The Taihape Daily Times. AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE THURSDAY, JULY 10, 1919. CRIME AND PUNISHMENT.

Taihape Daily Times, 10 July 1919, Page 4

The Taihape Daily Times. AND WAIMARINO ADVOCATE

THURSDAY, JULY 10, 1919. CRIME AND PUNISHMENT.

With w.‘:.ich is incorporated “The Taihape Post and Waimarino . ' News.”

There is now noddouht that the exKaiser . win he cgmpelled to stand 011 trial, in England, for the h°"ible atrocities history has 311'33dY Pmved him to be guilty of. The Pea?-8 Terms mxa-de it clear that it was if-he °Pini°ll of the Peace Conference that laws of humanity demanded Wilhclm’s‘ trial and punishment, in accordance with his guilt as disclosed in whatever evidence might be forthcoming; but while those terms ‘remained unsigned there was the possibility, also some MO- - they might be altered_ In fact, intelligence received yesterday seems to indicate that those pol‘tiollS of the peace terms relating to the exKai:er’s trial and punishment have been more discussed, and have given the Germans more concern than all the money clauses. Wilhelm’s sons and German generals, including Hindemburg, have offered their lives to save their‘corrupt«-Kaiser,-and now it seems that Wilhelm’s ‘ sentence has been promulgated before his trial, and before he is actually in Allied hands. By‘ some influence in the Conference which decided upon his destiny, it seems that the death penalty is not to be paid, and that this “Baron Munchausen, Duke of Alva and-Ne'ro,~ of RO:ne,AWith abig seasoning‘ of something much more inhuman and diabo-

llical than either, and all, oflthese {were capable of, is to be exiled to a ;lonely island to ruminate over what might have been and, if his deep-dyed ‘soul will permit it,' to repent of his unparalleled crimes. The German military caste will die hard; it was built to rule the world, now destined, ,by human ‘decree, to an ignominious extinction. Hindenburg says that he, :.and all German officers will put their glives at the Allies’ disposal rather ;than permit their already caged All,highest. to be extradited and put on {his trial by more common men. There iarc qualms of German Eonsciencc [whether the Allies are capable of givEing at fair trial; some think Britain is 11101: serious in her expressed V determination to arraign this greatest of all criminals. After refiectingover -wlrat the world knows, and over what humanity has experienced of Wilhelm Hohenzollern’g whole life and its one great scheme of friglitfulriess that Was built up to secure absolute rule over all mankind,‘ we, too, doubt whether any earthly court can" be established that could even approach anything like a just verdict, or inflict anything like a just punishment. The only chance there is of securing a court to do justice to this Hohenzollern case might be got together in those regions the great Dante so luridly pourtrays. We are convinced that no fair and just trial is possible between earth and heaven, and it is only Question‘ able whether such a lusticiary is fm-ma.b]e at the bottom and between earth and hell. There is no room for revenge in such :1 case, jfistice beggars all revenge, and all revengeful minds can invent. BY Some: WllO evidently have little or no 801180 Of justice, and about the same quantity of reasoning powers, it is 5315 that the Hobenzollern chief did not commit the awful crimes or perform the frightful acts with which he is charged. One might as well say the brutal anarchist who placed the bomb and lit the time fuse did not destroy the life and property in the building it blow to smithereens, Germans know their country is suffering from"the acts of aha Arch-fiend who Is now within Allied rcach,Vand they have signed, and will ratify, the document that is to bring him to the bar of justice? Let there be no silly maudlin sentiment about the Kaiser’s kingsnip; stripped

of _-.11 their trappings, kings are discovered just as mere ordinary individuals, as prone to crime, as susccptible to punishment. aiid among them are as great craven and cowardly brutes as there are found in the Worst localities in coal and iron districts in the Old Country. It has been decided by the Conference that the ex~Kaiser cannot be tried for commencing the war, for prior to the war it Was not an international crime, although it may become a crime under the League of Nations. It is also found that no indictment can lie for [having invaded Belgium, for although -the treaty guaranteeing ‘Belgium,-’s

neutrality was" 11‘ legal‘- contract, itwas not international laW,'as agreed upon by all nations.’ There are the multitudinous murders, however,[that Were committed with his ‘sanction, for, though he was the All—Highest andeould have _prevented ‘them, he allowed them to continue, and in some instances even decorated» the perpetrators of the most horrifying crimes tliatwere no part of war. He“ had supreme control of -the ‘murdering gangs and‘ crews that Were almost daily astounding and horrifying the world with some new hellish device for human destruction; he encouraged 31053 gangs and crews to go on'doing their devilish tasks,‘ and on that count if PTOVOd; 110 is liilbl'e'to the greatest. Dunishment it ‘is within the power of any human tribunal ‘to order or inflict‘. Did any of the ‘Allies perform any -acts that ciouldbe placed in the same category as the -murder of Captain Fryatt. and the martyfliom of Edith Cavell?' Ten thousand times, No! Were the Allies guilty of any crime that ever commenced to be comparable with the sinking of the Lusitania, British justice revolts at the thought even. These, and hundreds of similar cases were not acts of-war. they were the outcome of the ravings of minds that were capable of nothing but a hideous terrorism with which they had been crammed by a 111i1itflI‘}’ system, of which the Hohenzollern criminal was the 'lieEtd and controller. We are horrified by a few Chinese, or lunafics of some other nationality running amok, and slaying a few innocent individuals, but here we have a huge empire running amok of the world, led by a criminal who has devoted his whole life to organising and building ‘up system and machinery "to commit llitherto_unimaginable crimes on a hitherto unimaginable comprehensiveness; is such a criminal to go unpunished? We venture to predict that failure to exact. that which is reasonable _in questions of.erimo and its retributions at this stage of restoring the world to what should prove humane government, will have an ill-effectupon law and ..ordcr in the future_ To_let the "ex-Kaiser go iree from answering for his unprecedented" crimes would simply be to shock and impair the conscience of the whole Vcivilised world. ‘iV_Vhe_n any individual. 'commits.- a.. cold-blooded crime he. knows’ that he is earning the punishment law Vpprescribes for that crime. Was the late Gaerman Emperor less conscious of his guilt and its consequences than the every day criminal is. No, his mind was obsessed with almost preciselypvsimilar thoughts, and hopes. He,,like the common burglar "and murderer, hoped to outwit and avoid the resentment of his victims; he thought to enjoy alld enrich himself, gratify his evil desires and tastes by the cl-iminalacts he had determined upon, and like the common "c'ijilninal.heV must go'ithl'o,lAlgl_l thc>VVVllole_ Ise_l'formance’ u'—nd_e'r human_ laws hisicrimes‘ invoke. It _is.'a_"d_ang'er to___the_ future well-being’ of humanity to it endeavour to stop the machinery‘ of law in its. relation to crime, at anytime, but more especially dangerous in so unprecedented a case‘ of unprovoked guilt as that for which Williani Hohenzollern is to be arraigned —g