New Britain herald., 1916-10-27
BERESFORD SkEPTIC
 ON OUR NEUTRALITY
Believes U. s. WarShipS Were
 Actual Aid to U-53

1
 sengers from the vessels sunk by the i German submarine U-53 off the
 American coast amounted to a breach
 of neutrality were made yesterday in 1 the House of Lords by Baron Beres- ford and Baron Sydenham.
 Lord Beresford is recognized by the
 country as the spokesman for the
 navy in the House of Lords, and Lord 1 Sy6lenhan's s varied activities have in
 cluded the authorship of books on
 naval affairs.
 ] Similar opinions have been ex- 1 pressed by some of the newspapers
 and public men as we'll as by naval | officers, and the matter was brought l up for discussion yesterday by re- quests for information from Viscount 1 Grey, secretary for foreign affairs, re- garding the American policy and
 possible action by the British gov l ernment
 Viscount Greys reply was that the
 matter was one between the American and German governments. While stating that the British government
 was not yet informed as to whether
 any acts of the U-53 constituted treach of the German promise to
 President Wilson, he declared that German submarines had committed violations of that pledge in other waters many times.
 The submarine question was
 brought up by Lord Sydenham, who
 asked if the particulars of the sink ing of the British steamer Stephano and the others had been received and whether the circumstances were in ac- with the to the United States He referred to
 "the activities of the U-53 under the very eyes of the American navy" and to the declaration of President Wilson which had resulted in the German pledge. Lord Sydenham said: Even before the exploits of the U-53 that pledge was torn to shreds. Yet the government of the United ] States has made no sign whatever l that the sinking of neutral ships goes on almost every day. The Norwegians have lost eighteen vessels in this one l month, and what must small neutrals think of their powerful representa- tive?'
 U. S. Warships Aid Germans. No life, he said was lost because of l the presence of American warships. Lord Sydenham took the position that the presence of American warships actually enabled Germany to defy what he said President Wilson had described as a sacred and indisputable rule of international law. Baron Beresford expressed the opin- ion that Germany intended to bring America into the war so as to be able
 to say she could not fight the whole
 world, and also because the United
 fof fnc ho o1y1o IN1 fnh hnr
 at the peace conference.
 ''The United States are really rather aiding and abetting this rather seri-
 ous state of affairs said he. "If the
 United States had not sent their ships,
 which for some extraordinary reason happened to be on the spot, to save
 life the Germans would no doubt have
 broken the pledge to which their at tention had been called. I think we are bound to take notice of a fact
 which does not appear to be quite l within the bounds of neutrality, as
 Tar as the United States are con- l cerned."
 l forelgn Secretary Grey said: 1 we nave no understanding with the l Onlteo otates government as to what l lhlol ilia eloh they are going to get, or 1 what they will do with the informa- tion when they have obtained if All l we can do is to obtain information for 1 ourselves from such Sources as are 1 open to us, and these sources in tbje l case I imagine are officers in charea l of the merchant vessels sunk or mas l sengers, in one case at any ra+o | aboard the merchant vessels all of 1 whom have survived and to whom u,e l can have access and from whom, u,e l can get their individual statements of
 what happened.
 l That is what is being done on tho 1 other side, I understand. Full reports 1 trust, will reach the admiralty in d,,a ! course as to the statements of su,yi
 vors. and when these reports are re- l ceived l cannot imagine any reason
 why they should not be made public
 in this country, or that there will be
 any reluctance on the part of the Ad
 miralty or among the departments l concerned to making public the facts. 1 which we shall have got for ourselves
 as to how the vessels were sunk and
 treated by the German submarines" 1 Believes Pledge Broken Often
 Lord Syndenham," continued Wis.,
 count Grey, "quoted statemen made l by Lord Crewe in August of the num- 1 Der of vessels sunk by German sub 1 marines since the German govern
 ment gave a pledge to the United States government in May of last year,
 up to the middle of August in cir
 cumstances which were apparently | not in accordance with at pledge,
 which included firing torpedoes at
 ships without warning and insuffi-
 ciently providing for the safety of the
 crews or passengers when the ships | were sunk. I am sure the admiralty l Gndeed, I think it has been made
 public) can multiply instances which 1 have occurred since the middle of