London, Feb, 19.
The First Lord of the Admiralty, Mr. Winston Churchill, is expected io make a statement in the House of Commons on the capture of the German ship Altmark off the Norwegian coast by the British destroyer Cossack on February 17.
The action of the Admiralty over the Altmark was justified, in the View of newspaper commentators here, "Force is the only. argument the Nazis understand, and force has been properly applied," says the "News-Chronicle."
The "Daily Herald" declares: "There can be no honest doubt anywhere in the world that the Admiralty's action was thoroughly justi-fled, and the Nazi's appeal to international law, which they have so brazenly violated, must be left to the ridicule it deserves."
The press in Berlin declares Norway must do something more than protest to Great Britain over the Altmark affair which the oficial German news agency says, "can become the starting-point for a fight of all against all."
The conservative Belgian newspaper, Libre Belgique," writes: "The Altmark incident is regrettable, but the spectacular indignation of Germany will impress nobody. There is nothing in common between the action of a British destroyer attacking an armed German ship, secretly taking prisoners of war through neutral waters, and that of a German submarine torpedoing a Dutch ship, sailing between neutral ports" the paper asserts.
With the full story of the Altmarx now known, the doubts at first felt in Washington with regard to the propriety. of. the British action have disappeared, leaving only admiration for the daring exploit, and the feeling that it was completely justified.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.