The Daily News. MONDAY, DECEMBER 30, 1918. RESPONSIBILITY OF EXKAISER.

Taranaki Daily News, 30 December 1918, Page 4

The Daily News. MONDAY, DECEMBER 30, 1918. RESPONSIBILITY OF EXKAISER.

"Unless someone is held responsible for a war which, has taken millions of the best young men in Europe, it will mean that there is one justice for the wretched criminal, and another for kings and emperors." Such were the words of the British Premier recently, and they conveyed to the world the hope thai; the eX-Kaiser would be brought to the bar of justice, there to be tried for his crimes and receive a fitting sentence if pronounced guilty. Mr Lloyd George's pronouncement was received with general approbation, but there is a feeling that mere words, without the requisite action to give full effect thereto, are of little value. It may be that the Allies consider it inadvisable to bring the author of the greatest crime in history before a tribunal until after peace is signed. If so, such a postponement would seem to be a grave error of policy. Moreover, by taking the preliminary steps and making the ex-Kales:- a prisoner, would probably expedite the process of securing a stable and reliable Government In Germany with whom the Allies could settle the terms of pejiec. Although it is a canon of British justice to regard a person oa trial as innocent until he has been found guilty on tin evidence produced on both.sides, the mass of accumulated evidence as to the ex-Kaiser's guilt is so overwhelming and conclusive, thai so far as the court of public opinion is concerned the Verdict, o. guilty hf.s already been recorded. As to his responsibility for the war itself the evidence is so strong that it cannot be shaken. He waa the potter and Austria the clay moulded to his own designs. The Dunedin Star draws an interesting comparison between Wilhelm II and the great Napoleon, thus: '•"What will happen to the ex-Kaiser when lio is arraigned before the grand assize of the nation,-j ca:i w-sll be surmised if the tragedy of the Hundred Days is remembered. Napoleon was the military autocrat of Europe for iO years, and the 'tramp of his legions was wellnigh continuous during the whole of that period. After Austerlitz and other, great victories he became practically the Dictator of lljropa, and distributed kingships amongst his brothers much in the same fashion as the dethroned Kaiser attempted to do during the lute war period. .... The extant of the

mischief wrought by these two Wa'r Lords' ambitions for world-wide dominion ma;/ in. s'bme measure, but by no means fully, b e expressed, by a financial gauge. The overthrow of Napoleon ■nvolved the British in c, war debt of £000,000,000; but it is estimated that the vaulting ambition oi the ex-liaiser, that has so egregiously o'er-leapt itself, will saddle Britai-i with a debt totalling £9,000,000,0(50- 'in other words, the war that was brought, about and engineered by Germany lias Wrought more': devastation in 'less than five years than Napoleon was responsible for during. Ihe •20 years' war that fed, but ttid rjot satisfy, his ambition." ' '

Whatever plea may be advanced by the dethroned Kaiser in explanation or otherwise for being declared, there can be no po •sible justification of the series of horrible Crimes committed by the. Germans during the courrse of the war, . Take the sinking of the Lusitania, for Instance, sunk by the Kaiser's orders with two thousand non-combatant passengers aboard. Even supposing he could prove (which is extremely unlikely) that he did not actually give the order for this inhuman outrage, 'there is no question that he was an accessory to the murder, and that to mark his approval of the crime he ordered a school holiday so that German children might celebrate the foul murder. Such an act is quite ia keeping with the order given by luu to the soldiers sc-ui; to suppress the Boxer rising. "Let all who fall into your hands," he said, "be at your mercy. Just asthe Huns a thousand years ago, under the leadership of Etzel (Attila), gained a reputation in virtue of which thp>«t:ll live in historical tradition, so may the name of Germany become known in such a, manner" in 'China that .no ■ Chinaman will ..ever again even dare Ao iook nsk-

ance at a German." He knew that the combined forces cooperating to crush the Boxers must succeed, and therefore the rebels would be impotent to resent the methods of subjugation employed against them. May it not be reasonably assumed thatthe Germans were so certain of victory in the war which has jr.;;:. concluded that they never ceriously contemplated what would happen to them if they failed? Either that, or the gamble was so desperate that they took all.chances, relying on their ability to wriggle out of punishment. The lust of wanton cruelty and devastation obseesed these Hum, and then* ruler rewarded them with flattering words and iron crosses. Had not the Kaiser said to Mr Gerard: "I Have dreamed a dream of world empire, and my mailed fist shall succeed?" The civilised world is anxiously awaiting 1 lie trial of the author of all the crimes which haye been perpetrated in connectioa with the war', and the sooner thin is brought, about the better it will be for the nations, as the example should be a- powerful deterrent to all lustful, ambitious moaai'chs.