OCR Text |
Show HUN FLEET SUNK. Further discussions as to the disposition dispo-sition of the fleet surrendered by the Gernians following tho armistice will bo unnecessary. Practically the whole of the Hun naval equipment interned at Scapa Flow is either at tho bottom of the sea or beached in a hopelessly ruined condition. On the very day the German ministry under Scheidemann was giving way to a new cabinet under tho premiership of Augustus Bauer for tho purpose of meeting the allied demands de-mands with respect to tho peace treaty the German officers and crews of the Teuton warships opened the seacocks of the vessels. Under the terms of the armistice, according to the British admiralty, theso interned Vessels were manned only by Germans. When the ships were settling deep the Huns took to the boats, some of which, refusing to surrender, sur-render, were shelled and a number of the treacherous Gernians killed or wounded. The incident is significant of the apparently inherent Hun tendency ten-dency to break faith. As for the warships, war-ships, they were practically worthless when interned and their dismantling would havo followed as a matter of course. Their scuttling at least removes re-moves any possibility of dissatisfaction dissatisfac-tion which might havo followed their disposition among tho allied powers. That source of possible friction is done away with. Nevertheless, tho conduct of the Germans is illustrative of the thoroughly thor-oughly Germanic method of observing pledges. It is little wonder that tho allies propose that tho peaco terms shall bo rigorous enough to compel the I Huns to keep their iori by making it impossible for them to break it without with-out breaking themselves. |