From this duty of regarding a prisoner of war as
sacred and inviolate there can be no exception, unless, as wo have said, in the case of some conspiracy by prisoners or some insurrec- tionary movement among them. The notion of punishing inno- cent German officers in English prisons because of wicked orders given by the German Government or wicked acts done by German Zeppelins—outrages which it is possible the officers set aside for massacre condemn at heart—is a piece of bloody. minded barbarism which should never have found its way into an English newspaper except for the purpose of exposure and denunciation. Whatever the temptation and whatever the policy pursued by the Germans, there must be no reprisals upon prisoners. If in the plenitude of their diabolism the Germans were to shoot one by one, or even to torture, British Officers in their hands, it would be as much incumbent upon us then As it is now to give German prisoners in our hands the fullest and most perfect protection. The notion that we should lower our standard of charity, honour, and good faith to match with that *f Gerniany is unthinkable. By letting a prisoner give himself up we establish a personal pledge between him and us which cannot be barred by the fraud or force of the prisoners. chiefs.
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