HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 12061, 17 July 1917, Page 8

HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE.

GERMAN GRIMES AGAINST CIVILISATION TO' BE PUNISHED. AFTER THE WAR, COURT WILL DEAL WITH THOSE RESPONSIBLE FOR OUTRAGES,

v ' (By F. CUNLIFFB-tnVEN 7 , 'Among the seiveral questions that engaged the attention of the conference at Washington between tho Chief Magistrate of the. United States and the members of the English and French ' Cabinets, who at the r:sk of their lives hare crossed the Atlantic to take counsel with him. there was one that called for the exercise of the utmost tact and diplomacy in its treatment. It was the question of requitals, that is to say. of redress and punishment [for , all those, outrages against civilisation and humanity for those atrocious .violations of all the accepted laws of observed even by the most bar 1 - barous tribes of Africa and by thennost ciuel races of the Orient, and for those horrible crimes against common loir which the Germain have rendered themselves guilty since the. beginning of the titanic struggle still in progress, j It is possible that the visiting plenipotentiaries of the Powers of tho Lutente may have, by means.of imputable evidence of the frightfulness of feuiton methods of warfare and of the crimes against the civilian population. \nduced president. "Wilson to take a. leading part in thei organisation of a species of High Court of Justice of the Allies, the mission of which it will be on the restoration of peace to try and to (punish the actually responsible authors 1 of the < rimes a Jul atrocities committed by the Gerraaus during the Mar. It is • not a- mere..Question' of reprisal, but of the broad, principle..that everyone who committed' these crimes, who ordered them to be committed or who allowed ; them to be perpetrated must suffer peri sonal punishment una ignominy. Tt ! is insisted, both in France and Great 'Britain, that a High Court cf Justice of this kind would be the first tangible and active realisation of that league ot nations proposed by, President Wilson. AN EX-PJEimiIEU'S INDICTMENT. Shortly before leaving for the United States ex-Premier' Viviani, who besides being one of the most successful leaders of the Parisian Bar is likewise tho Minister of Justice and tho keeper of the .Great"'Seal of France, delivered a remarkable speech of the Senate on this very question, which by the unanimous vot!© of that august body was ordered to be printed and posted up in every public place and on every publio building throughout the length and breadth of the land. In tlius address M. Viviani, after giving a niost convincing and soul-stirring description of the systematic devastation by the Germans of all theJFrench cities, towns : and villages from which they have been compelled to retreat, and of the acts of almost unimaginable savagery of which' ho had found evidence during his visit; to'the stricken districts, demanded in the name of the Government that the authors of these atrocities be brought individually to the bar of justice. He said :

in New York bun. ) citizens whose property has been destroyed and devastated by tho Germans shall be recompensed for their loss by means of indemnities extorted from the Germans in the hour of vietorv. The bricks and stones may thvis b 0 paid for. But there can be no monetary payment for the, innocent blood that has been spilt. The l 1 rencii people ask no indemnity for. this. They do not even seek revenge. But thev are determined to have justice. , It" is idle to attempt to punish the guilty men during the war. Tt would merely lead to' reprisals, and for every German officer or soldier shot or hanged by France or by England after due ,trial for common law crimes such as murder or arson Germany would hang two entirely innocent French or British prisoners of war now held captive in Germany. Therefore nothing will be attempted in the way of dealing with the evidence collected bv the committees above mentioned iintil the conclusion of the Tf the gui-lty parties happen to be in French or British captivity they will not bo released along with tho other prisoners of war on the restoration of peace, but will be detained and placed on trial. If they are free and in Germany the victorious Allies will insist on their extradition. Tho extent. to which these demands for tho surrender of th© culprits nill bo honoured by the Governments of the Central! Powers will depend on tho decree of the victory. _ , In tho event of an incomplete victory and of the rejection by Germany of the demands for the extradition of those indicted, the latter could be tried in their absence, or at any rate warrants issued for their arrest if found in any of the Allied countries. This would mean the confining to German and Austrian territory the men who burned and plundered and murdered in France an in Belgium. Moreover, their names and their rank would be published in the printed volumes of the evidence collected by the Allied commissions of investigation and would bo BRANDED WITH INFAMY FOR ALL TIME. We all know now the identity of the commander of the German submarine which sank without any warning the entirely unarmed Lusitania, with an onormous loss of lives, especially of the women and children aboard—over a hundred American lives among them. He is Commander Steinbrink and he was rewarded by the Kaiser for the feat with the cross of the Order of Merit, founded by Frederick the Great for the recognition of deeds of extraordinary and exceptional gallantry by officers.

