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| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-14 18:48:05 -0700 |
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diff --git a/old/44635-h/44635-h.htm b/old/44635-h/44635-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..417d123 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/44635-h/44635-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,12336 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en_GB" lang="en_GB"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=utf-8" /> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of Military Manners And Customs, by James Anson Farrer. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> + +body { + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; +} + + h1,h2,h3 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; +} + +p, .like_p li { + margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; +} + +.summary { + margin-left: 2em; + text-indent: -2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; +} + +hr { + width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; +} + +hr.chap {width: 65%} + +ul { list-style-type: none; } +li.ifrst { margin-top: 1em; } +li.indx { margin-top: .5em; } +li.isub1 {text-indent: 1em;} + +table { + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; +} + +td { vertical-align: bottom; } + +.tdr {text-align: right;} + +.tdp { + padding-left: 2em; + text-align: right; +} + +.tdh { + padding-left: 2em; + text-indent: -2em; +} + +.tdsub { + padding-left: 4em; + text-indent: -2em; +} + +.tdhead { + text-align: center; + padding-top: 1em; + padding-bottom: 1em; +} + +td h3 { + margin-top: 0em; + margin-bottom: 0em; +} +.pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; +} /* page numbers */ + +.center {text-align: center;} + +.smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + +.u {text-decoration: underline;} + +/* Footnotes */ +.footnotes {border: dashed 1px;} + +.footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + +.footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right;} + +.fnanchor { + vertical-align: super; + font-size: small; + text-decoration: + none; +} + +/* Poetry */ +.poem { + display: inline-block; + text-align: left; +} + +.poem br {display: none;} + +.poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + +/* Transcriber's notes */ +.transnote {background-color: #E6E6FA; + color: black; + font-size:smaller; + padding:0.5em; + margin-bottom:5em; + font-family:sans-serif, serif; } + .poem span.i0 {display: block; margin-left: 0em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i6 {display: block; margin-left: 3em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + +.large { font-size: large; } +.xlarge { font-size: x-large; } +.small { font-size: small; } +.smaller { font-size: smaller; } + + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +Project Gutenberg's Military Manners and Customs, by James Anson Farrer + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Military Manners and Customs + +Author: James Anson Farrer + +Release Date: January 9, 2014 [EBook #44635] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MILITARY MANNERS AND CUSTOMS *** + + + + +Produced by Paul Clark and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive) + + + + + + +</pre> + +<div class="transnote"> +<p>Transcriber's Note:</p> + +<p>Every effort has been made to replicate this text as faithfully as +possible, including inconsistent hyphenation. Some changes have been +made. They are listed at the end of the text.</p> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i" id="Page_i">[Pg i]</a></span></p> +<h1>Military Manners and +Customs</h1> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii" id="Page_ii">[Pg ii]</a></span></p> + +<p class="center">LONDON: PRINTED BY<br /> +SPOTTISWOODE AND CO., NEW-STREET SQUARE<br /> +AND PARLIAMENT STREET +</p> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_iii" id="Page_iii">[Pg iii]</a></span></p> + +<p class="center xlarge">MILITARY MANNERS<br /> +AND CUSTOMS</p> + +<p class="center">BY</p> + +<p class="center large">JAMES ANSON FARRER</p> + +<p class="center">AUTHOR OF<br /> +‘PRIMITIVE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS’ ‘CRIMES AND PUNISHMENTS’ ETC.</p> + +<div class="center"> +<img src="images/i003.png" width="219" height="255" alt="" /> +</div> + +<p class="center"><i>‘Homo homini res sacra’</i>—Seneca</p> + +<p class="center">London<br /> +CHATTO & WINDUS, PICCADILLY<br /> +1885</p> + +<p class="center">[<i>The right of translation is reserved.</i>] +</p> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_iv" id="Page_iv">[Pg iv]</a><br /><a name="Page_v" id="Page_v">[Pg v]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="PREFACE" id="PREFACE">PREFACE.</a></h2> + +<p>In the present volume I have attempted within the +limits of the historical period and of our European +civilisation, and without recognising any hard and +fast line between ancient and modern, Christian and +Pagan, to allude, in the places that seemed most +appropriate, to all points in the history of war that +appeared to be either of special interest or of essential +importance. As examples of such points I may refer +to the treatment of prisoners of war, or of surrendered +garrisons; the rules about spies and surprises; the introduction +of, and feeling about, new weapons; the +meaning of parts of military dress; the origin of +peculiar customs like the old one of kissing the earth +before a charge; the prevalent rules of honour, as displayed +in notions of justice in regard to reprisals, or of +fairness in stratagems and deception. The necessity +of observing in so vast a field the laws of proportion +has enforced resort to such condensation, that on +subjects which deserve or possess their tomes upon +tomes, I have in many cases been unable to spend +more than a page or a chapter. It is easier, how<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_vi" id="Page_vi">[Pg vi]</a></span>ever, +to err on the side of length than of brevity, but +on whichever side I have exceeded, I can only hope +that others, who may feel the same interest with +myself in the subject without having the same time to +give to it, may derive a tithe of the pleasure from +reading the following nine chapters that I have found +in putting them together.</p> + +<p>The study, of course, is no new one, but there can +be no objection to calling it by the new name of +Bellology—a convenient term, quite capable of holding +its own with Sociology or its congeners. The +only novelty I have aimed at is one of treatment, and +consists in never losing sight of the fact that to all +military customs there is a moral and human side +which has been only too generally ignored in this +connection. To read books like Grose’s ‘Military +Antiquities,’ one would think their writers were +dealing with the manners, not of men but of ninepins, +so utterly do they divest themselves of all human +interest or moral feeling, in reference to the customs +they describe with so laudable but toneless an +accuracy.</p> + +<p>The starting-point of modern bellological studies +will, undoubtedly, always be the Parliamentary Blue +Book, containing the reports (less full than one might +wish) of the Military International Conference that +met at Brussels in 1874, to discuss the existing laws +and customs of war, and to consider whether any +modification of them were either possible or desirable.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_vii" id="Page_vii">[Pg vii]</a></span> +Most of the representatives appointed to attend by +the several Powers were military men, so that we are +carried by their conversation into the actual realities +of modern warfare, with an authority and sense of +truth that one is conscious of in no other military +book. It is to be regretted that such a work, instructive +as it is beyond any other on the subject, has +never been printed in a form more popular than its +official dress. It was from it that I first conceived +the idea of the following pages, and in the sequel +frequent reference will be made to it, as the source of +the most trustworthy military information we possess, +and as certain to be for some time to come +the standard work on all the actual laws and customs +of contemporary warfare.</p> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_viii" id="Page_viii">[Pg viii]</a><br /><a name="Page_ix" id="Page_ix">[Pg ix]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="CONTENTS" id="CONTENTS">CONTENTS.</a></h2> + +<table summary="Contents"> +<tr><td colspan="2" class="tdhead"><h3><a href="#CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I.</a></h3> +THE LAWS OF WAR.</td></tr> + +<tr><td> </td><td class="tdr small">PAGE</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">The prohibition of explosive bullets in war</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_2">2</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">The importance of the Declaration of St. Petersburg of 1868</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_3">3</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">The ultimate triumph of more destructive methods</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_4">4</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">Illustrated by history of the crossbow or the musket</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_5">5</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">Or of cannons, torpedoes, red-hot shot, or the bayonet</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_5">5</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">Numbers slain in modern and earlier warfare</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_8">8</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">The laws of war at the Brussels Conference of 1874</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_10">10</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">Do the laws of war tend to improve?</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_13">13</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">A negative answer suggested from reference</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_13">13</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdsub"> 1. To the use of poison in war</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_14">14</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdsub"> 2. To the bombardment of towns</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_15">15</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdsub"> 3. To the destruction of public buildings</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_16">16</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdsub"> 4. To the destruction of crops and fruit-trees</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_16">16</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdsub"> 5. To the murder of prisoners or the wounded</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_17">17</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdsub"> 6. To the murder of surrendered garrisons</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_18">18</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdsub"> 7. To the destruction of fishing-boats</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_19">19</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdsub"> 8. To the disuse of the declaration of war</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_19">19</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdsub"> 9. To the torture and mutilation of combatants and non-combatants</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_20">20</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdsub">10. To the custom of contributions</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_20">20</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">The futile attempts of Grotius and Vattel to humanise warfare</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_21">21</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">The rights of war in the time of Grotius</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_24">24</a><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_x" id="Page_x">[Pg x]</a></span></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">The futility of international law with regard to laws of war</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_26">26</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">The employment of barbarian troops</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_26">26</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">The taking of towns by assault</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_27">27</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">The laws of war contrasted with the practice</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_28">28</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">War easier to abolish than to humanise</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_30">30</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td colspan="2" class="tdhead"><h3><a href="#CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II.</a></h3> +WARFARE IN CHIVALROUS TIMES.</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">Delusion about character of war in days of chivalry</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_32">32</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">The common slaughter of women and children</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_33">33</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">The Earl of Derby’s sack of Poitiers</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_34">34</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">The massacres of Grammont and Gravelines</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_35">35</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">The old poem of the Vow of the Heron</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_36">36</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">The massacre of Limoges by Edward the Black Prince</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_37">37</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">The imprisonment of ladies for ransom</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_38">38</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">Prisoners of war starved to death</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_39">39</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">Or massacred, if no prospect of ransom</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_41">41</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">Or blinded or otherwise mutilated</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_42">42</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">The meaning of a surrender at discretion</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_44">44</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">As illustrated by Edward III. at Calais</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_44">44</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">And by several instances in the same and the next century</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_45">45</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">The practice of burning in aid of war</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_47">47</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">And of destroying sacred buildings</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_47">47</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">The practice of poisoning the air</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_49">49</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">The use of barbarous weapons</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_50">50</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">The influence of religion on war</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_51">51</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">The Church in vain on the side of peace</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_52">52</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">Curious vows of the knights</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_54">54</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">The slight personal danger incurred in war by them</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_54">54</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">The explanation of their magnificent costume</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_55">55</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">Field sports in war-time</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_56">56</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">The desire of gain the chief motive of war</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_57">57</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">The identity of soldiers and brigands</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_57">57</a><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xi" id="Page_xi">[Pg xi]</a></span></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">The career and character of the Black Prince</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_59">59</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">The place of money in the history of chivalry</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_61">61</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">Its influence as a war-motive between England and France</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_62">62</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">General low character of chivalrous warfare</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_64">64</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td colspan="2" class="tdhead"><h3><a href="#CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III.</a></h3> +NAVAL WARFARE.</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">Robbery the first object of maritime warfare</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_66">66</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">The piratical origin of European navies</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_67">67</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">Merciless character of wars at sea</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_69">69</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">Fortunes made by privateering in England</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_71">71</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">Privateers commissioned by the State</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_72">72</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">Privateers defended by the publicists</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_73">73</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">Distinction between privateering and piracy</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_73">73</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">Failure of the State to regulate privateering</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_74">74</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">Privateering condemned by Lord Nelson</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_77">77</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">Privateering abolished by the declaration of Paris in 1856</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_78">78</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">Modern feeling against seizure of private property at sea</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_79">79</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">Naval warfare in days of wooden ships</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_80">80</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">Unlawful methods of maritime war</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_81">81</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">The Emperor Leo VI.’s ‘Treatise on Tactics’</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_83">83</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">The use of fire-ships</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_84">84</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">Death the penalty for serving in fire-ships</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_85">85</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">Torpedoes originally regarded as ‘bad’ war</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_85">85</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">English and French doctrine of rights of neutrals</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_86">86</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">Enemy’s property under neutral flag secured by Treaty of Paris</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_87">87</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">Shortcomings of the Treaty of Paris with regard to—</td><td> </td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdsub"> 1. A definition of what is contraband</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_88">88</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdsub"> 2. The right of search of vessels under convoy</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_88">88</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdsub"> 3. The practice of Embargoes</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_89">89</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdsub"> 4. The <i>Jus Angariæ</i></td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_90">90</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">The International Marine Code of the future</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_91">91</a><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xii" id="Page_xii">[Pg xii]</a></span></td></tr> + +<tr><td colspan="2" class="tdhead"><h3><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV.</a></h3> +MILITARY REPRISALS.