JUSTICE FOR REBELS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 1559, 3 June 1916, Page 4

JUSTICE FOR REBELS.

COURT-MARTIAL AT WORK,

CLEAR PROOF REQUIRED

IMPARTIAL TRIBUNALS

Justice is being dealt out to the Sinn Feiners on the pure facts proved by incontestable testimony regarding their active participation in the recent rebellion in Ireland, says a message from London, dated May sth, to an American paper. Suspicion is not enough for a court-mar-tial to condemn any man, and vengeance for the killing of soldiers or the destruction of property does not enter the minds of the military judges. There is no “dragooning to death” of the rebels. The Associated Press obtained first-hand information of the entire system of charges, evidence, trial and sentences in the cases of the men captured during the fighting or who surrendered after the collapse of the rising. As soon as a rebel falls into the hands of the authorities, his identity is established and the evidence is recorded of flic circumstances in which he is taken. The reports of officers and soldiers concerned in the capture are written down. The prisoner is placed in confinement. Then a preliminary inquiry is held and lawyers draw up the charge. The next process is the formation of a field general court-martial, of which three are sitting to dispose of cases rapidly. Each court is composed of three superior army officers. Only one of the nine judges participated in the suppression of the rebellion, so it cannot be alleged that the officers acting as. judges will bring prejudice to bear arising from their personal feelings. Before the prisoner is brought before the court the charge against him is read in full, in order that the accused may prepare to defend himself when facing the judges. Ho has no legal defender, but should he desire to call witnesses the court immediately calls them to testify in complete freedom. The court sits in a barrack-room, unsurrounded by the wigs, gowns or ceremonial of the usual civil courts.

The first proceeding is the reading of the charge. Then comes testimony for the prosecution, after which the prisoner pleads in defence if he wishes, or admits his guilt. The judges then consider the facts and deliver judgment. Should sentence on a rebel be the supreme penalty of death, as has been the case in a number of instances, the prisoner is asked whether there arc any I’elalives or friends he would like to see. If so they are immediately brought to his place of confinement .

He is also permitted to have the services of a clergyman, who remains with him until just before the sentence is carried out. Meanwhile the judgment is laid before Sir John Maxwell, the commander-in-chief in Ireland, for confirmation. General Maxwell is very humane, but he has a strong will, combined with a judicial mijul and a strict sense of duty to his country. He never has failed to peruse the evidence himself before putting the final seal on a sentence, but then he decides quickly. He is inclined to leniency in cases where the facts permit him to air it, as is shown in a. number of instances since the trials of the rebels commenced.

The confirmed judgment is promulgated by an army officer, and the following morning the condemned prisoner is shot. The execution is carried out in .the same way as in the field. The prisoner is blindfolded and placed in front of a firing squad,whose first volley is always fatal.