The Punta Gorda herald. [volume] (Punta Gorda, Fla.) 1893-1958, 1918-12-12
HUNS MUST ATONE T
SAYS LLOYD GEORGE
For Crimes Committed by Ger.
man War Lords
KAISER MUST BE PUNISHED
International Court to Take Juris-
diction. Central Powers Must
Pay Full Damages Before Mat
ter is Finally Settled.

What Llyod George, prime
minister of Great Britain, said on
Dec. 5th regarding the response
bility of the kaiser and his satel-
lites for the numberless monstrous
crimes committed by their direc-
ton during the war and the treat
ment of the German spies who in
tested every country and abused
its hospitality, applies as much to
what should be the attitude of the
United States as it does to Eng
lands position. The Herald,
therefore, gives the substance of
what he said, as reported by the
Associated Press:
IN the detailed re-statement of
his policy, issued by Premier
Lloyd George calling for the trial
and punishment of the men re-
sponsible for the war, however
high their place, he pledged the
entire influence of the British gov
ernment at the peace conference
to see that justice was done.
Declaring for the expulsion and
exclusion of all enemy aliens from
British soil, the Premier pointed
out that considerable proportion
of~the enemy residents in the
United Kingdom during the war
had abused British, hospitality
and thus had forfeited their
claims to remain.
In his statement, the premier,
after paying warm tribute to
the soldiers and sailors of the en-
pire, said:
"The kaiser must be prose
cuted; the war was a crime. Who
doubts that? 1t was frightful,
terrible crime! It was a crime in
the way in which it was planned
and in the deliberate wantonness
with which it was provoked. 1t
also was a crime in the invasion
of helpless little state and in the.
wicked and most brutal treatment
of that little state. Remember
the treaty of neutrality, the scrap
of paper!
Surely the war was a crime.
The fact that all these iniquitous
things were done in the name of
war and under the imperial edict
Of an autocrat does not change
their nature. The war was hid
eous and abominable crime; a
crime that has sent millions of
our young men to death, injured
many and left myriads' of homes
n desolation. Is no one response
'leg Is no one to be called to
account? Is there to be no pun
shment? Surely that is neither
iod's judgment nor man S. The
nen responsible for this outrage
N the human race must not be I
ct out because their heads were {
rowned when they perpetrated S
he deed. /,
"The British government re-
erred the question of the criminal /
ulpability of the kaiser and his '
complies to their law officers b
ONE weeks ago. They invited Il
ody of juf1sts in England to in t
estigate the matter and they v
ave unanimously come to the \
that the kaiser and his
complies in the making of this
ar ought to be tried by, an inter- il
ational court. They also report lis
/ strongly in favor of trial of j,
lose guilty of murder on the 81
Ugh seas and the abominable ill d
'eatment of prisoners. O
"The British government will a
Sc its whole influence at the It,
eace conference to see that JUS 2
ce is executed. W
after what has happened in IL
lie last four or five years, it is cl
apostolic to entertain in curl
Concluded on page q III