The German Government have announced in a Note to America
that they will take reprisals on account of the British Admiralty's statement that German submarine prisoners cannot be treated as honourable prisoners of war. The German Government say that they have learned of the British inten- tion with "astonishment and indignation." The German submarine crews who have sunk non-combatant ships without warning are said to have "acted as brave men in discharge of their military duties," and to be entitled to be treated like other prisoners of war "in accordance with international arrangements." The Note then announces that harsher treat- ment will be accorded to a number of British officers in Germany by way of reprisal. The answer to this piece of barbarous special pleading is, of course, that the submarine prisoners have had all the treatment required by international agreements, and more. What they have not had are those extra civilities which we accord in ordinary cases to captive foes. But even then they—the submarine prisoners—have better conditions than the average British prisoner in Germany.
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