May II, 191(3 
LAND cV WATER 
LAND & WATER 
EMPIRE HOUSE, KINGSVVAY, LONDON, VV.C 
Telephone: HOLBORN 2828 
THURSDAY, MAY 11. 1916 
CONTENTS 
PAGE 
The Sinn Fein Snake. By Louis Raemaekers i 
British Troops in Reserve. By G. Spencer Prysc 2 
Meaning of the German Note. (Leading Article) 5 
The Last Attack at Verdun. By Hilairc Belloc 4 
Sortes Shakespearian;e. By Sir Sidney Lee 7 
The German Surrender. Bv Arthur Pollen 8 
Rise and Fall of the French Air Ministry. By F. W. 
LtinclicstGr 
Before the Charge. By Patrick MacGill 13 
World's Trade after the War. By Lewis R. Freeman 15 
Some Mountain Passes. By William T. Palmer 17 
Reviews of Books ^" 
Chaya. By H. de Verc Stacpoole 19 
Town and "Country 24 
The West End 2O 
Choosing Kit ^ 
MEANING OF THE GERMAN NOTE 
THE German reply to President Wilson's com- 
plaints^in regard to the enemy's methods of 
submarine warfare will for several reasons, 
be of special interest to readers of this 
l)aper. For one thing, it will be found on careful 
examination to fullil exactly the prognostications of 
our naval critic. Essentially it is a surrender ; and 
the American rejoinder makes the character of this 
surrender clear by refusing to take notice of the 
bravado, the raising of irrelevant issues, the falsifica- 
tion of notorious facts and the clumsy and, under 
the circumstances, exquisitely ludicrous appeals to 
humanitarian sentiment, and directing attention to the 
single point really at issue. On that point the victory 
of the United States is for the moment complete. The 
German Government announces that it has given orders 
to its submarine commanders not to sink either passenger 
or cargo ships without warning, whether within or with- 
out the so-called "war-zone." 
Whether the terms now conceded by the German 
(iovernment will be duly observed in the future is neces- 
sarily a matter of speculation. It may well be, as Mr. 
Pollen suggests in another column, that the hands of the 
Kaiser and his Ministers will again be forced by the 
clamour of those dupes whom they have themselves 
persuaded to the belief that Great Britain can be brought 
to her knees and her sea power destroyed by the inter- 
mittent murder of non-combatants on the high seas. 
It may be that the last paragraph reserving " complete 
liberty of decision " in the event of the United States 
not obtaining respect for " the laws of humanitv " 
from Germany's enemies, though its main purpose was 
undoubtedly to make the original concession look less like 
a surrender and more like a bargain to German eyes, 
may also have been penned with a side glance at this 
possible eventuality. If that be so, the American 
reply closes that loop hole entirely. President Wilson 
answers, as everyone must surely have known that he 
would, by insisting that the (ierman surrender must be 
regarded as unconditional, and that he cannot make 
any negotiations that may take place between the United 
States and another power a subject of discussion with 
Germany. If Germany accepts his reply as final she must 
needs accept it on those terms. 
We knou', however, that the action of the German 
Government will be controlled much less by any promises 
it may have given than by the situation in which it 
linds itself ; and it is in the light thrown on that s^ituation 
and on the view taken of it by the rulers of Germany 
that the major interest of the German Note consists. 
One may dismiss the fustian of which at least two 
thirds of that Note is made up, Its interest is mainly 
psychological. To those who still accept the legend of the 
amazing craft and stupendous knowledge possessed b'y 
tlK! " efficient " Teu,ton there should be something en- 
liglitening about the crass stupidity which could think 
to make an emotional appeal to the Americans — of all 
people in the world — by pointing to the unprecedented 
inhumanity of " starving " an enemy into submission. 
As if the Americans, even if they could be supposed to 
have forgotten by what means the Prussians themselves 
reduced Paris, could possibly be imagined to have for- 
gotten by what means Lincoln reduced the South ! 
There are a dozen such touches of clumsy hypocrisy 
and transparent absurdity in the document ; but they 
are not the main thing worth noting. 
The main point to note is the confirmation afforded 
of the truth we have continually maintained ; that the 
(iermanic powers are already in process of defeat, that 
their rulers know it, and that their present hopes are set 
mainly upon an escape from that defeat, not by way of 
victory, but by way of a truce. These truths are the 
key to all or almost tdl that (jermany says and does in 
these latter days, to the language of her rulers, whether 
addressed to her own people or to neutral nations, not 
less than to most of the more recent developments of her 
policy and strategy by land and sea. 
They are evident enough to a discerning eye in the 
document under consideration. In the affecting passage 
to which reference has already been made we are told of 
" the many millions of women and children, who, accord- 
ing to the avowed intention of the British Government, 
are to be starved, and who, by sufferings are to force the 
victorious armies of the Central Powers into an ignominious 
. capitulation." When before has the German Government 
gone so near to admitting the possibility of such a 
capitulation ? When before has she exhibited an appear- 
ance of anticipating it and of being prepared in advance 
to explain it away. Yet some of the various and con- 
flicting daily " explanations " offered to the German 
people in the matter of Verdun had already given indica' 
tions of such a mood. 
It is not in this paragraph, however, that we shall find 
the kernel of the document. The key passage, slipped in 
as though by accident, runs as follows : — 
The German Government is conscious of Germany's 
strengtli. Twice within the past few months she has 
announced before the world her readiness to make peace 
on a basis safeguarding Germany's vital interests, thus 
indicating that it is not Germany's fault if peace is still 
withheld from the nations of Europe. The German 
Government feels all the more justified in declaring that 
tlie responsibility could not be borne before the forum 
of mankind and history if after twenty-one months' 
duration of war the submarine question under discussion 
between 'the German Government and the Government 
of the United States were to take a turn seriously 
threatening the maintenance of peace between these two 
nations. 
This, be it obseiA'cd, is offered as a reason for proceeding 
to the utmost limits of concession. The hint is broad 
enough. It is to the effect that there will be no more 
difficulty about submarine warfare if President Wilson 
will only offer his mediation and induce the Allies to make 
peace before defeat overtakes the Germanic Powers. It is 
unlikely that President Wilson will do anything so foolish ; 
and it is certain that, if he did, the Allied Governments, 
confident that the enemy is weakening every day would 
listen to no such proposition. But it is equally certain 
the proposition would never have been made if the Ger- 
man (}o\ ernraent were "confident of Germanv's strength.", 
