WILLIAM THE ASSASSIN.

Taranaki Daily News, 11 October 1919, Page 9

WILLIAM THE ASSASSIN.

ll v ■ ■*■ ;'| ETHICS OF HIS TRIAL I) The worst of all ways of dealing with ~ the Kaiser is to bring him before a t leisurely tribunal in London," states the n Outlook. "There is no precedent for 0 applying the common law of England to t a foreign ruler, and a precedent created y might operate very awkwardly in future But there is a very good precedent for e dealing with a European nuisance—the r .precedent of Napoleon; and that might very well be followed in this case." ij The Law Journal declares that "the ~ so-called trial of the ex-Kaiser" is a i political act pure and simple. It possesses no foundations whatever y either in the principles common to the . jurisprudence of the world, or in any . known body of law, or in any recognised . code of procedure. The charge is drawn 1 with that astute vagueness of which only i the modern politician, with his eye on I the electorate, is capable, the offences - alleged being 'against humanity and the ;, sanctity of treaties.' In other words, the r justice to be administered is at present s undefined, unformulated, and adaptable , in advance to any conceivable situation. s An attempt is being made, by mounting • this piece of political play-acting in : quasi-legal trappings, to pretend to the ] > world that some question of law is in- i > yolyed in which some persons holding ! ■ judicial office will take part, and so give | i an appearance of legality to the proceed- i II ings. It is necessary, therefore, to make I J it clear that, to jurists and the legal (

vote-catching business has no more than a political interest." Sir Donald Maclean, M.P., leader of the Independent Liberals in the House of Commons, speaking at Birmingham, said he regretted that the Kaiser should be tried in London. He admitted there was nothing too bad for a man of that kind, a miserable, strutting coward on the world's stage, but he doubted very much whether it was in consonance with the dignity and fine attitude of this country to claim the presence of that contemptible wretch in the principal city of the British Empire. By all means try him, but send liim to some little neutral State, Give him a fair trial, but send the creature away." Notwithstanding the official announcement that the Kaiser is to be granted a fair trial, 1 can observe no general disposition to treat his case as sub judice," says "Jade" in the New Statesman. "Looking through one newspaper the other day, I found Mr. Tillett calling foi his ex-Majesty's removal from the earth. Sir Gilbert Parker demanding his internment in some distant island, and Lady Byron supplementing a plea for a judicial investigation with the palpably biassed remark that should the defendant not be condemned to the gallows or the guillotine, then the foullest deeds must be applauded and floral tributes laid on j the shrine of Satan. Even 'an eminent K.C.,' writing on the subject under that I designation, is betrayed at one point into speaking of the accused person as 'the greatest criminal in history,' and, indeed, it must be difficult for anybody in these islands to think or speak otherwise. Obviously, however, these aro scarcely 3s terms ut which ft truis.Jtfdkial jnj.

n partiality would express itself." "We have got to publish, for all the 11 world to see, the results of, and the 0 spirit of, Prussian frightfulness," says the l j Spectator. "But one of the best ways, " perhaps the best of all, for doing this, c is the solemn record of a criminal trial It is idle to say that it shows want of " magnanimity, or that it is like kicking V a man when he is down, for the victors J to hold up his misdeeds before the eyes *! of the world. We must never forget, as ' t we have just said, that it is only those ' who are successful who can do this. We dare not miss this opportunity of putting e the brand of Cain upon the ■ brow of Prussianism. The coming generation must know and fear the Nemesis of Cruelty and Hate, of Blood Lust and the 1 Pitilessness of a deified Materialism."