</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">International law on legitimate reprisals</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_93">93</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">The Brussels Conference on the subject</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_95">95</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">Illustrations of barbarous reprisals</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_97">97</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">Instances of non-retaliation</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_98">98</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">Savage reprisals in days of chivalry</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_100">100</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">Hanging the commonest reprisals for a brave defence</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_101">101</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">As illustrated by the warfare of the fifteenth century</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_102">102</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">Survival of the custom to our own times</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_104">104</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">The massacre of a conquered garrison still a law of war</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_105">105</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">The shelling of Strasburg by the Germans</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_106">106</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">Brutal warfare of Alexander the Great</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_107">107</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">The connection between bravery and cruelty</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_110">110</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">The abolition of slavery in its effects on war</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_112">112</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">The storming of Magdeburg, Brescia, and Rome</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_112">112</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">Cicero on Roman warfare</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_114">114</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">The reprisals of the Germans in France in 1870</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_115">115</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">Their revival of the custom of taking hostages</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_117">117</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">Their resort to robbery as a plea of reprisals</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_118">118</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">General Von Moltke on perpetual peace</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_119">119</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">The moral responsibility of the military profession</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_121">121</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">The Press as a potent cause of war</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_122">122</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">Plea for the abolition of demands for unconditional surrender</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_123">123</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">Such as led to the bombardment of Alexandria in 1882</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_123">123</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td colspan="2" class="tdhead"><h3><a href="#CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V.</a></h3> +MILITARY STRATAGEMS.</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">Grotius’ theory of fair stratagems</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_126">126</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">The teaching of international law</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_127">127</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">Ancient and modern naval stratagems</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_127">127</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">Early Roman dislike of such stratagems</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_132">132</a><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xiii" id="Page_xiii">[Pg xiii]</a></span></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">As ambuscades, feigned retreats, or night attacks</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_132">132</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">The degenerate standard of Frontinus and Polyænus</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_135">135</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">The Conference stratagem of modern Europe</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_136">136</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">The distinction between perfidy and stratagem</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_139">139</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">The perfidy of Francis I.</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_140">140</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">Vattel’s theory about spies</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_141">141</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">Frederick the Great’s military instructions about spies</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_142">142</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">Lord Wolseley on spies and truth in war</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_144">144</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">The custom of hanging or shooting spies</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_145">145</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">Better to keep them as prisoners of war</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_146">146</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">Balloonists regarded as spies</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_147">147</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">The practice of military surprises</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_148">148</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">Death formerly the penalty for capture in a surprise</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_150">150</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">Stratagems of uncertain character</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_151">151</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">Such as forged despatches or false intelligence</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_151">151</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">The use of the telegraph in deceiving the enemy</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_151">151</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">May prisoners of war be compelled to propagate lies?</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_152">152</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">General character of the military code of fraud</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_153">153</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td colspan="2" class="tdhead"><h3><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI.</a></h3> +BARBARIAN WARFARE.</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">Variable notions of honour</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_156">156</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">Primitive ideas of a military life</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_156">156</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">What is civilised warfare?</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_158">158</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">Advanced laws of war among several savage tribes</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_159">159</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">Symbols of peace among savages</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_161">161</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">The Samoan form of surrender</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_162">162</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">Treaties of peace among savages</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_162">162</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">Abeyance of laws of war in hostilities with savages</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_163">163</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">Zulus blown up in caves with gun-cotton</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_165">165</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">Women and men kidnapped for transport service on the Gold Coast</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_166">166</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">Humane intentions of the Spaniards in the New World</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_167">167</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">Contrasted with the inhumanity of their actions</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_167">167</a><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xiv" id="Page_xiv">[Pg xiv]</a></span></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">Wars with natives of English and French in America</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_170">170</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">High rewards offered for scalps</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_171">171</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">The use of bloodhounds in war</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_171">171</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">The use of poison and infected clothes</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_172">172</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">Penn’s treaty with the Indians</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_173">173</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">How Missionaries come to be a cause of war</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_176">176</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">Explanation of the failure of modern missions</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_178">178</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">The mission stations as centres of hostile intrigues</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_179">179</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">Plea for the State-regulation of missions</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_181">181</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">Depopulation under Protestant influences</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_181">181</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">The prevention of false rumours—<i>Tendenzlügen</i></td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_182">182</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">Civilised and barbarian warfare</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_183">183</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">No real distinction between them</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_184">184</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td colspan="2" class="tdhead"><h3><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII.</a></h3> +WAR AND CHRISTIANITY.</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">The war question at the time of the Reformation</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_185">185</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">The remonstrances of Erasmus against the custom</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_186">186</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">Influence of Grotius on the side of war</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_187">187</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">The war question in the early Church</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_188">188</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">The Fathers against the lawfulness of war</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_190">190</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">Causes of the changed views of the Church</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_192">192</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">The clergy as active combatants for over a thousand years</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_193">193</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">Fighting bishops</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_193">193</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">Bravery in war and ecclesiastical preferment</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_196">196</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">Pope Julius II. at the siege of Mirandola</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_197">197</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">The last fighting bishop</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_197">197</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">Origin and meaning of the declaration of war</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_198">198</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">Superstition in the naming of weapons, ships, &c.</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_200">200</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">The custom of kissing the earth before a charge</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_201">201</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">Connection between religious and military ideas</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_202">202</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">The Church as a pacific agency</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_204">204</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">Her efforts to set limits to reprisals</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_207">207</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">The altered attitude of the modern Church</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_208">208</a><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xv" id="Page_xv">[Pg xv]</a></span></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">Early Reformers only sanctioned <i>just</i> wars</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_208">208</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">Voltaire’s reproach against the Church</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_210">210</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">Canon Mozley’s sermon on war</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_212">212</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">The answer to his apology</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_214">214</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td colspan="2" class="tdhead"><h3><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII.</a></h3> +CURIOSITIES OF MILITARY DISCIPLINE.</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">Increased severity of discipline</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_218">218</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">Limitation of the right of matrimony</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_219">219</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">Compulsory Church parade and its origin</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_219">219</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">Atrocious military punishments</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_221">221</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">Reasons for the military love of red</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_223">223</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">The origin of bear-skin hats</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_223">223</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">Different qualities of bravery</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_225">225</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">Historical fears for the extinction of courage</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_225">225</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">The conquests of the cause of Peace</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_227">227</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">Causes of the unpopularity of military service</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_228">228</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">The dulness of life in the ranks</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_228">228</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">The prevalence of desertion</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_230">230</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">Articles of war against Malingering</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_231">231</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">Military artificial ophthalmia</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_233">233</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">The debasing influence of discipline</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_234">234</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">Illustrated from the old flogging system</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_235">235</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">The discipline of the Peninsular army</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_236">236</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">Attempts to make the service more popular</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_239">239</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">By raising the private’s wages</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_239">239</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">By shortening his term of service</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_240">240</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">The old recruiting system of France and Germany</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_241">241</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">The conscription imminent in England</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_242">242</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">The question of military service for women</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_242">242</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">The probable results of the conscription</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_243">243</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">Militarism answerable for Socialism</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_246">246</a><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xvi" id="Page_xvi">[Pg xvi]</a></span></td></tr> + +<tr><td colspan="2" class="tdhead"><h3><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX.</a></h3> +THE LIMITS OF MILITARY DUTIES.</td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">The old feeling of the moral stain of bloodshed</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_250">250</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">Military purificatory customs</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_250">250</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">Modern change of feeling about warfare</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_252">252</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">Descartes on the profession of arms</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_254">254</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">The old-world sentiment in favour of piracy</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_255">255</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">The central question of military ethics</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_257">257</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">May a soldier be indifferent to the cause of war?</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_257">257</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">The right to serve made conditional on a good cause</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_258">258</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">By St. Augustine, Bullinger, Grotius, and Sir James Turner</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_258">258</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">Old Greek feeling about mercenary service</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_260">260</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">Origin of our mercenary as opposed to gratuitous service</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_260">260</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">Armies raised by military contractors</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_261">261</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">The value of the distinction between foreign and native mercenaries</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_262">262</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">Original limitation of military duty</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_264">264</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">To the actual defence of the realm</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_264">264</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">Extension of the notion of allegiance</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_265">265</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">The connection of the military oath with the first Mutiny Act</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_265">265</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">Recognised limits to the claims on a soldier’s obedience</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_266">266</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">The falsity of the common doctrine of duty</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_266">266</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">Illustrated by the devastation of the Palatinate by the French</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_267">267</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">And by the bombardment of Copenhagen by the English</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_268">268</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">The example of Admiral Keppel</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_270">270</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">Justice between nations</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_271">271</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">Its observation in ancient India and Rome</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_271">271</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">St. Augustine and Bayard on justice in war</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_273">273</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">Grotius on good grounds of war</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_273">273</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">The military claim to exemption from moral responsibility</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_276">276</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">The soldier’s first duty to his conscience</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_279">279</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdh">The admission of this principle involves the end of war</td> +<td class="tdp"><a href="#Page_280">280</a></td></tr> +</table> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="MILITARY" id="MILITARY">MILITARY +MANNERS AND CUSTOMS.</a></h2> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I.</a><br /> +<span class="smaller">THE LAWS OF WAR.</span></h2> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>Ce sont des lois de la guerre. Il faut estre bien cruel bien +souvent pour venir au bout de son ennemi; Dieu doit estre bien +miséricordieux en nostre endroict, qui faisons tant de maux.</i>—<span class="smcap">Marshal +Montluc.</span></p></blockquote> + +<p class="summary">The prohibition of explosive bullets in war—The importance of the +Declaration of St. Petersburg of 1868—The ultimate triumph of +more destructive methods—Illustrated by history of the cross-bow +or the musket; or of cannons, torpedoes, red-hot shot, or the +bayonet—Numbers slain in modern and earlier warfare—The +laws of war at the Brussels Conference of 1874—Do the laws of +war tend to improve?