The review. [volume] (High Point, N.C.) 1908-19??, 1919-07-31

| that sympathetic recollection OF tnOs
times Influenced Shuts attitude t.
ward the kNisc1, will require u gred
deal of confederation before it can b
accepted. 1t is true, as SHUTS saiC
that the South African war Taste
nearly two years after the first ovel
lures; but hitherto it has been SUI
posed that the obstacle was the unwi
lingness of the Beers to assent to fol-
NAL extinction CT their independence
Certainly the Peace Of Vereaningine
finally concluded in 1902, provided
complete amnesty for everybody.
There was no parallel between the
leases of the Boer officers and William
HOhenzOllern; they had no. commit
ted a. supreme offense against inter
national morality and the sanctity OF
treaties" nor indeed any offense at
all. There was no reason why they
should have been given up, or asked
for; and the entire course of events
makes it extremely improbable that
tie demand was ever made. There is
good reason, both moral and practical,
frr asking for the surrender of the
kaiser. Moreover, the allegation that
the South African war was prOtracted
by this supposed demand is beside the
point, in view of the fact that the
present war is already over, and has
been since November II. To be sure
statesman who has seen and ex-
perienced the good results of the
policy OF cancellation pursued by the
victOrs in South Africa may reason
ably plead for "a spirit of pity mercy
and fGrgivenes:" but there was moth
ing in South Africa which called for
such an excessive amount of forgive
ness as the crimes committed by the
irmy which sWOre personal allegiance
to the kaiser, or by the ruler and
statesmen who began the war Moro
probably General SHUTS had in mind
the vigorous activity of the National
lists in South Africa-reDressed when
they broke into rebellion, by Botha
and himself and other sensible men,
but now active and vociferous. He
may have thought that a South Afri-
can politician would fare better here
after if ne had made a display of mild
ness toward the defeated enemy
However, a plenary session with all
present was not the
place to say all this; and while Gen
eral SHUTS. like, perhaps, the dele
gate from Honduras who was so un-
feelingfy shut off, would have liked to
say his say, it was we'll that he was
not permitted. Somewhere between
April Is and May he was convinced
that he could afford to let the rest of
the allied world have it's way; and the
fact that, he was eventually satisfied
with making a general statement
about the PEACE treaty is plausible
reason for thinking that the whole af-
fair was largely intended for an Afrik-
ander Buncombe.
1t may be true that the Germans
will resent the trial of the kaiser-at
least, that some Germans will. But
those Germans who will resent it will
resent anything; their resentment at
losing the war can hardly be height
ened by anything else. The whole
question is a matter of practical ex-
pediency as we'll as Of justice. An ex-
ample must be made of a ruler who
used his, enormous power for an at
tack upon a peaceful world. There
is good reason for thinking> that the
example Of Napoleon might have been
followed, that the allied powers might
by their own authority have relocated
him to an exile as safe as any can be
made in these days of aviation He
must receive exemplary punishment,
and he must be removed to some place
more remote than Amerongen, where
he cannot be made the center of legi-
tinist plots disturbing to Germany
and the world
AS for resentment there would be
universal resentment if the greatest
criminal of the Wharf.-The criminal
whcse supreme offense against inter
national morality and the sanctity of
treaties" made the lesser crimes pos
sible-should escape without any pun
but the loss of his throne, and
this loss which he might ultimately
retrieve. Nobody suppcses that the
kaiser is going to be hanged; aside
from the, express stipulation that his
life was to be spared, which has been
credited to the American delegation,
we may suppose that the other allied
leaders can recognize that such pun
ishment as this is far too slight for
theoretical justice and far too heavy
for practical desirability. After his
triaIathe kaiser will be no worse off
materially than he is today; we all
know. that he will end his days in
some country house, probably as com
Portable as the, castle at Amerongen.
where he will have enough to. eat, and
a garden to walk in, and any number
o. logs Ito saw up. But he will have
been sent to this easy prison after
solemn trial by judges OF the highest
character, after full inquiry into the
crime with which he is charged, after
the presentation Of all evidence and
opportunity for counsel for the de-
tense to make all possible pleas for
the prisoner. The moral effect of such
a sentence will be a long time in dying
out; and those Germans who resent it