Evening star., 1922-02-01


ing judgments on many men ana
problems and there are NUMBER OF
points on which l disagree with him
He finds obviously pleasure IN up
setting commonly prevailing IDEAS
he generously distributes blame TO
many, to the English. to the Ter
mans, to the French.
"As to the substance of the article.
its purpose. which could not pe suS-
pected from the extracts read. is 70
show the uselessness of prlVateer-
ing under any form unless the coun-
try that has recourse to it is in ac-
tual possession of the high seas,
through the number and force of her
main ships The author glances at
the past, examines the fate of the
great perturbers of the peace through, :,
out. ages and who thought they could
lost the game Whether they used
wood or steel boats. sailing or steam
ships, or submarines. all under the
same delusion. lacking big heet'
they failed. He quotes the example
of Louis the XIV. Napoleon the First.
also the case of the south in the clVil
war: lastly. the Germans in the great
war. concluded by our common We
tOry.t
Lord Lees Purpose.
Such is the purpose of the article.
The quotations made from it by Lord
Lee have had for their object. as l
take it, to show against Commander
Castex and as a consequence against
our naval authorities. not to say
France herself. four things:
First, that Capt. CasteX is in favor
of this hated submarine. the sup
preston of which is demanded by
Great Britain from motives of hu-
manity. Capt. Castex thinks it is
wi h,
full for those who hold the mastery
over the seas; an opinion which is
not unfavorable to Great Britain.
He is not the only one to think that
this device must continue to exist.
beg to quote as to this an author
ity which certainly our British
friends will not decline to accept.
ITO go to the other extreme. as
was suggested in some quarters after
the armistice. and prohibit Subma :
rines altogether. is an equally unac-
ceptable proposal. 1t is clear that.
as in the case of mines. the weaker
naval states would never consent to
forego the right to employ such a
useful defensive weapon as the sub
marine. Moreover. the idea of sub
mersible warships is still compare
lively new. and future Developments
may entirely change the aspect of
this question. The only reasonable
dlllluuc " dUOpl is " lHSlSl ludl Sucu
vessels shall be subject to the same
rules of warfare as any other type
Of warShip'
This is drawn from the Law of
Naval Warfare by ]. A. Hall. lee
turer on international law to ad-
mirals secretaries. course, Ports
mouth. second edition, London, 1921,
page II.
Second. Commander Castex is
charged with seeing in the submarine
weapon for France-for ungrate-
full therefore and perfidious France
present ally. Great Britain. Lord Lee
quoted on this, as follows:
Jusserand Interprets Meaning.
Thanks to the submarine, after
many centuries of effort; thanks to
the ingenuity of man. the instrument.
the system, the martingale is at hand
which will overthrow for good and
all the naval power of the British
empire.
81 have quoted this because. as
say, they are the utterances of a
responsible member of the French
naval staff who at the time of writ
ing was in a high position and was
the actual head of a bureau.
"'These things are known to our
naval staff, of course; indeed, they
were published to the world under
the authority of the French naval
staff.
'"The words will overthrow for
good and all the naval power of the
British empire those are not words
of a Frenchman, nor that any French
man would approve. The quotation
given by Lord Lee began by three
words indispensa BILE for the UNDER
standing thereof and they were:
This is the way the Germans are
reasoning What he was citing
was the point of view of the Ger
mans, not the point of view of the
French. The mistake is the more
difficult to understand that not once
but twice Commander Castex had
taken the same precaution, saying at