—A negative answer suggested from reference: +(1) to the use of poison in war; (2) to the bombardment +of towns; (3) to the destruction of public buildings; (4) to the +destruction of crops and fruit trees; (5) to the murder of prisoners +or the wounded; (6) to the murder of surrendered garrisons; (7) +to the destruction of fishing boats; (8) to the disuse of the +declaration of war; (9) to the torture and mutilation of combatants +and non-combatants; (10) to the custom of contributions—The +futile attempts of Grotius and Vattel to humanise warfare—The +rights of war in the time of Grotius—The futility of international +law with regard to laws of war—The employment of +barbarian troops—The taking of towns by assault—The laws of +war contrasted with the practice—War easier to abolish than to +humanise.</p> + +<p>It is impossible to head a chapter ‘The Laws of War’ +without thinking of that famous chapter on Iceland<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span> +headed ‘The Snakes of Iceland,’ wherein the writer +simply informed his readers that there were none in +the country. ‘The laws of war’ make one think of +the snakes of Iceland.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, a summary denial of their existence +would deprive the history of the battle-field of one +of its most interesting features; for there is surely +nothing more surprising to an impartial observer of +military manners and customs than to find that even +in so just a cause as the defence of your own country +limitations should be set to the right of injuring your +aggressor in any manner you can.</p> + +<p>What, for instance, can be more obvious in such a +case than that no suffering you can inflict is needless +which is most likely permanently to disable your +adversary? Yet, by virtue of the International +Declaration of St. Petersburg, in 1868, you may not +use explosive bullets against him, because it is held +that they would cause him needless suffering. By the +logic of war, what can be clearer than that, if the +explosive bullet deals worse wounds, and therefore +inflicts death more readily than other destructive +agencies, it should be used? or else that those too +should be excluded from the rules of the game—which +might end in putting a stop to the game altogether?</p> + +<p>The history of the explosive bullet is worth recalling, +for its prohibition is a straw to clutch at in +these days of military revival. Like the plague, and +perhaps gunpowder, it had an Eastern origin. It was +used originally in India against elephants and tigers. +In 1863 it was introduced into the Russian army, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span> +subsequently into other European armies, for use +against ammunition-waggons. But it was not till +1867 that a slight modification in its construction +rendered it available for the destruction of mankind. +The world owes it to the humanity of the Russian +Minister of War, General Milutine, that at this point +a pause was made; and as the Czar, Alexander II., +was no less humane than his minister, the result was +the famous Declaration, signed in 1868 by all the +chief Powers (save the United States), mutually foregoing +in their future wars by land or sea the use of +projectiles weighing less than 400 grammes (to save +their use for artillery), either explosive or filled with +inflammable substances. The Court of Berlin wished +at the time for some other destructive contrivances +to be equally excluded, but the English Government +was afraid to go further; as if requiring breathing +time after so immense an effort to diminish human +suffering, before proceeding in so perilous a direction.</p> + +<p>The Declaration of St. Petersburg, inasmuch as it +is capable of indefinite expansion, is a somewhat +awkward precedent for those who in their hearts love +war and shield its continuance with apologetic platitudes. +How, they ask, can you enforce agreements +between nations? But this argument begins to totter +when we remember that there is absolutely no superior +power or tribunal in existence which can enforce the +observance of the St. Petersburg Declaration beyond +the conscience of the signatory Powers. It follows, +therefore, that if international agreements are of value, +there is no need to stop short at this or that bullet:<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span> +which makes the arbitration-tribunal loom in the +distance perceptibly nearer than it did before.</p> + +<p>At first sight, this agreement excluding the use +of explosive bullets would seem to favour the theory +of those who see in every increase in the peril of war +the best hope of its ultimate cessation. A famous +American statesman is reported to have said, and +actually to have appealed to the invention of gunpowder +in support of his statement, that every discovery +in the art of war has, from this point of view, +a life-saving and peace-promoting influence.<a name="FNanchor_1" id="FNanchor_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> But it +is difficult to conceive a greater delusion. The whole +history of war is against it; for what has that history +been but the steady increase of the pains and perils of +war, as more effective weapons of destruction have +succeeded one another? The delusion cannot be +better dispelled than by consideration of the facts +that follow.</p> + +<p>It has often seemed as if humanity were about to +get the better of the logical tendency of the military +art. The Lateran Council of 1139 (a sort of European +congress in its day) not only condemned Arnold of +Brescia to be burnt for heresy, but anathematised the +cross-bow for its inhumanity. It forbade its use in +Christian warfare as alike hateful to God and destructive +of mankind.<a name="FNanchor_2" id="FNanchor_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> Several brave princes disdained +to employ cross-bow shooters, and Innocent III. con<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span>firmed +the prohibition on the ground that it was not +fair to inflict on an enemy more than the least possible +injury.<a name="FNanchor_3" id="FNanchor_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> The long-bow consequently came into +greater use. But Richard I., in spite of Popes or +Councils or Chivalry, revived the use of the cross-bow +in Europe; nor, though his death by one himself +was regarded as a judgment from Heaven, did its use +from that time decline till the arquebus and then the +musket took its place.</p> + +<p>Cannons and bombs were at first called diabolical, +because they suggested the malice of the enemy of +mankind, or serpentines, because they seemed worse +than the poison of serpents.<a name="FNanchor_4" id="FNanchor_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> But even cannons were +at first only used against fortified walls, and there is a +tradition of the first occasion when they were directed +against men.<a name="FNanchor_5" id="FNanchor_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> And torpedoes, now used without +scruple, were called infamous and infernal when, under +the name of American Turtles, they were first tried +by the American Colonies against the ships of their +mother country.</p> + +<p>In the sixteenth century, that knight ‘without fear +or reproach,’ the Chevalier Bayard, ordered all musketeers +who fell into his hands to be slain without mercy, +because he held the introduction of fire-arms to be an +unfair innovation on the rules of lawful war. So red-hot +shot (or balls made red hot before insertion in +the cannon) were at first objected to, or only considered +fair for purposes of defence, not of attack.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span> +Yet, what do we find?—that Louis XIV. fired some +12,000 of them into Brussels in 1694; that the Austrians +fired them into Lille in 1792; and that the English +batteries fired them at the ships in Sebastopol +harbour, which formed part of the Russian defences. +Chain-shot and bar-shot were also disapproved of at +first, or excluded from use by conventions applying +only to particular wars; now there exists no agreement +precluding their use, for they soon became +common in battles at sea.</p> + +<p>The invention of the bayonet supplies another +illustration. The accounts of its origin are little +better than legends: that it was invented so long ago +as 1323 by a woman of Bayonne in defence of the +ramparts of that city against the English; or by +Puséygur, of Bayonne, about 1650; or borrowed by +the Dutch from the natives of Madagascar; or connected +with a place called the Redoute de la Baïonnette +in the Eastern Pyrenees, where the Basques, having +exhausted their ammunition against the Spaniards, +are said to have inserted their knives into the muzzles +of their guns. But it is certain that as soon as the +idea was perfected by fixing the blade by rings outside +the muzzle (in the latter quarter of the seventeenth +century), battles became more murderous than ever, +though the destruction of infantry by cavalry was +diminished. The battle of Neerwinden in 1693, +in which the French general, Luxembourg, defeated +the Prince of Orange, is said to have been the first +battle that was decided by a charge with a bayonet, +and the losses were enormous on both sides.<a name="FNanchor_6" id="FNanchor_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span></p> + +<p>History, in fact, is full of such cases, in which the +victory has uniformly lain ultimately with the legitimacy +of the weapon or method that was at first +rejected as inhumane. For the moment, the law of +nations forbids the use of certain methods of destruction, +such as bullets filled with glass or nails, or +chemical compounds like kakodyl, which could convert +in a moment the atmosphere round an army into +one of deadly poison;<a name="FNanchor_7" id="FNanchor_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> yet we have nothing like +certainty—we have not even historical probability—that +these forbidden means, or worse means, will not +be resorted to in the wars of the future, or that +reluctance to meet such forms of death will in the +least degree affect either their frequency or their +duration.</p> + +<p>It is easy to explain this law of history. The +soldier’s courage, as he faces the mitrailleuse with the +same indifference with which he would face snow-balls +or bread-pellets, is a miracle of which discipline is the +simple explanation; for whether the soldier be hired +or coerced to face death, it is all one to him against +what kind of bullet he rushes, so long as discipline +remains—as Helvetius the French philosopher once +defined it, the art of making soldiers more afraid of +their own officers than of their enemy.<a name="FNanchor_8" id="FNanchor_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> To Clearchus, +the Lacedæmonian, is attributed the saying that a +soldier should always fear his own general more +than the enemy: a mental state easily produced +in every system of military mechanism. Whatever +form of death be in front of a man, it is less certain<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span> +than that in his rear. The Ashantees as they march +to battle sing a song which is the soldier’s philosophy +all the world over: ‘If I go on, I shall die; +if I stay behind I shall be killed; it is better to +go on.’<a name="FNanchor_9" id="FNanchor_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a></p> + +<p>How often is it said, in extenuation of modern +warfare, that it is infinitely less destructive than that +of ancient or even mediæval times; and that the +actual loss of life in battle has not kept pace with +the development of new and more effective life-taking +implements! Yet it is difficult to imagine a stranger +paradox, or a proposition that, if true, would reflect +greater descredit on our mechanical science. If our +Gatling guns, or Nordenfeldt 5-barrels capable of +firing 600 rounds a minute, are less effective to +destroy an enemy than all the paraphernalia of a +mediæval army, why not in that case return to +weapons that by the hypothesis better fulfilled the +purposes of war? This question is a <i>reductio ad +absurdum</i> of this soothing delusion; but as a matter +of fact, there is no comparison in destructiveness +between our modern warfare and that of our ancestors. +The apparent difference in our favour arises +from a practice alluded to by Philip de Commines, +which throws a flood of light upon the subject: +‘There were slain in this battle about 6,000 men, +which, to people that are unwilling to lie, may seem +very much; but in my time I have been in several +actions, where for one man that was really slain they +have reported a hundred, thinking by such an account +to please their masters; and they sometimes deceive<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span> +them with their lies.’ That is to say, as a rule +the number of the slain should be divided by a +hundred.</p> + +<p>This remark applies even to battles like Crecy +or Agincourt, where the numbers slain were unusually +high, and where they are said to have been accurately +ascertained by counting after the victory. When +Froissart on such authority quotes 1,291 as the total +number of warriors of knightly or higher rank slain +at Crecy, it is possible of course that he is not the +victim of deception; but what of the 30,000 common +soldiers for whose death he also vouches? A monk of +St. Albans, also a contemporary, speaks only of an +unknown number (<i>et vulgus cujus numerus ignoratur</i>); +which in the account of the Abbot Hugo was put +definitely at more than 100,000. It is evident from +this that the greatest laxity prevailed in reference to +chronicling the numbers of the slain; so that if we +take 3,000 instead of 30,000 as the sum total of +common soldiers slain at Crecy, it is probable that +we shall be nearer the truth than if we implicitly +accept Froissart’s statement.</p> + +<p>The same scepticism will of course hold good of +the battles of the ancient world. Is it likely, for +instance, that in a battle in which the Romans are +said only to have lost 100 men, the Macedonians +should have lost 20,000?<a name="FNanchor_10" id="FNanchor_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> Or again, is it possible, +considering the difficulty of the commissariat of a +large army, even in our own days of trains and telegraphs +and improved agriculture, that Marius in one +battle can have slain 200,000 Teutons, and taken<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span> +90,000 prisoners? But whilst no conclusion is possible +but that the figures of the older histories are +altogether too untrustworthy to afford any basis for +comparison, the calculation rests on something more +like fair evidence, that in the fortnight between +August 4, 1870, the date of the battle of Wissembourg, +and August 18, that of Gravelotte, including +the battles of Woerth and Forbach on August 6, of +Courcelles on the 14th, and of Vionville on the 16th +more than 100,000 French and Germans met their +death on the battle-field, to say nothing of those +who perished afterwards in agonies in the hospitals. +Recent wars have been undoubtedly shorter than +they often were in olden times, but their brevity is +founded on no reason that can ensure its recurrence: +nor, if 100,000 are to be miserably cast out of existence, +is the gain so very great, if the task, instead of +being spread over a number of years, requires only a +fortnight for its accomplishment.</p> + +<p>For the nearest approach to a statement of what +the laws of war in our own time really are, we must +turn to the Brussels Conference, which met in 1874 at +the summons of the same great Russian to whom the +world owes the St. Petersburg Declaration, and which +constituted a genuine attempt to mitigate the evils of +war by an international agreement and definition of +their limits. The idea of such a plan was originally +suggested by the Instructions published in 1863 by +President Lincoln for the government of the armies of +the United States in the civil war.<a name="FNanchor_11" id="FNanchor_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> The project for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span> +such an international agreement, originally submitted +by the Russian Government for discussion, was very +much modified before even a compromise of opinion +could be arrived at on the several points it contained. +And the project so modified, as a preliminary basis for +future agreement, owing to the timid refusal of the +English Government to take further part in the matter, +never, unfortunately, reached its final stage of a definite +code;<a name="FNanchor_12" id="FNanchor_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a> but it remains nevertheless the most +authoritative utterance extant of the laws generally +thought to be binding in modern warfare on the +practices and passions of the combatants. The following +articles from the project as finally modified +are undoubtedly the most important:—</p> + +<p><i>Art. 12.</i> The laws of war do not allow to belligerents +an unlimited power as to the choice of means +of injuring the enemy.</p> + +<p><i>Art. 13.</i> According to this principle are strictly +forbidden—</p> + +<ul class="like_p"> + +<li><i>a.</i> The use of poison or poisoned weapons.</li> + +<li><i>b.</i> Murder by treachery of individuals belonging +to the hostile nation or army.</li> + +<li><i>c.</i> Murder of an antagonist who, having laid +down his arms, or having no longer the +means of defending himself, has surrendered +at discretion.</li> + +<li><i>d.</i> The declaration that no quarter will be given.</li> + +<li><i>e.</i> The use of arms, projectiles, or substances<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span> +which may cause unnecessary suffering, as +well as of those prohibited by the Declaration +of St. Petersburg in 1868.</li> + +<li><i>f.</i> Abuse of the flag of truce, the national flag, +or the military insignia or uniform of the +enemy, as well as the distinctive badges of +the Geneva Convention.</li> + +<li><i>g.</i> All destruction or seizure of the enemy’s +property which is not imperatively required +by the necessity of war.</li></ul> + +<p><i>Art. 15.</i> Fortified places are alone liable to be +besieged. Towns, agglomerations of houses or villages +which are open or undefended, cannot be attacked or +bombarded.</p> + +<p><i>Art. 17.</i> ... All necessary steps should be taken +to spare as far as possible buildings devoted to religion, +arts, sciences, and charity, hospitals and places where +sick and wounded are collected, on condition that they +are not used at the same time for military purposes.</p> + +<p><i>Art. 18.</i> A town taken by storm shall not be given +up to the victorious troops for plunder.</p> + +<p><i>Art. 23.</i> Prisoners of war ... should be treated +with humanity.... All their personal effects except +their arms are to be considered their own property.</p> + +<p><i>Arts. 36, 37.</i> The population of an occupied territory +cannot be compelled to take part in military +operations against their own country, nor to swear +allegiance to the enemy’s power.</p> + +<p><i>Art. 38.</i> The honour and rights of the family, the +life and property of individuals, as well as their religious +convictions and the exercise of their religion, +should be respected.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span></p> + +<p>Private property cannot be confiscated.</p> + +<p><i>Art. 39.</i> Pillage is expressly forbidden.</p> + +<p>There is at first sight a pleasing ring of humanity +in all this, though, as yet, it only represents the better +military spirit, which is always far in advance of actual +military practice. In the monotonous history of war +there are always commanders who wage it with less +ferocity than others, and writers who plead for the +mitigation of its cruelties. As in modern history +a Marlborough, a Wellington, or a Villars forms a +pleasant contrast to a Feuquières, a Belleisle, or a Blücher, +so in ancient history a Marcellus or a Lucullus +helps us to forget a Marius or an Alexander; and the +sentiments of a Cicero or Tacitus were as far in advance +of their time as those of a Grotius or Vattel were of +theirs. According to the accident of the existence of +such men, the laws of war fluctuate from age to age; +but, the question arises, Do they become perceptibly +milder? do they ever permanently improve?</p> + +<p>It will be said that they do, because it will be said +that they have; and that the annals of modern wars +present nothing to resemble the atrocities that may be +collected from ancient or mediæval history. Yet such +statements carry no conviction. Deterioration seems +as likely as improvement; and unless the custom is +checked altogether, the wars of the twentieth century +may be expected to exceed in barbarity anything of +which we have any conception. A very brief inquiry +will suffice to dispel the common assurances of improvement +and progress.</p> + +<p>Poison is forbidden in war, says the Berlin Conference; +but so it always was, even in the Institutes of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span> +Menu, and with perhaps less difference of opinion in +ancient than in modern times. Grotius and Vattel and +most of their followers disallow it, but two publicists +of grave authority defend it, Bynkershoeck and Wolff. +The latter published his ‘Jus Gentium’ as late as 1749, +and his argument is worth translating, since it can only +be met by arguments which equally apply to other +modes of military slaughter. ‘Naturally it is lawful to +kill an enemy by poison; for as long as he is our enemy, +he resists the reparation of our right, so that we may +exercise against his person whatever suffices to avert +his power from ourselves or our possessions. Therefore +it is not unfair to get rid of him. But, since it comes +to the same thing whether you get rid of him by the +sword or by poison (which is self-evident, because in +either case you get rid of him, and he can no longer +resist or injure you), it is naturally lawful to kill an +enemy by poison.’ And so, he argues with equal force, +of poisoned weapons.<a name="FNanchor_13" id="FNanchor_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a> That poison is not in use in +our day we do not therefore owe to our international +lawyers, but to the accident of tradition. In Roman +history the theory appears to have been unanimous +against it. ‘Such conduct,’ says the Roman writer +Florus of a general who poisoned some springs in order +to bring some cities in Asia to a speedier surrender, +‘although it hastened his victory, rendered it infamous, +since it was done not only against divine law, but +against ancestral customs.’<a name="FNanchor_14" id="FNanchor_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a> Our statesman Fox refused +indignantly to avail himself of an offer to poison +Napoleon, but so did the Roman consuls refuse a +similar proposal with regard to Pyrrhus; and Tiberius<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span> +and the Roman senate replied to a plan for poisoning +Arminius, that the Roman people punished their +enemies not by fraud or in secret, but openly and in +arms.</p> + +<p>The history of bombarding towns affords an instance +of something like actual deterioration in the +usages of modern warfare. Regular and simple bombardment, +that is, of a town indiscriminately and not +merely its fortresses, has now become the established +practice. Yet, what did Vattel say in the middle of +the last century? ‘At present we generally content +ourselves with battering the ramparts and defences of +a place. To destroy a town with bombs and red-hot +balls is an extremity to which we do not proceed +without cogent reasons.’ What said Vauban still +earlier? ‘The fire must be directed simply at the +defences and batteries of a place ... and not +against the houses.’ Then what of the English bombardment +of Copenhagen in 1807, when the cathedral +and some 300 houses were destroyed; what of the +German bombardment of Strasburg in 1870, where +rifled mortars were used for the first time,<a name="FNanchor_15" id="FNanchor_15"></a><a href="#Footnote_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a> and the +famous library and picture gallery destroyed; and +what lastly of the German bombardment of Paris, +about which, strangely enough, even the military conscience +of the Germans was struck, so that in the +highest circles doubts about the propriety of such +a proceeding at one time prevailed from a moral no +less than from a military point of view?<a name="FNanchor_16" id="FNanchor_16"></a><a href="#Footnote_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span></p> + +<p>With respect again to sacred or public buildings, +warfare tends to become increasingly destructive. It +was the rule in Greek warfare to spare sacred buildings, +and the Romans frequently spared sacred and other +buildings, as Marcellus, for instance, at Syracuse.<a name="FNanchor_17" id="FNanchor_17"></a><a href="#Footnote_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a> Yet +when the French ravaged the Palatinate in 1689 they +not only set fire to the cathedrals, but sacked the +tombs of the ancient Emperors at Spiers. Frederick +II. destroyed some of the finest buildings at Dresden +and Prague. In 1814 the English forces destroyed +the Capitol at Washington, the President’s house, and +other public buildings;<a name="FNanchor_18" id="FNanchor_18"></a><a href="#Footnote_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a> and in 1815 the Prussian +general, Blücher, was with difficulty restrained from +blowing up the Bridge of Jena at Paris and the Pillar +of Austerlitz. Military men have always the excuse +of reprisals or accident for these acts of Vandalism. Yet +Vattel had said (in language which but repeated the +language of Polybius and Cicero): ‘We ought to spare +those edifices which do honour to human society, and +do not contribute to the enemy’s strength, such as +temples, tombs, public buildings, and all works of +remarkable beauty.’</p> + +<p>Of as little avail has been the same writer’s observation +that those who tear up vines and cut down +fruit trees are to be looked upon as savage. The Fijian +islanders were barbarians enough, but even they used +as a rule to spare their enemies’ fruit trees; so did the +ancient Indians; and the Koran forbids the wanton +destruction of fruit trees, palm trees, corn and cattle.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span> +Then what shall we think of the armies of Louis XIV. +in the Palatinate not only burning castles, country-houses, +and villages, but ruthlessly destroying crops, +vines, and fruit trees?<a name="FNanchor_19" id="FNanchor_19"></a><a href="#Footnote_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a> or of the Prussian warrior, +Blücher, destroying the ornamental trees at Paris in +1815?</p> + +<p>It is said that the Germans refused to let the +women and children leave Strasburg before they began +to bombard it in 1870.<a name="FNanchor_20" id="FNanchor_20"></a><a href="#Footnote_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a> Yet Vattel himself tells us +how Titus, at the siege of Jerusalem, suffered the +women and children to depart, and how Henri IV., +besieging Paris, had the humanity to let them pass +through his lines.</p> + +<p>It was in a campaign of this century, 1815, that +General Roquet collected the French officers, and bade +them tell the grenadiers that the first man who should +bring him in a Prussian prisoner should be shot; +and it was in reprisals for this that a few days later the +Prussians killed the French wounded at Genappe.<a name="FNanchor_21" id="FNanchor_21"></a><a href="#Footnote_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a></p> + +<p>Grotius, after quoting the fact that a decree of the +Amphictyons forbade the destruction of any Greek +city in war, asserts the existence of a stronger bond +between the nations of Christendom than between +the states of ancient Greece. And then we remember +how the Prussians bombarded the Danish town of +Sönderborg, and almost utterly destroyed it, though +it lay beyond the possibility of their possession; and +we think of Peronne in France reduced to ruins, with +the greater part of its fine cathedral, in 1870; and of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span> +the German shells directed against the French fire-engines +that endeavoured to save the Strasburg +Library from the flames that consumed it; and we +wonder that so great a jurist could have been capable +of so grievous a delusion.</p> + +<p>To murder a garrison that had made an obstinate +defence, or in order to terrorise others from doing the +same, was a right of modern war disputed by Grotius, +but admitted by Vattel not to be totally exploded +a century later. Yet they both quote cases which +prove that to murder enemies who had made a gallant +defence was regarded in ancient times as a violation +of the laws of war.</p> + +<p>To murder enemies who had surrendered was as +contrary to Greek or Roman as it ever was to Christian +warfare. The general Greek and Roman practice +was to allow quarter to an enemy who surrendered, +and to redeem or exchange their prisoners.<a name="FNanchor_22" id="FNanchor_22"></a><a href="#Footnote_22" class="fnanchor">[22]</a> There +was indeed, by the laws of war, a right to slay or +enslave them, and though both rights were sometimes +exercised with great barbarity, the extent to which +the former right was exercised has been very much +exaggerated. Otherwise, why should Diodorus Siculus, +in the century preceding our era, have spoken +of mercy to prisoners as the common law (τὰ κοινὰ +νόμιμα), and of the violation of such law as an act of +exceptional barbarity?<a name="FNanchor_23" id="FNanchor_23"></a><a href="#Footnote_23" class="fnanchor">[23]</a> It may be fairly doubted +whether the French prisoners in the English hulks +during the war with Napoleon suffered less than the +Athenian prisoners in the mines of Syracuse; and as +to quarter, what of the French volunteers or Franc-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span>tireurs +who in 1870 fell into the hands of the Germans, +or of the French peasants, who, though levied and +armed by the local authorities under the proclamation +of Napoleon, were, if taken, put to death by the Allies +in 1814?</p> + +<p>Some other illustrations tend further to show that +there is no real progress in war, and that many of the +fancied mitigations of it are merely accidental and +ephemeral features.</p> + +<p>The French and English in olden time used to +spare one another’s fishing boats and their crews. +‘Fishermen,’ said Froissart, ‘though there may be war +between France and England, never injure one another; +they remain friends, and assist each other in case of +need, and buy and sell their fish whenever one has a +larger quantity than the other, for if they were to fight +we should have no fresh fish.’<a name="FNanchor_24" id="FNanchor_24"></a><a href="#Footnote_24" class="fnanchor">[24]</a> Yet in the Crimean +war, the English fleets in the Baltic seized or burnt +the fishing boats of the Finns, and destroyed the +cargoes of fish on which, having been salted in the +summer months, they were dependent for their subsistence +during the winter.<a name="FNanchor_25" id="FNanchor_25"></a><a href="#Footnote_25" class="fnanchor">[25]</a></p> + +<p>Polybius informs us that the Œtolians were regarded +as the common outlaws of Greece, because they +did not scruple to make war without declaring it. Invasions +of that sort were regarded as robberies, not as +lawful wars. Yet declarations of war may now be +dispensed with, the first precedent for doing so having +been set by Gustavus Adolphus.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span></p> + +<p>Gustavus Adolphus, in 1627, issued some humane +Articles of War, which forbade, among other things, +injuries to old men, women, and children. Yet within +a few years the Swedish soldiery, like other troops of +their time, made the gratuitous torture and mutilation +of combatants or non-combatants a common episode +of their military proceedings.<a name="FNanchor_26" id="FNanchor_26"></a><a href="#Footnote_26" class="fnanchor">[26]</a></p> + +<p>When Henry V. of England invaded France, +early in the fifteenth century, he forbade in his +General Orders the wanton injury of property, insults +to women, or gratuitous bloodshed. Yet four centuries +later the character of war had so little changed +that we find the Duke of Wellington, when invading +the same country, lamenting in a General Order that, +‘according to all the information which the Commander +of the Forces had received, outrages of all +descriptions’ had been committed by his troops, ‘in +presence even of their officers, who took no pains +whatever to prevent them.’<a name="FNanchor_27" id="FNanchor_27"></a><a href="#Footnote_27" class="fnanchor">[27]</a></p> + +<p>The French complain that their last war with +Germany was not war, but robbery; as if pillage and +war had ever been distinct in fact or were distinguishable +in thought. There appears to have been very little +limit to the robbery that was committed under the +name of contributions; yet Vattel tells us that, though +in his time the practice had died out, the belligerent +sovereigns, in the wars of Louis XIV., used to regulate +by treaty the extent of hostile territory in which each<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span> +might levy contributions, together with the amount +which might be levied, and the manner in which the +levying parties were to conduct themselves.<a name="FNanchor_28" id="FNanchor_28"></a><a href="#Footnote_28" class="fnanchor">[28]</a></p> + +<p>Is it not proved then by the above facts, that the +laws of war rather fluctuate from age to age within +somewhat narrow limits than permanently improve, +and that they are apt to lose in one direction whatever +they gain in another? Humanity in warfare now, +as in antiquity, remains the exception, not the rule; +and may be found now, as at all times, in books or in +the finer imaginations of a few, far more often than +in the real life of the battle-field. The plea of +shortening the horrors of war is always the plea for +carrying them to an extreme; as by Louvois for +devastating the Palatinate, or by Suchet, the French +general, for driving the helpless women and children +into the citadel of Lerida, and for then shelling them +all night with the humane object of bringing the +governor to a speedier surrender.<a name="FNanchor_29" id="FNanchor_29"></a><a href="#Footnote_29" class="fnanchor">[29]</a></p> + +<p>Writers on the Law of Nations have in fact led us +into a Fool’s Paradise about war (which has done +more than anything else to keep the custom in existence), +by representing it as something quite mild and +almost refined in modern times. Vattel, the Swiss +jurist, set the example. He published his work on the +rights of nations two years after the Seven Years’ War +had begun, and he speaks of the European nations in +his time as waging their wars ‘with great moderation<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span> +and generosity,’ the very year before Marshal Belleisle +gave orders to make Westphalia a desert. Vattel too it +was who first appealed to the amenities that occasionally +interrupt hostilities in support of his theory of the +generosity of modern warfare.</p> + +<p>But what after all does it come to, if rival generals +address each other in terms of civility or interchange +acceptable gifts? At Sebastopol, the English Sir +Edmond Lyons sent the Russian Admiral Machinoff +the present of a fat buck, the latter acknowledging the +compliment with the return of a hard Dutch cheese. +At Gibraltar, when the men of Elliot’s garrison were +suffering severely from scurvy, Crillon sent them a +cartload of carrots. These things have always occurred +even in the fiercest times of military barbarism. At +the siege of Orleans (1429) the Earl of Suffolk sent the +French commander Dunois a present of dessert, consisting +of figs, dates, and raisins; and Dunois in return +sent Suffolk some fur for his cloak; yet there was +little limit in those days to the ferocity shown in war +by the French and English to one another. A ransom +was extorted even for the bodies of the slain. The +occasional gleams of humanity in the history of war +count for nothing in the general picture of its savagery.</p> + +<p>The jurists in this way have helped to give a +totally false colour to the real nature of war; and +scarcely a day passes in a modern campaign that does +not give the lie to the rules laid down in the ponderous +tomes of the international-law writers. It is said that +Gustavus Adolphus always had with him in camp +a copy of ‘Grotius,’ as Alexander is said to have slept +over Homer. The improbability of finding a copy of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span> +‘Grotius’ in a modern camp may be taken as an +illustration of the neglect that has long since fallen on +the restraints with which our publicists have sought +to fetter our generals, and of the futility of all such +endeavours.</p> + +<p>All honour to Grotius for having sought to make +warfare a few degrees less atrocious than he found it; +but let us not therefore deceive ourselves into an +extravagant belief in the efficacy of his labours. Kant, +who lived later, and had the same problem to face, +cherished no such delusion as to the possibility of +humanising warfare, but went straight to the point of +trying to stop it altogether; and Kant was in every +point the better reasoner. Either would doubtless +have regarded the other’s reasoning on the subject as +Utopian; but which with the better reason?</p> + +<p>Grotius took the course of first stating what the +extreme rights of war were, as proved by precedent +and usage, and of then pleading for their mitigation on +the ground of religion and humanity. In either case +he appealed to precedent, and only set the better +against the worse; leaving thereby the rights of war +in utter confusion, and quite devoid of any principle +of measurement.</p> + +<p>Let us take as an illustration of his method the +question of the slaughter of women and children. +This he began with admitting to be a strict right of +war. Profane history supplied him with several instances +of such massacres, and so more especially did +Biblical history. He refrained, he expressly tells us, +from adducing the slaying of the women and children +of Heshbon by the Hebrews, or the command given<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span> +to them to deal in the same way with the people +of Canaan, for these were the works of God, whose +rights over mankind were far greater than those of man +over beasts. He preferred, as coming nearer to the +practice of his own time, the testimony of that verse +in the Psalms which says, ‘Blessed shall he be who +shall dash thy children against a stone.’ Subsequently +he withdrew this right of war, by reference to the +better precedents of ancient times. It does not appear +to have occurred to him that the precedents of +history, if we go to them for our rules of war, will +prove anything, according to the character of the +actions we select. Camillus (in Livy) speaks of +childhood as inviolable even in stormed cities; the +Emperor Severus, on the other hand, ordered his +soldiers to put all persons in Britain to the sword +indiscriminately, and in his turn appealed to precedent, +the order, namely, of Agamemnon, that of the Trojans +not even children in their mothers’ womb should be +spared from destruction. The children of Israel were +forbidden in their wars to cut down fruit trees; yet +when they warred against the Moabites, ‘they stopped +all the wells of water and felled all the good trees.’ +It was only possible in this way to distinguish the +better custom from the worse, not the right from the +wrong; either being equally justifiable on a mere +appeal to historical instances.</p> + +<p>The rules of war which prevailed in the time +of Grotius—the early time of the Thirty Years’ War—may +be briefly summarised from his work as follows. +The rights of war extended to <i>all</i> persons within +the hostile boundaries, the declaration of war being<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span> +essentially directed against every individual of a +belligerent nation. Any person of a hostile nation, +therefore, might be slain wherever found, provided it +were not on neutral territory. Women and children +might be lawfully slain (as it will be shown that they +were also liable to be in the best days of chivalry); +and so might prisoners of war, suppliants for their +lives, or those who surrendered unconditionally. It +was lawful to assassinate an enemy, provided it involved +no violation of a tacit or express agreement; +but it was unlawful to use poison in any form, though +fountains, if not poisoned, might be made undrinkable. +Anything belonging to an enemy might be destroyed: +his crops, his houses, his flocks, his trees, even his +sacred edifices, or his places of burial.</p> + +<p>That these extreme rights of war were literally +enforced in the seventeenth century admits of no +doubt; nor if any of them have at all been mitigated, +can we attribute it so much to the humane attempt +of Grotius and his followers to set restrictions on the +rightful exercise of predominant force, as to the accidental +influence of individual commanders. It has +been well remarked that the right of non-combatants +to be unmolested in war was recognised by generals +before it was ever proclaimed by the publicists.<a name="FNanchor_30" id="FNanchor_30"></a><a href="#Footnote_30" class="fnanchor">[30]</a> And +the same truth applies to many other changes in warfare, +which have been oftener the result of a temporary +military fashion, or of new ideas of military expediency, +than of obedience to Grotius or Vattel. They +set themselves to as futile a task as the proverbial +impossibility of whitening the negro; with this result<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span>—that +the destructiveness of war, its crimes, and +its cruelties, are something new even to a world that +cannot lose the recollection of the sack of Magdeburg +in 1631, or the devastation of the Palatinate in 1689.<a name="FNanchor_31" id="FNanchor_31"></a><a href="#Footnote_31" class="fnanchor">[31]</a></p> + +<p>The publicists have but recognised and reflected +the floating sentiments of their time, without giving +us any definite principle by which to separate the +permissible from the non-permissible practice in war. +We have seen how much they are at issue on the use +of poison. They are equally at issue as to the right +of employing assassination; as to the extent of the +legitimate use of fraud; as to the right of beginning a +war without declaration; as to the limits of the invader’s +rights of robbery; as to the right of the +invaded to rise against his invader; or as to whether +individuals so rising are to be treated as prisoners of +war or hanged as assassins. Let us consider what +they have done for us with regard to the right of +using savages for allies, or with regard to the rights +of the conqueror over the town he has taken by +assault.</p> + +<p>The right to use barbarian troops on the Christian +battle-field is unanimously denied by all the modern +text-writers. Lord Chatham’s indignation against +England’s employment of them against her revolted +colonies in America availed as little. Towards the +end of the Crimean war Russia prepared to arm some +savage races within her empire, and brought Circassians +into Hungary in 1848.<a name="FNanchor_32" id="FNanchor_32"></a><a href="#Footnote_32" class="fnanchor">[32]</a> France employed African<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span> +Turcos both against Austria in 1859 and against +Prussia in 1870; and it is within the recollection of +the youngest what came of the employment by Turkey +of Bashi-Bazouks. Are they likely not to be used in +future because Bluntschli, Heffter, or Wheaton prohibits +them?</p> + +<p>To take a town by assault is the worst danger a +soldier can have to face. The theory therefore had a +show of reason, that without the reward of unlimited +licence he could never be brought to the breach. Tilly +is said to have replied, when he was entreated by +some of his officers to check the rapine and bloodshed +that has immortalised the sack of Magdeburg in 1631: +‘Three hours’ plundering is the shortest rule of war. +The soldier must have something for his toil and +trouble.’<a name="FNanchor_33" id="FNanchor_33"></a><a href="#Footnote_33" class="fnanchor">[33]</a> It is on such occasions, therefore, that +war shows itself in its true character, and that M. +Girardin’s remark, ‘<i>La guerre c’est l’assassinat, la guerre +c’est le vol,</i>’ reads like a revelation. The scene never +varies from age to age; and the storming of Badajoz +and San Sebastian by the English forces in the +Peninsular War, or of Constantine in Algeria by the +French in 1837, teaches us what we may expect to +see in Europe when next a town is taken by assault, +as Strasburg might have been in 1870. ‘No age, no +nation,’ says Sir W. Napier, ‘ever sent forth braver +troops to battle than those who stormed Badajoz’<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span> +(April 1812). Yet for two days and nights there +reigned in its streets, says the same writer, ‘shameless +rapacity, brutal intemperance, savage lust, cruelty, +and murder.’<a name="FNanchor_34" id="FNanchor_34"></a><a href="#Footnote_34" class="fnanchor">[34]</a> And what says he of San Sebastian +not a year and a half later? A thunderstorm that +broke out ‘seemed to be a signal from hell for the +perpetration of villany which would have shamed the +most ferocious barbarians of antiquity.’ ... ‘The +direst, the most revolting cruelty was added to the +catalogue of crime: one atrocity ... staggers the +mind by its enormous, incredible, indescribable barbarity.’<a name="FNanchor_35" id="FNanchor_35"></a><a href="#Footnote_35" class="fnanchor">[35]</a> +If officers lost their lives in trying to prevent +such deeds—whose very atrocity, as some one has +said, preserves them from our full execration, because +it makes it impossible to describe them—is it likely +that the gallant soldiers who crowned their bravery +with such devilry would have been one whit restrained +by the consideration that in refusing quarter, or in +murdering, torturing, or mutilating non-combatants, +they were acting contrary to the rules of modern +warfare?</p> + +<p>If, then, we temper theory with practice, and desert +our books for the facts of the battle-field (so far as +they are ever told in full), we may perhaps lay down +the following as the most important laws of modern +warfare:</p> + +<p>1. You may not use explosive bullets; but you +may use conical-shaped ones, which inflict far more +mutilation than round ones, and even explosive bullets +if they do not fall below a certain magnitude.</p> + +<p>2. You may not poison your enemy, because you<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span> +thus take from him the chance of self-defence: but +you may blow him up with a fougass or dynamite, +from which he is equally incapable of defending himself.</p> + +<p>3. You may not poison your enemy’s drinking-water; +but you may infect it with dead bodies or +otherwise, because that is only equivalent to turning +the stream.</p> + +<p>4. You may not kill helpless old men, women, or +children with the sword or bayonet; but as much as +you please with your Congreve rockets, howitzers, or +mortars.