Friday's papers contain a concise, but none the less most
moving, message from the Secretary to the Admiralty. We give it in full
"Yesterday and to-day strong and numerous squadrons of flotillas have made a complete sweep of the North Sea up to and into the Heligoland Bight. The German Fleet made no attempt to interfere with our movements, and no German ship of any kind was seen at sea."
This does not, of course, prove that the German Fleet is never coming out. What it is doing, or thinks it is doing, is biding its time. The silence and deserted nature of the North Sea and of the Bight of Heligoland merely show that the Germans, if they can help it, are not going to let their naval force be reduced by needless attrition. Meanwhile one thing is certain—the German Fleet is not being improved by
being kept mewed up in harbours and canals. Its discipline and moral are no doubt excellent, but there is no naval force in the world which would not suffer from such inaction.
