The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER. WEDNESDAY, MAY 27, 1914. THE GERMAN MILITARY.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXIX, Issue 30, 27 May 1914, Page 4

The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER. WEDNESDAY, MAY 27, 1914. THE GERMAN MILITARY.

Germany has just issued a new order regarding the use of weapons by her soldiers. The first section deals with the use of weapons on the individual initiative of military persons. This section contains fresh provisions, pronouncing the right and obligation of military persons to use their weapons in so far as may be requisite for the removal of any obstacle placed in the way of their official activity, or in order to ward off any attacks on military persons or military property. Cases of the use of weapons are included in this section, and one provision recognises the right of a soldier to use his weapons to repel attacks on the honor of himself or others. The second section deals with the employment of the military for the suppression of internal disorders and the execution of the law. This section is headed by an enunciation of the principle that it is in the first 1 place the duty of the civil authorities to suppress internal disorders in their inception and to maintain order, and that the military is not called upon to co-operate therein and may not be employed for the mere reinforcement of the police, as in such cases the leadership must always be In single hands. For this reason it is laid down that when the military are called in as auxiliaries by the civd authorities, the direction of the measures to be taken rests alone upon the military commander until such time as order has been restored. The third section regulates the independent intervention of the military in the case of war or martial law, and in cases of State emergency. In cases of State emergency, the military are authorised and obliged to intervene without any request from th» civil authorities, should, in oase«

of urgent danger for the public safety, the civil authorities not be iu a position to make any such request on ing to external circumstances. "Whilst the “Berliner Tageblatt” maintains that the new ordinance regarding aimed intervention by the soldiery drops the letter of the old Cabinet order of 1820* on which the Zabern officers based their action, but retains its spirit, the “Vossische Zoitung” and others read into the summary published by the Government organ the conclusion that such interference as that of Colonel Router at Zabern is no longer possible because the military can henceforth only intervene on i.ts own authority when the civil authorities are do facto prevented from applying for aid. or when the civil authorities altogether abandon matters. In such cases the military take entire charge over the situation, as there may not he any mixed authority. The Conservative Press almost unanimously describes the ordinance as a victory for democracy, and expresses grave fears regarding the results of this concession to Radicalism. .