MARTIAL LAW.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIV, Issue 185, 5 August 1913, Page 7

MARTIAL LAW.

(To the Editor.) Sir,—'Rrwnt cablegrams in yonr journal stated that as soon as the threatened general strike in Soutfh Africa is deHared. martial law will he proclaimed. That such an extreme mwrsure should be coirtempl-atrd and provided for by the enrolling under arms of twenty thousand burghers, the fortification of strategic posirkros, and •fc'he distribution over wide areas of etrong armed forces, indicate the serious gravity of t<he situation, and the determination of the outJiorities to resist and suppress rebellion. An ordinary strike, not even a general strike, would warrant such an unusual and grave measure as martini law, unlese there were abundant proof that the ordinary civil powers could not deal adequately with the consequences and avert an im-menae national disaster. I believe that since 1(389, two hundred and twenty-foiiT years ago, martial law has not been oroclaenied in Great Britain, notwithstanding seriou? riofc« and great outrages. The last Act authorising it in Jrrlnml wan the Act of 3 and 4. IWili liam TV., which expired Atijrast ' R t» 1834. exactly 79 yrars ago thi.s month, and there had bren no sufh proclamation in a British Colony since IR6.T. until martini law was proclaimed at the Cape in J April. 1901. during tihe Boer War. j This subject is becoming more inter- | esting now that Syndicalist? in many I countries nro declaring war on sxjeiety, and who seem to think they can overthrow, humiliaff. and dominate eivilissed ' communities. Personally. 1 .In not helieve in opposing force to force, except 1 a~* a very la.= t. resort, because. I think society ought to probe all grievance* to j 6he very roots, and eradicate them, if ' possible. Men do not lightly rise in rebellion, and society is otften to ■blame for Dot heeding the cry of tihe desolate and oppressed, and securing ilie removal of all «smedie*le grievKncee ttai -wrong*.

If after ■the utmost possible public-efforts have been made wisely, bonestly, and determinedly, to redress all wrongs and injustices, a section of the people will still continue irreconcilable and persisteut in trying to wreck the social fabric; then, in that case, society .has no resource except to meet force with force. "Order is heaven's first law, and this confest, one must be greater than the rest." It is better to be ruled by dulyconstituted authorities than by a lawless and self-willed, irreconcilable section of the people.

In that case, martial law might possibly be proclaimed, but' any injustice done, or any needless suffering inflicted, would have to be accounted for afterwards. So rare and special a thing, and so absolutely unknown, except in the most extraordinary emergencies, is martial law, that it is said by eminent lawyers to be scarcely Tecogirised in Britr'sh jurisprudence, and is deemed by some to be, perhaps, unconstitutional. However, if self-preservation is for the individual a first law of Nature, it is almost infinitely more so for a nation. Rebellion, or a great Syndicalist effort to terrorise or paralyse a community, is a blow at the nation's heart, which it were criminal not to parry. lam for redressing every industrial grievance, and for the securing of conditions of life worthy of true manhood. That is our safest bulwarks; but I would never take a beating lying down from wreckers of society, bent, nob on securing justice, but on n-ilicious.lv creatincr hell upon earth. Persons who, wrapt in pleasure-seeking and money-making, never do a hand's turn for the community, or to secure suitable conditions of life for toilers, are more to blame than strikers, who, through injustice and yield too easily to magnetic, persuasive mislead ers, who land tlrem in trouble but save their own skins.

Martial law was proclaimed in Lower Canada in 1837-8, and in Jamaica in 1865. In the latter case, ex-Governor Eyre was afterwards put upon ihis trial for unduly prolonging the duration of thai law.

England piloted her course safely through the Jacobite risings in 1715 and 1745. and through the Gordon riots in 17S0. without martial law, and it is to be hoped that justice, prudence, and forbearance will prevail in South Africa and elsewhere, thus -rendering it unnecessary to resort to such an extreme measure, as must almost certainly entail suffering on numbers of innocent persons, mere victims of an environment that should, and could, be improved. The number of indemnity Acta passed after the need for martial brw has expired, shows how serious a state of affairs exists under it. Under that law Civil Courts are superseded, men are liable for arrest under suspicion without waj-rant, and may he thrown into a military prison or kept a long time without trial. Censorship would be exercised over letters and telegrams; persons might be shot after military trial, and, generally, the whole community would be upset, inconvenienced, and plunged into a vortex of suffering. Let us, therefore, be -wise in time, and each unitedly try to secure for all such conditions of life that can make it truly worth satisfactorily living; but that can never be done with excellent wages, better education, abundant holidays, or even social democracy, nnless also with willing acceptance of "the Way, the Truth, and the Life."—l am, etc. F. G. EWINGTOK.