The Press. Tuesday, January 14, 1919. Germany's Crimes.

Press, Volume LV, Issue 16420, 14 January 1919, Page 6

The Press. Tuesday, January 14, 1919. Germany's Crimes.

Sooner or later; it seems probable that we shall witness the spectacle of the ex-Kaiser being arraigned before a tribunal to answer for the crimes which for more than four years were committed by his military and naval forces, under his authority, and there is little reason to doubt, with his approval, tacit or expressed. Another step towards that consummation of justice has been reached with the report of a sub-committee of the British Committee, appointed in November last by the War Cabinet, to enquire into the following matters as set forth in tho order of reference: The facts as to breaches of the laws and customs of •war affccting British 6oldiers, sailors, or civilians by the forces of the German Empire and their allies, "the de- " gree of responsibility for their offences attaching to the German or " other enemy forces, including the ° German or other enemy General "Staff, or other highly-placed indi- " viduals," and the constitution and procedure of a tribunal appropriate to the investigation of these offences. As regards the committee entrusted "with the consideration of these grave and important matters, it can be said that it is thoroughly competent for its task, and that its decisions will carry conviction to all. Its personnel includes a number of the greatest lawyers in Great Britain. Its chairman is Sir John Macdonell, King's Remembrancer and Master of the Supreme

Court, who is one of the leading British authorities on international law, and it includes such men as Professor J. H. Morgan, who was attached to the British General Staff for several years of the war, and is a noted expert in Constitutional Law; Sir Frederick i Pollock, one of the most famous of British jurists, who was a member of the Bryce Commission appointed in the first months of 'the war to investigate the German outrages in Belgium and France; Sir Alfred Hopkinson, K.C., another member of the same Commission, and several other Iv.C.'s of high standing in their profession. The non-legal members include Brigadier-General C-ockorill, SubDirector of Military Intelligence; RearAdmiral Sir R. Hall, Director of the Intelligence Division of the Admiralty War Staff; Sir Reginald Acland, K.C., sometime Regius Professor of Medicine at Oxford, and Mr C. ,J. B. Hurst, assistant legal adviser of the Foreign' Office. As tho cables of to-day and Yesterday have told us, one of the subcommittees among whom the committee's work been divided has already submitted a special report conveying the unanimous conclusion that it is desirable to take proceedings against the ox-lvaiser. Tho personnel of that subcommittee and its particular field of enquiry have not been stated, but in view of the nature of its report it is probably composed of the highest legal authorities on tho main committee. Their conclusions, which are those of a body of men trained to weigh evidence and to regard only established facts, supports the opinion of tho civilised ■world. As the Attorney-General said! in addressing the committee at its first meeting, Germany challenged international law and committed many great crimes against it. Tho very origin of tho ■war, the violation of Belgium, would for all timo be remembered in the pages of history as one of tho greatest crimes against civilisation. Tho most effective deterrent against a repetition l^ in our children's and grandchildren's time of what this generation had suffered! 'was that "for all ages men who .werei "tempted to follow the wicked and " bloody path which the Governments " of the Central Empires had attempt- " ed in the last four years should have "present before their eyes, not a pic- " turo merely of the brilliant and mere"tricious glamour of military success, " but for all time the knowledge that in " this, the greatest war of all, punish- " menfc, severe, inexorably ruthless, had "castigated crimo." It is. true that no penalty of man's devising can adequately punish the appalling Crime against humanity caused by the mad ambition that plunged the world in war. But if some of the ex-Kaiser's agents of cruelty can be brought to justice, as will assuredly he the case, the arch-criminal could not be allowed to escape scot-free, and it is just possible that such penalty as the tribunal yet to be set up inflicts upon him may help to deter some ruler or nation in; the future from attempting to tread thei bloody path of world-conquest.