</p> + +<p>5. You may not make war on the peaceable occupants +of a country; but you may burn their houses if +they resist your claims to rob them of their uttermost +farthing.</p> + +<p>6. You may not refuse quarter to an enemy; +but you may if he be not equipped in a particular +outfit.</p> + +<p>7. You may not kill your prisoners of war; but +you may order your soldiers not to take any.</p> + +<p>8. You may not ask a ransom for your prisoners; +but you may more than cover their cost in the lump +sum you exact for the expenses of the war.</p> + +<p>9. You may not purposely destroy churches, +hospitals, museums, or libraries; but ‘military exigencies’ +will cover your doing so, as they will almost +anything else you choose to do in breach of any +other restrictions on your conduct.</p> + +<p>And it is into these absurdities that the reasonings +of Grotius and his followers have led us. The +real dreamers, it appears, have been, not those who,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span> +like Henri IV., Sully, St. Pierre, or Kant, have +dreamed of a world without wars, but those who have +dreamed of wars waged without lawlessness, passion, +or crime. On them be thrown back the taunts of +Utopianism which they have showered so long on +the only view of the matter which is really logical and +consistent. On them, at least, rests the shadow, and +must rest the reproach, of an egregious failure, unless +recent wars are of no account and teach no lesson. +And if their failure be real and signal, what remains +for those who wish for better things, and for some +check on deeds that threaten our civilisation, but to +turn their backs on the instructors they once trusted; +to light their fires rather than to load their shelves +with Grotius, Vattel, and the rest; and to throw in +their lot for the future with the opinion, hitherto +despised, though it was Kant’s, and the endeavour +hitherto discredited, though it was Henry the Great’s, +Sully’s, and Elizabeth’s—the opinion, that is, that it +were easier to abolish war than to humanise it, and +that only in the growth of a spirit of international +confidence lies any possible hope of its ultimate +extinction?</p> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II.</a><br /> +<span class="smaller">WARFARE IN CHIVALROUS TIMES.</span></h2> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>Voi m’avete fatto tornare quest’arte del soldo quasi che nulla, +ed io ne l’aveva presupposta la più eccellente e la più onorevole che si +facesse.</i>—<span class="smcap">Machiavelli</span>, <i>Dell’Arte della Guerra</i>.</p></blockquote> + +<p class="summary">Delusion about character of war in days of chivalry—The common +slaughter of women and children—The Earl of Derby’s sack of +Poitiers—The massacres of Grammont and Gravelines—The old +poem of the Vow of the Heron—The massacre of Limoges by +Edward the Black Prince—The imprisonment of ladies for ransom—Prisoners +of war starved to death; or massacred, if no prospect +of ransom; or blinded or otherwise mutilated—The meaning of a +surrender at discretion, as illustrated by Edward III. at Calais; +and by several instances in the same and the next century—The +practice of burning in aid of war; and of destroying sacred buildings—The +practice of poisoning the air—The use of barbarous +weapons—The influence of religion on war—The Church in vain +on the side of peace—Curious vows of the knights—The slight +personal danger incurred in war by them—The explanation of their +magnificent costume—Field-sports in war-time—The desire of gain +the chief motive to war—The identity of soldiers and brigands—The +career and character of the Black Prince—The place of money +in the history of chivalry—Its influence as a war-motive between +England and France—General low character of chivalrous warfare.</p> + +<p>For an impartial estimate of the custom of war, the +best preparation is a study of its leading features +in the days of chivalry. Not only are most of our +modern military usages directly descended from that +period, though many claim a far remoter ancestry, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span> +go back to the days of primitive savagery, but it is +the tradition of chivalry that chiefly keeps alive the +delusion that it is possible for warfare to be conducted +with humanity, generosity, and courtesy.</p> + +<p>Hallam, for instance, observes that in the wars of +our Edward III., ‘the spirit of honourable as well as +courteous behaviour towards the foe seems to have +arrived at its highest point;’ and he refers especially +to the custom of ransoming a prisoner on his parole, +and to the generous treatment by the Black Prince of +the French king taken captive at Poitiers.</p> + +<p>In order to demonstrate the extreme exaggeration +of this view, and to show that with war, as with the +greater crimes, moral greatness is only connected accidentally, +occasionally, or in romance, it is necessary +to examine somewhat closely the warfare of the fourteenth +century. Chivalry, according to certain historians, +was during that century in process of decline; +but the decline, if any, was rather in the nature of its +forms and ceremonies than of its spirit or essence. +It was the century of the most illustrious names in +chivalry, in France of Bertrand du Guesclin, in +England of the Black Prince, Sir Walter Manny, Sir +John Chandos. It was the century of the battles of +Crecy, Poitiers, Avray, and Navarette. It was the +century of the Order of the Star in France, of the +Garter and the Bath in England. Above all, it was +the century of Froissart, who painted its manners and +thoughts with a vividness so surpassing that to read +his pages is almost to live in his time. So that the +fourteenth century may fairly be taken as the period +in which chivalry reached its highest perfection, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span> +in which the military type of life and character attained +its noblest development. It is the century of which +we instinctively think when we would imagine a time +when the rivalry of brave deeds gave birth to heroism, +and the rivalry of military generosity invested even +the cruelties of the battle-field with the halo of +romance.</p> + +<p>Imagination, however, plays us false here as elsewhere. +Froissart himself, who described wars and +battles and noble feats of arms with a candour equal +to his honest delight in them, is alone proof enough +that there seldom was a period when war was more +ferociously conducted; when the laws in restraint of +it, imposed by the voice of morality or religion, were +less felt; when the motives for it as well as the incentives +of personal courage, were more mercenary; or +when the demoralisation consequent upon it were +more widely or more fatally spread. The facts that +follow in support of this conclusion come, in default +of any other special reference, solely from that charming +chronicler; allusions to other sources being only +necessary to prove the existence of a common usage, +and to leave no room for the theory that the cases +gathered from Froissart were but occasional or accidental +occurrences.</p> + +<p>Even savage tribes, like the Zulus, spare the lives +of women and children in war, and such a restraint is +the first test of any warfare claiming to rank above the +most barbarous. But in the fourteenth century such +indiscriminate slaughter was the commonest episode +of war: a fact not among the least surprising when +we remember that the protection of women and the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span> +defenceless was one of the special clauses of the oath +taken by knights at the ceremony of investiture. +Five days after the death of Edward III., and actually +during negotiations between France and England, the +admirals of France and Spain, at the command of +the King of France, sailed for Rye, which they burnt, +slaying the inhabitants, whether men or women +(1377); and it is a reasonable supposition that the +same conduct marked their further progress of pillage +and incendiarism in the Isle of Wight.</p> + +<p>Nor were such acts only the incidents of maritime +warfare, and perpetrated merely by the pirates of +either country; for they occurred as frequently in +hostilities by land, and in connection with the noblest +names of Christendom. At Taillebourg, in Saintonge, +the Earl of Derby had all the inhabitants put to the +sword, in reprisals for the death of one knight, who +during the assault on the town had met with his +death. So it fared during the same campaign with +three other places in Poitou, the chronicler giving us +more details with reference to the fate of Poitiers. +There were no knights in the town accustomed to +war and capable of organising a defence; and it was +only people of the poorer sort who offered a brave but +futile resistance to the army. When the town was +won, 700 people were massacred; ‘for the Earl’s +people put every one to the sword, men, women, and +little children.’ The Earl of Derby took no steps to +stop the slaughter, but after many churches and +houses had been destroyed, he forbade under pain of +death any further incendiarism, apparently for no +other reason than that he wished to stay there for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span> +ten or twelve days. A few years later, when the +French had recovered Poitiers, the English knights, +who had been there, marched away to Niort, which, +on the refusal of the inhabitants to admit them, they +forthwith attacked and speedily won, owing to the +absence, as at Poitiers, of any knights to direct the +defence. The male and female inhabitants alike were +put to the sword. All these instances occur in one +short chapter of Froissart.</p> + +<p>Sometimes this promiscuous slaughter even raised +its perpetrators to higher esteem. An episode of this +sort occurred in the famous war between the citizens of +Ghent and the Earl of Flanders. The Lord d’Enghien, +with 4,000 cavaliers and a large force of foot, besieged +the town of Grammont, which was attached to Ghent. +About four o’clock one fine Sunday in June, the +besiegers gained the town, and the slaughter, says +Froissart, was very great of men, women, and children, +for to none was mercy shown. Upwards of 500 of +the inhabitants were killed; numbers of old people +and women were burnt in their beds; and the town +being then set on fire in more than two hundred places, +was speedily reduced to ashes. ‘Fair son,’ said the Earl +of Flanders, greeting his returning relative, ‘you are +a valiant man, and if it please God will be a gallant +knight, for you have made a handsome beginning.’ +History, however, may rejoice that so promising a +career was checked in the bud; for the young nobleman’s +death in a skirmish within a few days made his +first feat of arms also his last.</p> + +<p>A similar story is connected with the memory of +the fighting Bishop of Norwich, famous in those days.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span> +Having been authorised by Pope Urban VI. to make +war on Pope Clement VII., he went and besieged the +town of Gravelines with shot and wild-fire, ‘till in the +end our men entered the town with their Bishop, when +they at his commandment destroying both man, +woman, and child, left not one alive of all those who +remained in the town.’<a name="FNanchor_36" id="FNanchor_36"></a><a href="#Footnote_36" class="fnanchor">[36]</a> This was in 1383; and it +will be observed how then, just as in later days, the +excuse of superior orders served as an excuse for the +perpetration of any crime, provided only it were committed +in war.</p> + +<p>It would be an error to suppose that these things +were the mere accident of war, due to the passion of +the moment, or to the feeble control of leaders over +their men. In a very curious old French poem, called +‘The Vow of the Heron,’ indisputable evidence exists +that the slaughter of women and children was not +only often premeditated before the opening of hostilities, +but that an oath binding a man to it was sometimes +given and accepted as a token of commendable +bravery. The poem in question deals with historical +events and persons; and if not to be taken as literal +history, undoubtedly keeps within the limits of probability, +as proved by other testimony of the manners +of those times. Robert, Count of Artois, exiled from +France, comes to England, and bringing a roasted +heron before Edward III. and his court, prays them to +make vows by it before eating of it (in accordance +with the custom which attached to such oaths peculiar +sanctity) concerning the deeds of war they would undertake +against the kingdom of France. Edward III., the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span> +Earl of Salisbury, Sir Walter Manny, the Earl of Derby, +Lord Suffolk, having all sworn according to the Count’s +wishes, Sir Fauquemont, striving to outdo them in +the profession of military zeal, swore that if the king +would cross the sea to invade France, he would always +appear in the van of his troops, carrying devastation +and fire and slaughter, and sparing not altars, nor +relations, nor friends, neither helpless women nor +children.<a name="FNanchor_37" id="FNanchor_37"></a><a href="#Footnote_37" class="fnanchor">[37]</a></p> + +<p>Let the reader reflect that these things occurred in +war, not of Christians against infidels, but of Christians +with one another, and in a period commonly belauded +for its advance in chivalrous humanity. The incidents +related were of too common occurrence to call for +special remark by their chronicler; but the peculiar +atrocities of the famous sack of Limoges, by the +express orders of Edward the Black Prince, were too +much even for Froissart. It is best to let him tell his +own story from the moment of the entry of the +besieging force: ‘The Prince, the Duke of Lancaster, +the Earls of Cambridge and of Pembroke, Sir +Guiscard d’Angle, and the others, with their men, +rushed into the town. You would then have seen +pillagers active to do mischief, running through the +town, slaying men, women, and children, according to +their commands. It was a most melancholy business, +for all ranks, ages, and sexes cast themselves on their +knees before the Prince, begging for mercy; but he +was so inflamed with passion and revenge that he +listened to none, but all were put to the sword, wherever +they could be found, even those who were not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span> +guilty; for, I know not why, the poor were not spared, +who could not have had any part in this treason; but +they suffered for it, and indeed more than those who +had been the leaders of the treachery. There was not +that day in the city of Limoges any heart so hardened +or that had any sense of religion, who did not +deeply bewail the unfortunate events passing before +their eyes; for upwards of 3,000 men, women, and +children were put to death that day. God have +mercy on their souls, for they were veritable martyrs.’ +Yet the man whose memory is stained with this crime, +among the blackest in history, was he whom not his +own country alone, but the Europe of his day, dubbed +the Mirror of Knighthood; and those who blindly +but (according to the still prevalent sophistry of +militarism) rightly carried out his orders counted +among them at least three of the noblest names in +England.</p> + +<p>The absence in chivalry of any feeling strong +enough to save the lives of women from the sword +of the warrior renders improbable <i>à priori</i> any keen +scruples against making them prisoners of war. In +France such scruples were stronger than in England. +The soldiers of the Black Prince took captive the +Duchess of Bourbon, mother to the King of France, +and imprisoned her in the castle of Belleperche; +whence she was afterwards conducted into Guyenne, +and ransom exacted for her liberty. Similar facts +mark the whole period from the twelfth to the fifteenth +century. When the Crusaders under Richard I. took +Messina by assault, they carried off with their other +lawful spoils all the noblest women belonging to the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span> +Sicilians.<a name="FNanchor_38" id="FNanchor_38"></a><a href="#Footnote_38" class="fnanchor">[38]</a> Edward I. made prisoners of the queen of +Robert Bruce and her ladies, and of the Countess of +Buchan, who had crowned Bruce. The latter, he said, as +she had not used the sword, should not perish by it; +but for her lawless conspiracy she should be shut up in +a chamber of stone and iron, circular as the crown she +gave; and at Berwick she should be suspended in the +open air, a spectacle to travellers, and for her everlasting +infamy. Accordingly, a turret was fitted up +for her with a strong cage of lattice-work, made of +strong posts and bars of iron.<a name="FNanchor_39" id="FNanchor_39"></a><a href="#Footnote_39" class="fnanchor">[39]</a> In the fifteenth century, +the English, in their war upon the French frontier, +according to Monstrelet, ‘made many prisoners, and +even carried off women, as well noble as not, whom +they kept in close confinement until they ransomed +themselves.’<a name="FNanchor_40" id="FNanchor_40"></a><a href="#Footnote_40" class="fnanchor">[40]</a> The notion, therefore, that in those +times any special courtesy was shown in war to the +weaker sex must be received with extreme latitude. +In 1194, Henry, Emperor of the Romans, having taken +Salerno in Apulia by storm, actually put up for +auction to his troops the wives and children of the +chief citizens whom he had slain and exiled.</p> + +<p>To pass to the treatment of prisoners of war, +who, be it remembered, were only those who could +promise ransom. The old historian Hoveden, speaking +of a battle that was fought in 1173, says that +there fell in it more than 10,000 Flemings; the remainder, +who were taken captive, being thrown into +prison in irons, and there starved to death. There is +no evidence whether, or for how long, starving re<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span>mained +in vogue; but the iron chains were habitual, +down even to the fourteenth century or later, among +the Germans and Spaniards, the extortion of a heavier +ransom being the motive for increasing the weight of +chain and the general discomfort of prison. To let +a prisoner go at large on parole for his ransom was +an advance initiated by the French, that sprang +naturally out of a state of hostilities in which most of +the combatants became personally acquainted, but it +was still conduct so exceptional that Froissart always +speaks of it in terms of high eulogy. It was also an +advance that often sprang out of the plainest necessities +of the case, as when, after the battle of Poitiers, +the English found their prisoners to be double their +own numbers, wherefore in consideration of the risk +they ran, they either received ransom from them on +the spot or gave them their liberty in exchange for a +promise to bring their ransom-money at Christmas +to Bordeaux. Bertrand du Guesclin did the same by +the English knights after their defeat at Pontvalin; +and it was in reference to this last occasion that +Froissart calls attention to the superiority of the French +over the Germans in not shackling their prisoners +with a view to a heavier ransom. ‘Curses on them +for it,’ he exclaims of the Germans; ‘they are a people +without pity or honour, and they ought never to receive +quarter. The French entertained their prisoners +well and ransomed them courteously, without being +too hard upon them.’</p> + +<p>Nevertheless we must suspect that this sort of +courtesy was rather occasional than habitual. Of this +same Du Guesclin, whom St.-Palaye calls the flower<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span> +of chivalry,<a name="FNanchor_41" id="FNanchor_41"></a><a href="#Footnote_41" class="fnanchor">[41]</a> two stories are told that throw a different +but curious light on the manners of those times. +Having on one occasion defeated the English and +taken many of them prisoners, Du Guesclin tried to +observe the rules of distributive justice in the partition +of the captives, but failing of success and unable to +discover to whom the prisoners really belonged, he +and Clisson (who were brothers in arms) in order to +terminate the differences which the victorious French +had with one another on the subject, conceived that +the only fair solution was to have them all massacred, +and accordingly more than 500 Englishmen were put +to death in cold blood outside the gates of Bressière.<a name="FNanchor_42" id="FNanchor_42"></a><a href="#Footnote_42" class="fnanchor">[42]</a> +So, on a second occasion, such a quantity of English +were taken that ‘there was not, down to the commonest +soldier, anyone who had not some prisoner of +whom he counted to win a good ransom; but as there +was a dispute between the French to know to whom +each prisoner belonged, Du Guesclin, to put them +all on a level, ordered them to put all to the sword, +and only the English chiefs were spared.’<a name="FNanchor_43" id="FNanchor_43"></a><a href="#Footnote_43" class="fnanchor">[43]</a> This +ferocious warrior, the product and pride of his time, +and the favourite hero of French chivalry, was hideous in +face and figure; and if we think of him, with his round +brown face, his flat nose, his green eyes, his crisp hair, +his short neck, his broad shoulders, his long arms, short +body, and badly made legs, we have evidently one of the +worst specimens of that type which was for so long the +curse of humanity, the warrior of mediæval Europe.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span></p> + +<p>In respect, therefore, of Hallam’s statement that +the courtesy of chivalry gradually introduced an indulgent +treatment of prisoners which was almost +unknown to antiquity, it is clear that it would be +unwise to press too closely the comparison on this head +between pre-Christian and post-Christian warfare. +At the siege of Toledo, the Besque de Vilaines, a +fellow-soldier of Du Guesclin in the Spanish war, in +order to intimidate the besieged into a surrender, +had as many gallows erected in front of the city as +he had taken prisoners, and actually had more than +two dozen hung by the executioner with that object. +In the pages of Livy or Thucydides there may be +many a bad deed recorded, but at least there is nothing +worse than the deeds of the Besque de Vilaines, or +of Du Guesclin, Constable of France, or of Edward +the Black Prince of England.</p> + +<p>There is another point besides the fettering of +prisoners in which attention is drawn in Froissart to +the exceptional barbarity of the Spaniards; and in no +estimate of the military type of life in the palmiest +days of chivalry would it be reasonable to omit all +consideration of Spain. In the war between Castile +and Portugal, the forces under Don John of Castile +laid siege to Lisbon, closely investing it; and if any +Portuguese were taken prisoners in a skirmish or otherwise, +their eyes were put out, their legs, arms, or other +members torn off, and in such plight they were sent +back to Lisbon with the message that when the town +was taken mercy would be shown to none. Such +was the story told by the Portuguese ambassador to +the Duke of Lancaster, and repeated on his authority<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span> +by Froissart. For the credit of humanity, to say +nothing of chivalry, one would fain disbelieve the tale +altogether, or regard it as an episode that stood by +itself and apart from the general practice of the +age, since it is the only one of the kind related by +Froissart. But the frequency as much as the rarity +of a practice may account for the silence of an annalist, +and there is little doubt that mutilation of the +kind described was common in the chivalrous period, +even if obsolete or nearly so in the fourteenth century. +Blinding and castration were not only punishments +inflicted for offences against the forest laws of the +Norman kings of England, but were the common fate +of captive enemies in arms throughout Europe in the +eleventh and twelfth centuries. This, for instance, +was the treatment of their Welsh prisoners by the +Earls of Shrewsbury and Chester in 1098; as also of +William III., King of Sicily, at the hands of Henry, +Emperor of the Romans, in 1194. At the close of +the twelfth century, in the war between Richard I. of +England and Philip Augustus of France, blinding was +resorted to on both sides; for Hoveden expressly +says: ‘The King of France had the eyes put out of +many of the English king’s subjects whom he had +made prisoners, and this provoked the King of England, +unwilling as he was, to similar acts of impiety.’ And +to take a last instance, in 1225, the Milanese having +taken prisoners 500 Genoese crossbowmen, deprived +each of them of an eye and an arm, in revenge for the +injury done by their bows.<a name="FNanchor_44" id="FNanchor_44"></a><a href="#Footnote_44" class="fnanchor">[44]</a> So that it would be interesting, +if possible, to learn from some historian the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span> +date and cause of the cessation of customs so profoundly +barbarous and brutal.</p> + +<p>By the rules, again, of chivalrous warfare all +persons found within a town taken by assault were +liable, and all the male adults likely, to be killed. +Bertrand du Guesclin made it a maxim before attacking +a place to threaten its commander with the +alternative of surrender or death; a military custom +perhaps as old as war itself, and one that has descended +unchanged to our own times. Only by a +timely surrender could the besieged cherish any hope +for their lives or fortunes; and even the offer of a +surrender might be refused, and an unconditional surrender +be insisted upon instead. This is proved by +the well-known story of Edward III. at the siege of +Calais, a story sometimes called in doubt merely for +resting solely on the authority of Froissart. The +governor of Calais offered to surrender the town and +all things in it, in return for a simple permission to +leave it in safety. Sir Walter Manny replied that +the king was resolved that they should surrender +themselves solely to his will, to ransom or kill them +as he pleased. The Frenchman retorted that they +would suffer the direst extremities rather than submit +to the smallest boy in Calais faring worse than the +rest. The king obstinately refused to change his +mind, till Sir Walter Manny, pressing upon him the +reluctance of his officers to garrison his castles with +the prospect of reprisals which such an exercise of +his war-right would render probable, Edward so far +relented as to insist on having six citizens of Calais +left to the absolute disposal of his revenge. When<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span> +the six who offered themselves as a sacrifice for the +rest of their fellow-citizens reached the presence of +the king, the latter, though all the knights around +him were moved even to tears, gave instant orders to +behead them. All who were present pleaded for them, +and above all, Sir Walter Manny, in accordance with +his promise to the French governor; but it was all +in vain, and but for the entreaties of the queen, those +six citizens would have fallen victims to the savage +wrath of the pitiless Edward.</p> + +<p>Two facts support the probable truth of the above +narrative from Froissart. In the first place, it is in +perfect keeping with the conduct of the same warrior +at the taking of Caen. When the king heard what +mischief the inhabitants had inflicted on his army by +their vigorous defence, he gave orders that all the rest +of the inhabitants should be slain and the town burnt;<a name="FNanchor_45" id="FNanchor_45"></a><a href="#Footnote_45" class="fnanchor">[45]</a> +and had it not been for the remonstrances of Sir +Godfrey de Harcourt, there is little reason to doubt but +that he would thus have glutted, as he craved to do, the +intense native savagery of his soul. In the second +place, the story is in perfect keeping with the common +war-rule of that and later times, by virtue of which a +conqueror might always avail himself of the distress of +his enemy to insist upon a surrender at discretion, +which of course was equivalent to a surrender to death +or anything else.</p> + +<p>How commonly death was inflicted in such cases +may be shown from some narratives of capitulations +given by Monstrelet. When Meaux surrendered to +Henry V., six of the defenders were reserved by name<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span> +to be delivered up to justice (such was the common +expression), and four were shortly after beheaded at +Paris.<a name="FNanchor_46" id="FNanchor_46"></a><a href="#Footnote_46" class="fnanchor">[46]</a> When Meulan surrendered to the regent, the +Duke of Bedford, numbers were specially excepted +from those to whom the Duke granted their lives, ‘to +remain at the disposal of the lord regent.’<a name="FNanchor_47" id="FNanchor_47"></a><a href="#Footnote_47" class="fnanchor">[47]</a> When +some French soldiers having taken refuge in a fort +were so closely besieged by the Earl Marshal of +England as to be obliged to surrender at discretion, +many of them were hanged.<a name="FNanchor_48" id="FNanchor_48"></a><a href="#Footnote_48" class="fnanchor">[48]</a> When the garrison of +Guise capitulated to Sir John de Luxembourg, a +general pardon was granted to all, except to certain +who were to be delivered up to justice.<a name="FNanchor_49" id="FNanchor_49"></a><a href="#Footnote_49" class="fnanchor">[49]</a> When the +same captain, with about one thousand men, besieged +the castle of Guetron, wherein were some sixty or +eighty Frenchmen, the latter proposed to surrender +on condition of the safety of their lives and fortunes; +‘they were told they must surrender at discretion. In +the end, however, it was agreed to by the governor that +from four to six of his men should be spared by Sir +John. When this agreement had been settled and +pledges given for its performance, the governor re-entered +the castle, and was careful not to tell his companions +the whole that had passed at the conference, +giving them to understand in general that they were to +march away in safety; but when the castle was surrendered +all within it were made prisoners. On the +morrow, by the orders of Sir John de Luxembourg, they +were all strangled and hung on trees hard by, except +the four or six before mentioned—one of their com<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span>panions +serving for the executioner.’<a name="FNanchor_50" id="FNanchor_50"></a><a href="#Footnote_50" class="fnanchor">[50]</a> One more of +these black acts, so common among the warriors of +chivalry, and this point perhaps will be accepted as +proved. The French had gained possession of the castle +of Rouen, but after twelve days were obliged to surrender +at discretion to the English; ‘they were all made +prisoners, and put under a good guard; and shortly +after, one hundred and fifty were beheaded at Rouen.’<a name="FNanchor_51" id="FNanchor_51"></a><a href="#Footnote_51" class="fnanchor">[51]</a></p> + +<p>Let us pass next from the animate to the inanimate +world as affected by warfare. The setting on +fire of Grammont in more than two hundred places is +a fair sample of the normal use of arson as a military +weapon in the chivalrous period. To burn an undefended +town or village was accounted no meanness; +and was as frequent as the destruction of crops, fruit +trees, or other sources of human subsistence. The +custom of tearing up vines or fruit trees contrasts +strongly with the command of Xerxes to his forces to +spare the groves of trees upon their march; and any +reader of ancient history will acknowledge the vast +deterioration from the pagan laws of war which every +page of the history of Christian chivalry reveals and +exposes.</p> + +<p>But little as was the forbearance displayed in war +towards defenceless women and children, or to the +crops and houses that gave them food and shelter, it +might perhaps have been expected that, at a time +when no serious dissent had come to divide Christianity, +and when the defence of religion and religious +ceremonies were among the professed duties of knighthood, +churches and sacred buildings should have<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span> +enjoyed especial immunity from the ravages of war. +Even in pagan warfare the temples of the enemy as a +rule were spared; such an act as the destruction of +the sacred edifices of the Marsi by the Romans under +Germanicus being contrary to the better traditions of +Roman military precedent.</p> + +<p>Permissible as it was by the rules of war, says +Polybius, to destroy an enemy’s garrisons, cities, or +crops, or anything else by which his power might be +weakened, it was the part of mere rage and madness +to destroy such things as their statues or temples, +by which no benefit or injury accrued to one side or +the other; nor are allusions to violations of this rule +numerous in pre-Christian warfare.<a name="FNanchor_52" id="FNanchor_52"></a><a href="#Footnote_52" class="fnanchor">[52]</a> The practice of +the Romans and Macedonians to meet peaceably +together in time of war on the island of Delos, on +account of its sanctity as the reputed birthplace of +Apollo,<a name="FNanchor_53" id="FNanchor_53"></a><a href="#Footnote_53" class="fnanchor">[53]</a> has no parallel in the history of war among +the nations of Christendom. The most that can be +said for the fourteenth century in this respect is that +slightly stronger scruples protected churches and +monasteries than the lives of women and children. +This is implied in Froissart’s account of the storming +of Guerrande: ‘Men, women, and children were put +to the sword, and fine churches sacrilegiously burnt; +at which the Lord Lewis was so much enraged, that +he immediately ordered twenty-four of the most active +to be hanged on the spot.’</p> + +<p>But the slightest embitterment of feeling removed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span> +all scruples in favour of sacred buildings. Richard II., +having with his army crossed the Tweed, took up his +quarters in the beautiful abbey of Melrose; after which +the monastery, though spared in all previous wars with +Scotland, was burnt, because the English had determined, +says Froissart, to ruin everything in Scotland +before returning home, in revenge for the recent alliance +entered into by that country with France. The +abbey of Dunfermline, where the Scotch kings used to +be buried, was also burnt in the same campaign; and +so it fared with all other parts of Scotland that the +English overran; for they ‘spared neither monasteries +nor churches, but put all to fire and flame.’</p> + +<p>Neither did any greater degree of chivalry display +itself in the matter of the modes and weapons of +warfare. Although reason can urge no valid objection +against the means of destruction resorted to by hostile +forces, whether poisoned arrows, explosive bullets, or +dynamite, yet certain things have been generally +excluded from the category of fair military practices, +as for example the poisoning of an enemy’s water. +But the warriors of the fourteenth century, even if they +stand acquitted of poisoning rivers and wells, had no +scruples about poisoning the air: which perhaps is +nearly equivalent. The great engines they called +Sows or Muttons, like that one, 120 feet wide and 40 +feet long, from which Philip von Artefeld and the men +of Ghent cast heavy stones, beams of wood, or bars of +hot copper into Oudenarde, must have made life inside +such a place unpleasant enough; but worse things +could be injected than copper bars or missiles of +wood. The Duke of Normandy, besieging the English<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span> +garrison at Thin-l’Evêque, had dead horses and other +carrion flung into the castle, to poison the garrison by +the smell; and since the air was hot as in midsummer, +it is small wonder that the dictates of reason soon +triumphed over the spirit of resistance. And at the +siege of Grave the chivalry of Brabant made a similar +use of carrion to empoison the garrison into a surrender.</p> + +<p>Even in weapons different degrees of barbarity are +clearly discernible, according as they are intended to +effect a disabling wound, or a wound that will cause +needless laceration and pain by the difficulty of their +removal. A barbed arrow or spear betokens of course +the latter object, and it is worth visiting the multi-barbed +weapons in Kensington Museum from different +parts of the world, to learn to what lengths military +ingenuity may go in this direction. The spear heads +of the Crusaders were barbed;<a name="FNanchor_54" id="FNanchor_54"></a><a href="#Footnote_54" class="fnanchor">[54]</a> and so were the arrows +used at Crecy and elsewhere, as may be seen on reference +to the manuscript pictures, the object being to +make it impossible to extract them without laceration +of the flesh. The sarbacane or long hollow tube was in +use for shooting poisoned arrows at the enemy;<a name="FNanchor_55" id="FNanchor_55"></a><a href="#Footnote_55" class="fnanchor">[55]</a> and +pictures remain of the vials of combustibles that were +often attached to the end of arrows and lances.<a name="FNanchor_56" id="FNanchor_56"></a><a href="#Footnote_56" class="fnanchor">[56]</a></p> + +<p>The above facts clearly show the manner and spirit +with which our ancestors waged war in the days +of what Hallam calls chivalrous virtue: one of the +most stupendous historical impostures that has ever +become an accepted article of popular belief. The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span> +military usages of the Greeks and Romans were mild +and polished, compared to the immeasurable savagery +which marked those of the Christians of Froissart’s +day. As for the redeeming features, the rare generosity +or courtesy to a foe, they might be cited in +almost equal abundance from the warfare of the Red +Indians; but what sheds a peculiar stain on that of +the Chevaliers is the ostentatious connection of religion +with the atrocities of those blood-seeking marauders. +The Church by a peculiar religious service blessed and +sanctified both the knight and his sword; and the +most solemn rite of the Christian faith was profaned to +the level of a preliminary of battle. At Easter and +Christmas, the great religious festivals of a professedly +peace-loving worship, the Psalm that was deemed most +appropriate to be sung in the chapels of the Pope and +the King of France was that beginning, ‘Benedictus +Dominus Deus meus, qui docet manus meas ad bellum +et digitos meos ad prœlia.’</p> + +<p>It was a curious feature of this religion of war that, +when Edward III.’s forces invaded France, so strict +was the superstition that led them to observe the fast +of Lent, that among other things conveyed into the +country were vessels and boats of leather wherewith to +obtain supplies of fish from the lakes and ponds of +the enemy.</p> + +<p>It is indeed passing strange that Christianity, +which could command so strict an observance of its +ordinances as is implied in the transport of boats to +catch fish for Lent, should have been powerless to +place any check whatever on the ferocious militarism +of the time; and the very little that was ever done by<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span> +the Church to check or humanise warfare is an eternal +reflection on the so-called conversion of Europe +to Christianity. Nevertheless the Church, to do her +justice, used what influence she possessed on the side +of peace in a manner she has long since lost sight of; +nor was the Papacy in its most distracted days ever +so indifferent to the evils of war as the Protestant +Church has been since, and is still. Clement VI. +succeeded in making peace between France and +England, just as Alexander III. averted a war between +the two countries in 1161. Innocent VI. tried +to do the same; and Urban V. returned from Rome +to Avignon, hoping to effect the same good object. +Gregory XI. was keenly distressed at the failure of +efforts similar to those of his predecessors. The Popes +indeed endeavoured to stop wars, as they endeavoured +to stop tournaments, or the use of the crossbow; but +they were defeated by the intense barbarism of +chivalry; nor can it be laid to the charge of the +Church of Rome, as it can to that of the Church of +the Reformation, that she ever folded her hands +in despairful apathy before a custom she admitted to +be evil. The cardinals and archbishops of those days +were constantly engaged in pacific, nor always futile, +embassies. And the prelates would frequently preach +to either side arguments of peace: a fact that contrasts +badly with the almost universal silence and impotence +of the modern pulpit, either to stay a war or to +mitigate its barbarities.</p> + +<p>But it is true that they knew equally well how to +play on the martial as on the pacific chord in their +audiences; for the eloquence of an Archbishop of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span> +Toulouse turned sixty towns and castles to the interest +and rights of the French king in his quarrel with +England; and the preaching of prelates and lawyers +in Picardy had a similar effect in other large towns. +Nor were the English clergy slower than the French +to assert the rights of their king and country, for +Simon Tibald, Bishop of London, made several long +and fine sermons to demonstrate (as always is +demonstrated in such cases) that the King of France +had acted most unjustly in renewing the war, and that +his conduct was at total variance both with equity +and reason.</p> + +<p>But these appeals to the judgment of their +congregations by the clergy are also a proof that +in the fourteenth century the opinion of the people +did not count for so little as is often supposed in the +making of peace and war. Yet the power of the +people in this respect was doubtless as insignificant as +it still is in our own days: nothing being more remarkable, +even in the free government of modern England, +than the influence of the people in theory and their +influence in fact on the most important question that +regards their destinies.</p> + +<p>Nor are the moral causes difficult to trace which +in those times made wars break out so frequently and +last so long, that those who now read of them can only +marvel how civilisation ever emerged at all, even to the +imperfect degree to which it is given to us to enjoy it. +The love of adventure and the hope of fame were of +course among the principal motives. The saying of +Adam Smith, that the great secret of education is the +direction of personal vanity to proper objects, contains<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span> +the key to all advance that has ever been made in +civilisation, and to every shortcoming. The savagery +of the middle ages was due to the direction of personal +vanity exclusively into military channels, so that the +desire for distinction often displayed itself in forms of +perfect absurdity, as in the case of the young English +knights who went abroad with one eye veiled, binding +themselves by a vow to their ladies neither to see +with their eyes nor to reply to anything asked of them +till they had signalised themselves by the performance +of some wondrous deed in France. The gradual +opening up in later days of other paths to distinction +than that of arms has very much diminished the +danger to the public peace involved in the worthless +education of our ancestors.</p> + +<p>Nor was the personal distinction of the warrior +gained at any great risk of personal danger. The +personal danger in war decreased in exact ratio with +the rank of the combatant, and it was only the lower +orders of the social hierarchy who unreservedly risked +their lives. In case of defeat they had no ransom to +offer for mercy, and appear almost habitually to have +been slain without any. If it was a common thing for +either side to settle before a battle the names of those +on the other who should be admitted to ransom, it was +no uncommon thing to determine, as the English did +before Crecy, to give no quarter to the enemy at all. +But as a rule the battle-field was of little more peril to +the knight than the tournament; and though many +perished when powerless to avert the long thin dagger, +called the <i>miséricorde</i>, from the interstices of their +armour or the vizor of their helmets, yet the striking<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span> +fact in Froissart is the great number of battles, +skirmishes, and sieges in which the same names occur, +proving how seldom their bearers were wounded, +disabled, or killed. This of course was due mainly +to the marvellous defensive armour they wore, which +justifies the wonder not merely how they fought but +even how they moved. Whether encased in coats of +mail, sewn upon or worn over the gambeson or thick +undergarment of cloth or leather, or in plates of solid +steel, at first worn over the mail and then instead +of it, and often with the plastron or breastplate of +forged iron beneath both hauberk and gambeson, +they evidently had little to fear from arrow, sword, +or lance, unless when they neglected to let down +the vizor of the helmet, as Sir John Chandos did, +when he met with his death from a lance wound +in the eye (1370). Their chief danger lay in the +hammering of battle-axes on their helmets, which +stunned or wounded, but seldom killed them. But +the foot soldiers and light cavalry, though generally +well equipped, were less well protected by armour than +the knights, the hauberk or coat of mail being allowed +in France only to persons possessed of a certain +estate; so that the knights were formidable less +to one another than to those who by the conditions of +the combat could not be so formidable to themselves.</p> + +<p>The surcoat was also a defence to the knight, as +indicating the ransom he could pay for his life. +Otherwise it is impossible to account for his readiness +to go into action with this long robe flowing over his +plate of steel and all his other accoutrements. Had +Sir John Chandos not been entangled in his long<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span> +surcoat when he slipped, he might have lived to fight +many another battle to the honour of English chivalry. +Richness of armour served also the same purpose as +the surcoat. At the battle of Nicopoli, when the +flower of the French nobility met with so disastrous a +defeat at the hands of the Turks, the lords of France +were, says Froissart, so richly dressed out in their +emblazoned surcoats as to look like little kings, and +many for a time owed their lives to the extreme richness +of their armour, which led the Saracens to suppose +them greater lords than they could really boast to be. +So again the elaborate gold necklaces worn by distinguished +officers in the seventeenth century were +probably rather symbols of the ransom their wearers +could pay, than worn merely for ostentation and vanity. +It was to carelessness on this score that the Scotch +owed their great losses at the battle of Musselborough +in 1548: for (to put the words of Patin in modern +dress) their ‘vileness of port was the cause that so +many of the great men and gentlemen were killed and +so few saved. The outward show, the semblance and +sign whereby a stranger might discern a villain from +a gentleman, was not among them to be seen.’