WAR CRIMES.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XLIV, Issue 14038, 22 April 1920, Page 7

WAR CRIMES.

(By Philip Gibbs.) . It would be interesting to know what the people of this country really think, about the rigorous prosecutiori of the "Black List" demanding the surrender of. many German princes, generals, admirals, and officers for offences against-: humanity. AVe have had newspaper views, some of them raising the old. war cries, and some of them urging moderation, but it is difficult to know the feeling of the nation. In private conversation with many types of men and women I have not met a- single individual who did not think that a trial of the Kaiscr : ;uid his subordinates by a Court of Allied Judges would be a mockery of justice, aiid an r act of international -foils*:' Doubtless there are thousands of people in our own country (and undoubtedly, the mass of people in France) who think precisely the opposite, and will not be : satisfied until large numbers of eminent personages and their human instruments in Germain - have been sentenced to death, prison, or exile, but if that is so I have not met'them. I had a conversation on the way back from Vienna with a distinguished member of our diplomatic service who is, of all men, free from any suspicion of being a "Pro-German." Talking aboutthe subject, he said: "I do not see how the Kaiser, or any 'of his- officers, can be brought to trial" by an - Allied Court. Apart from the-difficulty of obtaining direct evidence of guilt, or of formulating a charge which would have any legal weight, such a trial would be a travesty of justice, as by elementary ethics accusers may not bo judges in their own cause. Also-, a failure to convict would make us the laughing-stock of history." That is the point of view of a man learned in international law, and 1 imagine it represents the conviction of most English lawyers who are able to look at this question in the cold light of legal tradition. Nor can I see Lord Haig or any of our generals giving evidence against Hiudenburg and his army commanders. The average Englishman is unable to pronounce an opinion on international law, but he, too, seems to feel, in his bones that a trial of alleged German • criminals would not be according to our honest, ideas of justice, but would he justified only by the laws of vengeance, which are on another plane. He would not shed tears oycl\ Che death or degradation of these men. I fancy that most of us who saw the dead bodies of English and -French and German soldiers strewn upon the, fields of France and Flanders during the years of war would not be stirred by a profound pity if there were to be a. •massacre of German field-marshals, generals, and other officers, who were utterly callous of human life when. : it. was not their own. I, for one would not grieve about their fate. But I should grieve .for our own fate, which would be involved in such acts of vengeance, done in cold blood, with a pantomime of justice. I should feel that somehow we should have lost caste in the code of civilisation and chivalry. It is true that there are brutal men in Germany who by their conduct in the war merit death most richly, but even in their case I think most English people would prefer them to die at the hands of their own'people whom they led to ruin and disgraced. The people that I know, and I think I know a fairly average'.crowd, are aiot, in fact, very much interested or' absorbed in this question' of- war criminals. The execution even of Hiudenburg himself (which is qui to unlikely) would not fill them with any- joy or satisfaction. It would not- help the demobilised soldier to get a better job, or any job. It would not redress the balance. of exchange between America and' England. It would not make the loaf cost a penny less, or cause the homemade profiteer to disgorge his ill-got-ten wealth. The. problems of life are too big and too insistent to be cured , by the gratification of vengeance. "The chief reason why- the averagel Englishman, as far as T know, him, ; fed lukewarm about this "Blrtek-List," 'qr\: hostile to its prosecution, is because hisl mind is concentrated upon higher ideals than that, bigger and cleaner ! purposes. He is looking forward to an European peace, when all countries will i get together, somehow or other, toreconstruct the ruin of war's heritage. He is convinced now thftt anarchv and bankruptcy in Germany are not going to be good for his own business or his peace of mind." I think he is right-, and I go further than the average man in thinking that if we inflame the anger and despair of the German people by this new demand of surrender we shall prepare the way inevitably to< another war, which will be fought by those who* are now in their, perambulators, the children of the men who escaped from the recent massacre. In 20 or 30 years the difference- between German maw-power and French will be greater than it was in 1914. France will still have Germany across her frontier, and if that neighbor is intent upon paying back vengeance for vengeance there 17111 :be another inviision, another massacre, and another agonised cry for help from England'a_nd America. I understand the passion: which makes the French people crave for the punishment of the German leaders. and I think it is justified by his-tory-—hut not by wisdom. If France were, wise and far-seeing: she " would leave German democracy to deal: withits tyrants and build bridges of reconciliation across the Rhine, so that the German people should be shamed by chivalry and educated by a. generous compassion.