BLATCHFORD ON REPRISALS.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 6, Issue 292, 13 July 1917, Page 4 (Supplement)

BLATCHFORD ON REPRISALS.

THE CHANNEL FIGHT AND POLITENESS TO SEA-THUGS.

Tho British are not go;*I haters, and one hopes they ' never will be good haters. Tim British are good sportsmen, and one hopes) tiiey will always be good sportsmen. But a good sjKirtsman plays the k'inie, plays it magnanimously and courteously, and at the same time maintains the rules. It is no part of sportsmanship to pay fine" compliments to opponents who play foul.

A gallant eneinv is an enemy who conducts war in the spirit of a gentlenun, who is incapable of cruelty, oi murder, of dastardly foul play, of any form of malignant ferocity or crima.

A brave enemy does not violate women, torture prisoners, murder the wcunded, plunder civilians, devastate orchards, sink hospital ships, mutilate children, loot churches, burn villages, drop bombs upon sleeping hamlets or crowded cities, bombard undefended watering places, rob the sick of medicines. and shoot nurses. A gallant enemy i-; not a lustful brute, nor a bully, nor a braggart, nor a liar, nor ;i boor neither is he a sneak, a spy, or a traitor.

A brave—or gallant—enemy cannot be a Hun. and a Hun cannot be a brave, gallant enemy.

WHERE'S THE BRAYERY?

Why, then, did the Yice»-Adniiral of Dover, dedicate the wreath he sent to the funeral of the dead German sailors to " a brave enemv"?

(It is dt/nied jifficiallv that tho Admiral used the word "gallant.")

Wherein lies the bravery of men guilty o>f such treachery as that disclosed in tiie wonderful story of the fight of our destroyers Broke and Swift ? Did not that German sailors lire on the crew of the wrecked British submarine ? Do not German sailors sink hospital ships? I)o not the German sailors turn civilians, women and children among them, adrift in boats in the open and wintry sea? Did not the German sailors sink the Lusitania? Did they not Wnbard Scarl>orough and other English watering places? Did they not throw shells into the cottage gardens of beautiful Fimchal?

NO NEED FOR PRETTY COMPLIMENTS.

In there any sense in paying pretty compliments to an enemy who is consistently a braggart and a dastard and ii. murderer and a b'ackguard and brute? Is it creditable to us to be so weakly sentimentally "politeful''? Though the British are incapable of hatred, though they are too 'heaflthy and too hearty for revenge, though they are merciful and forgiving to the verge of folly, yet it is a matter of vital im|)ortance to the nation and the Empire that our people should not forget. We shall forgive too easily, we shall punish too lightly; biit do not let us commit the criminal blunder of again trusting that treacherous and murder--0111 raca

Magnanimity to the thugs would bo a crime against our own people and tne people of our Allies. The Germans do not understand magnanimity. They are so far from being gallant that they do not know what gallantry mean.s. To call these ruffians gallant would be to mislead our people, already too prone to forget and forgive. THE SAME VILLAINS. On the night of the Channel action tiie heroic German sailors were out to murder our Prime Minister. They probably belonged to the same flotilla which recently fired shells into some of < ur mista! towns ill the hope of murdering a lew women and children. They were in full sympathy with the other brave enemies who sank the hospital ships. It is an insult to the national intelligent' to describe such curs as heroes.

Let u■; remind ourselves for a moment ol the latest example,* of German gallantry on linu and sea. A little while ago three British prisoners of war escaped from the German lines. A British (fficer, who has met tlie*e prisoners, has ,iu*t written home about them. Mo - iv.s :

"Tliev were, captured in January. Rii: -c t'leli one has lo.st five stone ill weight. They have become quiti' tin-, ret ognisable. They were treated like

l ives, had to work for eisjlit jiours a < I:iy under shell lire on half a Gtirman. loaf and n pint of thin soup, were !«■;»ten with the butts of rifles if tliev even straightened their backs, and if they dared to sav they were feeling ill they Here driveii out with horse-whips." THE CI'HS WHO ARK CAUGHT. Now when we capture some of the curs who so tortured our men, it may be proper to give them food and beds and cigarette*, but is there any sense in addressing them as brave enemies-' Let in turn next to an exhibition of bravery on the part of tb-V German army and navy. Last Tuesday the brave German navy distinguished itself by torpedoing two British hospital snips, due of these ships, the Lanfranc, caried a number of German ouers, officers of the PrmKinn Guard. When the ship was struck b.y a- torpedo near the engine-room the Arave and galhuit Prussian Guardsmen went mad with terror. With a gallantry pe-uliar to the Huns they rushed for the gangways. blocking them up. Tiiey Campled upon Kngli-h wounded men. Tliev fought and scntomndl. Tm*y made a gallant and unselfi-h attempt to the boats and had to be cowed 11the revolvers of the shin's officer*.

