The wave of indignation which is reported to be sweeping over Germany as a result of the rescue of Britons, imprisoned on board the German vessel Altmark, is just another example of the excellent team. work between the Ministry of Propaganda and the thoroughly docile German press. For the most part it is inspired by disappointment that Germany, despite the lying and deceit of the captain of the vessel, was unable to boast that the Altmark had successfully run the Allied blockade, for that undoubtedly would have been claimed had that vessel reached port. It is apparent that had the Altmark refrained from entering Norway's territorial waters she would have been picked up by the British Navy. It was to escape that that she entered Norwegian waters, submitted to a perfunctory search at Bergen where her captain denied that he had any prisoners on board, and sought to slip down the coast in an endeavour to reach her home port. Had the ruse proved successful there cannot be the slightest doubt that the Reich would have claimed it one of the major successes achieved by the German navy, which badly wants a success to bolster up its rapidly diminishing credit. But it did not come off. The British Admiralty acted with a realistic.promptness which completely foiled the Germans, and effected the rescue of mën, who for months in some cases have been forced to live in altogether intolerable conditions. The fact that a time bomb was found in position adds considerable point to the story of the ruthless callousness with which the Germans treated these prisoners of war, for it is quite clear that they contemplated the wholesale murder of these men had the British commanders on the spot not acted with that celerity which completely thwarted the Germans. Those British seamen were saved from further suffering at the hands of their enemies and possibly death in a ship, which would have been sunk had the British Navy not acted with the promptness it did. If some mere quibble as to the legality of the proceedings had resulted in the deaths of these men, it would have been a lasting shame to the British Government and the Nav; Those are the cold facts of the case. The treatment meted out to these British seamen is all of a piece with the utter disregard by ihe Germans of the ordinary canons of de-coney in war which they have shown ever since the war started. Is it any wonder, therefore, that considerable indignation should have been expressed in Britain over the Christmas holidays concerning those misguided persons who actually sent parcels of good things to the German prisoners of war held in Britain? The sooner the British masses remember things which happened in the last war, and realize that the German has changed not one whit, the quicker will they realize the type of foe they are again fighting. It is believed in some quarters that the Reich will take advantage of this incident as an excuse for developing some new form of devilishness. That need not prove surprising. It has already abandoned any pretence of fighting this war in accordance with well established and generally accepted principles of behaviour, and if Germany has indeed some new forms of frightfulness they will in due time be launched whether an excuse is available or not. The case of the Altmark provides no such a thing, though it will serve so far as the German masses are concerned as a justification for any siner form of hideousness the Reich may be preparing to perpetrate. The position of Norway in the matter is aggravated by the fact that the Reich is holding the big stick over her, but that does not affect the significance of the very pointed questions which, it is reported, Lord Halifax put to the Norwegian Minister on Sunday. The reason why it was considered necessary to provide the Altmark with a naval escort, if the Norwegian authorities were absolutely convinced of the innocuousness of the vessel, will be awaited with very considerable interest, for the impression which prevails at the present time is that it was provided under German pressure, in order to obtain for the Reich some sort of picturesque success of which it stands in such great need at the present.
The British view that Norway failed in its duty as a neutral seems to be the only proper manner of regarding the case, but until it is known exactly what pressure was brought to bear upon her, it would be as well to leave the matter where it stands and reserve judgment. The lot of the small neutrals neighbouring Germany has never been particularly comfortable, for the menace of armed might is continually at their doors. The neutrality which Germany wants of them is no neutrality at all but a definite siding with Germany against the Allies. It has to be said fcr them in all justice that they have in the main done their utmost preserve an equal balance, and that lapses from propriety have been neither numerous nor serious. This present incident involves no issue which cannot be settled amicably, for Whitehall fully understands the difficult situation in which such neutrals as Norway are placed, and will undoubtedly make allowances accordingly. But there can be no question of handing these released (1 prisoners over to Norway, lest they ultimately fall into the hands of the Reich, which nas proved itself completely unfitted to have the custody of such men who were kept in the Altmark in conditions altogether con-itary to the rules of warfare, and who could expect nothing better were they eventually lodged in Germany. For the rest the summing up of the case by the Belgian newspaper "Libre Belgique" seems appropriate. If Norway had taken the proper precautions she would have been in a position to protest to both London and Berlin, and still be completely neutral That she failed to do so puts her out of court from the point of view of equity. The indignation expressed in Germany will deceive no one outside its borders, for as the Belgian journal so rightly remarks, "There is nothing in common between the action of a British destroyer attacking in neutral waters a German ship clandestinely carrying prisoners of war, and the torpedoing of the Burgendijk, a Netherlands ship, navigating from one neutral port to another."
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.