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Evening Star, Issue 16993, 15 March 1919, Page 2

It was a witty Frenchwoman who said that the only new things were those that had been forgotten. The truth of the bon mot will he appreciated if the historical canvas that was limned more than a hundred years ago is compared with the war picture that has been painted in carmine during the last few years, and is not yet finished. "The moving finger writes, and having writ moves on." We cannot "lure it back to cancel half a lino"; but a study of the past may materially help us to mould the future- if we have the wit to profit by experience. The Peace Conference now sitting in Paris are evidently in'much the same state of perplexity as the Congress of Vienna found themselves in 1815, when they had to disentangle European complications after the fall of Napoleon. They j found it hard to reconcile the claims of; many States, and no party were fully satisfied with the compromises arrived at. The Kingdom of Westphalia and several other States that had been set up by Napoleon , for the purpose of finding comfortable positions for his relatives and rewards for his generals were brought to an end. : Prussia, who was then England's ally, was compensated for her losses by reeeiv-, iug a part of Saxony, the Rhineland, and Swedish Pomeranla. To Austria was restored Salzberg, "Voralberg, and the Tyrol. Hanover was made a kingdom, grand duchies were created, and Lubeek, Bre- j men, Hamburg, and Frankfort were de- j clared free States. An -unforeseen growth, of military power was brought to light at ! the Congress, which will, without doubt, be taken into consideration at the Paris Conference when steps are taken to repress militarism in Central Europe. Napoleon had enacted that the Prussian armyshould be limited to 42,000 men, and this - embargo was fulfilled to the letter; but in the spirit it was set aside, for one body j was trained after another until the larger , part of the- population were in a position, i should occasion require, to take up arms' for their country. The. Council of Ten •

Historical Replicas.

ar-e' at present considering whether the military terms to be imposed on Germany shall permit her to keep an army of 200,000, which is Marshal Foch's maximum, or from 50,000 to 70,000, coupled with the prohibition of Conscription, as suggested by Mr Lloyd George. The Supreme War Council, it is £aid, favor the latter proposal. The strong similarity between the intricacies of the Congress of Vienna and those vexed question's now under debate in Paris is further illustrated by the difficulty in determining the treatment to be meted out to those who 'were the chief offenders in their respective centuries. That both Emperors deserved severe punishment for deluging Europe with blood to satisfy their personal ambitions cannot be doubted. In the case of Napoleon, the allies of that day had to remember that the Man of Destiny, as he is sometimes called, had been captured and imprisoned once, but had escaped from. Elba, and had lcepb the field again during the famous Hundred Days until overthrown at Waterloo. The British public were naturally highly incensed against such an elusive and dangerous enemy. He had , surrendered himself to Great Britain, who stood answerable to the Allies for his custody and punishment. If the voice of the nation which had suffered so much at his hands for close on twenty years had been permitted to pronounce his doom, he would indeed have had a short shrift and a speedy death. He would have been dealt with according to Ludford Law, which a poetaster of that day described in these words : •

Oil, oft I've heard of Ludford Law, How in tho morn they hang and draw, And give the judgment after. At first I wondered at it much, But since 1 found the matter such As gave no cause for laughter. Indeed, the advocacy of summary execution was not confined to the populace on both sides of the English Channel, for Lord Liverpool, the Prime Minister of the day, writing to Lord Castlereagh, the Foreign Secretary, said: "Wo wish that the King of Franco would hang or shoot Buonaparte as the best termination of the business." The noble lord apparently thought that the prisoner might be handed over to the French King to be treated as a rebel, or be placed outside the rale of humanity and treated as vermin. Historians of that time tell us that in this matter the Government represented perhaps the feelings of the great majority of the nation, for their resentment was great. Turning to what Napoleon wished to be his treatment in his fallen state, wo find that he desired to claim the hospitality of England, and live there the life of a country gentleman, under the name of Colonel Muiron, an early friend who had been killed by his side while shielding his body at Areola. Such a place of refuge was, of course, impossible, if for no other reason than because it was too near France. Very wisely the Allies of that day did not make a martyr of Napoleon by killing him, but outlawed him first, and banished him to a- tropical island where he ended his days in exile, his remains being subsequently transferred by his forgiving countrymen to a mausoleum in Paris. Turning Imm that century-old picture to the kaleidoscopic happenings oi to-day, we find Central Europe passing through much the same experiences. The greatest war in history having come to an end, after bringing about moro terrible disasters in five years than Napoleon caused in twenty, the destinies of a new Europe have to be carved out. Those guilty of letting loose the dogs of war must be brought before a- competent tribunal to answer for their violations of international law and the usages of civilisation.- Some of tho crowned heads responsible for the war have gone to their long account, leaving the ex-Kaiser alone among the sovereigns of Europe to answer for his misdeeds, The representative Powers who must deal with his case appear for tho moment to be, in a quandary as to their jurisdiction. If late telegrams are to be relied on, we are faced with the unwelcome information that the Commission of Jurists on War Guiltiness find that, according to international law, the personal acts of asovereign are acts of State, and the sovereign cannot personally be held responsible. If this turns out to be a judicial ultimatum, it is directly contrary to the legal advice officially given.-to tho British Government by their own Law Officers. There can be no reason to doubt that William 11. from first to last regarded himself as-dhe centre of authority on all political and military questions, and that no important act of administration was' allowed to take place without the sanction of the All-Highest. It is equally certain that, judged by the list of war crimes laid down in the official manual of military law compiled and published by the British War Office in 1914, the Germans have been guilty of all the crimes forbidden in that manual. It is claimed that those laws are binding on other States as well as upon Great Britain. Which is sound law and which unsound has yet- to bo determined ; but to suppose, as has been suggested, that the ex-Kaiser should be only punished by being branded as the world's greatest criminal, leaving his further punlshmont to posterity's opinion, is about as absurd as the American senator's proposal that tho fallen monarch should bo taken round the world for exhibition as the world's greatest monarchical misdemeanant. William Hohenzoflern would no doubt be very pleased to be allowed to live in Dutch retirement as a private citizen, but retributive justice needs tho enforcement of sterner measures against him. If Napoleon was brought to justice, why should a much greater criminal escape his deserts?