Evening star., 1921-12-31

| warfare was French invention ZAP
propriated" by the Germans.
| ITO sum up, said one extract read
| by Lord Lee, "one can see nothing in
Nthe attitude of the Germans which,
| militarily speaking, is not absolutely
correct. The failure to give notice
before torpedoing has raised storm
| of protest, but it is not SO inadmis-
sible as at first sight appears.
Now this Officer Lord Lee contin-
ued, who is appointed principal lecturer
! to the senior officers course. will, no
doubt, unless change of policy takes
place. be pouring what We regard as
! this infamy and this poison into the
ears of the serving officers of the French
, navy. That is the justification for
what l can only describe as the ap-
| prehension and even the bitterness
| that we must feel in the thought that
under any conceivable circumstances
our present allies, our late comrades
! In arms in the greatest war the world
! has ever known, should contemplate
| the possibility of warfare of that
! kind
Proposes DisavOwal.
Lord Lee urged that way of dis
avowal for the French of such inten-
! tlonS lay in adoption of the Root reSo-
! luton No. :, banning submarine war
/ fare against merchant ships.
| The French have tCid us here again
and again he said, that they only
| require submarines for purposes of
/ defense We have slad differences of
| opinion as to the utility of submarines
| Tor these purposes. but now, it seems
! TO me. here is an opportunity of prov
ing to the world that they mean what
/ they say in regard to this"
If the Root resolution as amended
! by Mr.. Baifour was accepted Lord
Lee said, Il think. if l may say so.
| that France viii have regained much
of the ground which believe has been
| lost between US. largely through mis-
| understanding"
| French naval staff that he stated
| openly, land declare it most emphat-
F, lcally, there is nothing more foreign
| to our minds than the idea of attack
| ing friend"
! 1T is not even conceivable to us
ne said Our only regret is that this
, misunderstanding lasted SO long, and
! that we did not know that it was
based on an article like that written
; by Capt. Castex.''
; Capt CasteX. Admiral de Bon said,
, was. above all, man of letters" and
| attached to the literary section of
! the French staff. He pointed out also
that the Revue Maritime. on its title
| page. specifically expressed lack of re-
SponSlblllty on the part of the French
admiralty and general staff for any
thing appearing in its columns.
! Writer Alone Responsible.
| THE charge should be laid at the
/ door of the man who wrote that ar
, ticle. and to him only" the admiral
! exclaimed. 1.-The article in no way
| represents, thank heaven, the view
, of the French navy.
i The author of that article has writ
ten what We consider to be a mon
stroslty. l beg Lord Lee to believe
that the French navy has never har-
pofed any idea of using methods of
war practiced by the German sub
marines.
maintain that the honor of the
French general staff and of the French
navy cannot be sullied by the
article in question
II formally repudiate it in the name
of the French navy"
NJ. Sarraut said that as head of the
French delegation he would Solemn
ly confirm" what Admiral de Bon had
said. or offer the French govern
ments formal repudiation of those