Nov hat the Netherlands Government. should have made representations to Gre relative to the trade reprisals planned Germany in retaliation against the German mine campaign, and that the Belgian Govern ment may probably do the same thing need not have caused that surprise which it is re~ ported is felt in certain circles in London. 'Those two neutrals are in avery difficult position, and the probability is that the representations, which have been or may be made, result' from the enormous pressure: which Germany is bringing to bear upon them. For some considerable time now, since' the commencement of the war, large forces have been massed along the Belgian \d_ Holland frontiers, warnings have been dressed to Brussels and The Hague by Germany concerning the quality of the neutrality they are supposed to observe, and if found that in an endeavour to prevent themselves from being embroiled in this present struggle they may at seme other seem to be Ieaning backward {tempts to maintain the completest neutral-it need be no occasion for surprise. Such protests are not likely to influence the British decision to inflict reprisals upon the Reich for the institution of a ruthless form of warfare which is at the present moment inflicting Just as much damage upon neutrals 'a3 it is upon the Allies. The decision to take action against Germany's export trade follows along lines similar to those in the last war, when the same action was ultimately resorted to, and it is only logical to expect that a nation which ignores all the conventions of war, conventions to which it has subseribed, should face the completest of reprisals which, it may be incidentally re~ marked, contrast in legality with the' legal behaviour of the nation against whom they are directed. In this connection the summing-up of the Belgian newspaper "Lo Peuple" can with aptness be quoted "Nobody doubted that war would be inconvenient for neutrals, but the British Navy does not sink neutral ships, or deliver their passengers and crews to the hazards of the sea.
The position of the British Government is clearly laid down in that sentence which has been quoted from Mr. Winston Churchill's "World Crisis," written before the war, and consequently somewhat of a forecast of what might happen. "It is for neutrals to recognize that it is not practically possible, nor in neutral interests, to claim the maintenance of a situation which would deprive naval strength of all rights, while permitting naval weakness to indulge in every abuse. It is not to be thought that the British Government ever contemplated the maintenance of a huge navy with the idea that it would willingly limit its lawful operations, and' thereby discount all the advantages which a heavy outlay has secured, and so long as Great Britain pursues a policy utilizing to the full the advantages which she has acquired, but well within the canons of law and humanity, there can be no real grounds for justifiable' protest. War is inconvenient for neutrals. But it is necessary for them to realize, as: undoubtedly they do, that this struggle is not the choice of the Allies, but has been forced upon them by the overweening ambitions of Herr Hitler, which, if they fructify, will be to the enduring disadvantage of the neutrals of Europe. It is only by an Allied victory that they in their turn will be delivered from the menace that, tone day or another, Herr Hitler will hold them at the pistol point, and order them to stand and deliver whatever he may fancy he wants, Every sympathy must be felt with the neutrals who find themselves in present difficult conditions, but it needs to be remembered that whether they are ultimately embroiled or not tae Allies are fighting as much in neutral European interests as in their own. It is desirable as much for the Allies, as it is for those nations which are doing their best to. prevent in~ valvement in this fight, that hostilities should be brought to as early'a termination as possible, and that in favour of the former. To neglect a very obvious method of legally striking at Herr Hitler would be the height foolishness, and the fact that Great Britain has not taken this decision earlier is not to be taken as any evidence of hesitation as to The Belgian Socialist party organ "Vooruit" remarks with justice that "protests from neutrals to the British Government are certain to come, but protests should also be made against German methods." That has not up to the present occurred, but again it must be emphasized that even if Germany had not embarked upon this particular form of warfare, the Allies would still be legally entitled to strike at their enemy wherever they may find her, A vulnerable spot is found in Germany's dire need for foreign exchange. She seeks to secure as much of that as possible through her export trade. Exchange is one of the sinews of war, and if the blockade of German export trade' can deprive her of most of it, then there is no reason why every effort should not be taken to enforce it." It necessitates no breach of conventions or the dishonorring of commitments in the manner with which the Reich has now made the world so familiar, and while it may subject the neutrals to some inconvenience. much as that is to be regretted, it cannot in the circumstances abandoned. British forbearance in this respect has been exhausted. The German campaign against the Allies from the very commencement of the war has been marked with an unlawful ruthlessness to which even now the Allies are replying with perfectly legal methods. They have pledged themselves to do nothing else, and the fact that it is possible to meet German unlawful menaces by completely proper counter-measures leaves the Allies in most enviable position so far as the judgment of posterity is concerned. That the neutrals affected by this latest decision will be inconvenienced as little as possible goes without saying; that there must be some inconvenience can be taken for granted, but given good will on the side of the neutrals as well as on the side of the Allies, there is no reason why these reprisals should not be made effective without in any great degree diminishing the friendly feelings which exist, and should continue to exist between them,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.