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The Dominion THURSDAY, OCTOBER 3, 1918. TAMING AND TEACHING THE HUN

In the official summary of war news which appeared a couple of days ago it was mentioned that the French Chamber of Deputies will shortly request tho Government, together with the Allies, to make a solemn declaration that any fresh devastation wrought on towns and territory will provoke immediate

apd implacable reprisals. Such a declaration is justified and made advisable by lengthy experience of tho linn and his ways in retreat,, but tho latest proof that it is called for appears in the news that the Germans are burning Cambrai. Tho Allies are manifestly bound to leave nothing undone that will tend to deter the enemy from continuing the work of devastation which lie carried out with methodical barbarity in his retreat from the Somnie. In their retreats during the last few months tho Germans have not as thoroughly laid the'country waste behind them as they did last year, but this.is due solely to the fact that under the vigorous attacks and closo pursuit of the Allies their opportunities .have been restricted. The possibility is now, in plain sight that they may signalise the final stage of the war by a veritable orgy of destruction. It is fairly certain that if they are not within- the next few .weeks driven out of most of the they hold in Belgium and Northern France they will as a. matter of necessity evacuate it_duTing the winter. Unless they"" aro made to realise that further crimes of destruction and devastation will invite dire penalties there will bo every reason to fear that they will leave a desert in their wake. 'To Iho men at the head of affairs in Germany such a course of destruction may commend itself as one of tho few methods now open to them of. forwarding their campaign for an ' inconclusivo peace. Their lino of attack in. that case will']» to ask Franco whether she is content to see her territory laid waste in order that Britain .and-America-may command tho markets of the world. Such attempts to destroy the mutual faith that unites the Allied nations will not succeed,' but it is not on that account .'less incumbent on the Allies to fake every possible means of_ saving the highly-developed districts of Belgium and Northern France, which are still held by tho enemy from the last horrors it is in his power to. inflict. Reprisals do not offer a means of adequately punishing all the crimes of which Germany has been guilty first and last. But they offer a means of setting limits to .her further crimes, and may servo other purposes as well. Presumably the immediate reprisals advocated in tho French Chamber of Deputies would go, for the present, little beyond the aerial bombardment of .German towns and cities. Aerial force, however, is already &-mighty weapon in the hands of the Allies, and there is little doubt, that by the time the. German armies arc driven back to the near neighbourhood of their own frontier it will bo possible to run a swathe of destruction through German territory that will adequately requite any further wanton destruction carried out in Belgium and Northern France. Other forms of reprisal arc open to the Allies, which, though they cannot be instantly applied, arc'likely to bo highly effective. For instance, there is no reason why tho Allies, should not anticipate the Peace Conference by laying down tho economic conditions they will enforce at the end of the war. This would include determination of economic penalties and of the .extent to which they will bo increased in requital, of further outrages and violations., of; international law. As Sir Robert Borden; observed not long, ago, "it lies within tho united purpose and power of Great Britain and'the United States through tho command of natural resources and raw materials and by other means to place upon tho industrial and commercial development and expansion of Germany restrictions against which sho would struggle in vain " It would tend not ai little to tame and educate Germany if she were made clearly to understand that every new crime on her part: means a tightening of the economic noose she will in any caso find around her neck when the war is over. ■ .. A form of. reprisal which is likely to be as effective as any- and is second to none in squaring with the demands of justice is that of holding theltaiscr and his principal accomplices personally responsible lor the crimes committed at their bidding and on their behalf. It is certainly not unjust that tho highly-placed evildoers who liavo brought untold florror and. suffering, upon the world should be made to pay the penalty and it is fairly certain also ffiat a lu , l cicclaration by iho Allies that these men were marked down tor trial, and for punishment if their guilt were established, would tend definitely to limit and restrict Germany's further career in crime, .there is no sign yet of any strong impulse to internal reform in Germany. Hertlinq and Hintze have resigned, to the accompaniment of crocodile tears by tho Kaiser and some talk on his part also of democratic reforms, but them is nothing meantime to show that the changes in progress amount to anything more than Pan-German ma'nocuv' , ring; and. there is certainly no reason to suppose that Germany is sincerely desirous of making peace on such terms as tho Allies aro pledged to impose Tho outlook might bo very greatly changed if moans arc found of drawing a sharply-defined contrast between the actual authors of Germany's abominable crimes and the masses who obey orders. The best way to establish and emphasise this contrast is to d«clare that the Kaiser and his principal supporters will bo kid to account for Germany's crimes. Such a declaration would bo apt to intimidate these arch-oriminals and to weaken their determination to exhaust the possibilities of a defensive stand against tho Allied armies. It would amount also to the insertion of a wedge between them and the people they aro leading to ruin, and itis likely that it would potently stimulate whatever forces of revolt exist-in Germany.

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/DOM19181003.2.13

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 7, 3 October 1918, Page 4

Word count
Tapeke kupu
1,031

The Dominion THURSDAY, OCTOBER 3, 1918. TAMING AND TEACHING THE HUN Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 7, 3 October 1918, Page 4

The Dominion THURSDAY, OCTOBER 3, 1918. TAMING AND TEACHING THE HUN Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 7, 3 October 1918, Page 4

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