Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1914-12-18
Bombarding Britain Into Action

q OMBARDMENT OF unfortified and un-
defended towns on the coast of England
affords new evidence Of the Germans deter
mlnation to make rules OF war as they go
along. Those persons who believe with Cen
eral sheridan, that war should be made as
brutal and cruel as possible and that the non
compatant population OF an enemy's country
should be so harried and oppressed that they
Will have no other use for their eyes save to
weep with Them" will approve, doubtless this
latest exhibition Of German military policy,
but 1T will have neither support nor sympathy
In any other quarter. There Is admiration
Of course, for its naval skill and reckless
daring, but there approval ends and condem-
nation begins.
Outside Of Berlin the inspiration of the at
tack must be largely matter of speculation
or course, it cannot influence directly the out
come OF the war. If Scarborough and Whitby
had been entirely destroyed, England's yul-
nerability would have been increased in about
the same ratio as would this country's by the
destruction by hostile fleet Of Atlantic CITY
and Asbury Park. The English towns are
seaside resorts, with absolutely no strategic
or military Importance.
1t must be assumed that the effect sought
by the Germans was psychological. They
hoped to spread terror through England, to
shake British confidence in the inyiola blitv
OF the tight little island, and, perhaps, to in
duce the British fleet, In response to an
aroused and frightened public sentiment, to
attack the German fleet in its mined and forti-
ned retreats at Helgoland and Wilhelmshayen
1t may be- as some authorities have suggested
that the hoped-for result was the diversion of
British retnforcements from the front in
France and Belgium to purposes of coast de-
Tense
How far any of these hopes will be realized
time will show, but we in America have a
poor understanding of the British tempera-
ment and spirit if this naval raid does not
prove to have been another stupid blunder of
the German War Office. The invasion of Bel
GUM certainly was n blunder, for it not only
brought England into the war, which Eng
land might have entered anyhow, but gave to
England's course the sympathy and approval
OF this country and nearly the whole neutral
world That ncutraFsympathy will he
strengthened by a senseless cannonading Of
unfortifed towns and the killing of women
and children.
Unless We are greatly mistaken, the raid
viii have another and more potent effect. It
Will carry this war home to England In a way
not possible by any carnage abroad pierce
the crust of self-complacency and supply TO
the more stolid elements of the population
me inspiration they may have needed to offer
their lives III defense OF their country
rms erect, indeed. is apparent already in
the rush to enlist in London and in other
cities and towns If Britain has been lethar-
gic, as Germany and pro German critics
have declared, il is so no longer. The
thunder of German guns battering TO nieces
summer hotels and bathing Jayilions on tbc
east coast, has been more potent in it's call
to arms than the appeals OF Lord Kitchener
and even than the British blood shed on the
battlefelds OF France.