October 9, 1915. 
LAND AND WATER 
then, it seems as if our Allies have been the victims 
of a particularly cruel stroke of fortune. 
Writing in these columns in July last, I sug- 
gested that the Germans would not be able to use 
Riga as a sea base unless they first took the neces- 
sary measures for defeating, or, at any rate, de- 
mobilising, the main Russian Fleet. Since they 
were driven out of the Gulf the German warships 
have not apparently made any attempts to draw 
the Russians into action, and the fact that they 
have made no serious effort to take Riga itself 
seems to confirm the opinion I hazarded two or 
three months ago, that Germany had no serious 
, intention of asserting an effective command of the 
Baltic Sea. My argument, the reader may remem- 
ber, was that as the main Russian battle squadron 
consists of the four new Dreadnoughts and two 
battleships completed since 1906, of the type of 
our King Edwards, and disposes of a broadside of 
fifty-six 12-inch guns, it would need the whole of 
Germany's later Dreadnoughts to pro\ ide a force 
adequate for engaging them advantageously. It 
certainly would not be safe to tackle the Russians 
with less than eight ships. This is far too large a 
stake to risk when the sole military advantage to 
be obtained is such freedom to use Riga as the 
British and Russian submarines would allow. As 
we have already seen, Germany cannot ignore the 
possibility of an English invasion across the North 
Sea, and, while her battle fleet has been perfectly 
powerless in keeping the seas open, either to her 
transports or to her trade, it does constitute a very 
formidable obstacle to an oversea invasion. And, 
for that matter, the situation of the German 
armies in Russia is, in all probability, such that 
every idea X)f an advance on Petrograd has long 
since been given up. It would be for an advance 
on Petrograd that a sea base at Riga would have 
been invaluable. 
NAVY AND LA\^YIlRS. 
A recent reply of Lord Robert Cecil's, and 
certain decisions of the Prize Court — both of them 
having reference to the state of affairs before the 
Order in Council of March 11 — have moved the 
Morning Post to some very severe conunents. I 
have recently had occasion to discuss the subject 
of the ■' freedom of the seas '" with certain naval 
officers, who are in a good jiosition to know what 
might have been done had the full rigour of our 
sea power been brought to bear upon Germany 
from the beginning. That it was not so brought 
to bear was — as we all know — due partly to the 
Government's initial policy of announcing them- 
selves bound by the provisions of the Declaration 
of London, partly to the anxiety of the Foreign 
Office to render our control of the seas as little 
irksome to neutrals as possible. The opinion of 
one of these officers was so emphatic and his argu- 
ment so forcible that I shall attempt to reproduce 
it as nearly as possible in his own words : 
" If the Declaration of London had been 
drawn up by Germany with a special view to a 
war in which England would command the seas 
it could not more skilfully have provided for a 
minimum of disadvantage to the weaker Power. 
Take, for instance, the question of contraband. 
Article 27 innocently provides that things not of 
immediate use in war may not be declared contra- 
band of war. Article 28 then goes on to specify 
certain categories of things which may not be 
made contraband. In this category you will find, 
11 
tucked away amongst jute and hemp, manures 
and harmless chemicals and the like, almost all 
that is required for keeping the munition firms 
going, and at least one of the main necessaries for 
equipping an army for a winter campaign in 
Russia. Jute, linen, and silk are thus classed 
with raw cotton, a constituent of all propellent 
exjilosives, and wool, an absolute necessity for 
military uniforms. Metallic ores of all kinds are 
declared innocent! Sulphate of copper and 
nitrates, of which, perhaps, Krupps are the 
largest buyers in Germany, are all included. 
What possible interest can we have had in making 
a present of these things to the enemy ? A clause 
or two further on provides special arrangements 
by which indisputable contraband is to be brought 
into Germany without our having the power to 
interfere. Section 32 provides that, if contra- 
band in a neutral ship is consigned to a neutral 
port, the ship's papers shall be conclitsice evidence 
as to her destination. At one blov,- the whole 
doctrine of the ' continuous Aoyage ' is thus 
knocked on the head and Germany made free to 
import through Copenhagen and Rotterdam all 
the munitions or materials for munitions that 
they do not already get included in t!ie non-con- 
trahand list. 
" Nor is this all. Up to the Declaration of 
London, there were almost no exceptions to th3 
rule that no ship was a lawful prize until it had 
been so found by a Prize Court. But the Declara- 
tion provided for the immediate destruction of 
prizes without trial, when the con\'enience of the 
captor demanded it. Fifty-two British ships 
were, as a fact, so sunk by the German cruisers 
in the first five months of the war, and nearly 
200 have now been sunk by submarines. So far 
as my memory goes, only one British ship has been 
taken into port for trial. Thus while out of pure 
sentimentality, inspired by frothy talk about 
' civilised warfare,' we consented to the free im- 
port into Germany of everything she needed for 
war, by the same instrument we waived everv 
legal formality in allowing the Germans to sink 
our or neutral ships offhand without trial or 
inquiry. If the Declaration of London repre- 
sented, as it did, the settled policy of our Foreign 
Office towards the Navy, any proposals coming 
from that quarter for the modification of the em- 
ployment of our sea power now, or for its per- 
manent abbreviation in the future, should be very 
narrowly and jealously investigated 
" All such limitations have two aspects par- 
ticularly distasteful to naval officers. The old 
rules were clear and simple. All enemy property 
was lawful prize. The categories of contraband 
were settled according to circumstance, by execu- 
tive action. Naval officers, as well as neutral 
traders, knew where they stood. But if the whole 
thing is fii'st of all to be put into a code, the mean- 
ing of which is not clear, and then chopped and ,' 
changed about with every wave of opinion, as has 
been the case in this w ar^ then the lot of the naval 
officer becomes almost intolerable. It is no wonder 
that neutrals, instead of being grateful for our ' 
concessions, are filled with angry impatience at 
the muddles and delays that have been created by 
our never knowing our own minds for a month 
together. And, finally, sailcrmen are simple- 
minded folk. It is their business to see things 
as they are, and not through a mist of political 
insincerities. Whatever the politicians and dip- 
lomatists may say, they know perfectly well that 
