The Cambria Daily Leader

I DRESDEN'S ACTION. BRITISH GOVERNMENT EXPLAIN POSITION TO CHILI. AN APGLOCY TENDERED A White Paper was published last night giving the text of the Notes exchanged by the Foreign Office with the Chilean Minister in London respecting the sinking on March 14 of the German crniser Dres- den in Chilean territorial waters. On March 26 the Chilean Minister pre- sented a Note saying that the Dresden, having arrived on March 9 in Cumberland Bay, in the island of Mas-a-Tierra, 500 metres from the shore, was ordered to leave the bay within 21 hours, and as it did not comply with the demand the cap- tain was notified that the ship would be interned. Before, however, the actual measures of internment could be carried out a British naval squadron, comprising the cruisers Kent and Glasgow and the armed transport Orarna, came on the scene and immediately opened fire on the Dresden. The Dresden hoisted a flag of truce and informed the assailants that she was in neutral watr, but the plea was disre- garded, and the German cruiser was sum- moned to stirrendrr. Thereupon the cap- tain of the Dresden blew up the powder magazine and sank the ship. The X ate proceeds to say that this act of hostility committed in Chilean terri- torial water has painfully surprised the Chilean Government, which therefore Expresses the cocvicvton that the British government would give them satisfac- tion of a character to correspond with the frankly cordial relations exist- ing between them." Sir E. Grey's Reply. I To this Note Sir Bdward Grey gave on Mnreh 30 the following reply: ''His Majesty's Government, after re- ceiving the communication from the Chilean Government of March 26, deeply regret that any misunderstanding should have arisen which should be a cause of complaint to the Chilean Government; and on the facts as stated in the com- munication made to them, they are pre- pared to offer a full and ample apology to the Chilean Government. His Majesty's Government, before re- ceiving the communication from the Chilean Government, could only conjec- ture the actual facts at the time when the Dresden was discovered by the British squadron; and even now they are not in possession oi a full account of his action by the captain oi the Glasgow. Such in- formation as they have points to the fact that the Dresden had not accepted in- ternment, and still had her colours flying and her g-UTIS trained. If this was so,and if there were no means available on the spot and at the moment for enforcing the decision of the Chilean authorities to intern the Dresden, she might obviously, had not the Brii ishhips taken action, have escaped again to attack British com- merce. A Real Assumption. I It is believed that the island where the Dresden had taken refuge is not con- nected with the mainland by cable. In these circumstances, if the Dresden still had her colours flying and her guns trained, th, captlin of fhe Glasgow pro- bably assumed, especially in view of the past action of the Dresden, that she was defying the Chilenn authorities and abus- ing Chilean neutrality, and was only nwaiting a favourable opportunity to sally out and attack British commerce again. If these really were the circumstances, his Majesty's Government cannot but feel that they explain the action taken by the captain oi the British fhip; but, in view of the length of time that it may take to clear up all the circumstances and of the communication that the Chilean Government have made of the view that they tate from the information fhey have of the circumstances, his Majesty's Government do not wish to qualify the apology that they now present to the Chilean G-o v o; n in c n t.

"THEIR KNAVISH TRICKS." S n c, d in Dublin, yesterday, a motion was carried with eleven dissentients to have the third ?rse of God Save the. King printed if ihe Hymnal. Dean Ovenden said, t.iat when he heard of the submarine I dadg-e of Admiral Tirpitz lie prayed with all his heart that their knavish tricks might be confounded.

LIABLE TO HEAVY FINE. New York, ThursdfiVi—Sixty-nine men and eight women, practically the entire force off stewards and stewardesses of the t;.s Kroonland," have been arrested by immigration oificcrs. A warrant was served on the captain charging the or. nera of the vessel with violation of the Alien Contract Labour Law. It is alleged that the stewards were brought from England) on hoard the Finland in January, and were transferred here to the Kroon- land." thus violating the law. If con- victed tho steamship line is liable to a fine of a thousand dollars for each steward and stewardess.—Iicuter.

Sun Rises 5.7, Sun Sets 6.55. Lighting-up Time, 7.54. High Watre To-day, 7.24 p.m. To-morrow, 7.41 a.m., 7.54 p.m.