</p> + +<p>War under these conditions chiefly affected the +lives of the great by pleasantly relieving the monotony +of peaceful days. In time of peace they had few +occupations but hawking, hunting, and tilting, and +during hostilities those amusements continued. Field +sports, sometimes spoken of by their eulogists as the +image of war, were not absent during its reality. +Edward III. hunted and fished daily during his campaign +in France, having with him thirty falconers on<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span> +horseback, sixty couples of staghounds, and as many +greyhounds. And many of his nobles followed his +example in taking their hawks and hounds across the +Channel.</p> + +<p>But the preceding causes of the frequency of war +in the days of chivalry are quite insignificant when +compared with that motive which nowadays mainly +finds vent in the peaceful channels of commerce—namely, +the common desire of gain. The desire for +glory had far less to do with it than the desire of +lucre; nor is anything from the beginning to the +end of Froissart more conspicuously displayed than +the merely mercenary motive for war. The ransom +of prisoners or of towns, or even ransom for the +slain,<a name="FNanchor_57" id="FNanchor_57"></a><a href="#Footnote_57" class="fnanchor">[57]</a> afforded a short and royal road to wealth, +and was the chief incentive, as it was also the chief +reward of bravery. The Chevalier Bayard made by +ransoms in the course of his life a sum equal to +4,000<i>l.</i>, which in those days must have been a fortune;<a name="FNanchor_58" id="FNanchor_58"></a><a href="#Footnote_58" class="fnanchor">[58]</a> +and Sir Walter Manny in a single campaign enriched +himself by 8,000<i>l.</i> in the same way.<a name="FNanchor_59" id="FNanchor_59"></a><a href="#Footnote_59" class="fnanchor">[59]</a> So that the +story is perfectly credible of the old Scotch knight, who +in a year of universal peace prayed, ‘Lord, turn the +world upside down that gentlemen may make bread +of it.’ Loot and rapine, the modern attractions of the +brigand, were then in fact the main temptations of +the knight or soldier; and the distinction between +the latter and the brigand was far less than it had +been in the pre-Christian period, or than it is in more +modern times. Indeed the very word <i>brigand</i> meant,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span> +originally, merely a foot-soldier who fought in a +brigade, in which sense it was used by Froissart; +and it was only the constant addiction of the former +to the occupations of the highwayman that lent to +the word brigand its subsequent evil connotation.</p> + +<p>But it was not merely the common soldier to whom +the first question in a case of war was the profit +to be gained by it; for men of the best families of +the aristocracy were no less addicted to the land +piracy which then constituted war, as is proved by such +names as Calverly, Gournay, Albret, Hawkwood, and +Guesclin. The noble who was a soldier in war often +continued to fight as a robber after peace was made, +nor thought it beneath him to make wretched villagers +compound for their lives; and in spite of truces and +treaties, pillage and ransom afforded his chief and +often his sole source of livelihood. The story of +Charles de Beaumont dying of regret for the ransom +he had lost, because by mistake he had slain instead +of capturing the Duke of Burgundy at the battle of +Nancy, is a fair illustration of the dominion then +exercised by the lowest mercenary feelings over the +nobility of Europe.</p> + +<p>This mercenary side of chivalrous warfare has been +so lost sight of in the conventional descriptions of +it, that it is worth while to bring into prominence +how very little the cause of war really concerned +those who took part in it, and how unfounded is +the idea that men troubled to fight for the weak or +the oppressed under fine impulses of chivalry, and +not simply in any place or for any object that held +out to them the prospect of gain. How otherwise<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span> +is it possible to account for the conduct of the Black +Prince, in fighting to restore Pedro the Cruel to the +throne of Castile, from which he had been displaced +in favour of Henry of Trastamare not merely by the +arms of Du Guesclin and the French freebooters, but +by the wishes and consent of the people? Any +thought for the people concerned, or of sympathy for +their liberation, as little entered into the mind of the +Black Prince as if the question had concerned toads +or rabbits. Provided it afforded an occasion for fighting, +it mattered nothing that Pedro had ruled oppressively; +that he had murdered, or at least was believed to +have murdered, his wife, the sister of the reigning King +of France: nor that he had even been condemned by +the Pope as an enemy to the Christian Church. Yet +before the battle of Navarette (1367), in which Henry +was completely defeated, the Prince did not hesitate +in his prayers for victory to assert that he was waging +war solely in the interests of justice and reason; and +it was for his success in this iniquitous exploit (a +success which only awaited his departure from the +country to be followed by a rising in favour of the +monarch he had deposed) that the Prince won his +chief title to fame; that London exhausted itself in +shows, triumphs, and festivals in his honour; and +that Germans, English, and Flemish with one accord +entitled him ‘the mirror of knighthood.’ The Prince +was only thirteen when he fought at Crecy, and he +fought with courage: he was only ten years older +when he won the battle of Poitiers, and he behaved +with courtesy to the captive French king, from whom +he looked for an extortionate ransom: but the ex<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span>travagant +eulogies commonly heaped upon him prove +how little exalted in reality was the military ideal of +his age. His sack of Limoges, famous among military +atrocities, has already been spoken of; nor should it +be forgotten, as another indication of his character, +that when two messengers brought him a summons +from the King of France to answer the appeal of the +Gascons of Aquitaine, he actually imprisoned them, +showing himself however in this superior to his nobles +and barons, who actually advised capital punishment +as the fittest salary to the envoys for their pains.</p> + +<p>The Free Companies, or hordes of robbers, who +ravaged Europe through all the period of chivalry +and constituted the greatest social difficulty of the +time, were simply formed of knights and men-at-arms, +who, when a public war no longer justified them in +robbing and murdering on behalf of the State, turned +robbers and murderers on their own account. After +the treaty of Bretigny had put a stop to hostilities +between France and England (1360), 12,000 of these +men, men of rank and family as well as needy adventurers, +and under leaders of every nationality, resolved +sooner than lay down their arms to march into Burgundy, +there to relieve by the ransoms they might +levy the poverty they could not otherwise avert. +Many a war had no other justification than the +liberation of one people from their outrages by turning +them upon another. Thus Du Guesclin led his +White Company into Spain on behalf of Henry the +Bastard, less to avenge the cruelties of Pedro than to +free France from the curse of her unemployed chivalry; +and Henry the Bastard, when by such help he had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span> +wrested the kingdom of Castile from his brother +Pedro, designed an invasion of Granada simply to +divert from his own territories the allies who had placed +him in possession of them. This was a constant +source of war in those days, just as in our own the +existence of large armies leads of necessity to wars +for their employment; and even the Crusades derive +some explanation from the operation of the motive +indicated.</p> + +<p>No historical microscope, indeed, will detect any +difference between the Free Companies and the regular +troops, since not only the latter merged into the +former, but both were actuated by the sole pursuit of +gain, and equally indifferent to ideas of honour or +patriotism. The creed of both was summed up in the +following regretful speech, attributed to Aymerigot +Marcel, a great captain of the pillaging bands: ‘There +is no pleasure in the world like that which men such +as ourselves enjoyed. How happy were we when, +riding out in search of adventures, we met a rich +abbot, a merchant, or a string of mules, well laden +with draperies, furs, or spices, from Montpellier, Beziers, +and other places! All was our own, or ransomed +according to our will. Every day we gained money, +... we lived like kings, and when we went abroad +the country trembled; everything was ours both in +going and returning.’</p> + +<p>In the days of chivalry, this desire of gain, however +gotten, pervaded and vitiated all classes of men +from the lowest to the highest. Charles IV. of France, +when his sister Isabella, queen of Edward II., fled +to him, promised to help her with gold and silver, but<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span> +secretly, lest it should bring him into war; and then +when messengers from England came with gold and +silver and jewels for himself and his ministers, both +he and his council became in a short time as cold to +the cause of Isabella as they had been warm, the king +even going so far as to forbid any of his subjects +under pain of banishment to help his sister in her +projected return. And again, when Edward III. was +about to make war with France, was he not told that +his allies were men who loved to gain wealth, and +whom it was necessary to pay beforehand? And did +he not find that a judicious distribution of florins was +as effective in winning over to his interests a duke, a +marquis, an archbishop, and the lords of Germany, as +the poorer citizens of the towns of Flanders?</p> + +<p>Money, therefore, or its equivalent, and not the +title to the crown of France, was at the root of the +wars waged abroad by the English under Edward III. +The question of title simply served as pretext, covering +the baser objects of the invasion. No historical fact +is clearer, ignored though it has been in the popular +histories of England, than that the unpopularity of his +successor, Richard II., arose from his marriage with +the daughter of the King of France, and from his +desire for peace between the two kingdoms, of which +the marriage was the proof and the security. When +his wish for peace led to the formation of a war and +a peace party among the English nobility, Froissart +says: ‘The poorer knights and archers were of course +for war, as their sole livelihood depended upon it.<a name="FNanchor_60" id="FNanchor_60"></a><a href="#Footnote_60" class="fnanchor">[60]</a> +They had learnt idleness and looked to war as a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span> +means of support.’ In reference to the great peace +conference held at Amiens in 1391, he observes: +‘Many persons will not readily believe what I am +about to say, though it is strictly true, that the English +are fonder of war than of peace. During the reign of +Edward, of happy memory, and in the lifetime of his +son the Prince of Wales, they made such grand conquests +in France, and by their victories and ransoms +of towns, castles, and men gained such wealth, that +the poorest knights became rich; and those who were +not gentlemen by birth, by gallantly hazarding themselves +in these wars, were ennobled by their valour +and worth. Those who came after them were desirous +of following the same road.... Even the Duke of +Gloucester, son of King Edward, inclined to the opinion +of the commons, as did many other knights and +squires who were desirous of war to enable them to +support their state.’<a name="FNanchor_61" id="FNanchor_61"></a><a href="#Footnote_61" class="fnanchor">[61]</a></p> + +<p>No other country, indeed, pleased these English +brigand knights so well as France for the purpose of +military plunder. Hence the English who returned +from the expedition to Castile complained bitterly that +in the large towns where they expected to find everything, +there was nothing but wines, lard, and empty +coffers; but that it was quite otherwise in France, +where they had often found in the cities taken in war +such wealth and riches as astonished them; it was in +a war with France therefore that it behoved them to +hazard their lives, for it was very profitable, not in a +war with Castile or Portugal, where there was nothing +but poverty and loss to be suffered.<a name="FNanchor_62" id="FNanchor_62"></a><a href="#Footnote_62" class="fnanchor">[62]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span></p> + +<p>With this evidence from Froissart may be compared +a passage from Philip de Commines, where he +says, in speaking of Louis XI. towards the end of the +following century: ‘Our master was well aware that +the nobility, clergy, and commons of England are +always ready to enter upon a war with France, not +only on account of their old title to its crown, but by +the desire of gain, for it pleased God to permit their +predecessors to win several memorable battles in this +kingdom, and to remain in possession of Normandy +and Guienne for the space of 350 years, ... during +which time they carried over enormous booty into +England. Not only in plunder which they had taken +in the several towns, but in the richness and quality +of their prisoners, who were most of them great princes +and lords, and paid them vast ransoms for their +liberty; so that every Englishman afterwards hoped +to do the same thereby and return home laden with +spoils.’<a name="FNanchor_63" id="FNanchor_63"></a><a href="#Footnote_63" class="fnanchor">[63]</a></p> + +<p>Such, then, were the antecedents of the evil custom +of war which has descended to our own time; and +we shall have taken the first step to its abolition when +we have thus learnt to read its real descent and place +in history, and to reject as pure hallucination the idea +that in the warfare of the past any more than of the +present there was anything noble or great or glorious. +That brave deeds were often done and noble conduct +sometimes displayed in it must not blind us to its +other and darker features. It was a warfare in which +not even women and children were safe from the +sword or lance of the knight or soldier; nor sacred<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span> +buildings exempt from their rage. It was a warfare +in which the occasional mercy shown had a mercenary +taint; in which the defeated were only spared +for their ransom; and in which prisoners were constantly +liable to torture, mutilation, and fetters. +Above all, it was a warfare in which men fought more +from a sordid greed of gain than from any love or +attachment to their king or country, so that all sense +of loyalty would speedily evaporate if a king like +Richard II. chanced to wish to live peaceably with his +neighbours.</p> + +<p>It is not unimportant to have thus shown the +warfare of chivalry in its true light. For it is the +delusion with regard to it, which more than anything +else keeps alive those romantic notions about +war and warriors that are the most fatal hindrance to +removing both from the face of the earth. We clearly +drive militarism to its last defences, if we deprive it +of every period and of almost every name on which +it is wont to rely as entitling it to our admiration or +esteem.</p> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III.</a><br /> +<span class="smaller">NAVAL WARFARE.</span></h2> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>Una et ea vetus causa bellandi est profunda cupido imperii et +divitiarum.</i>—<span class="smcap">Sallust.</span></p></blockquote> + +<p class="summary">Robbery the first object of maritime warfare—The piratical origin of +European navies—Merciless character of wars at sea—Fortunes +made by privateering in England—Privateers commissioned by the +State—Privateers defended by the publicists—Distinction between +privateering and piracy—Failure of the State to regulate privateering—Privateering +condemned by Lord Nelson—Privateering abolished +by the Declaration of Paris in 1856—Modern feeling against +seizure of private property at sea—Naval warfare in days of wooden +ships—Unlawful methods of maritime war—The Emperor Leo VI.’s +‘Treatise on Tactics’—The use of fire-ships—Death the penalty for +serving in fire-ships—Torpedoes originally regarded as ‘bad’ war—English +and French doctrine of rights of neutrals—Enemy’s property +under neutral flag secured by Treaty of Paris—Shortcomings of the +Treaty of Paris with regard to:—(1) A definition of what is contraband; +(2) The right of search of vessels under convoy; (3) The +practice of embargoes; (4) The <i>jus angariæ</i>—The International +Marine Code of the future.</p> + +<p>The first striking difference between military and +naval warfare is that, while—in theory, at least—the +military forces of a country confine their attacks to +the persons and power of their enemy, the naval +forces devote themselves primarily to the plunder +of his property and commerce. If on land the +theory of modern war exempts from spoliation all +of an enemy’s goods that do not contribute to his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span> +military strength, on sea such spoliation is the professed +object of maritime warfare. And the difference, +we are told, is ‘the necessary consequence of the +state of war, which places the citizens or subject of +the belligerent states in hostility to each other, and +prohibits all intercourse between them,’<a name="FNanchor_64" id="FNanchor_64"></a><a href="#Footnote_64" class="fnanchor">[64]</a> although the +very reason for the immunity of private property on +land is that war is a condition of hostility between +the military forces of two countries, and not between +their respective inhabitants.<a href="#Footnote_64" class="fnanchor">[64]</a></p> + +<p>Writers on public law have invented many ingenious +theories to explain and justify, on rational +grounds, so fundamental a difference between the +two kinds of warfare. ‘To make prize of a merchant +ship,’ says Dr. Whewell, ‘is an obvious way of showing +(such a ship) that its own State is unable to protect +it at sea, and thus is a mode of attacking the State;’<a name="FNanchor_65" id="FNanchor_65"></a><a href="#Footnote_65" class="fnanchor">[65]</a> +a reason that would equally justify the slaughter of +nonagenarians. According to Hautefeuille, the differences +flows naturally from the conditions of hostilities +waged on different elements, and especially from the +absence at sea of any fear of a rising <i>en masse</i> which, +as it may be the result of wholesale robbery on land, +serves to some extent as a safeguard against it.<a name="FNanchor_66" id="FNanchor_66"></a><a href="#Footnote_66" class="fnanchor">[66]</a></p> + +<p>A simpler explanation may trace the difference +to the maritime Piracy which for many centuries +was the normal relation between the English and +Continental coasts, and out of which the navies of +Europe were gradually evolved. Sir H. Nicolas, de<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span>scribing +the naval state of the thirteenth and early +part of the fourteenth century, proves by abundant +facts the following picture of it: ‘During a truce or +peace ships were boarded, plundered, and captured +by vessels of a friendly Power as if there had been +actual war. Even English merchant ships were attacked +and robbed as well in port as at sea by English +vessels, and especially by those of the Cinque Ports, +which seem to have been nests of robbers; and, +judging from the numerous complaints, it would +appear that a general system of piracy existed which +no government was strong enough to restrain.’<a name="FNanchor_67" id="FNanchor_67"></a><a href="#Footnote_67" class="fnanchor">[67]</a></p> + +<p>The governments of those days were, however, not +only not strong enough to restrain, but, as a rule, only +too glad to make use of these pirates as auxiliaries in +their wars with foreign Powers. Some English ships +carrying troops to France having been dispersed by a +storm, the sailors of the Cinque Ports were ordered +by Henry III., in revenge, to commit every possible +injury on the French; a commission undertaken with +such zeal on their part that they slew and plundered +not only all the foreigners they could catch, but their +own countrymen returning from their pilgrimages +(1242). During the whole reign of Henry IV. (1399-1413), +though there existed a truce between France +and England, the ordinary incidents of hostilities +continued at sea just as if the countries had been at +open war.<a name="FNanchor_68" id="FNanchor_68"></a><a href="#Footnote_68" class="fnanchor">[68]</a> The object on either side was plunder +and wanton devastation; nor from their landing on +each other’s coasts, burning each other’s towns and +crops, and carrying off each other’s property, did the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span> +country of either derive the least benefit whatever. +The monk of St. Denys shows that these pirates +were really the mariners on whom the naval service +of England chiefly depended in time of war, for he +says, in speaking of this period: ‘The English pirates, +discontented with the truce and unwilling to abandon +their profitable pursuits, determined to infest the sea +and attack merchant ships. Three thousand of the +most skilful sailors of England and Bayonne had confederated +for that purpose, and, as was supposed, with +the approbation of their king.’ It was not till the +year 1413 that Henry V. sought to put a stop to the +piratical practices of the English marine, and he then +did so without requiring a reciprocal endeavour on +the part of the other countries of Europe.<a name="FNanchor_69" id="FNanchor_69"></a><a href="#Footnote_69" class="fnanchor">[69]</a></p> + +<p>Maritime warfare being thus simply an extension +of maritime piracy, the usages of the one naturally +became the usages of the other; the only difference +being that in time of war it was with the licence and +pay of the State, and with the help of knights and +squires, that the pirates carried on their accustomed +programme of incendiarism, massacres, and robberies.</p> + +<p>From this connection, therefore, a lower character +of warfare prevailed from the first on sea than on +land, and the spirit of piracy breathed over the waters. +No more mercy was shown by the regular naval +service than was shown by pirates to the crew of a +captured or surrendered vessel, for wounded and unwounded +alike were thrown into the sea. When the +fleet of Breton pirates defeated the English pirates +in July 1403, and took 2,000 of them prisoners,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span> +they threw overboard the greater part of them;<a name="FNanchor_70" id="FNanchor_70"></a><a href="#Footnote_70" class="fnanchor">[70]</a> +and in the great sea-fight between the English and +Spanish fleets of 1350, the whole of the crew of a +Spanish ship that surrendered to the Earl of Lancaster +were thrown overboard, ‘according to the barbarous +custom of the age.’<a name="FNanchor_71" id="FNanchor_71"></a><a href="#Footnote_71" class="fnanchor">[71]</a></p> + +<p>Two other stories of that time still further display +the utter want of anything like chivalrous feeling in +maritime usages. A Flemish ship, on its way to +Scotland, having been driven by a storm on the English +coast, near the Thames, and its crew having been +slain by the inhabitants, the king rewarded the assassins +with the whole of the cargo, and kept the ship and +the rigging for himself (1318).<a name="FNanchor_72" id="FNanchor_72"></a><a href="#Footnote_72" class="fnanchor">[72]</a> In 1379, when a fleet +of English knights, under Sir John Arundel, on its +way to Brittany, was overtaken by a storm, and the +jettison of other things failed to relieve the vessels, +sixty women, many of whom had been forced to +embark, were thrown into the sea.