A paragraph in this column last week on the scuttling
of enemy ships and the cheering of German submarine crews has evoked two classes of comment. On the one hand, it is pointed out, very justly, that submarine crews who sink without warning are only obeying orders and ought not to be held responsible ; that raises interesting and far-reaching questions, but all I suggested was that our demeanour towards captured U-boat crews should be correct rather than over-cordial. On the other hand, I am told, by one who writes " to say with what passionate intensity I would support the whole of your first paragraph in this week's Spectator," that I have not pointed the contrast between chivalry to the enemy and " mere emotional slush " half sharply enough. Yet a third holds that there is such a thing as inflicting " defeat by noblesse," and that where there is a doubt we should err on the side of generosity. I should like to think him right, but I fancy there is more to be said for generosity for generosity's sake than because it pays in war.
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