Diplomatic representations had been made in Berlin through the Russian Ambassador, who was now in charge of British interests in Germany, but all to no purpose. Our Foreign Minister simply acknowledged receipt of the various despatches. On the Continent the keenest interest was manifested at what was apparently a deadlock. The British had, it was known, regained command of the sea. Von Kronhelm's supplies were already cut off. The cables in direct communication between England and Germany had been severed, and the Continental Press, especially the Paris journals, gleefully recounted how two large Hamburg-American liners attempting to reach Hamburg by passing north of Scotland had been captured by British cruisers. =ENGLISHMEN!= Your Homes are Desecrated! Your Children are Starving! Your Loved Ones are Dead! WILL YOU REMAIN IN COWARDLY INACTIVITY? The German Eagle flies over London. Hull, Newcastle and Birmingham are in ruins. Manchester is a German City. Norfolk, Essex, and Suffolk form a German colony. The Kaiser's troops have brought death, ruin, and starvation upon you. WILL YOU BECOME GERMANS? =NO!= Join THE DEFENDERS and fight for England. You have England's Millions beside you. =LET US RISE!= Let us drive back the Kaiser's men. Let us shoot them at sight. Let us exterminate every single man who has desecrated English soil. Join the New League of Defenders. Fight for your homes. Fight for your wives. Fight for England. FIGHT FOR YOUR KING! The National League of Defenders' Head Offices. Bristol, September 21st, 1910. [Illustration: A COPY OF THE MANIFESTO OF THE LEAGUE OF DEFENDERS ISSUED ON SEPTEMBER 21, 1910.] In the Channel, too, a number of German vessels had been seized, and one that showed fight off the North Foreland was fired upon and sunk. The public at home, however, were more interested in supremacy on land. It was all very well to have command of the sea, they argued, but it did not appear to alleviate perceptibly the hunger and privations on land. The Germans occupied London, and while they did so all freedom in England was at an end.