Norwich bulletin., 1918-05-15
FACTS AND COMMENT

A similar attempt the same night at Ostend was unsuccessful yet the way had been shown and it was to be ex- pected that it would be tried again
 This actually occurred last week and this time the feat was put through With a considerable measure of suc- cess. The old cruiser Vindictive, the same vessel that so heroically clung to the mole and received the full force of the German fire at Zeebrugge, was this time chosen for the principal role and, laden with cement was to be sunk in the mouth of the Ostend canal.
 Since the attack at Zeebrugge the Germans had been on the alert for a repetition at Ostend, so the element of surprice could no longer be counted on. Yet small craft and destroyers managed to reach their stations unde- tected and not till the Vindictive her self appeared, did the noise commence. Then searchlights and starlights lit up the scene, every gun afoat and ashore let loose and for a hour there was the thunder of artillery and the crash of bombs from airplanes. A light fog had come on and for twenty minutes the Vindictive was the target for every gun that could be brought to bear on her, while she searched for the canal entrance. At last thes piers loon1ed up right beside her through l the mist, and she turned in. With | her nose against one abutment and her hull lying athwart the channel, her commander called his men from l below and blew her up, and as the old vessel sunk to her final resting | place, a motor launch dashed up and took off the few members of her crew i that had remained aboard. Most of 1 the men had been removed before the l Vindictive entered the barbor. The British losses for the entire operation were very light. Tho the fairway is not entirely blocked, it's use is seri- ously impaired and then mud and tides | of the Belgian coast will doubtless add | to the Vindictive's effectiveness oH this, her last mission as unit of the l British navy.
 No new attack has yet developed in
 France or Flanders and apart from
 artillery action the battle seems to be at a standstill. American troops are
 now definitely located in Picardy
 southwest of Amiens. No longer may their position be described as quiet sector" for it lies close to the point where the Germans have thrust their hardest in the effort to separate the French and British armies. Even now the heaviest concentration of German
 troops is against this point of the line indicating that other attempts are stil to be made here. The fact that Am
 erican troops are deemed worth tC
 stand beside the French veterans iT
 the defense of this crucial sector
 shows what esteem they have already
 won in the eyes of General F'och.
 Again Lloyd has weathered a storm
 that might well have driven him iron
 the helm of the British ship of state
 On April 9th, when the great German
 drive was at it's height, the Premier
 made a startling speech in the house of commons containing certain state , ments apropos to the disposal of tht | British forces in France Mesopotami; and Palestine. These statements wer
 directly challenged by Gen. Maurice late of the war office, in a country, h, was no longer fit to hold office; ye , to depose him and place not only tn premier, but also the British Empir and thereby the entire cause of tn , Allies. It had therefore to be handled l immediately and without gloves, ant . this was just what Lloyd George did
 Indignantly scorning Asquith's pro , posal that the case be examined il
 secret by a special co4lmittee of tn commons he spoke openly for tn challenged statements came from hi accuser's own office, that it had i 5 fact been furnished by the accuser' r own deputy and had been signed wit a that deputy's initials. The premier
 triumph was complete. Three to on f the house of commons voted to sus tain him and immediately thereafte his accuser, Gen. Maurice, was place l on the retired list
 Gen. Matrices motive in endeavorin
 to embarass the government is not ye clear, but the challenge to Lloyd Geo r rge was merely the last of a series C = notable indiscretions. Maurice ha n strenuously opposed the idea of ,ploc P ing British troops under the comman . of a Frenchman, and when the prem : fer carried his point he took his de l' was watching for a chance to ge t even. Though a member of the wa }. office at the very time when Lloy
 George made his first speech to tf
 | commons he had let the permier '. statements pass unchallenged whe
 if there was aught to correct, it wa
 the part of loyalty to correct it. The # a few days thereafter, as the Britis V line was going pressed harded ar t harder in Flanders and the relief di
 not come, Maurice put forth h
 mournful query: Where is Butcher s By. 'Blucher" Maurice meant Foe $ implying that the French command, n was allowing the British to hold u
 position at enormous sacrifice to then
 selves, while he spared his own me 10 But back of the contemptible blow d Foch was a covert thrust at Llo! u George, through whose insistence u IT British troops had been placed und
 his command. The deposition of Ge
 Maurice from his post followed in 'e mediately, as indeed it must have dol l. if the entente cordiale was to be mali ,e tained between the Allies. Remov
 now from his office as a member
 the Government, but still holding u rank of Major General in the Briti /. Army, Maurice took it upon himst 7u to issue his challenge to the stat 5- ments of the Premier. a move so U
 terly subsersive of military discipli
 and so entirely inconsistent with I v- previous good military record that bo ,s civil and military circles are at a lo es to find the motive that prompted I
 mad action.
 When the United States Governme ol took over the railroads of the count ay last December, there was pending q en mand from the employees for an
 crease of wages commensurate wi
 the increased cost ef living. In urgi all classes of these men to stick UT their places and render loyal servi 'iy to their country, Director General Nj it Adoo assured them that the wa he question would be placed in the han
 of a competent commission for sett
 ment This commission of which St retary of the Interior Franklin K. La -s is Chairman, has just issued its l IS port in which it is recommended u e. onnroxiroa+o1v cam n0n hoa ha addad