The Dominion. MONDAY, AUGUST 21, 1916. GERMAN "HONOUR."

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2855, 21 August 1916, Page 4

The Dominion. MONDAY, AUGUST 21, 1916. GERMAN "HONOUR."

American White Book which has just been published reveals the fact that the Washington authorities have found it necessary to make a protest regarding the violation of I parole by German officers interned in tho United States. The affair : serves to emphasise how completely i the sense of honour has been eliminated from the moral code of the modern German. The American Secretary of State has informed the German Ambassador that the parole system may have to be discontinued. How can German prisoners be put on their honour when their word is •.not their bond? The word parole is an abbreviation of the French phrase parole d'Jwnneur, which means "word of honour." In > its military use it signifies a solemn promise or pledge given by a ' prisoner of war that he will not try ' to escapo if allowed to go about at liberty, or that, if released, he will * return to custody at a certain time if not previously discharged. The : violation of parole is regarded i among civilised people as a mean and contemptible breach of honour. It is looked upon as an infamous ' transgression, and an officer so offending has no right to expect quarter should he again fall into tho. hands of the enemy. But Count Bernstouff appears to re- ■ gard the dishonourable conduct of ' the German officers who have escaped from America as., quite a trivial matter. That is the German >a>. His reply to Mr. Lansing affords an example of the moral degradation of a race for. which it ' would be hard to find a parallel. He isnot ashamed to put forward the miserable excuse that these perjured German officers have not been sufficiently instructed regarding their pledge, and therefore they do not think themselves guilty of a breach of honour. As a matter of fact they do not seem to know what honour is. At anv rate they have no respect tor it. The finer feelings appear to have been eradicated from the Ten- ■ tonic mind. Tho materialistic philosophy of modern Germany placos no value upon honour and honesty as far as the relations between one State and another are concerned. German writers who are held in high • esteem by their fellow countrymen do not hesitate to declare that Ger- '■ mans havo no moral obligations to ' othor races. One of them states that "political rights belong to the masterrace alone," and, of course, the Germans are the master-race. A distinguished French scholar, M. BouTitoux, tells us that in ■ one of his visits to the German universities he heard a professor open his lecture with tho words, "Let us now construct God." And tbo Germans have constructed _ a God .of their own— made in their own image. They have practically rejected Christianity. German "kulfcur" and Christian ethics cannot bo reconciled, so Christian ethics have been thrown overhoard. _ Some German professors make no attempt to conceal their regret that tho worship ot Odin, tho God of War, was over a abandoned. They contend that Christianity is

nob suitable to tlie German characlho officers who havo broken their parole aro only putting into practice the materialistic theories of tho leaders of German thought and |ction. As soon as wo aro ready to tight, wrote Bernimubi in isn, our statesmen must so shufflo the cards that Franco shall appear to bo the aggressor." This means that any scheming, no matter how dishonourable, is justifiable if it will givo Germany an advantage. Nietzsche says the same sort of thing with his charnclcrisfcic bluntness. Ho advocates a special typo of morals for tho mas- > tor class, to whom all things are law- ■■ ful. Their "good" is the "evil" of othor people. These men, ho says, nro "to tho outside world, to things foreign, and to foreign countries little better than uncaged beasts of prey. Here they enjoy liberty from all social restraint. . . . They revert to tho beast of prey's innocence oi conscience, and become rejoicing •' monsters who perhaps go on their way after a hideous sequence of murder, conflagration, violation, torture, with as much gaiety and equanimity as if they had merely taken part in somo student gam'bols." Tho Prussian Junkers revel in tho thought that they are tho masterclass, and that Germany is tho mas-ter-nation. They are entirely "innocent of conscience" in their dealings with other nations. Germany is in urgent need of officers at the front. Why should an interned officer be restrained from escaping by considerations of truth and honour when German "kultur" has liberated his mind from such superstitious hindrances to his freedom of action 1 Ono marvels at tho laxity of tho British authorities in regard to Germans living within tho Empire in faco of tho constant cxposuro of tho shameless unconcern of these peoplo for the obligations of truth and honour.