THE LONG ARM

Auckland Star, Volume LXXVI, Issue 152, 29 June 1945, Page 4

THE LONG ARM

•THE trial of William Joyce for high treason, which commenced this ■"■ week at the Bow Street Police Court, furnishes the Empire with the most sensational proceeding of its kind since Sir Roger Casement was tried and condemned in 191(3. It is seldom indeed that any British Court is called upon to try one of the King's subjects for acts done outside the Empire. Most such crimes cannot properly be made the subject of proceedings before a British Court at all. Treason is a notable exception, and by virtue of a statute passed in the reign of Edward 111., and still in force, it is treason to be adherent to the King's enemies, giving them aid and comfort whether in his realm or elsewhere, A traitor cannot shed his allegiance by purporting to become a naturalised subject of an enemy State while a state of war persists, as Dr. A. A. Lynch found when tried in England in 1903, having purported to acquire South African nationality during the Boer War. It is likewise clear, upon the authority of the decision in Sir Roger Casement's case, that the subject may be tried even though the entire treasonable course of conduct took place outside England. Casement, it will be remembered, was charged with soliciting Irish prisoners of war in Germany to forsake their allegiance to the King and to join his "Irish Brigade," in 1914 and 1915, and with actually undertaking, with them, in 1916, a hostile expedition against the coast of Ireland. It was of no avail that the acts alleged in the indictment against him were largely committed outside the realm, and Casement was condemned, and was duly executed in Pen'tonville prison. It would be out of place to comment, even at a distance, while proceedings are pending, on the probabilities of Joyce being able to put forward a good defence. The acts charged against him are those of broadcasting enemy propaganda—a new species of aiding the enemy, certainly not specifically contemplated by the Act of Edward 111. It might be suggested by the defence that the broadcasts of "Lord Haw Haw" were actually not very sympathetically received by those to whom they were directed, and that they were generally rather a source of amusement than a danger to the State. One cannot tell, however, what effect they may have had in, occupied Europe. Meanwhile the Empire will watch with interest a trial of a kind as rare as a comet. It is noted that Joyce asked for, and has been assigned, legal aid. Casement also asked for and received this privilege, and three of the most eminent counsel of the day were appointed to defend him. Outside the Empire it may be noted with admiration, and even astonishment, that a notorious figure, whose name has been a synonym for traitor for the past five years, is furnished at the expense of the State with highly skilled and completely independent counsel, so that complete and demonstrable justice shall be done.