The news from the western theatre of the war hoe
during the week been chiefly concerned with accounts of Christmas in the trenches, and with the strange and touching scenes of fraternization which took place between the combatants. Pedants may object to these expressions of goodwill and friendliness in the circumstances, but for ourselves we see not merely no harm but good in them. Men fight just as sternly and as bravely though they are willing to shake the foe by the band. This view of how to wage war is quite compatible with the remembrance of the terrible crimes against humanity and the chivalries and decencies of combat committed iu Belgium and in France by the German Army. For the men responsible for these hideous and calculated mis- deeds were not the men in the trenches, but the combatant bureaucrats who gave orders such as those for the military execution of Louvain and the shooting of hostages, women, children, and civilian prisoners. We can well understand the objection to shaking members of the German General Staff by the hand, but there is no objection to an honest hand- shake with the vast majority of the German privates and German officers in the trenches. They are only doing their duty in fighting us, and a brave man's hand will not be soiled but honoured by saluting a foe whose courage he has proved so well.
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