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Show I ill,! REPLY ON FOODSTUFF I London. March 11, 6:26 p m. The British reply to the American note suggesting lhat Great Britain allow all I foodstuffs tc enter Germany in re- turn lor Germany 'a abandonment of f her submnnne warfare on merchant jj vessels ant! her policy of mining the Jj high seas is expected to be fortheom- ! ing at an early date. J' While lliv contents of the reply are j naturally not known, it is possible, - i as the result of inquiries in authori al tative quarter?, to indicate some points likely to carry weight with ; the Britlsn government and to em phasize Sir Kdward Grey's replv 1 There is a strong feellug in Down ing street that the- quid pro quo" put ' i forward in the American note does H not go far enough. Officials of the . I foreign office point out that since the I opening of the war Great Britain has 1 ' j only once Interfered with the supply of food destined for Germany and '.,j then only after the German govern- ' "tl, ment. by assuming control of all 'sv;l foodstuffs had abolished the old diB- tinctiou between the civil and the military population. iV V: High German authorities have re- ji XT j)eatedly denied the British claim to -M' c,lt suPrl'e6 of iJod from civilians "ttS 's a IsgltiniaLe act of war. Great Britain, It is insisted, neTer adopted this view until the Germans by their own act, made it impossible any long ?JS9 cr t draw the line between non-com- ijsj batants and armod forces Further- jfjJ more, it is added, Great Britain Is now invited by the United States to fore-go fore-go a clear belligerent right, on the un jf'KS derstanding that Germany will ab- stain from committing two but only Sp two of the many crimes against both s?v5j4 law and humanity. Authoritative 'm spokesmen of the British view lay tsa' etrees on the 'Inadequacy" of this &m proposal from two standpoints. They ask, first, what guarantee is forth-jfcfl forth-jfcfl coming that Germany will keep to her agreement. Supposing, they urge, that an understanding were reached tfgj on the MneB suggested by the United Kfri States, would the United States ae- atfg cure its strict observance? 7K It is asserted by them that Ger- Wflui many has violated bo many compacts ant convont,onB ln this war that Brlt-&?jfi Brlt-&?jfi Ish statesmen are dlsinclinel to trust her unsupported word. Secondly, they urged that the two of- tenses specified in the American not submarine warfare on merchant c sols and the mining of the high seas are far from being the only or von the worst, offenses of which Germany has been guilty. The claim is set up that she has bombarded unfortified un-fortified tewns dropped bombs on places- Inhabited solely by civilians and has f.unk both British and neutral ships, as If that wore the ordinary legal way of di6Kslng of them Great Britain, it is pointed out. has I indulged in none of these practices I and such mines as she has been com pelled in self defense to lay have been laid in strict accordance with The Hague conventions Persecution of Belgians. The pol.'cy of Germany which arouses the most indignation among the directors of the British government govern-ment is her continued alleged persecution persecu-tion of the Belgians, millions of whom, it Is declared, "would be at this moment mo-ment In a state of somi-starvation, but for the American generosity and assistance." The view therefore held in the most authoritative quarter of Great Brirain i that if tnere is to be any question of Germanv's conforming to the rules of civilized warfare with respect to all points and not merely with re Bpect to two of them, which she has been accused of departing from, It must com.- up for discussion and that Great Britain could enter Into no agreement on a subject which did not include a radical change in Germany"s present proceedings in Belgium Finally, it is declared by the samo authority, that these being the fact ors that mainly influence British of ficial opinion, it may be inferred lhat the natural sympathy of the British government with the American suggestion, sug-gestion, both on its merits and from its source oi origin, must, to some extent, ex-tent, be mitigated by other and wider considerations. on |