The Report of the North Sea Commission will not be
officially given to the world till to-day, but Thursday's and Friday's papers are full of forecasts, which all declare that the Commission will report that in the circumstances the Russian Fleet was justified in firing on the trawlers in the belief that they were torpedo-boats. Whether these rumours are well founded or not we cannot say, but in any case we prefer to withhold comment till we have the official Report before us. We may note, however, that naval opinion as a whole, in our Navy as much as in foreign Navies, has always inclined to excuse the action of naval officers who, believing their ships to be in imminent danger of attack, open fire in order to protect themselves. There remains, of course, the further question whether the Russians had any right or excuse to believe themselves in imminent danger of attack in the North Sea.
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