinarily diffi- 
cult. The story of the destruction of the Koi'/n</s- 
herg, which I comment on below. exem})lifies both 
the difficulties themselves and the likelihood of 
misconception as to the efiect produced. I ntil the 
operations against the Belgian coast began last 
year, neither the British nor any other Navy had 
Lad any experience of using guns under these 
conditions. What with the attack on Tsing Tan, 
the numerous engagements in the Dardanelles, the 
first and the second scries of bombardments 
of Zeebrugge, there nuist now, however, be a vast 
fund of knowledge to draw upon, so that there is 
every reason to hope that bomVjaidnients will gain 
in effectiveness. But at its best aiul highest effi- 
. ciency, the game of long bowls is e. very chantv . 
affair. " • " 
The Sunday paj)ers repeat from New York an 
Associated Press telegram f)-om Beilin, which is 
of the highest po.ssib]e importance if its state- 
ments are to be believed. In effect it announces 
a complete German surrender to the American 
Note of July 25, As soon as certain final arrange- 
. nients in the matter of the Arabic are completed, 
a fiefinite acceptance of all the Ameiican demands 
-—including compensation for those murdered in 
the Lusitania and other ships, and an undertakim' 
not to sink ships without warning— is to be 
announced officially. As a .sort of guarantee of 
Lierman good faith— even Berlin, it would seem 
realises that such a guarantee is required- the 
whole personnel of the German Admiralty has 
be^n changed. The question is, are these state- 
uients true ? 
u«f ^^^' ^^^^'^ur, we know from his last public 
^ W^T^'i"* ^'"^"^^ Bernstorff-s verbal premises 
to \\ashington as a definite sign that Germany 
Str?i'\f abandoning the Submarine cani- 
ITF'x} I ^f"^''^^ *^« ^ost in submarines was 
so nigi>, partly l^cause the damage inflicted unon 
ourselves wa. so small, partly bcuuse the iml'gna 
10 
tion of ne^utials was taking an unpleas.intiy 
menacing aspect. The fate of the llesperlun, the 
indi.s.?-e turns of l)i', Dumba and von Papen, arid 
the sustained truculcnce of the German I've.'^s 
have, for the last few weeks, had the appearance 
of throwing the whole issue once more into the 
melting-j)o). But two things are significant: As 
the appended diagram shows, there is no falling- 
off in the vigour with which the campaign is being 
carried on; and there has been no change what- 
ever in the attitude of the I nited States. Presi- 
dent Wilson s concession to the Germans, that 
they might with impunity send passengers and 
crews adrift in boats to drov, u or starve, if a great 
concession,' was, at any rate the last. How great 
a concession it was may bo gathered from the 
accounts recently published of the experiences of 
the crew- of the Chivcellor; but, on the main point 
of visiting and searching a ship before destroying 
it, the President will not give Avay, Possibly the 
Germans at last realise that he will not. 
Washington will, no doubt, continue to exer- 
cise such jjatience as is necessary to see the 
German Admiralty and Foreign Office through 
their la.st wriggles. One of these takes the i'orni 
of awaiting proof of the commander of the 
Arabic's " innoce/we " : another, an alleged ability 
to show that the Jlesperinri was mined, and net 
torpedoed — though, on this matter Ca))tain 
Smellie throws an entirely new light. Diplomacy, 
however, can always dealwith details. The broad 
question of whether the I'nited States are to 
lemain friends with Germany depends not upon 
such disputed i)ast incidents, but upon Germany's 
willingness to promise compliance with the code 
of civilised warfare in the future. The jiroh- 
ability is that she will comply, and it hwks as if 
we could take this last elaborate telegram fioni 
Berlin as intended to j)repare America for the 
final surrender. 
DHSTRUCTION OF THE 
"KOENIGSBERG." 
On July 13 last the Admiralty announced 
the destruction of the Koenigsbero m the Rufigi 
Kiver by the river monitors \Serern and Merse.y, 
assisted by aircraft. Nothing further was 
published until, within the last few^ w^eeks, 
letters from officers in the squadron or on the 
monitors were printed. The discrepancies 
between these descriptions p.nd the Admiralty's 
account are remarkable, so that the whole episode 
is worth examination. This is particularly the 
case because the earlier story was discussed as 
it It were a sort of military execution, a distaste- 
ful and inglorious business— as the destruction 
of an unresisting ship and the mere slaughter of 
gallant enemies must alwa\s be— and an opera- 
tion that presented no technical difficulty, was 
unaccompanied by danger, and therefore reflected 