rrlANGE OF 1870-AND TO-DAY. A story, probably apocryphal, is being told \,i General Joffre. It is said that, taking a 'busman's holiday the other day, he spent it reading the British war experts on the war. When he had finished. Well, now." he said. I think I under- stand the situation. Our front is about 250 miles. The English hold nine-tenths of it, and nine-tenths of their front is held by theLondon Scottish." We may receive the tale as an excellent specimen of French satirical art, not without a good deal of hidden truth in it. As we said the other day, the continual temptation which assails the Britisher is to accept an absurd perspective regarding the war operations in the Arestern field. Our first thoughts are, naturally enough, concerned with the growing British Army under the command of Sir John French, and its doings are apt, to fill our minds to the exclusion of the gallant Allies upon whom the principal burden of the land war rests. Now and again, as for instance when tbo I', reneb nibble around the toe of St. Mihiel and the Paris communique is unusually loquacious, we become aware that it is upon our neighbours that the great re- sponsibility rests, and we realise that, in the present state of the field, the British lines are a comparatively small, although, very important, part of the whole. As a I matter of fact, the mileage held by the: three Allies in the West has been worked out by the Matin as follows: French battle front 5i3 miles British :H „ Belgian „ „ 17 We are every day increasing our strength at the front, and probably by this time the British line is a more extended one. But we ought never to lose sight of the fact that the dam in the West which holds up the German armies is mainly com- posed of French forces. It is necessary, therefore that we should have an adequate conception re- garding the present etrengrtb. and morale of the Gallic armies. When the war started we were obsessed with a picture of the German war machine as it existed in 1870. We remembered how it rolled irresistably over the French borders, striking giant blows here and there until finally it shattered the defences of Paris. And there was much in the August and September pnigress of the Germans to retail that great advance, which brought the nelliY again almost within sight of the fortifications of Paris. Then, we comforted ourselves with the theory that, it was all part of a plan; with such phrases as that which came out of the French capital to the effect that the trap was being baited." Our Allies have; been brave enough since to reveal thej real happenings of those days in which! the fato of Lurope was almost decided;! they have been as courageous in their! war reviews as their soldiers are in thej battle line, and it is greatly to be de- sired that some military writer of autho- rity bhall describe for British readers' the secre t history of last autumn's opera- tions on our lines, as candidly as has the French War Office. We have had; described to us the first mistakes and: their consequences, with their faint' echoes of tihe last campaign, and the heroic scheme of reform which Joffrel remorselessly effected, weeding out the' ineffieients no matter how high their command, and making changes which brought order, and victory, out of oon-I fusion and defeat. There is nothing finer in French history—the most bril- i liant war history in Europe—than thei work of General Joffre when he realised! wliat had to be done. The hour was- dark as the blackest night, but the Commander-in-Chief was not dismayed. To understand the spirit of the new France which is making victory sure by its magnificent devotion and its un- paralleled unity, we must look back to the occurrences of 1870, when the heart of France, first torn by inward diss.e-n-I si'ms. was broken up by the disasters brought about by genQralship which had no direction. France was really de. feated by her own I ands. The tale of the Third Napoleon at Metz bhows what were the obstacles, the insurmountable obstacles in the way. BiB orders w(>ol the work of an amateur who had read I much of war, but who possessed neither j thinstincts of the born soldier nor the indefatigable industry and business-like energy of a man who, thruet into an unwonted employment, compelling him to face hard K ali ties, endeavours to cope with them a steady and intelligent application of th prin?ples of common sense. What a? distrau?. France it was which faced the! perils of 18701 After Worth, Jules Ferry saying joyfully to the father of Paul Deroulede The armies of the Third 11 Napoleon are annihilated! At last there dawns a day of hope for France!" In the Chamber, the Imperial Dec:ee-ff Nap?