18 DECEMBER 1915, Page 3

Lord Robert Cecil absolutely refused to reveal the terms of

the agreement, but said that he regarded it as an excellent arrangement. We cannot ourselves regard what is known of the agreement as at all satisfactory. Or rather we should say we are chiefly alarmed at the motive which is said to lie behind the agreement. To save the liberties of Europe for ages to come Is infinitely more important on all moral grounds than the maintenance for a few. months of the humanitarian principle that " Germany must not be starved." But we cannot believe that the Government as a whole seriously subordinate the power of the Navy to a false humanitarianism, for if they did they would be on their own confession incapable of waging war successfully.