The Birkenhead News and Wirral General Advertiser. — 1916-06-28 (Birkenhead, Merseyside, England)

EMT WEDNESDAY LED EIATINISAY.  WEDNESDAY. JUNE 28, 1916.  The  degeneracy of the Germans his been luridly illustrated in many directions since the war began. From the beginning they have consistently maintained the gospel of frightfulness inculcated by teachers such as Bernhardi and Treitschke, and have resolutely closed their hearts against all appeals of humanity and common decency. Their sage through Belgium was marked by $ trail of murder and rapine to equal which one would have to go back to the tones of Attila or the Duke of Alva, an? the same policy of utter ruthlessness was pursued in Poland and Serbia. But for the ctimes committed in Belgium and elsewhere the excuse can at least be advanced that they were the crimes of a spidiery maddened by blood lust and infuriated by opposition. It-is. a poor plea in extenuation of savagery,, and one that ean have little weight in view of the terrible records of facts published iron time to time by official and neutral observen, but nevertheless it carries some weight with those whose historical! reading has shown them to what depths of infamy an infuriated soldiery can sink when undisciplined, or, worse still, ',many egged on by .their superiors to give • hill rein. to passion. The ihdletment which, when the present welter of bloodshed and misery has ceased to appal mankind, the German nation will have to answer, will not, however, be based solely or perhaps even chiefly-upon what, has taken place in the equal *tag; areas. Some of the most,sertous comets of the indictment will undoubtedly be framed on charges which cannot be met on the ground that the crimes committed were unpremeditated and carried out in hot blood. Far more; sinister, as revealing the soul of a people, than the massacres in Serbia and Belgium the burnings, lootings, minders, and outrages • upon the civil population which marked the progress of the German hordes in these and other countries—is the calculated cruelty which' the Germans have consistently practised towards people whom, by all the laws of humanity and chivalry, they were bound to treat* with consideration if not with sympathy. The Hague Convention laid down special rules and regulations for prisoners of war, fixing a minimum scale for their accommodation in regard to food, lodging, and sanitary well-being. All three rules the German authorities have callously and in the most cowardly fashion ignored. They have not hesitated to vent their spite far the dissipation of their dreams of world-conquest upon those whose utter misfortune it has been , to fall into their hands. A few months ago the revelations in regard to the notorious Wittenberg Camp sent a thrill of horror through the civilised world. It was proved up to the hilt that at Wittenberg conditions which would have disgraced any barbarous people under the sun were deliberately encouraged, with the inevitable result, that a frightful epidemic broke out among the prisoners, all soldiers who had gallantly fought for their respective countries. he outbreak of disease was the signal for a stampede on the part of the German doctors and guards, with the result that hundreds of men died miserably from sheer neglect and virtual starvation.. Even Germany quailed before the world-wide storm of indignation and contempt which, the. Wittenberg disclosures aroused, and since then the reports go to show' that a very considerable improvement has taken place in the camps allotted to soldier prisoners. But that the Teutonic spirit , of cruelty and cowardice has not been improved but merely diverted is proved ' by the revelations in the House of Commons on Monday respecting the treatment of the civilian prisoners of war in the camp at Ruhleben. Reports received through the United States Ambassador show that for many months past the prisoners (whose mere position as snob should be sufficient to arouse the sympathy of the most flinty-hearted) have been maintained on a dietary that elosely approaches the starvation limit, with the result that disease and death are rampant in the camp, and have been subject to a system of punishments Plainly designed to break down health and spirit. Assuredly there will be a heasy reckoning with a people capable of such brutal cowardice. Meantime we are glad that the Government are taking the matter up, and especially that the German Government has been sternly aotified that a continuance of the illtreatnient of civilian prisoners in Germany will lead to reprisals upon the infinitelv. greater number of German Prisoners in this country. The threat Should prove sufficient. If not it must be PM into prompt execution.  moral  Captives to Germany.  waft.,  morei