The German Government now alleges that submarines are today the only
vessels it can employ effectively for attack on British commerce in the
declared war zone about the British Isles, since the rest of the German
Navy cannot keep the seas in face of the superior British Navy. Germany
further alleges that the present British blockade of German ports is
conducted in a new way--that is, by vessels which patrol the German
coast at a greater distance from the actual harbors than was formerly
the international practice; and hence, that Germany is justified in
conducting her attack on British commerce in a novel way also. In short,
Germany argues that her military necessities compel her to sink enemy
commercial vessels without regard to the lives of passengers and crews,
in spite of the fact that she was party to international agreements that
no such act should be committed.
The lesson which the sinking of the Lusitania teaches is, therefore,
this: Germany thinks it right to disregard on grounds of military
necessity existing international conventions with regard to naval
warfare, precisely as she disregarded the agreed-upon neutrality of
Belgium on the ground of military necessity.
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