The Dominion Tuesday, august 21,1917. GERMANY INDICTED

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3169, 21 August 1917, Page 4

The Dominion Tuesday, august 21,1917. GERMANY INDICTED

History would probably bo searched in vain for a true parallel to the I conference of Allied and neutral seamen which opened a day or two ago in London. The principal object of the conference is to consider the attitude to be adopted towards Germany after the war .in view cf her submarine atrocities. Beports of the proceedings thus far transmitted show that tho delegates areunited in a firm determination that the crimes against humanity which Germany has committed through tho agency of her submarines shall bo visited with appropriate penalties. The prominent part being taken by neutral representative's is also a noteworthy feature of tho conference. It is tb the participation of these neutral representatives that i the conference owes its unprecedented character. Very often in maritime history seafarers havo leagued together to root out a nest of pirates, but it happens now for the first time that the sea policy oi a nation claiming to bo civilised 13 challenged and denounced by the seamen of neutral countries as well as by those of countries with which it is at war. Tho extraordinary character of tho conference is the outcome of extraordinary crimes. Nothing less than crimes of .unexampled atrocity would havo made it possible for Norwegian, Swedish, and Danish seamen to join with their French and British confreres in devising penalties to bo imposed upon Germany when tho war has come to an end. Apart from what they may be able to accomplish in this direction by bringing # the machinery of their international organisation into play, the sealhen assembled in conference are rendering a worthy service to humanity and civilisation in concentrating attention upon enemy outrages which are liablo as time passes to incur something less than the reprobation they demand and deserve. Thero is a real danger that with more repetition the crimes in which the German U-boats are employed as instruments may come to be regarded almost as commonplace. Tho fact that peace-at-any-pricc advocates habitually ignore these and other atrocities altogether and are not always reproved for doing so is not the only evidence available on this point. At one time an event like tho sinking of tho Turakina and the murder or several members of her crew, which is reported to-day, would have excited universal horror and condemnation. To-day in this country and in others such atrocitiee occasion comparatively little remark. When the Lusitania was sunk in May, 1915, tho moral sense of the whole world was outraged. The universal verdict, pronounced in neutral as well as Allied countries, was that by this deed Germany had eternally blackened her already infamous reputation, and that no penalty would 'co severely punish such an abominable crime. Probably not one- of the innumerable outrages of which Germany has since been guilty at sea —though some of them havo touched an even lower depth of criminalty than the sinking of tho Lusitania—has provoked as spontaneous and widespread an outburst of horror and reprobation. Some of the most fiendish outrages committed by tho U-boats havo been passed over with littlo notice in the countries which have suffered most deeply under tho inhuman criminality of Germany's sea policy. Any tendonny to apathy or negative toleration in such a, case as this is deplorable, and the seamen now assembled in conference at London aro contributing to the moral, eration of the world in turning a searchlight glare on Germany's crimes at sea.

In their firm determination that Germany shall bo compelled to make reparation, as far as reparation is possible, and shall not escape punishment, the seamen aro Riving a lead which should be followed by the whole civilised world. There is nothing forced or hysterical in their attitude. On tho contrary, tho sentence they, have pronounced against

Germany and are delonnined to cnfurec be far as posbioic by their own organised power carries tenfold Wight as coming from a body of men who have faced the deadly perils ot the submarine campaign with a calm and uuflincliiug heroism which worthily rivals the valour of the armed forces arrayed against Germany on land and sea. In the annals of this war a placo of high honour belongs to the merchant seamen of Allied and noutral nations who have pursued their calling undeterred by the ever-present dangers of submarine and mmc. The- statement made by Mn. Havelock Wilson at the London Conference- that German barbarism has not delayed the sailing of a single ship for five minutes calls for no other qualification than that some neutral shipowners have tied up their vessels or removed them from the danger zones. As an attestation of the undaunted courage of Allied and neutral merchant seamen the- statement calls ior no qualification and constitutes a. proud and glorious record. Merchant seamen have well earned the gratitude of the nations they have served so gallantly and faithfully. They arc at the same time supremely qualified to deliver judgment upon tho inhuman crimes which have made their calling so hazardous. The stand taken by tho seamen should stir the conscience, of tho world. It gives necessary prominence- and emphasis to the fact that Germany has brought the resources of a modern nation to bear upon a policy of piracy and murder which is without parallel in the history of the world. The questions involved do not relateonly to punishment and retribution. Elementary justice demands that Germany should be required to make substantial reparation for tho destruction of life and property at sea, but the most vitally important questions at stake relate to the future. If Germany's crimes went unpunished the laws of humanity and civilisation she has so flagrantly violated would be for practical purposes annihilated, and the moral standards of the world would bo permanently degraded. . Any weakening in tho determination of Allied and neutral nations to re-establish tho laws and usages which Germany has done her utmost to destroy would be an appalling moral tragedy. It is the first essential ot a stable- and lasting peace that Germany's crimes at sea, and her equally atrocious crimes on land, shall be denounced and punished in_ a manner indicating the determination of civilised nations to prevent their repetition. The attitude"of tho seamen now in conference at London towards these crimes and tho criminals responsible for them.should bo tho ( attitude of all, civilised humanity. '