The Examiner, PUBLISHED MONDAY, WEDNESDAY,and FRIDAY. WEDNESDAY, MAY 12, 1915. When Might is Right.

Woodville Examiner, Volume XXVIII, Issue 4627, 12 May 1915, Page 2

The Examiner, PUBLISHED MONDAY, WEDNESDAY,and FRIDAY. WEDNESDAY, MAY 12, 1915. When Might is Right.

THE enemy is still using the latest weapon of war at Hill 60. Still, the attackers are being mowed down by the fumes of chlorine. Has it come to stay, this last devilish contrivance ? is the question we must face. Can civilised armies stoop to the use of such a force ? The

first feeling is one of unspeakable revolt against the adoption by the Entente of such methods,

but there is a further reflection that strengthens our conviction that war must be as nearly as possible on equal terms. The

battle is always to the strong,

and if humane considerations should in any way weaken either side, then humane consideration, for a period at anyrate, must be overborne. The

Christian world hesitates to accept such a principle. Yet there have been times in history when the use of gunpowder against unsuspecting races —the Peruvians, for instance, and the more

peaceful nations of the Pacific — has been an outrage. Yet no one would suggest that at such times the use of gunpowder be abandoned- The use of gases without warning is an unspeakable outrage, but since by its use Hill 60 is still in German possession, it is not likely that any intervention by neutrals or Peace Commissions will prevent its further use in this war. For Prussia at her best has never laid any claim to the chivalry that at various periods has been the Frenchman’s pride as it is the Englishman’s most prized virtue- “To play fair ” is really

I the highest culture taught in ! English public schools, and it ■ is delightful to read the utterances of English gentlemen on both sides of the House that i protest against reprisals on Ger--1 man prisoners. Many of them : have sons in German prisons [ subjected to indignities unheardjof in civilised warfare—for exj cept among savages there is i always a certain amount of 1 courtesy extended to prisoners of war. Yet they are the first to beg the authorities to remember the rules as regards a beaten foe, and it is to be hoped that as far as prisoners are concerned their counsel may prevail. The } treatment of prisoners cannot 1 affect the issue. But in the field the foe is not

beaten —yet, far from it. And the sudden adoption of a new method of warfare does effect I the issue vitally. If the one side uses a force that places it in an I almost unassailable position, i then the other side must adopt i some weapon equally deadly or j else give way. In effect the I chlorine fumes are so ghastly I that it seems impossible to ask tor its use by any humans but

1 hose who are nearest to brutes. Hut science has other forces, and if the use of chlorine is cont'.nued our soldiers —■ it is a matter of existence as against humane consideration must call in their aid.