-, leon, by the grace of God, and thej national will, Emperor of the French" vigorously howled down. The inhabi-i tants of Motz. when the Crown Prince was marching northwards towards it, en-! joined by the departing Emperor, who hoped to return in happier times," and who relied upon your patriotism," to defend their great city under the authority of hi6 youngest marshal! We deal with some of the incidents of those tragical days because the new France is so radically altered. There was no faith in Napoleon after the first reverses; to- day Jolfre is the father of the people. In 1870 France was the home of bitterly con- tending factions; to-day France is as one. I No distinctions serve to take the mind of 1 the nation off the great task; no rival 6chools of politicians intrigue and agi- tate. And Joffre has proved himself. "Often in years back, discussing the war that was to be," says a recent visitor to the French headquarters, "we had whis- pered, 'Yes, but will the French produce a man'"? One basic fact in this matter is that the French have thrown up a man and the Germans have not, a man who will assuredly, with the help of his Allies, drive the Germans back to the Rhine and secure the basis of a permanent peace, together with a gigantic indemnity necessary for the payment of the damage daily being done in France. The French Army has .been idle during the winter; it is unable to move. say the Germans. Has it been idle? Joffre, with one eye to the long line of trenches from Switzerland to within gun sound of Calais, has spent the winter perfecting his army, storing his J munitions, quadrupling his artillery, ruthlessly condemning men and material, indefatigably protecting the machine that must have th.e greater part in combating the land battles. Strong, patient, reso- j lute, sad-eyed, his personality is only gratually getting known in his own France." — As we had anticipated, the voice of the vested interest is making itself heard. and the Trade is showing itself in the accustomed wanner. Journals of the Tory party, which last week were dis- posed to acquiesce in any scheme which the Government thought needful, are discovering that others whom they have to consider are not so complacent, and there is, accordingly, a sort of retreat. The armament manufacturers com- plained that they were hindered in their work by the drinking habit," says one Tory newspaper. "But this grievance, if it were genuine, pointed to a local remedy for a local disease; it did not suggest total prohibition' for the entire country or the State monopolisation of liquor. And it is only fair to say that since the deputation made its statement a good many doubts have arisen as to the accuracy of some of the asstrtians. It is worth while restating the conclusions of the deputation. They were a fully representative body of shipbuilders-not a confessed teetotaller among them, we believe—and when they went to the Chancellor of the Exchequer they de- manded total prohibition on the ground of pressing national necessity. They were unable to give definite figures of in- dividual drunkenness, but they used these words: Eighty per cent. of the present avoidable loss of time can be ascribed to no other cause than dria- We need not repeat the grave information respect- mg battleship repairs which was given in our columns on Wednesday, although it is a disconcerting possibility that the issues of a naval battle might have been. affected to some extent by an incident of this nature. And then we are sure that neither the King nor Lord Kitchener would have taken the action they have unless they were absolutely satified with the evidence put before them. They are not weak sentimentalists moved by any slight cry! Until we definitely know where we stand regarding the rates of next year at Swan- sea, comment will be futile, for we hope that Mr.. Ashmole and the financiers on the Council will be able to carry through the revision arrived at last night of the high committee estimates printed in the Cambria Daily Leader" yesterday. But enough has been revealed to justify us in the line we took. before any talk of economy was heard at the Council, urging that at this period the municipality should cut its expenditure wherever possible without doing injustice and causing unnecessary inconvenience. We trust that even now it will be found possible to effect reductions, for the ratepayer will face with a heavy heart his increased communal engage- ments. A word of thanks to the Mayor of Swansea, who took up the battle for economy with a zeal which has won for him the good regard of every resident in the town. Keep it up, Mr. Mayor! Wo cheerfully pocket any and every insult —vide one of your colleagues—you care to offer in the cause of economy. We shall not be accused of any par- tiality for the Swansea Libraries Com- mittee in the matter of the Deffebt- Francie pictures, for it was this journal which, at the solicitation of Dr. G. A. Stephens, first called attention to the neglected state of the prints and the dilapidated c-onditioai of the gallery. But we are boimd to say that it is displaying a rthierregard for the wishes of the donor of tie collection than does the critic who arraigns it. The point is now being insisted on that the loan to Merthyr is for a few months only, nothing being said a;bout the two years' proposal. The public has not forgotten the many suggestions made, and dropped after protest, for the part dispersal of the collection, and it will continue to view with suspicion the policy of those responsible for the suggestions. Mr. Deffett,.}':rancis'<¡ bequest was accom- panied by conditions very plainly ex- pressed. Why should there be these con- stant efforts to depart from them?

