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Show IT IT AGAIN While Engl 6hmen are speculating as to the object of the German ra d Amer icans will be struck chiefly by the fact that the Germans have committed a new breach of international law and the laws of war The excuse ready at hand tv ill be that the letter of the law was observed Torts existed at Hartlepool and at Scarborough although there are no permanent defenses at Whitby The argument will be that the k lling of women and children was merely in l dental to the bombardment of fort f ed places The object on to the slaughter which will be vo ced in th s country is that it was unnecessary It could have no possible object benef c al to the Ger mans If they had been attempt ng to Jand troops for the purpose of seizing the Engl sh seacoast towns they would 'haye had the same excuse that the Amer cans had at Vera Cruz but the Germans had planned no mvas on and were not even attempting to destroy the forts The massacre probably was in con f ormity w th the German doctr no that war m st be made as terrible as pos sible It would seem that even th s doc trine should be appl ed according to that rule of reason which it invokes but j, there is no reason in destroying the .jlives of women and children when noth ing is to be accomplished Another ex cuse somet mes offered by apolog sts for the German war theory is that all war is barbarous and that each nat on has a right to make war as it will There is only one just f eation for war In the last analjs s a war is just f ed for self defense only The case can be stated Clearly by an example If John Smith is trying to k 11 Thomas Jones the lat ter has a r ght to kill Smith but if Jones after k lling Sm th or instead of killing him slays Smith s wife and ch 1 dren he is a murderer and beyond the pale of human ty The law is the same for a nat on and no amount of soph stry can change it The German army and navy author t es have placed themselves definitely outs de the pale of humanity by adopting the rule that pn ght makes right and that there s no such thing as moral law m the conduct of war The world outside of Germany cannot hymn with Bernhardi The brutal in cidents inseparable from every war v an ish before the ideal sm of the main re ejilt |