The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-02-20
Must Take One Side

l The German government cannot have both ways If they consider themselves l Justified in destroying by bombardment l the lives and property of the peaceful
 CIVIL inhabitants of Englisha open towns l and watering places and in seizing and
 sinking ships and cargoes of conditional
 oontraband on their way thther, on the ground that they are consigned to for l tiled place or base, a fortiori his majes- l tvs government must be at liberty to
 treat Hamburg, which is in part pro- l tected by Notifications at the mouth of the Elbe, as Il fortified town and base or operations. and supply for the pur- poses of article 34 of the declaration of London.
 If the owners of the cargo of the Nilhelmina desire to question Hthe va lidity in international law of the action taken by order of his majesty's govern ment they will have every opportunity of establishing their case in due course before the prize court, and his mai esty's government would in this connec- tion recall the attention of the United States to the considerations put forward in Sir Edward Grey's note to MT. Page of the 10th instant as to the propriety Of awaiting the result of prize court proceedings before diplomatic action is initiated It will be remembered that they have from the outset given definite assurance that the owners of the Will helmina as well as the owners of her cargo If found to be contraband would be equitably indemnified.
 Further Observations
 There is one further observation to | which his majesty's government think | It right and appropriate in the present | connection to give expression. They have | not so far declared foodstuffs to be ab- | solute contraband; they have not in- | terfered with any neutral, vessels on | account of their carrying foodstuffs ex- eept on basis of such foodstuffs being | liable to capture if destined for enemy | forces or governments. In so acting they have been guided by the general prin- | cfple of late universally upheld by civil ! ized nations and observed in practice, that the civil populations of countries | at war are not to be exposed to treat | ment rightly reserved for combatants This distinction has to all intents and | purposes been swept away by the novel | doctrines proclaimed and acted upon by | the German government.
 Tt is unnecessary here to dwell on the treatment that has been meted out to the civil population of Belgium and to those parts of France which are in Ger man occupation. When Germany, long before any mines had been laid by the British authorities proceeded to SOW mines upon the high seas and by this
 
 only of British but also neutral mer- chantmen with their unoffending crews, | IL was, so his majesty's government held, | open to them to take retaliatory meas- uies even if such measures were of a Kind to involve pressure on the civil pop l ulatlon, not, indeed, of neutral states | but of their enemies. They refrained from doing so. When subsequently, English towns and defenseless British subjects | women and children Were de- 1 l1berately and systematically fired upon and killed by ships flying the flag of the imperial German navy; when quiet coun- try towns and villages void of defenses and possessing no military, or naval inn portance, were bombarded by German airships his majesty's government still abstained from drawing the logical COL sequences from this form of attack on defenseless citizens.
 Vessels TOrpedOed
 Further steps in the same direction are now announced and in fact already have been taken by Germany. British merchant vessels have been torpedoed at sight without any attempt being made to give warning to the crew or any op-I portunity being given to save their lives. l A torpedo has been fired against a Brit lsh hospital ship in daylight and similar treatment is threatened to all British vessels in the future as well as to any neutral ships that may hap pen to be found in the neighborhood of the British isles.
 Faced with this situation his maiesty's government considers it would be al- together unreasonable that Great Brit ain and her allies should be expected to remain indefinitely bound to their grave ietriment by rules and principles of which they recognize the justice If impartially as being belligerents but which are at the present moment openly set at defiance by their enemy.
 If, therefore, his majesty's govern nent should hereafter feel constrained to declare foodstuffs absolute contra band or take other measures for inter- 'ering with German trade by way of re- 'risals, they confidently expect that such iction will not be challenged on the part 'f neutral states by appeals to laws and isages of war whose validity rests on heir forming an integral part of that iystem of international doctrine which, IS whole, their enemy frankly boasts he liberty and intention to disregard 70 long as such neutral states cannot 'ompel the German government to aban- lon methods of warfare which have not n recent history been regarded as hay ng the sanction of either law or hu- nanity."