SWANSEA STUD EtiT'S ORDINATiON. I On Monday next at Horeb Baptist Church, Treorchy, the Ordination and Recognition of Mr. T. Penry Edwards will Ib.lke place. The Rev. Wm. Morris, D.D., F.R.G.S., Treorchy, will preside, and the -charge to the pastor will be delivered by the ltev. Principal Edwards, B.A., D.D., of the Baptist College. Cardiff. The Rev. E. Worthing (Hount Zion) Swansea., will deliver the charge to the church, and the Rev. B- Grey Griffith#, B-D-, Cardiff (son 0: Councillor D. Griffiths, Swansea), will offer the ordination prayer. A public meeting will be held at 6.30, wh-EIU t;he Rev. J. E. Dennis, Tonypandy, will preside, and the Rev. G. O. Roberts, Cwmparc, the Rev. Principal Edwards. the Rev. E. Worthing, the Rev. B. Grey Griffiths, the Htl. W. Morris, Mr. G..J. Jenkins (students' representative, Baptist College, Cardiff), the Rev. J. F. Jones! (Blaengarw), the Rev. W. Degwel Thomas (Neath), the Rev. S. Jones (Treherbert), the Rev. D. J. Perrott, B.A. (Peutre), and others, will take part. A number of the members of Mount Zion Chapel, Swansea, to which Mr. Ed-it wards belonged, will make the journey.

TO-DAY'S AIR RAID] I AS UNSUCCESSFUL AS THE LAST. A NOTHER Zeppelin raid took place in the early hours of this morning,! this time over the coa.st, near Lowestof'. It seems on this occasion to have touched a number of town- ;ind villages, but with no military success A timber yard near LowestCtft was set afire; otherwise the long journey was without effect. No lives were lost. An interesting fact has cow been established in connection with the air raid at Birth. There is definite evidence from several quarters that near this town a large cage containing the bomb-thrower was let down on ropes from the airahip, and from this vantage poipt the bombs were thrown. It was, however, a singularly unsuccessful pro- cedure. At a.n expenditiue. of Si bombs and a tour of 30 mil,.<; of En.srland, the crew only succeeded in singeing the hair of one baby, and effecting .some minor damage to property. According to the evidence of a police supeirntendent at Wall send, the airship was a Schutte- Lanz. He says he saw it quite plainly, and on compa.ring it with the diagram issued by the Home Office he had no doubt as to its make. MEANT FOR ELSWICK. IT is assumed that the aircraft raid on the ^orth-East coast was aimed at the Llswick armament, works and the shipbuilding works of the Tyne. There are many indications to suggest that the commander of the airship lost his bear- ingfl. The broad estuary of the river Wansbeck appears to have been mistaken for the mouth of the Tyne, and before the enemy could correct his initial error the whole of the threatened area had been plunged into complete darkness. An erratic course seems to have been steered in an effort to locate the arsenal and the dockyard, but the airship only got within six iui l er, of 'C lsw i (. I six miles of Elswick, and although the river was reached the incendiary bombs tailed to find their target in the ship- building area. KNOWN IN AMERICA. IT is said to have been known in — America last month that a Zeppelin raid on England would'be made about the middle of April. The raid demonstrates that if the coast lights are well reduced, and if an alert system of communication prevails for plunging a threatened district into dark- ness, little need be feared from the at, tack of one or two Zeppelins on a dark night. To find any target of military value the raiders must then employ their own searchlight, and this procedure ex- poses them to gun fire. But there are nights when starlight or diffused moon- light throws out towns in strong relief even when lamps are extinguished, and there may be occasions when a large force of Zeppelins make a concerted at- tack. OUR ASCENDANCY," TN the Paris communiques are several i- portant matters. A notable phrase relates to the mines and bayonet warfare in the forest of the Argonne. In this sector," it is declared, our ascendancy over the enemy asserts itself more and more." In Lorraine the French attack on the German "wedge" is still being pushed. The part of the v,-cdge near St. Mihiel is becoming narrower and more precarious. In the A illy AVood, a couple of miles S.E. of St. Mihiel, our Allies have captured a considerable stretch of the principal German trench. The evening communique records a bril- liant success in the neighbourhood of Arras. Our Allies have captured with the bayonet the. whole spur south-east of Notre Dame do Lorette, and the French troops now hold all the south-eastern slopes as far as the outer fringe of the village of Ablain St. Nazaire, a place of great strategic importance. TO THE BRITISH PUBLIC. COL. BEPINGTON makes oue point to the British public about Neuve Chapelle. Very malicious and cruel rumours have been