Spain has apparently reaped the proper reward of her decision,
long delayed, to stand up for her rights as a neutral against U-boat outrages, by which she has lost twenty per cent. of her mercantile marine and over a hundred Spanish lives. The Spanish Note intimated to Germany Spain's decision to take German interned shipping, ton for ton, against Spanish ships sunk in future U-boat operations. The communication of this decision emphasized Spain's desire to maintain her " loyal and chivalrous neutrality "—in which the quality of chivalry, towards Germany, was perhaps a little overstrained, to the Allies' disadvantage, in a recent notorious and prolonged incident in a Spanish harbour. In spite of the Cologne Gazelle's intimation that "serious objection existed to the treatment of the question proposed by Spain," it was announced, in a message from Santander, published on Tuesday, that Germany had accepted all the conditions of the Spanish message. Spain has never been anxious to go to war with Germany ; and Germany sets a high value on Spain's neutrality. Nevertheless, the German compliance is noteworthy, for Germany never yields till circumstances compel her to do so.
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