The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram., 1922-10-14

u
already dim; it's laurels must not be
completely lost
The total number of units (ships)
on hand-it was principally a matter
of ships Of the line-was taken as a
basis for the naval law, although
these, with the exception of the four
ships OF the Brandenburg class, were
little better than old iron.
The naval law was looked upon by
many laymen, in view of the numbers
involved, as naval increase. In
reality, however, this was a false view,
since the co-called existing fleet was
absolutely no longer a fleet 1t was
slowly dying Of old age-as Holman
said when he retired; included in it
were almost the oldest ships still in
service in all Europe
NOW that the naval law was grad,l-
ally coming into force, lively building
operations set in, launchings were re-
ported IN the press and there was 10y
among those under the dominion of
tne rage du nombre" at the growing
NUMBER OF ships. But when il was
made clear to them that as soon as
tne new ships were ready the old ones
must De eliminated, so that, as a mat
Ter OF fact, the total number of ships
OF lighting value would, at first, not be
increased, they were greatly disillus.
ioned. Had the necessary ships been
DulIt IN time during the wasted IL
years the naval law would have found
quite olfferent, usable basis already
~ existence But as matters now
STOOD 1t was really a question of the
complete rebuilding of the entire Ger
man fleet.
Inc large number of ships. to which
tnose which had to be eliminated were
auueo' was fallacy. Therefore the
EneI1sh maze mistake when they
LneIely LOOK account of the number of
snlps-since that fitted in we'll with
the propaganda against Germanv-but
pald no attention to age or type. ar
irving thus at a total that was far too
nigh, and, by such misleading meth
ods, artificially nourishing the So
called apprehension at the growth of
the German navy.
Admiral Tirpitz now went ahead
@ miL1 the program approved by me.
with iron energy and merciless sacri-
flee of his health and strength he soon
was able to inject efficiency and pow
|
tlon. At my command he went. after
tne drafting of the naval law, to Fried
rlchsruh, the residence of Prince Bis
marck, IN order to convince the latter
OF lhe necessity for having a German
navy.
The press worked zealously toward
the introduction of the naval law. and
political economists, experts on com
merce and politics and so forth placed
their pens at the service of the great
national cause, the necessity for a
navy having been by now widely real
lied.
In the meantime the English. too.
helped-though quite unconsciously-
toward bettering the naval laws
chance of being passed. The Boer
war had broken out, and had aroused
among the German people much SYM
pathy for the little country and much
Indignation on account of Ensland's
violent assault upon it, Thereupon the
news came of the utterly unjustifie
capture OF two German steamers on
the East African coast by English war
ships. Indignation was general.
The news of the stopping of the Sec
ond steamer happened to be received
by the secretary of state, Won Bulow,
at the very moment when Tirpitz and
| were with him. AS soon as Bulow
nad read the dispatch aloud, l quoted
the old English proverb, Its an ill
wind that blows nobody good" and
T1rpitz exclaimed: Now we have the
wind we need for bringing our ship
into port. The naval law will 90
through. Your majesty must present
a medal to the captain of the English
ship in gratitude for having put it
through"
The Imperial Chancellor ordered up
champagne and the three of US drank
Joyously to the new law, its accept
ance and the future German fleet, not
forgetting to express our thanks to
the English navy, which had proved SO
helpful to US.
Many years later, on my return from
/ Lowther Castle, where | had been
hunting with Lord Lonsdale, l was in
vited to dine with Lord Rosebery, the
great Liberal statesman and former
Minister of Foreign Affairs, also
known through his researches in the
history of Napoleon, at his beautiful
country estate of Dalmeny Castle, sit
uated close to the sea, not far from
the great Forth bridge. Among the
guests was General Sir Ian Hamilton,
a Scotchman, well known on account
of his part in the Boer war, with whom
l had become acquainted when he was
a guest at the Imperial German ma
noeuvres, the Lord Provost of Edin-
burgh, and a captain of the English
navy, who was commander of the naval
station there
The latter sat next Admiral Freiherr
Won Sender, directly across the table
from me, and attracted my attention
by the obvious embarrassment which
1 he manifested in his talk with the ad-
miral, which he conducted in a low
voice. After dinner Admiral Won Sen
den introduced the captain to me,
whereat the Englishman's embarrass-
ment caused him to behave even more
awkwardly than before, and aroused
my attention because of the worried
look of his eyes and his pale face.
After the conversation, which turned
on various maritime topics, had come
to an end, l asked Freiherr Won Sen
den what the matter was with the
man; the admiral laughed and replied
that he had ELECTED from his neighbor,
during the meal that he had been the
commander of the ship which had cap
tured the two German steamers in the
Boer war, and that he had been afraid
hot 7 irIf irI