New-York tribune., 1914-11-27
record that would equal that Of his
own hagship.

record that would equal that of his
own flagship.
According 20 the parliamentary rep
rescntative of THE Standard "a
painful impression was produced IN
the lobby Of the House of Commons
bv the melancholy information given
hv Nr. Churchill The theory which
found the most acceptance was that
the explosion was but an act of
trcachery. SO far as information was
available. there was only one internal
explosion, and this was Of such a char
actcr as to produce the total loss OF
the ship within a few minutes
Sir Hiram Maxim, the famous eX-
pert on explosives, N an interview
last night said that there were various
ways IN which the explosion on the
Bulwark might have occurred, though
all of them were extremely rare. One
cause might be faulty manufacture Of
gun cotton. but. so far as he knew,
that was not possible under modern
conditions Of manufacture and test.
Spontaneous generation of heat might
have caused the explosion. Ellmlnat-
inc these as Suppositions, there must
have been some accidental fulminat-
ing powder present that set the cordlte
of
A naval expert, writing in "The Morn
ing Post says:
According 10 the evidence at present
available the loss Of the Bulwark was
due % an internal explosion and not 10
q mine or q torpedo. An internal eX-
plosion must mean the explosion of the
ships magazine. that is, OF the supply
Of cordite, which is kept in a place
below the waterline designed for the
purpose. a magazine may explode from
two causes spontaneous combustion,
due TO heating of the cordite, and by
artificial detonation. A case of spon-
taneous combustion occurred few
years ago. It is very unlikely, al
though DO is possible. that the mag
aziuo Of the Bulwark exploded spon-
taucously.'
After a technical description of how
artificial detonation may be caused the
naval correspondent observes:
members of his majesty's govern
mert may endeavor to persuade the
public that the danger of German spies
is exaggerated and also that the au-
thorities are dealing with il adequately.
The fact remains that his majesty's
dockyards are infested with spies. II
the evidence Of that statement is re-
quired. the answer is that the evidence
is in the possession Of the naval au-
thorities
"The Lord Chancellor on Wednesday
committed himself 10 the statement
that dangerous spies in this country
we're not German, but British. Some
of the information which had been
given could only have been given by
people who had access TO it because
they were British. His belief was that
we had very little Of this kind Of thing
but that we had some, and that il was
formidable he could not doubt. This j.
q very remarkable statement, and LORD
Haldane could hardly have made it un.
less he possessed proofs OF its accu'
racy.
when the disaster occurred The
Bulwark was lying of Sheerness. The
adjacent area is presumably pro.
claimed, but it does not follow that
the proclamation has been enforced
and that the ncighborhood has been
cleared Of Germans. All naval pOr,s
dockyards and towns ought 10 be
placed under martial law Most peo-
pie are under the impression that
naval ports were placed under martial
law az the outbreak of the war, but
they were not so placed. They are
still under civil jurisdiction, which
f. not appropriate in times Of war
The proclamation Of martial law is in
itself deterrent TO an evildoer, who in
stead Of a slow process and many
chances Of acquittal Of a civil juris-
diction contemplates the possibility
Of being summarily shot, which is a
very different prospect