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Show CAN THE KAISER BE PUNISHED? The New York Herald has not a very exalted opinion of the former Emperor William, as th kaiser a banded as William the Craven Commenting Com-menting on the kaiser's declaration thai "Rather than submit to the degradation degra-dation of a trial 1 would destroy myself," my-self," the Herald says: "The kainer will have the chance of taking his worthless life, which otherwise other-wise will be spared, for the Big Four' have decided that he is to stand his trial before an international tribunal, and have signed his indictment. At the same time it is stated that he is not to be executed but that he shall be held In durance. To decide on the form of punlshmont before a man is tried and his guilt proved Is a reversal of ordinary criminal procedure, and it might have been expected that the council of four and the responsibilit commission could have left the form of punishment in ihe tribunal appointed appoint-ed to try the former ruler of Germany Ger-many "It is affirmed that Secretary Lansing, Lans-ing, who Is chairman of the responsi bility commission and is regarded as a foremost authority on international law. Is of opinion that a sovereign cannot b- held responsible for the acts of his subjects. Perhaps not. but he can be held responsible, first, for his own acts in violating treaties and conventions, con-ventions, and next for the resultant Slaughter. The man who deliberately unleashes the dogs of war is at least as guilty as the dogs themselves. The person who hires or induces others to kill and slay is as gTcat murderer as the actual assassin and is an accessory acces-sory before the fact, which In ordinary criminal law places him on a par with the person who committed the deed. "However, it seems decided that the arch culprit who h&A been the direct caues of sending millions of innocent people to their deaths, and who has inspired in-spired deeds from which even a Nero or Caligula might shrink, will not be called upon to pay the supreme penalty pen-alty of his crimes but will become a lifelong prisoner. Meanwhile if is interesting in-teresting to learn that he is being taxed by the Dutch government on an income of $20,000,000, which would suggest that he is not quite so impoverished impov-erished as was implied by a statement that he had been compelled to borrow from his host, Count Bentinck. It might be suggested that means shoull be adopted to confiscate iho. Hohenzol-lern Hohenzol-lern estates as a contribution toward the support of the widows and orphans ho has created, though doubtless we shall be informed that there is no precedent pre-cedent for such action. But there are occasions when precedents have to bo created, and this is a case in point. There was no precedent for cutting off the head of King Charles I, but the action ac-tion of Oliver Cromwell and the commons com-mons created a precedent which has since kept the kings of England in very good order." oo |