Meanwhile tlio British wounded came up on dork, liclpinn tin* wounded German-. up. and )'.• 1 1 in. quietly .standing to n11.• 111 i'■ ii. Presently a couple of liriti-ll (|. -tM.yiTs <]::-llcil llj) to help. 'I ho (■ t 'i"iii ft lis tlioiiirht tlif.v were < *:' rluan ships an.l eil'el to t!u"ii for snv- • ;r, hut fin:liiri . nt tlu-ir nti-t ike tic.till to tin- Kaiser in in tin hravc-t way. I(1 >KIXc til''-" T'> SAYK IMU Tinr.- ci; - wcro save:] l.v t!ie Briii-li destroyers at yrcat risk and Merc li-oio..|it [-> wlcre sonic of tl.e ("O'.vd. not II i:<icrst:i in I in«r the Gennall I rand cf I raven, had tliij had tast • t-i him then). < Hi. if (inc sio-lis lor •ra!I'nitry I. t one regard il when it is diI ! .veil h\ I ll' I.rave -ailol'S of tile Gelui.in navy and the hravc soldiers of tin- 11 r • \ e I * r i is . i a 11 (■ u a I'd ! And |et a k ourselves ;i Ikt'.-i . on. It wo German <!"-trover-; ; i .'I ; -'Pie op I'l I'l'soii.' I lie l'l\lVe so|- .'!■:! of (he I 'r i ■ -s • a ii Guard, would C'ev have i mi all o'vlra n-k to :• I'the Brit ish u oiiude ! '? Whether or not o.ii -.ailors were inora'ly just ■ fl I'd in taking li-ks to save l'n-.. it;".ilv Pn;s-iau Blackcuardslllt II il ;; <(U.i-t'!l Vel'V wile oiie'l to .ii ; - - -ion . We \\ ill not di-c;i-;s it. I?ilf I • 11-• -< rilit- su-li fllish, d.i(.t:.rd!y. and tr . i J :c: "Us lulihc's V a~e c.H'rnics i-

to commit an indiscretion which one may hope will not be rejxvited. And now we come to the difficult subject oi reprisals. When our Government threatened to take suitable repriy jlf in case any of our hospital ships were mink by the so brave an enemy, I confess I marvelled greatly what form these suitable reprisals .would assume. Thev assumed the form of an aerial he in bard me nt of the German town of Frieburg.

THE COMMOXSEXSE OF REPRISALS.

One cannot regard the results a.s sntisiactorv. \\ e killed a few German civili.ms, and women amongst them, and we lost a fc.v brave airmen. That was not a good exchange. To produce a really telling effect on the German mind our air raid should be on an extensive scale, and should be made ujKin Hamburg, or Munich, or Berlin. Such a raid would Ih l justifiable in view of tlie deliberate atrocities and outrages committed by the Huns*. Xaturally any dtvent member of a ci\ili.-ed nation hates the idea of dropping bombs upon unfortified towns and killing women and children. Hut if sucii a horrible act could bring home to t!io enemy an understanding of their own crimes, antfr so be the of saving cur own women and children and the women and children of our Allies, it could not very well be regarded as unjustified.

It has to be acknowledged, however, that ;ii birr and effective raid on any of the great (ierman cities Ls not possib'e. If such a r.iid is impossible, it were Letter not to make a raid at all. The fact is that there is no form of reprisal open to us or our Allies which would oroduce t ffectual results. There is nothing we can do to the enemy which tiie eneiuv cannot do to us. And when it conic* f!> a contest of •'frightfulness," the Huns are willing to go farther and to tsink lower than any other Kuropean nation. It would .seem to be good wisdom to leave reprisals alone, and to devote all our energies to defeating tin- enemy.

SHALL WE HANG THE KAISER?

After tiie enemy is defeated we can do better than take reprisals. We can inflict punishments. For my own part I confess l that the ide:\ cf reprisals and punishnientß leaviv; me cold. Defeat the enemy and di-arni him, and the question of punishment is of relatively small importance. \\ hetiier or. not we dethrone ajnd hang the Kai>er, whether or not wo try the Crown Prince :iud other criminals by court-martial, we must make up our minds that we will never trust the Huns again, that we will make them absolutely impotent for evil in future.

We are not good ha'ters, and we sliould not waste vital energy in hating the Huns, but let us not forget, let us never trust the sneaking, tre:y-herous tliugj again. COIRTESIES FOR JACK THE RIPPER. Anv reprisal is right which will help r.s to defeat so dastardly a| foe. Any punishment is right which will render the future safe for irs and our Allies. \\ e must destroy his naval :jid military power, and curb his financial and comlner -ial expansion, not because we envy him, but bi-cause he envies us. We must not tru-.t liini, because lie is not to be trusted.

Tiiat is why I say it is not a triviil thing but a -erious mistake to allude to a gang of bloodthirsty, pirati- al rufli ins as "Brave enemies." It is not tust: it is not true: it is not expedient; i! helps to lnMe id tile country ; it heljK th:< treacherous kii'ive.s of Germany to bptrav us again.

il the (iermans -ink ;i ship afiain>t the laws of war. iiml leave tlii'ir own wounded well :is ours to drown, there is no inoril reason w.'iv our seamen should v;ive the (German wounded. I <-. iii mi- no reason except' British good n: tuv air! tlie itihred and inhorn bravely and gallantry of British sailor.; for : tas the crews of the two British u ted, and a.s the Britisli wounded soldier" ivted in the ease of t ie hospital ship l.anfrar<\ I.et us put fresli limit to our cliivIry and t'oi heiraiice. Do not let ut w; -t.- courtesies upon .Tack the Kipper, in- tus-t pretty compliments acro-s the jrrave of Dr Crip|ien. Brave and jra!lai't, enemies? No! BI.ATCII l-'OKl).