THE TREATMENT OF PRISONERS OF WAR IN 1870.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 5, Issue 207, 8 September 1916, Page 1 (Supplement)

THE TREATMENT OF PRISONERS OF WAR IN 1870.

In 1870 Germany tl : d not treat her prisoners of war in the same brutsl manner she is doing now, and it would be instructive to investigate the cause of the change that has taken place in the national character. In August, 1870 the Berlin corespondent of a London daily paper reported: " The first batch of French prisoners, containing 4SC rank and file, arrived here yesterday a J s : x o'clock. ... I dare say then

rera not less than 50,000 people at he terminus. Even the huge supper )lace for the prisoners was filled to the ;he brim, thsu rendering their passage :o their seats extremely difficult. Only the presuasive powers of the ladies who presided made the crowd yield. The prisoners got each a large basin of bouillon au riz, boiled beef, bread and cheese, a pint of beer, and a cigar; everything—l tasted it myself—of th<» best quality. . . Supper finished, the ladies presented correspondenc cards to the prisoners to wr.te to their friends ... It rendered the French extremely at their ease to be waited upon by so many pretty and .elegant girls, who all fluently spoke French. . . The German soldiers who accompanied the prisoners were enthusiastic with regard to the bravery with which the French had fought after Gaisberg had been stormed." We see from this that a generation ago the Germans seemed to have possessed the chivalrous feelings of a civilised race. It may be remembered that it was France who in 1870 declared war, and was made to appear the aggressor. Frenchmen who had been prisoners of war in those days seldom came bads, with any tales of hardship. They were never struck, as our sold'ers are now, w'ith the butt of a rifle; they were not starved, nor robbed of their personal belongings. There is a decided difference in the treatment of prisoners to-day, and the only* explanat'on which can be giv.en is that Kultur (as known in Germany) has mad* a tremendously retrogressive stride under the rule of the irresponsible grandson of the First Emperor Wilhelm, who was, besides a Sovereign, i soldier and a man.