spread about this fight, and in every class of society the most absurd and fantastic reports have been circulated. If the Government are chiefly to blame for their stupid secretiveness, the public also, he declares, have a duty to the Army to perform and must learn that the circulation of lying rumours about commanders and troops is a most repre- hensible act. and renders odious those who indulge in it. Ifi misstakes were committed, all that need be said is tha.t in this severe contest mistakes must occur, and that it is not profit but loss, if every leader who makes a mistake is incontinently dismissed. Such harshness defeats its own object for the result is to make leaders play for safety, and wha4t we need is brigade, divisional, and corps commanders who will take risks and act. with the utmost- resolution on all occasions. A constant research for scapegoats is fatal to auy army. We eannot officer the whole Army with Admirable Crichtons, and the best way of proceeding is to recognise what each leader can do, or cannot do, a.nd to allot him tasks in accordance with his powers. NEUVE CHAPELLE AND WATERLOO AT Neuve Chapelle, on March 10-12, our total losses, rank and file, in killed, wounded, and miseing exceeded 12.800 men, and that for a gain of a village and a few square miles, albeit at an important point along our front. Our losses were not much lees than at Water- loo, when (thanks to the tardy Prussian co-operation) we shattered the might of Xapoleon. The contrast, Dr. J. Holland Rose—one of the lett authorities upon the Napoleonic period—points out, is clue to the changed conditions of war. In 1815 in the days of small armies and im- perfect tools, the shock of a few tens of thousands of men could decide a war., In 1915, the era of conscription and science, a battle is merely an intensifiea-1 tion of tie daily struggle for the pos-! .session of trencbee and fortified villagr-s. i But even tllis cannot go on inciefinitely-4 and therefore, in view of the ■'•hange of tactics, we may hail Neuve Cliapelle as a gratifying proof of British pluck and as an im-portant victory. At the ('t of 12,800 men we beat back the Germans, with a loss to them of eome 17.000 or 18,000 men. As things go, that is a con- siderable giteoess, which will inspirit our men to strike harder and deeper when the time comes. Above all, it will prove to our Allies that, when they arc hard pressed on their fronts, we will do eur beet b) lighten the pressure by detain-1 ing the Germans on our front. Russia Xthen hard pressed by Hindenberg) will! not forgat this. And the student of history will not tail to hail Neuvo (iJiapelle as a sign of that loyalty to our llies which we manifeetcd ill the AYoterloo campaign, and which will 16 the determining factor in bringing vic- tory to the allied arms in the far greater struggle of 1915. THE DARDANELLES. THE Italian papers contain circiun- — stantiul accounts of certain British (Continued at foot of next column.)

A WELSH REALIST WORK AND V!EWS OF A NEW WRITER A NEW revealer of Weloh life has placed his wares on the market. He is Mr. David Camdoe Evans, now editor of a popular weekly journal, and at one time a draper's assis-tan-t in Cardiff. He was dismissed from a West-End Stores bocaue he was found writing a short etory. It found publication, however. and while he was living upon an unem- i ployment allowance, Mr. Evans decided to embark on a literary career. He has now found secure anchorage in the pages of the" English Review," which thili month prints two of his Welsh btudiee.. His Views on Wales. Before we look at t-he;e, it will conduce to clearness if we give Mr. Evana* point of view. Welsh, novelists, he says, have in the past written ftories which would have applied equally well to any part of the woj-ld if the geographical names had been a l terwl. IJt, himself wish es to in- terprer. the national life from within. So tar so good. But-- Wales, he says, has no real national life. She has no folk-lore, not a single folk-dance, and no art. The hand of the Nonconformist minister in Wales, he says, is heavier upon the people than that of the priest i8 generally supposed to be in Ireland. He hails Welsh Disestablishment he- cause it will not only waken up the es- tablished Church to real religious effort, but the Nonconformist churches will be aroused by its competition to better efforts to uplift the people. The Welsh people, he says, have no real spiritual vision; and tells the story of a neighbour of his boyhood days who was found by her brother on his weekly visit to purchase eggs, engaged in prayer for halp in palming off on him a sick hen as a healthy one. He admits that his stories of Welsh life are grim and bitter, and eays that 'his first novel, which is to be called The Children of Isaac," will display