The Washington herald., 1919-03-23

the inferior Latin navies had been
chased into theii holes. the isolation
, of the United States. and world
power as soon as dishearteneo
France and Russia were destroyed.
would have followed such . victory
as the night the day. why did the
Germans, having better than An
even chance not come out and hght
for 1t?
The answer is-British propaganda.
BY devious and cunning means. the
Germans were led to believe the
British fleet vastly stronger than II
was; that it was especially strong In
those fields wherein In reality it was
the weakest A few weeks after the
war began, two daring and capable
German spies employed by the In
telligence department of the Berlin
Admiralty landed at Kirkwall. dis
guised as neutral sailors. made their
way over the hills. inspected the
whole British navy at anchor in
Scapa Flow, discovered the amazing
fact that there were no nets, no
searchiights, no shore batteries to
protect the Grand Fleet, got back to
kirkwall and on another Scandina-
Wan ship. and ultimately made their
""' ~ DSiiih, WHefc tney toiu lhSif
story.
Their chiefs heard them in silence,
then shook their heads sadly. Two
trusted agents corrupted by British
/ gold to lead the submarines and de-
stroyers of the fatheriand to certain
destruction. they thought. and the
two spies, to their surprise, instead
OF receiving the Iron Cross and the
Pour lie Merite. were led out ana
shot. The British propaganda-this
particular job was engineered by the
| late ID. !. D." Admiral Sir w. r.
Hall, director OF the intelligence d.
vision al the Admiralty. had seen
, that the Germans were fully Informed
Of wonderful but imaginary subma-
rne defenses at Scapa. and so inn
phcitly did the Teutons believe the
false information that they rewarded
the truth brought them by their own
agents with death.
sold BaIfour's Bluff.
There are many similar stories I
could relate. but Americans as a ma
ton or poker players will appreciate
"Old Balfour's blur." as the navy in
awed whispers spoke of II for years.
shortly after the veteran philosopher
and statesman had been appointed
frst lord of the admiralty in 1916 he
arose in his place in the house of
commons and solemnly announced
that the bases of the grand feet
when war began were totally unpro-
tected against submarine attack.
The joke was that when BaIfour
made that statement those same
bases. owing to the failure Of the new
British mine to work and certain other
disappointments,, were almost no bet
ter protected than they had been IN
August, 1914. ButNthe willy old politi-
cian realized that to make such an
astonishing admission about 1914 would
convince the Germans that the British
must have remedied all their de-
nclencies in defense to have men,
toned the subject in public in 1916
And for two years thereafter not a
British base was attacked by a sub
marine. Balfour's remark proved good
propag ganda.
The men in the Foreign once who
had charge of influencing world
opinion were of course assisted by
the enormous prestige the British
fleet enjoyed before the war. They
created the legend of the silent
navy; out of the weakness which
led the authorities to jealously keep
every newspaperman and foreign
observer away from the fleet bases.
they "wove a romance of invincible
power in majestic isolation; they
led on the British press day after
day to taunt the Germans with
cowardice in refusing to come out
and meet the watchdogs OF Britain
straining at their leashes. they COW
cred with ridicule the High Canal
Fleet" and by taunting the Germans
they made them think that the
British navy was anxious for battle.
And. while this was going on in
the press during those early months.
the British fleet was undergoing as
anxious and humiliating a time al a
navy ever endured. Knowing its in
1erIority and its weaknesses, aware
that it was saving the world and the
Empire by bluff. it rushed out
from its bases by night time after
time into the storms of the North
when a whale blundered into its de-
fenseless harbor or a false alarm
was given; ii even abandoned the
North Sea altogether and went as
far away as it dared from the
! enemy. to the harbor of Lough Seilly
on the North coast of Ireland. Dur
ing that first autumn. Jellicoe's de-
sire was to avoid action unless the
Germans tried an invasion or
brought their ships so close to the
East coast that British submarine
could get at them and redress the
balance of strength.
No more gallant officers and men
ever lived than those who manned
the British fleet In 1914; they. o,
course. were spelling for battle.
most of them did not understand
Jellicoe's caution: but the admiral
knew the truth as did few of his
subordinates. and with the aid of
the propaganda organized by Ad-
miral Halls Intelligence Division
and by the foreign office. he kept
the Germans continually deceived
as to the real position until BY the
time Jutland came his inferiority,
excepting in destroyers had been
wiped out by comfortable margin.
Americans will remember the an
parently stupid attempt of the Brit
lsh censorship to conceal the loss Of
the mined battleship Audacious in
October. 1914. The real reason for
this, as nobody guessed at the time.
was the fear that II the Germans
knew their enemy was one capital
ship the weaker they might come
out and night the battle that the
English were anxious to avoid until
the balance of strength had shifted
in their favor.
Spirit OF British.
Even at Jutland, where the British
battleships were more numerous, 4,
was the still existing superiority in
numbers and efficiency of the German