The Supreme Council of the Allies has made the best
of a bad job by accepting Germany's offer to bring the German war criminals to trial at Leipzig. In a Note on Friday week the Allies virtually admitted that the German Government could not deliver up the criminals in accordance with the Peace Treaty. The Allies therefore agreed to give the German Government an opportunity of showing their good faith by instituting the prosecutions on their own account. Meanwhile an Allied Commission would collect and publish the details of the charges—some of them most horrible—against the men whose surrender was demanded by the Allies. The Supreme Council naturally reserved the right to insist on the application of the Treaty if the Leipzig Court did not do justice. It cannot be said that German Law Courts inspire much confidence, since they are by tradition as dependent on the Government as were our early Stuart Courts. But the publication of the charges will perhaps prevent the German Judges from acquitting the worst offenders.