■';. "Thefts,- incendiarism, assassination, '"torture, criminal abus-e of women and ': of-even young -children, violation of and of graves, all constitute 4elbnjes against not only international flaw- but likewise against the common I law of every civilised and even seraif Barbarous State, and for which there \ miist and Ehall be individual punish-ilrien-b." •He balled attention to the fact that /Germany, as a signatory of The Hague 'Convention, had given a written guarlajitee against the abuse of civilian perison and private property in war. This, line declared," had been treated by the /HaeWnans""as '*. worthless " scrap of \ ; .He related how - at Ghauny, which he had'visited;"the Germans, in retreat, had - destroyed- everything in the city by fire and explosion, leaving nothing ' hut a suburb. In this suburb they had theii collected all the civilian inhabitants, men, women and children, from the- surrounding country, and had 'thereupon proceeded to bombard the subutb until it was entirely razed to ' the" ground and no one there remained alive.

Steinbrink has not been to sea since, but has been employed at Kiel in the training of submarine officers and crews to emulate his wholesale murder on tho high seas. Should Commander Steinbrink ever fall into American hands, either during or after the present war, or, if captured by any of the Powers of the. Entente, he were to be turned over to tho United States, the laws of justice and popular sentiment in that country would demand that ho be tried by a criminal tribunal, and condemned" to expiate his guilt, either in tho electric chair or on the gallows. T have purposely avoided in this article the use of the word " reprisals." There is a considerable difference between reprisals and requitals. _ Tho latter means tho bringing to justice and the punishment of the actual culprit. Reprisals would mean tho infliction of the penalty deserved by the author of tho crime on a perfectly innocent German officer or soldier or sailor, just because he happened to be within reach. COLD-BLOODED MURDERS. Proposals have recently been made to tho French and English Governments that for every British or French prisoner of war, no matter whether military, naval or civilian, put to death by tho Germans, like Captain Fryatt and Miss Edith Cavell, to mention merely two of many thousands of such cases, one or more German officers in British or Frehch captivity should he taken out and shot. But these suggestions have been invariably frowned upon by the authorities and by all that is best in public sentiment, alike in Great Britain and in France, as repugnant to the laws and principles of civilisation.

" For these atrocities," lie exclaimed, "there must bo triple punishment: that of international law, of penal law and of victory of civilisation !" A HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE. Ex-Premier Viviani's speech was afterward confirmed in every particular by Senator Honri Chrron, member of the . Legislative' Committee on War Damages,. who liad accompanied him on his tour through the recently evacMated territory. Similar addresses were delivered on the same day in the Chamber of Deputies by members thereof who had'been' invited to join the Vivjapi'party/'notably by Edouard Ignaco, - one of the Doputies of t-ho metropolis,-,: at . whose, instance the Chamber by unanimous vote passed .1 in - favour . of the establishment by -the Powers of the Entento of u high court" of justice to judge and punish those responsible for all the crimes' against the- common law and for the" violation of international law perpetrated, by the in Franco and in since the commencement of hostilities in the summer of 3914. ' WHAT ENGLAND IS DOING. In England Ministers have intimated iii both Houses of Parliament thpir adhesion to the principle of punishment of the Germans, both col. lectiveljr ind individually, for the " monstrous deeds of which they have rendered themselves guilty." and have declared that.the Cabinet and the great law officers of the Crown are giving the most careful consideration to the nature of the penalties to be inflected.

Once a prisoner has been taken, either through his surrender or_ through his helplessness due to wounds, his life becomes sacred to his captors. The latter have entered into a contract of honour with him. They have no righti to put him to death by waj' of reprisal for offences laid at the door of his countrymen, of which he himself is entirely innocent. Thero has not been during this entire war a single instance of such reprisal si on tho part of the French, tho British, the Italians or the Belgians, although they have had plenty of provocation. But the Allied Governments have .abundant evidence of the most conclusive character, even to the extent of written orders bearing the signature of German commanders, for the wholesale slaughter of British and French wounded prisoners, who have thus been murdered by the thousands. The names of those responsible for these massacres are well known in Paris and Loudon, and their identity established.

France, Gre.it, Britain and Belgium have had- for the past two years carefully organised committees at work armed with full- powers to collect evidence of Teuton atrocities with the object of bringing them home to the individual culprits, no matter what their rank in the army. The committees are doing their work silently and ivitliOtib any appeal to publicity. Their sole duty is to gather evidence; evidence that will stand in; court-; evidence Mpon which legal conviction can he won. Doubtful cases are thrown aside. Others in which proof is difficult to secure are pigeonholed for. ulterior investigation and consideration.

i The mission of the committees is tot ' collect and establish facts upon which criminal indictments may be drawn. The plan of the allied Powers is not only to exact redress from the German Government but also to bring the individual German offender to justice. It is argued that war offers a cloak for many things, but not- for all—that murder is murder and arson is arson cud theft is theft and should all be punished a.s such. The fact that a state of war has existed has nothing fco do with the matter. Murder is none tho less murder if the murderer be a ;' German soldier and the victim an in'ooeent, unresisting and unarmed JPrencn, BeJcian or British civilian. ACTION OF 7113 FRENCH GOVERNMENT. The French Government has already admitted in principle that those of its