Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1916-10-27

the money for them
Not until then will the American
people learn whether President Wilson
has "kept us out of war;
There is considerable gray matter in
the British House of Lords.
Not until Viscount Grey gave out
the intimation on Wednesday did the
American people comprehend that
there would be any question raised re-
garding the conduct of the destroyers
that stood by when six ships were sent
to the bottom by U-53.
The British Minister of Foreign At
fairs clearly indicated hat an expls-
nation is expected. Since that hour I
learn from Washington, under officials
at the State Department have been
searching for precedents upon which to
base excuses for the conduct of the
commander of the d~e.troyers. AL
ready, it is rumored, Lieutenant Carey
OF the Destroyer Benham will be CASH
tered for the letter written to his father,
and which the latter made public.
In hal communication Carry stated
that his craft, having got Between the
submarine and one of the captured
ships, U-53's commander asked him
to get out of the way because be intend
ed to Lunch a torpedo, and that he
complied.
This, the British Ambassador will
insist, constitutes completely in the
destruction of the prize vessel, and
creates a divided RESP onsibility!
Novices at the State Department
took the ground that a precedent was
had in The conduct of the British yacht
Deerhound, which stood by, on June
10, 1864, off Cherbourg, France, when
the battle between the Kearsarge and
Alabama occurred.
Better judgment, however, indicates
that that Sunday afternoons event
was not con parable to the Sundays
work off Nantucket shoals. The Kear-
sarge was emit led to have captured
Semmes and his officers who swan to
and were taken aboard the Deerhound.
The British yacht had no right to ac-
cord them hospitality when the Kear-
sarge could and would have picked
them up as prisoners.
U-53, on the other hand, had no de-
sire to make prisoners of any passen-
gers, officer or members of ere VS. of the
destroyed vessels. The undersea boat
had no accommod atoms for prisoners.
She was not engaged in a fight with
hostile war vessels, but was merely
taking prizes.
Her reasons for sinking the two
neutral steamers are not yet clear. 1t
is not alleged they carried contraband
or munitions intended for Allied use.
However, that is not our affair. What
most nearly concerns this Government
is the sinking of the British steamers.
The State Department will do well to
make public at the earliest moment the
eutire diplomatic correspondence that
took place in 1854 between Secretary
Seward and Lord Russell regarding the
conduct of the Deerhound. This never
has been fully published and would be
highly illuminative at this time. The
British contention, inspired by svm-l
pathy for the C~onfederacy, was that
the Deerhound was entirely within her
rights in saving life upon the high seas.
Nobody could blame Semmes for avoid
ing capture, although his act was re-
ferred to by certain silly newspapers in
the North as cowardly." In the cpl
sode of Sunday a week ago, the officers,
crews and passengers of the destroyed
ships found safety upon United States
destroyers sent out from Newport to
see that the neutrality of our shores
was not violated.
In commenting upon the conduct of
our vessels, it was said in this column
that every reason existed for fearing
that the German submarine might
chase a prize within the marine league,
because a German cruiser had so treat
ed a British submersible on the Holland
coast and had blown her to pieces after
she was aground far within the sup
posedly safe zone.
Neutrality has been repeatedly vio-
lated by the belIigerents upon the
coasts of Denmark, Holland, Sweden
and Norway. On this subject a highly
interesting paragraph is found in John
R. Spears "History of Our Navy"
(v, 427):
"In considering violations of neutral
ports or coasts one may cay that in
nractice the neutral mower of 81 WAX