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Show EXPERT URGES ! FULL BLOCKADE BFjpray Hilaire Belloc Declares the Allies Have Adopted No Consistent Military Policy Pol-icy to Attain Victory. By HILAIRE BELLOC. Foremost Military Writer in Europe. (Spfl'll Cable by A rra 11 Eminent With Lonflon Dill? Telegraph aod International News Service. LONDON, Feb. 20. Tho essentials of a siego are that the operations of the besieged foTco are confined to a restricted re-stricted area by the action of the besieging be-sieging forces; so that it is the object of the besieged to force their way out and of the besiegers both- to prevent the besieged from forcing their way out and gradually to contract the 'area within which tho besieged are restricted in their operation. Subject to this definition def-inition the present phase of the war may be accurately described as the siege upon an enormous scale of the Germanic Ger-manic powers. A condition commonly but not necessarily neces-sarily accompanying a siege is that called the blockade. Tha .essential of a blockade is that you prevent the means of livelihood from reaching the besieged and also, of course, but as a secondary matter, the opportunity through munitions of continuing their resistance in arms. Siege, but No Blockade. You may have a siege without a blockade, as when an armed force is so restricted that it cannot break out and yet still possesses avenues of supply or is permitted some forms of supply fur political, religious or other reasons by the besiegers. But you could hardly have a blockade without a siege, because no armed force would permit itself to bo starved if it were able to cut its nay out. Now the present siee of tho Germanic Ger-manic powers is remarkable for the fact that it is a true siege accompanied by a very imperfect blockade. The German Ger-man and Austrian armies have tried very hard indeed to force their way out through the lines that contain them iu France and Belgium and Alsace, to master Scrvia and get away out in that f aii-!Ti a nrl trt Hi-pa lr tb vnn rrb tho "Rus sian lines in the east. They have hitherto hith-erto failed in all these attempts. But in the blockade which should accompany accom-pany such, measures the besiegers have shown no consistent military policy. Condemns Weak Policy. I do not say that the besiegers haye not shown a consistent moral or political polit-ical policy;. I only say that, they nave shown no consistent military policy. If you desire to reduce your enemy by blockade you prevent his getting anything whatsoever of which he stands in "need. The Romans in front of Jerusalem, Je-rusalem, for instance, or the Germans in front of Paris in 1S70, did not say "We will prevent arms getting through but we will allow food' or ''We will prevent the food for soldiers going in but we will allow food for civilians.'' If thev had adopted such a policy they might "just as well not have had a blockade block-ade at ail. If the German empire had the lucic to cripple the British fleet it would establish es-tablish a blockade with these islands. It would allow nothing to go through for its aim would be the reduction oi tl,n kW.I.-nnOn' nnrt.V Would Shut Out Cotton. If you do not prevent everything you possibly can prevent from going into the blockaded area, then your blockade is imperfect and will almost certainly fail. You may have excellent moral, religious or political reasons for thus running the risk of losing the war, but you can have no military reason. As a military operation, to allow cotton, let us say, to go into Germany and to forbid copper is meaningless. "What you are fighting is the whole nation with all its resources, economic and social, so-cial, and inasmuch as you allow these resources to be fed, by so much do you increase the chance's of the enemy's winning and of your losing, and by" so much do vou kill and wound your own soldiers, deplete your own wealth and prolong the duration of hostilities. It is a matter upon which there can be no two opinions and one upon which it is singular enough that there should be any confusion of thought. Reasons for Weakness. There are four1 causes, and four only, which may oporate upon the government of the blockading nation to make the blockade of Us enemy imperfect: 1. Religion Aa when it would be thought impious to prevent certain sacred objects, or certain men in discharge of a saured office, from passing; through the blockading lines. This objection Is absolute, abso-lute, but It has today, I believe. Mule weijrht. 2. Moral That Is whfn the various parties par-ties to a combat are agreed upon ceriatn t hirers as humane and tto be tolerated upon either side. Thus, It might be thought inhuman to cut off water supply and vet tolerable to nut off fewd. The morals differ from religion In this, that they are matters of contract and of reason. rea-son. ?,. A greater military advantage to be ; obtained As when you propose to bring ' in es your ally later on (or. -vhat Is th'--same th:r., to prevent his fighting agajiiht i you) someone whosp supply of jjoo-h; to I tiie enemy tn a stiple matter of trade i vital to him when you yourself n?! s'Kh Kiipnly and fear '13 heing cut off from yourself it you offer"" fhe neutrality by i ciofiinp tho cncmj'.v market. Is Money Buck of It? j. private inter.- t A? when tr.cr-i""0 tr.cr-i""0 ruing en ithy by expert t.o j t'.o i-'icury. 'j;!-(-'U or indirect, pr'-frr their j ;;.!v,U!t;:':i' to that o4 he c-'r.i hp-! v. t- ;u 1 h '.v., Iimw1 pLver '-,ve.r the go t:: men to1 ?i 1:1 Kc lii'-ir ::daiit;ige prf-vy; a;;-;I j W-,1 ou.'-f may opf.itf in ni-j-:y vp;-s and I in i.hc ui'.st roundabcut fashion liiruglii sIiIlo-.1. nut's as nni'.'h as b iu- ri:h;iM'.s j ihnn'gh n-.fi; v. ho i;ir any g'. ?:-;r.i! j ,i'.'uii (." 'r;id. thruuu'h trie v.'erld r : 1 I t,-;; i-:ir. ty r in t n r :i'f ,;pul"J U'- tiM'it1 f!o "Jit-nisf Ivi'-s- -1 ii-n'TL.-!) h,a';- i civ's v.hu may prutenU or, U Lney ait i sufficiently stupid, believe that the counters coun-ters with which they deal and the lubrication lubri-cation of exchange are equivalent t we'iith Itself, but who most eomrnonly have no ob.lect but their pcrsr.n;i! enrichment, en-richment, being men without national al-feci.luns al-feci.luns and at large between a;i conj-bata conj-bata nts. It i.s incun;bcr,t upon thoe hu prtffr (.0 b"-a'f the bl'"ji;.ii'' or' G'-rm.iny i:n-pcrf i:n-pcrf to cNP'a.n whie'n of il '(..-(. causes I thev Invoke for their action and to iij.-.k" I it quite H:r that t hey brc a hetier rea- : f von fo- kavli.c- fiiat blo'.k.-rde incon. i letc ' than they v. o j!d 3;a a fir nialr.ny it 1 I" rfect. |