the same qualities. But those things are true to life, ho maintains; in portraying tihera he has a definite purpose. Wales will never find a new national life until she sees herself asshe is. It is his purpose to hold the mirror up to his oountrymen, and by displaying their weaknesses do something to stimulate the great revitalisation for which ail patriotic Welshmen are looking. Things True-and Untrue. Now there is so much that. is true in the foregoing that one does not know how best to challenge the things that are-other- wise. Wales has a real national life. She has a folk-lore. The Welsh people have a real spiritual vision it is evident that the Wales Mr. Evans knows is not the true Wales of gentle dreamers. The writer could take him into many circles of im- practical poets, of other-worldly singers. of men who live on the mQuntitin-top of transfiguration. And although there is a aeadness upon Nonconformity, and its dry bones are very dry indeed, it is betray- ing the most superficial acquaintance with modern Welsh life to speak of the heavy hand of the Welsh minister. There was a day when the strong minister in a little community was masterful. Strong men are masterful wherever they are placed. But we know those village communities too well to believe that the minister's hand was allowed by its people to become op- pressive. If Mr. Evans talked instead of the one-time power of the head deacon, who was also the head grocer and draper, and in virtue of both offices kept books of credit and the chapel accounts, lie might have a message worth listening to. But the Nonconformist minister is not the baneful influence he indicts him with being. One is afraid, indeed, that he does not count in social life to-day as his father did. The Studies. Mr. Evans is a realist. and shall ont brother-journalist suggest to him that in a rage for truth he misses the real and bccomes merely horrible j' He makes a bigger success with the Welsh idiom translated into English than most who have preceded him in the task of depict- ing Wales. And his gift of descriptive writin, is clear. Mr. Evans can do big tIliDgsif he will forget his mission and give up his leanings towards realism. Heaven knows, we have around us to-day tou much that is real and terrible! The first study deals with Sadrach and his lunatic wife. It ia too unpleasant. The second is the tale of old Nanni, who starves herself to purchase a presentation Bible for her minister. He enters the house to find her lying on the lfoor. "Nanni, Nanni!" he said. AVhy for you do not reply to me? Am I not your pastor ?" There was no movement from Nanni. Mis tar Bryn-Bevan went an his knetjs and peered at her. Her bands were clasped tightly together, as though guard- ing some great treasure. The minister raised himself and prised them apart with the ferrule of his walking-stick. "A roasted rat revealed itself. M it tar Bryn-Bevan stood lor several moments spellbound and silent; and in the stillness the rats crept boldly out of their hiding- places and resumed their attack on Nanni's face. The minister, startled and horrified, fled from the house of sacrifice." Overdone. Now all this is overdone. One knows of the Welsh spirit of sacrifice for the Capd —but an old dame living on roasted rats in order to give a farewell gift to tho minister! No. no. Mr. Evans. And in any cise, were truth once mere to sur- prise fiotion with a.n example, and could the author point. to a definite case, it might not to lie described under a general description of a AVelsh study. J. D. W.

tcoutinued from preceding column.) operations in the Dardanelles, of which the British public have been allowed to know nothing. These reports have been translated and submitted to the Censor; but the Censor refuses to allow t.hem to be published. It is declared that thA news, whether it is true or false, is not in the nature of a staggering disaster which miglit dismay tbo nation, but merely that sort of reverse, sad in itself but not of great magnitude, which might be expected in the major operations of war. THE NEXT ATTACK. "T ITE gaps have been filled up," says a French correspondent who was at Tencdos on March 30th. The two fleets only await the signal to dash forward. When will it be given t.o thenr Will they try once more to force the famous Narrows which form the citadel of the defence? To these questions I can give no an-swo. Admiral de Robeck takes gcod care to keep his intentions dark. Moreover it is by no means unlikely that he will modify his original plan of at- tack, which has cost us losses without any great result. "FROM GENERATION TO GENERA- TION." In Memoriam to W. G. C. G. One gave long years with heart and brain. One, youth's brief fiery blow For freedom i whence the greater gain Only the high sods know. —The TinMfc**