The Evening Star WEDNESDAY, APRIL 14, 1915.

Evening Star, Issue 15777, 14 April 1915, Page 4

The Evening Star WEDNESDAY, APRIL 14, 1915.

War is a great solvent. It breaks up accustomed ways of doWar anil Juries. mg things; it bites into the foundations of institutions time-honored and deep-seated; it cuts athwart ancient privileges and cherished prejudices; it is a mighty lovelier. The nations engaged in this gigantic .European struggle are like athletes stripping for a contest which will tax the last ounce of energy. Thcv “ press toward the mark of the high calling’’ of victory for civilisation and justice. In doing so they are slipping every unnecessary burden from their shoulders. Erecdom of contract, non-interference with the course of competitive industry, abstention from too paternal a care over the habits of the people—these respected principles of European Governments are giving way to measures of Socialism, to schemes for tho State regulation of prices, to State Control of the machinery of finance, to proposals for the co-operation of nations in the buying of commodities, and to assaults upon the drinking habits of tho people. It is perfectly amazing tho glib manner in which men in authority speak of brushing aside tho ordinary laws of competition, controlling markets in the interests of tho State as a whole, and imposing the mandate of Prohibition upon ancient drinking customs. When ono realises tho motive behind it all, ono cannot but bo deeply impressed with the earnestness and resolution with which tho Allies are rising to their stupendous task of vindicating the honor of Europe, and of re-establishing peace with justice. Plainly an invincible determination to win at any cost animates the league of nations led by the British Empire. The heart of every patriot must be exultant at the spectacle. It does not follow, however, that every expedient adopted with a view to efficiency accomplishes its end. There is just a danger of too wild and undiscriminating a sweeping off the board of old things. We must not permit any false sentiment to preserve an institution which is an entanglement to our feet in time of -war; but we must insist that all innovation in civil and industrial affairs shall be made to justify itself on grounds that recommend themselves to reasonable men. An instance of the need of caution and deliberation is furnished by tho attitude of the British Government towards the jury system. In the last autumn session they carried through .Parliament a Bill suspending the operation of the principle of trial by jury until tho termination of hostilities. It is a tribute to the lofty patriotism of the British people that they submitted with scarcely a murmur to this infringement of a basic principle of the British Constitution. And yet to substitute a military for a civil tribunal requires something more than a state of war to warrant it. The delays incident to the civil administration of justice, with its searching and scrupulous investigation into facts, and its careful pondering of testimony. are to bo deprecated when a country is threatened with invasion or crowded with aliens who constantly menace its internal peace. We can readily conceive of the occasion arising which would render it advisable to adopt the summary and expeditious methods of military courts in place of the circuitous procedure of civil process. Such an occasion has undoubtedly arisen in Belgium, Tho conditions there are not suitable to trials which have to he preceded by notices, preliminary inquiries, the taking of depositions, the summoning of juries, and all tho other paraphernalia of civil jurisdiction. There are times when the chief merit of justice is to bo rapid and direct in its action. Better an odd miscarriage than procrastination. War will not brook delays, j Martial law is designed to meet this urgent j need for despatch, as well as to provide i for 'vigorous penalties for strictly military i offences.

So far. however. (treat Britain has not been in any peril of conditions such as lamentably prevail in Belgium. Gratefully our nation acknowledges its freedom from the extremity of distress inflicted by tho edge of tlie sword. There has not yet occurred any contingency rendering imperative the suspension of the normal functions of our civil courts. The quality of justice is an attribute of British sovereignty of which British citizens are deservedly proud. They point with elation to tho safeguards against the conviction of the innocent, to the precautions against ill-considered judgments. They glory in those delays of justice which mark the Briton's solicitude for arriving at the exact truth; they rejoit© in the jury system not because of its utility, but because of its expression of the finest sen-

sitiveness to the claims of Since Magna Charta British men have interposed the sense of fairness of au accused’s peers between him and bis accusers. Even in time of war we are reluctant to abate one jot of our constitutional precautions against the suspicion of injustice. We therefore regret that the Imperial Government should hastily have disturbed tho ordinary machinery of justice. According to the English papers just to hand the British Parliament has repented of its measure 4i over-eagerness. Experience has shown that the need for it did not exist, and that the temporary cashiering of the jury system caused disquietude among the general public. Many of tho leading newspapers have for several months been urging its repeal, not in tho spirit of partisanship, for the war has wonderfully mitigated tho bitterness of party strife, but with a view to tho restoration of complete confidence in tho administration of justice. Tho suspension of tho jury was effected by a clause in tho Defence of the Realm Act, and that Act has now been amended by excising this obnoxious clause, and inserting in its place a provision giving to the Government a discretion to supplant the civil administration of justice to such extent as they deem wise should occasion for it arise. And it will have been noted that three German spied are to bo tried in camera—for obvious reasons—instead of by court martial for their treasonable acts. Apart altogether from the wisdom of this reinstatement of tho jury, it is most encouraging as a step taken towards the reestablishment of the normal conditions of peace.