PUNISHING THE GUILTY.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 6, Issue 292, 13 July 1917, Page 2 (Supplement)

PUNISHING THE GUILTY.

Dr. L. P. Jacks, editor of the "Hibbcrt Journal," who is admittedly one of the leaders of thought in England, contributes to tho current number of that quarterly a weighty article oil ''punishment and reconstruction after the war." He urges that the chief task of the future will be to purge Western civilisation of the stain which the German method of conducting war has cast upon it, and, indeed, upon th.e reputation of man. "On an immense scale we have witnessed, ' he rays, "tho working of an inner necessity which l>olongs to the nature of crime, whereby the criminal is compelled to a continuous expansion of the scope of his guilt. e see him relentlessly driven on to tiie commission of greater crimes, in the vain hope that the greater will retrieve the consequences of the less. The drama, alone can adequately depict the process by tracing the guilt through ever-widening circles of devastation, until in the fifth act the wave suddenly returns and overwhelms the malefactor. The history of the Great War will be finally written in this wise. In tho fifth act will be shown the punishment of the guilty. "We are now at the fourth. The criminal has reached the point when, thanks to the forces his own crimes have summoned into being, he is fighting for his life, holding all means justified which may help him to avert his doom. Control over himself or his own actions has been lost:; ho is the mere victim of the powers to which he lias sold himself, and must do their bidding to the very last. And the same holds true of the avengers. They, too, have no alternative. Their mission is laid on them by the very nature of things. Unless they do their work, life will be to them, as it is to the criminal himself, ' a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and furv, signifying nothing.' Better that all should perish than that the toil of the ages should come to such a close. From this point of view, the punishment of giult is a duty laid upon civilisation, whose very life depends upon its being able to vindicate tho distinction between right and wrong. As a guarantee of ti:e rower and the will to maintain | 1 law anchorder, it is the indispensable foundation of a lasting peace." The vital consideration is—Who are the criminals that must be punished? To | this question Dr. Jack replies: "For ages past the life of man has been darkened an-1 blighted by the presence in the world o: a class of criminals who, under many names and disguises, and by various arts, have first befooled and then exploited the nations who tolerated them. In earlier ages these men stood forth nakedly in their trine character; they were known as tyrants, hated ns such, and put to death whenever their victims got the chance. In later times they have learnt to shelter themselves behind some 'philosophy of the State,' and, aided by science and the immense powers which science gives to had men, they have contrived new arts for the betraval of mankind. . .

It is a vain thing to explain the war in terms of ' ideas,' ' tendencies,' ' historical forces.' or other abstractions. Its cause lies in the characters and the positions of a small group of exceptionally dangerous men. Their chief representatives to-dav are well known to the whole world—best known, perhaps, among the "cry people whom they have befooled and betrayed. They arc responsible for the war and for all the faithlessness, cruelty, and general moral imbecility which have surrounded the war with the darkest crimes of history." Until these men have been removed, and all that they stand for finally discredited by the manner of their removal, tho path to a regenerated Europe is blocked. . . We might bo well content to leave all other proposals in abeyance for the time being, and to concentrate upon this as our essential aim in the war. Much that we are now trying to arrange, much that was mentioned in the Allies' statement of their aims, would arrange itself if the chief obstacle were out of the way. On the other hand, it is plain that many of tlie.-o questions—questions that touch tho most intimate rights of both belligerents and neutrals —can never bo solved so long as the chief obstacle exists, or even promises to return. The idea of a regenerated Europe, which i.; to l>egin its career with IGO millions of its inhabitants in a state of punishment, is not only an absurd notion ; it is an insane notion. Yet the truth remains, that no regeneration can until the guilty have received their deserts. It is merely a question of identifying the criminals. This can be done. Probably the total number does not much exceed that of belter men than themselves who are kided and wounded in a quiet day ' o! trench warlare.' : All dreams of a peaceful and regenerated Europe must have their starting pomt "the candeiiiiialion and tin;.l removal oi i.ii.e militaiy autocracies. '