ATROCITIES OF THE WAR.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 12571, 7 March 1919, Page 4

ATROCITIES OF THE WAR.

IS THIS A CRUEL WORLD? THE BARBARITIES OF EARLIER TIMES. „ Since tho great war began it has boon said very frequently, and not always by cynical philosophers, that the conflict/ Ims proved, in pnoro than one horrible detail, that men are as barbarous as over. u “ ou see,” says the despairing ones, " w hen once the beast is aroused in men they revert to every cruel instinct - the race has ever recorded;” Are men as cruel and barbarous as over? Has there been no real progress in the refinement of feeling and manners which would tend to decrease the desire of men to see other men and women suffer? Was Alfred Russell \v allace right when ho said, shortly before his death: '‘Humanity has not progressed one_ jot in all tho ninety years I have lived; it is as barbarous as it over was.” , A little study of earlier ages and , ideas may help us to understand, that there has been a real advance in human feeling, and that, notwithstanding all the horrors of war, many of which are unavoidable, the humanity of man to man is constantly on the increase, even though the pessimist may tell us quite otherwise. A GRISLY EXHIBIT. In tho museum of Berlin and other old European cities are relics of early barbarity which seem to havo been rather tho inventions of devils than of human beings. They seem to have been inspired by the desire of men to see other men suffer all possible agonies; Death was esteemed too good for the unbeliever or tbe malefactor, and they resorted to_ such little things ns a seat on the chair_lined with spikes or a pleasant boiling in oil. Students of human activities stand astonished at the possibility of inflicting such exquisite tortures upon men —and delicate women—but we cannot help believing the substantial and convincing evidence ot the “ Iron Maiden,” in which a. human being might ho shut up, with only the head protruding, that the torturers might witness the awful struggles as the spikes lininlg tho " maiden ” were forced into all. parts of the body, save the vital spots. Any one who has burned his finger with a match knows what pain lie feels,_ and it is past our power of imagination to picture what miikt ho the awful agony of tho individual attacked by flame from every side, literally on fire all over at once. Yet such death was inflicted upon thousands in the name of religion. Yet these atrocities did not stop the flood of unbelief nor were those who saw the tortures frightened into submission. Even the criminal pun - ished by being torn asunder, or being broken on tho wheel, did not restrain others from committing like crimes.EUROPE’S REFINEMENT OF ,■' CRUELTY. Pictures have been preserved of, the modes-of punishment practised by the uncivilised nations, such as the Chinese and the Turks, but none of these is any worse in the refinement of cruelty than those used in Europe a few centuries ago. If the Turk impaled a man by thrusting a blade through the body from thigh to shoulder, merely avoiding the piercing of any vital organ, so that tho prisoner might suffer for hours, instead of being quickly put out of his agony, the Europeans during the middle ages did not' hesitate to impale their victims on stakes in quite as horrible a niannei. Have you ever turned your ankle? You know- how painful this is. Try, then, to imagine what must have been the excruciating agony of the man placed on a framework, bound down immovably a,nd then “sketched” with all tho power of a wheel and pulley in the hands of the executioners. We have read of victims torn apart by wild horses, hitched to their four limbs, but their agony is quickly over, as compared with the all too common ■practice of having strong men try a similar trick, rejoicing in the groans and cries of the victim. We can hardly believe that any but fiends in human form could have bound men down and torn at their flesh, with hooks, or clipped it off- with huge shears. THE WATER TORTURE. The Chinese prolonged diabolism of dropping a drop of water at a time upon the skull of the victim, until finally a small hole was worn through to tho brain, is one of the awful traditions of torture. Tho very awful method of tying a man down and placing a brazier of burning coals upon bis stomach was all too frequent a practice in Europe a few centuries ago. Many of these tortures would bring a revolution to-day _if attempted, but some primitive nations still utilise these methods of inflicting all possible pain. The old punishment of the “ knout ” was as terrible as any which can be imagined. The victim ‘being strung up bv tho wrists, the executioner attacks him with tho heavy thongs, and as the knout leaves his back it takes skin and flesh with st. It is no wonder that the prisoner sometimes dies under the lash. The catalogue of the crimes of -humanity against humanity is hideously long, from pouring hot lend down the throat of a victim to placing him upon a hot gridiron; and all the rest is a shocking tale of infamy. But out of lit all comes hope for the finer feelings and nobler treatment of men by men. In punishing prisoners tho world has progressed, even though mitcli still remains to be achieved by those.of higher ideals. If men are punished to-day with more of humanity, so also is war itself pursued with vastly less of cruelty than in old clays. In the present hour prisoners are solicitously cared for, if we compare ihe “ care ” with that inflicted on prisoners in ancient wars. Many of the tortures already described wore* reserved for men taken in battle. To make prisoners tell of the plans of their own leaders men were put through horrible experiences that frequently ended in death—to which death was a merciful ending. WAR, TOO, IS DIFFERENT. Happily for the era In which wo are living, the power of popular opinion is a factor with which all Governments and all men must reckon. We may believe that progress is slow, that prisons arc still cruel, that- war is still barbarous, but it is only necessary to go to tbe past to see that the progress is real, nevertheless. Torture_ as an idea is under a- ban in every civilised country, though it may easily be contended that refined forms of it persist, despite all protest. Yet it is at least secret. It is no longer paraded or acknowledged ; which is proof enough of n wane in the practice. When an Ideal of humanity is once established in the world the pressure of that idea, plus tho natural personal and official fear of consequences, sooner or later operates to reduce tho sum of cruelty. Other faefcorfe have operated. Science has iuterfeded to bamsh superstitions which once Ted to awful enmities. It has been scientifically proved that cruel punishments do not diminish crime, and the whole theory of punishment is being revisjxl