New-York tribune., 1906-07-01
MORAL OF MANGUVRES
The British Admiralty Supplies
Proofs Of an American Principle.


About sixty Thousand officers and men are en-
ployed in four hundred vessels large and small.
belonging 70 the Atlantic. Channel and Mediter-
ranean fleets. from cruiser squadrons the re-
serve divisions and all torpedo craft. either in
actual service or in home waters Mimic war
fare has opened this week on the assumption
that hostiliies have arisen unexpectedly when the
fleets are at sea, and a series of attacks will be
made on English ports and merchant ships and
the torpedo craft will be enabled to show what
IL can do for the protection Of naval and conf
mercial strongholds. These preliminary opera
tions and tactical exercises will occupy a week.
and will be followed by another series of
mandeuvres designed to illustrate the vulner-
ability OF commerce, The stronger red feet.
commanded by Sir Arthur Wilson. with the
Mediterranean feet massed behind It at Gibral-
tar, will represent the Kings navy in the event
Of a sudden declaration of war; and the weaker
blue feet, under Sir William May. will stand
Cor a less formidable naval power. The prob
IONS to be worked out in the course Of the next
fortnight are the rapid mobilization Of the home
feet in time Of with as much secrecy
possible, and the tactics to be employed in an
emergency by the Kings navy and the weaker
enemy
The motives of the rival commanders are cas-
lily explained in the Admiralty programme. The
weaker quarry and 10 destroy 1t by a succession
Of rapid blows. The eneny's blue feet, on the
other hand, will avoid the risks of an unequal
combat, and while massing all it's own forces
viii seek 70 scatter the stronger feet by attack
ing the floating commerce under the red flag.
Prince Louis OF Battenberg. with a cruiser
squadron, will be let loose 70 harry commerce;
and with the cooperation of various steamship
companies and vessel owners these captures are
70 be effected with close approach to plausi-
bity If not realism The blue territory will
include Scotland, Ireland, the Channel Islands,
with Queenstown, the Firth of Forth Bere-
haven and Alderney TO be defended, and with
Lagos a fortified base, and it will obviously
be Sir William Mays object 20 raid commerce
in the hope of dispensing the red feet and coun-
teracting its superior strength. Sir Arthur Will
son. on the other hand. with Gibraltar his
fortified base and with Milford Falmouth, Port
land, Plymouth, Portsmouth Sheerness. Swan
sea. Barry and Cardiff as ports to be defended.
viii have the duty of protecting commerce and
Of bringing the enemys main feet into action
and crushing it before it can play havoc with
the oversee trade. The manquvres are designed
10 show what arrangements can be made for the
defence OF home ports and seaborne commerce
in war between naval powers. and what sacri-
fees will be required from the mercantile COM
rnunfty in loss OF vessels and interruption of
traffic before the hostile feet be destroyed
The tactics employed by the rival admirals will
be most interesting. and the results Of undue or
defective concentration of the red forces will be
translated by naval experts into commercial
terms Reality will be impaired 20 the red and
blue maneuvres conducted at high cost by the
strongest fleets ahoat. and there will be close
approach to the conditions of actual warfare for
sea power.
nc Sa+a de 80
as reported from day TO day in the press with
sham attacks Portsmouth and the overhaul
ing end capture Of liners, the Admiralty pro-
gramne itself before a shot has been fired or
a single reserve ship manned, proves more than
can be made out by the naval experts at the
close OF fortnight. That programme comedies
what cannot be denied. namely. that the oversee
trade is England's vUlnera BILE point in the ener-
gency OF naval war. and that rival maritime
power which cannot match her battleships in
sea fight may interrupt commerce. cut off food
supplies. do incalculable harm and bring on a
panic What stronger argument can there be
for the adoption by England Of the American
proposal for exempting private property under
any flag from seizure in time OF war? Whatever
may be the records Of the red and blue fleets
in these extraordinary manoeuvres, IL is not
clear that the risks Of commerce and high cost
of food can be minimized in advance by inter
natonal action AT the next congress at The
Hague? With an explicit definition of contra
band and international prohibition of the
capture OF private property on, the high seas,
the destructive energies OF modern navies will
be restricted 10 contests between the fighting
navies. That is precisely what the admiral of
the powerful red feet is aiming TO bring
about in the nanosuvres-a battle between the
big warships-and he is more or less embar-
rassed by the raiding of commerce. which is the
sole resource of the admiral OF the blue, with
his inferior feet.
The evidence Of the naval experts witnessing
the man@uvres is less important than the
shrewd, calculating judgment Of the American
government in reducing 10 the lowest terms the
problem OF future maritime warfare It's pro-
eressive policy II sanctioned by The Hague Con-
gress will secure not only neutral commerce,
but that OF belligerents as well. against attack
or disturbance during the period of hostities.
II the British delegates were 20 support IL
heartily at the next peace congress. they might
accomplish larger and more beneficial results
than can be secured from the present costly
naval raanoeuvres Indeed, the adoption of the
American principle of eyempting private prop
erty from seizure becomes more urgent when the
British Admiralty makes the vulnerability Of
commerce the pivot on which maneuvres un-
paraIIeled in magnitude turn It is not only
practical measure for restricting hostilities 20
the fighting ships and minimizing the losses and
evils OF war but It is also the only possible safe
guard against extremely hazardous international
complications The newspapers, which are now
sIibly reporting the capture Of one liner or mer-
chant ship after another do not discuss what
would happen IL these seizures '7ere TO occur IN
actual warfare Yet what can be palmer than
the conclusion that the risks of dragging neutral