"AN EYE FOR AN EYE."
[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.]
SIR,—Under the above heading in your issue of April 7th, there is a letter in which it is stated as an instance of German " chivalry " during the late War that a German cruiser, the ' Cap Trafalgar,' " having boarded one of our merchant steamers preparatory to sinking her, and finding there was a woman on board, the commander of the ' Cap Trafalgar' forthwith gave our ship permission to proceed on her voyage without further molestation."
To sink an enemy merchant ship is recognized as a legiti- mate proceeding provided provision is made for the safety of the crew. It would seem, therefore, that no such 'provision had been made, and that if there had not happened to be a woman on board the crew would either have been drowned with the ship or turned adrift in their small boats, with the extreme probability of ultimately perishing from exposure or starvation. To abstain from such an act of barbarism only because one of the victims would have been a woman does
not call for commendation.—I am, Sir, &c., K.C.
Previous page