<a name="FNanchor_73" id="FNanchor_73"></a><a href="#Footnote_73" class="fnanchor">[73]</a></p> + +<p>The piratical origin, therefore, of the navies of +Europe sufficiently explains the fact that plunder, +which is less the rule than an incident of war on land, +remains its chief object and feature at sea. The fact +may further be explained by the survival of piracy +long sanctioned by the States under the guise of +Privateering. If we would understand the popularity +of wars in England in the old privateering days, +we must recall the magnificent fortunes which were +often won as prize-money in the career of legalised +piracy. During the war which was concluded in 1748<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span> +by the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, England captured +of French and Spanish ships collectively 3,434, whilst +she herself lost 3,238; but, small compensation as this +balance of 196 ships in her favour may seem after a +contest of some nine years, the pecuniary balance in +her favour is said to have amounted to 2,000,000<i>l.</i><a name="FNanchor_74" id="FNanchor_74"></a><a href="#Footnote_74" class="fnanchor">[74]</a></p> + +<p>We now begin to see why our forefathers rang +their church bells at the announcement of war, as they +did at the declaration of this one against Spain. War +represented to large classes what the gold mines of +Peru represented to Spain—the best of all possible +pecuniary speculations. In the year 1747 alone the +English ships took 644 prizes; and of what enormous +value they often were! Here is a list of the values +which the cargoes of these prizes not unfrequently +reached:</p> + +<ul><li>That of the ‘Héron,’ a French ship, 140,000<i>l.</i></li> +<li>That of the ‘Conception,’ a French ship, 200,000<i>l.</i></li> +<li>That of ‘La Charmante,’ a French East Indiaman, 200,000<i>l.</i></li> +<li>That of the ‘Vestal,’ a Spanish ship, 140,000<i>l.</i></li> +<li>That of the ‘Hector,’ a Spanish ship, 300,000<i>l.</i></li> +<li>That of the ‘Concordia,’ a Spanish ship, 600,000<i>l.</i><a name="FNanchor_75" id="FNanchor_75"></a><a href="#Footnote_75" class="fnanchor">[75]</a></li> +</ul> + +<p>Two Spanish register ships are recorded to have +brought in 350<i>l.</i> to every foremast man who took +part in their capture. In 1745 three Spanish vessels +returning from Peru having been captured by three<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span> +privateersmen, the owners of the latter received to +their separate shares the sum of 700,000<i>l.</i>, and every +common seaman 850<i>l.</i> Another Spanish galleon was +taken by a British man-of-war with a million sterling +in bullion on board.</p> + +<p>These facts suffice to dispel the wonder we might +otherwise feel at the love our ancestors had for mixing +themselves up, for any pretext or for none, in hostilities +with Continental Powers. Our policy was naturally +spirited, when it meant chances like these for all +who lacked either the wit or the will to live honestly, +and returns like these on the capital invested in the +patriotic equipment of a few privateers. But what +advantage ultimately accrued to either side, after +deduction made for all losses and expenses, or how far +these national piracies contributed to the speedier +restoration of peace, were questions that apparently +did not enter within the range of military reasoning +to consider.</p> + +<p>Everything was done to make attractive a life of +piracy spent in the service of the State. Originally +every European State claimed some interest in the +prizes it commissioned its privateers to take; but the +fact that each in turn surrendered its claim proves the +difficulty there was in getting these piratical servants +to submit their plunder to the adjudication of the +prize-courts. Originally all privateers were bound to +deliver captured arms and ammunition to their sovereign, +and to surrender a percentage of their gains to +the State or the admiral; but it soon came to pass +that sovereigns had to pay for the arms they might +wish to keep, and that the percentage deducted was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span> +first diminished and then abolished altogether. At +first 30 per cent. was deducted in Holland, which fell +successively to 18 per cent., to 10 per cent., to nothing; +and in England the 10 per cent. originally due to the +admiral was finally surrendered.<a name="FNanchor_76" id="FNanchor_76"></a><a href="#Footnote_76" class="fnanchor">[76]</a> The crew also enjoyed +an additional prize of money for every person +slain or captured on an enemy’s man-of-war or privateer, +and for every cannon in proportion to its bore.<a name="FNanchor_77" id="FNanchor_77"></a><a href="#Footnote_77" class="fnanchor">[77]</a></p> + +<p>Of all the changes of opinion that have occurred in +the world’s history, none is more instructive than that +which gradually took place concerning privateering, +and which ended in its final renunciation by most of +the maritime Powers in the Declaration of Paris in +1856.</p> + +<p>The weight of the publicists’ authority was for +long in its favour. Vattel only made the proviso of +a just cause of war the condition for reconciling privateering +with the comfort of a good conscience.<a name="FNanchor_78" id="FNanchor_78"></a><a href="#Footnote_78" class="fnanchor">[78]</a> +Valin defended it as a patriotic service, in that it relieved +the State from the expense of fitting out war-vessels. +Emerigon denounced the vocation of pirates +as infamous, while commending that of privateers as +honest and even glorious. And for many generations +the distinction between the two was held to be satisfactory, +that the privateer acted under the commission +of his sovereign, the pirate under no one’s but his +own.</p> + +<p>Morally, this distinction of itself proved little. +Take the story of the French general Crillon, who, +when Henri III. proposed to him to assassinate the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span> +Duc de Guise, is said to have replied, ‘My life and +my property are yours, Sire; but I should be unworthy +of the French name were I false to the laws +of honour.’ Had he accepted the commission, would +the deed have been praiseworthy or infamous? Can +a commission affect the moral quality of actions? +The hangman has a commission, but neither honour +nor distinction. Why, then, should a successful privateer +have been often decorated with the title of +nobility or presented with a sword by his king?<a name="FNanchor_79" id="FNanchor_79"></a><a href="#Footnote_79" class="fnanchor">[79]</a></p> + +<p>Historically, the distinction had even less foundation. +In olden times individuals carried on their own +robberies or reprisals at their own risk; but their +actions did not become the least less piratical when, +about the thirteenth century, reprisals were taken +under State control, and became only lawful under +letters of marque duly issued by a sovereign or his +admirals. In their acts, conduct, and whole procedure, +the commissioned privateers of later times differed in +no discernible respects from the pirates of the middle +ages, save in the fact of being utilised by the State for +its supposed benefit: and this difference, only dating +as it did from the time when the prohibition to fit out +cruisers in time of war without public authority first +became common, was evidently one of date rather +than of nature.</p> + +<p>Moreover, the attempt of the State to regulate +its piratical service failed utterly. In the fourteenth +century it was customary to make the officers of a +privateer swear not to plunder the subjects of the +commissioning belligerent, or of friendly Powers, or of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span> +vessels sailing under safe-conducts; in the next century +it became necessary, in addition to this oath, to +insist on heavy pecuniary sureties;<a name="FNanchor_80" id="FNanchor_80"></a><a href="#Footnote_80" class="fnanchor">[80]</a> and such sureties +became common stipulations in treaties of peace. +Nearly every treaty between the maritime Powers +after about 1600 contained stipulations in restraint of +the abuses of privateering; on the value of which, +the complaints that arose in every war that occurred +of privateers exceeding their powers are a sufficient +comment. The numerous ordinances of different +countries threatening to punish as pirates all privateers +who were found with commissions from <i>both</i> +belligerents, give us a still further insight into the +character of those servants of the State.</p> + +<p>In fact, so slight was the distinction founded on +the possession of a commission, that even privateers +with commissions were sometimes treated as actual +pirates and not as legitimate belligerents. In the +seventeenth century, the freebooters and buccaneers +who ravaged the West Indies, and who consisted of +the outcasts of England and the Continent, though +they were duly commissioned by France to do their +utmost damage to the Spanish colonies and commerce +in the West Indies, were treated as no better than +pirates if they happened to fall into the hands of the +Spaniards. And especially was this distinction disallowed +if there were any doubt concerning the legitimacy +of the letters of marque. England, for instance, +refused at first to treat as better than pirates the +privateers of her revolted colonists in America; and +in the French Revolution she tried to persuade the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span> +Powers of Europe so to deal with privateers commissioned +by the republican government. Russia +having consented to this plan, its execution was only +hindered by the honourable refusal of Sweden and +Denmark to accede to so retrograde an innovation.<a name="FNanchor_81" id="FNanchor_81"></a><a href="#Footnote_81" class="fnanchor">[81]</a></p> + +<p>An illusory distinction between the prize of a pirate +and that of a privateer was further sustained by the +judicial apparatus of the prize-court. The rights of a +captor were not complete till a naval tribunal of his +own country had settled his claims to the ships or +cargo of an enemy or neutral. By this device confiscation +was divested of its likeness to plunder, and a +thin veneer of legality was laid on the fundamental +lawlessness of the whole system. Were it left to +the wolves to decide on their rights to the captured +sheep, the latter would have much the same chance +of release as vessels in a prize-court of the captor. +A prize-court has never yet been equally representative +of either belligerent, or been so constituted as to be +absolutely impartial between either.</p> + +<p>But, even granted that a prize-court gave its verdicts +with the strictest regard to the evidence, of what +nature was that evidence likely to be when it came +chiefly from the purser on board the privateer, whose +duty it was to draw up a verbal process of the circumstances +of every visit or capture, and who, as he was +paid and nominated by the captain of the privateer, +was dependent for his profits in the concern on the +lawfulness of the prizes? How easy to represent that +a defenceless merchant vessel had offered resistance +to search, and that therefore by the law of nations she<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span> +and her cargo were lawful prize! How tempting to +falsify every circumstance that really attended the +capture, or that legally affected the captors’ rights to +their plunder!</p> + +<p>These aspects of privateering soon led unbiassed +minds to a sounder judgment about it than was discernible +in received opinion. Molloy, an English +writer, spoke of it, as long ago as 1769, as follows: +‘It were well they (the privateers) were restrained by +consent of all princes, since all good men account +them but one remove from pirates, who without any +respect to the cause, or having any injury done +them, or so much as hired for the service, spoil men +and goods, making even a trade and calling of it.’<a name="FNanchor_82" id="FNanchor_82"></a><a href="#Footnote_82" class="fnanchor">[82]</a> +Martens, the German publicist, at the end of the same +century, called privateering a privileged piracy; but +Nelson’s opinion may fairly count for more than all; +and of his opinion there remains no doubt whatever. +In a letter dated August 7, 1804, he wrote: ‘If I had +the least authority in controlling the privateers, whose +conduct is so disgraceful to the British nation, I +would instantly take their commissions from them.’ +In the same letter he spoke of them as a horde of +sanctioned robbers;<a name="FNanchor_83" id="FNanchor_83"></a><a href="#Footnote_83" class="fnanchor">[83]</a> and on another occasion he +wrote: ‘The conduct of all privateering is, as far as +I have seen, so near piracy, that I only wonder any +civilised nation can allow them. The lawful as well +as the unlawful commerce of the neutral flag is subject +to every violation and spoliation.’<a name="FNanchor_84" id="FNanchor_84"></a><a href="#Footnote_84" class="fnanchor">[84]</a> Yet it was for +the sake of such spoliation, which England chose to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span> +regard as her maritime right and to identify with her +maritime supremacy, that, under the pretext of solicitude +for the liberties of Europe, she fought her long +war with France, and made herself the enemy in turn +of nearly every other civilised Power in the world.</p> + +<p>The Declaration of Paris, the first article of which +abolished privateering between the signatory Powers, +was signed by Lord Clarendon on behalf of England; +but on the ground that it was not formally a treaty, +never having been ratified by Parliament or the Crown, +it has actually been several times proposed in the +English Parliament to violate the honour of England +by declaring that agreement null and void.<a name="FNanchor_85" id="FNanchor_85"></a><a href="#Footnote_85" class="fnanchor">[85]</a> Lord +Derby, in reference to such proposals, said in 1867: +‘We have given a pledge, not merely to the Powers +who signed with us, but to the whole civilised world.’ +This was the language of real patriotism, which +esteems a country’s honour its highest interest; the +other was the language of the plainest perfidy. In +November 1876, the Russian Government was also +strongly urged, in the case of war with England, to +issue letters of marque against British commerce, in +spite of the international agreement to the contrary.<a name="FNanchor_86" id="FNanchor_86"></a><a href="#Footnote_86" class="fnanchor">[86]</a> +It is not likely that it would have done so; but these +motions in different countries give vital interest to +the history of privateering as one of the legitimate +modes of waging war.</p> + +<p>Moreover, since neither Spain, the United States, +nor Mexico signed the Declaration of Paris, war with +any of them would revive all the atrocities and disputes<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span> +that have embittered previous wars in which England +has been engaged. The precedent of former treaties, +such as that between Sweden and the United Provinces +in 1675, the United States and Prussia in 1785, and +the United States and Italy in 1871, by which either +party agreed in the event of war not to employ privateers +against the other, affords an obvious sample +of what diplomacy might yet do to diminish the +chances of war between the signatory and the non-signatory +Powers.</p> + +<p>The United States would have signed the Declaration +of Paris if it had exempted the merchant +vessels of belligerents as well from public armed vessels +as from privateers: and this must be looked to as the +next conquest of law over lawlessness. Russia and +several other Powers were ready to accept the American +amendment, which, having at first only fallen +through owing to the opposition of England, was +subsequently withdrawn by America herself. Nevertheless, +that amendment remains the wish not only of +the civilised world, but of our own merchants, whose +carrying trade, the largest in the world, is, in the event +of England becoming a belligerent, in danger of +falling into the hands of neutral countries. In 1858 +the merchants of Bremen drew up a formal protest +against the right of ships of war to seize the property +and ships of merchants.<a name="FNanchor_87" id="FNanchor_87"></a><a href="#Footnote_87" class="fnanchor">[87]</a> In the war of 1866 +Prussia, Italy, and Austria agreed to forego this time-honoured +right of mutual plunder; and the Emperor +of Germany endeavoured to establish the same limitation +in the war of 1870. The old maxim of war,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span> +of which the custom is a survival, has long since +been disproved by political economy—the doctrine, +namely, that a loss to one country is a gain to +another, or that one country profits by the exact extent +of the injury that it effects against the property +of its adversary. Having lost its basis in reason, it +only remains to remove it from practice.</p> + +<p>If we turn for a moment from this aspect of naval +warfare to the actual conduct of hostilities at sea, the +desire to obtain forcible possession of an enemy’s +vessels must clearly have had a beneficial effect in +rendering the loss of life less extensive than it was in +battles on land. To capture a ship, it was desirable, if +possible, to disable without destroying it; so that the +fire of each side was more generally directed against +the masts and rigging than against the hull or lower +parts of the vessel. In the case of the ‘Berwick,’ an +English 74-gun ship, which struck her colours to the +French frigate, the ‘Alceste,’ only four sailors were +wounded, and the captain, whose head was taken off by +a bar-shot, was the only person slain; and ‘so small a +loss was attributed to the high firing of the French, +who, making sure of the ‘Berwick’s’ capture, and +wanting such a ship entire in their fleet, were wise +enough to do as little injury as possible to her hull.’<a name="FNanchor_88" id="FNanchor_88"></a><a href="#Footnote_88" class="fnanchor">[88]</a> +The great battle between the English and Dutch +fleets off Camperdown (1795) was exceptional both +for the damage inflicted by both on the hulls of +their adversaries, and consequently for the heavy +loss of life on either side. ‘The appearance of the +British ships at the close of the action was very unlike<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span> +what it generally is when the French or Spaniards +have been the opponents of the former. Not a single +mast nor even a top-mast was shot away; nor were +the rigging and sails of the ships in their usual tattered +state. It was at the hulls of their adversaries that the +Dutchmen had directed their shot.’<a name="FNanchor_89" id="FNanchor_89"></a><a href="#Footnote_89" class="fnanchor">[89]</a> As the English +naturally retaliated, though ‘as trophies the appearance +of the Dutch prizes was gratifying,’ as ships of +war ‘they were not the slightest acquisition to the +navy of England.’<a name="FNanchor_90" id="FNanchor_90"></a><a href="#Footnote_90" class="fnanchor">[90]</a></p> + +<p>When this happened, as it could not but often do +in pitched naval battles, the Government sometimes +made good to the captors the value of the prizes that +the serious nature of the conflict had caused them to +lose. Thus in the case of the six French prizes made +at the Battle of the Nile, only three of which ever +reached Plymouth, the Government, ‘in order that +the captors might not suffer for the prowess they had +displayed in riddling the hulls of the captured ships, +paid for each of the destroyed 74s, the “Guerrier,” +“Heureux,” and “Mercure,” the sum of 20,000<i>l.</i>, which +was as much as the least valuable of the remaining +74s had been valued at.’</p> + +<p>It is curious to notice distinctions in naval warfare +between lawful and unlawful methods similar to those +conspicuous on land. Such projectiles as bits of iron +ore, pointed stones, nails, or glass, are excluded from +the list of things that may be used in <i>good war</i>; and +the Declaration of St. Petersburg condemns explosive +bullets as much on one element as on the other. Unfounded +charges by one belligerent against another<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span> +are, however, always liable to bring the illicit method +into actual use on both sides under the pretext of +reprisals; as we see in the following order of the day, +issued at Brest by the French Vice-Admiral Marshal +Conflans (Nov. 8, 1759): ‘It is absolutely contrary to +the law of nations to make bad war, and to shoot +shells at the enemy, who must always be fought +according to the rules of honour, with the arms generally +employed by polite nations. Yet some captains +have complained that the English have used such +weapons against them. It is, therefore, only on these +complaints, and with an extreme reluctance, that it +has been resolved to embark hollow shells on vessels +of the line, but it is expressly forbidden to use them +unless the enemy begin.’<a name="FNanchor_91" id="FNanchor_91"></a><a href="#Footnote_91" class="fnanchor">[91]</a></p> + +<p>So the English in their turn charged the French +with making bad war. The wound received by +Nelson at Aboukir, on the forehead, was attributed +to a piece of iron or a langridge shot.<a name="FNanchor_92" id="FNanchor_92"></a><a href="#Footnote_92" class="fnanchor">[92]</a> And the +wounds that the crew of the ‘Brunswick’ received +from the ‘Vengeur’ in the famous battle between +the French and English fleets in June 1794, are said +to have been peculiarly distressing, owing to the French +employing langridge shot of raw ore and old nails, +and to their throwing stinkpots into the portholes, +which caused most painful burnings and scaldings.<a name="FNanchor_93" id="FNanchor_93"></a><a href="#Footnote_93" class="fnanchor">[93]</a> +It is safest to discredit such accusations altogether, +for there is no limit to the barbarities that may come +into play, in consequence of too ready a credulity.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span></p> + +<p>Red-hot shot, legitimate for the defence of land +forts against ships, used not to be considered good +war in the contests of ships with one another. In the +three hours’ action between the ‘Lively’ and the ‘Tourterelle,’ +a French privateer, the use by the latter of +hot-shot, ‘not usually deemed honourable warfare,’ +was considered to be wrong, but a wrong on the part +of those who equipped her for sea more than on the +part of the captain who fired them.<a name="FNanchor_94" id="FNanchor_94"></a><a href="#Footnote_94" class="fnanchor">[94]</a> The English +assailing batteries that fired red-hot shot against +Glückstadt in 1813 are said to have resorted to ‘a +mode of warfare very unusual with us since the siege +of Gibraltar.’<a name="FNanchor_95" id="FNanchor_95"></a><a href="#Footnote_95" class="fnanchor">[95]</a></p> + +<p>The ‘Treatise on Tactics,’ by the Emperor Leo +VI., carries back the record of the means employed +against an enemy in naval warfare to the ninth century. +The things he recommends as most effective +are: cranes, to let fall heavy weights on the enemy’s +decks; caltrops, with iron spikes, to wound his feet;<a name="FNanchor_96" id="FNanchor_96"></a><a href="#Footnote_96" class="fnanchor">[96]</a> +jars full of quicklime, to suffocate him; jars containing +combustibles, to burn him; jars containing +poisonous reptiles, to bite him; and Greek fire with +its noise like thunder, to frighten as well as burn him.<a name="FNanchor_97" id="FNanchor_97"></a><a href="#Footnote_97" class="fnanchor">[97]</a> +Many of these methods were of immemorial usage; +for Scipio knew the merits of jars full of pitch, and +Hannibal of jars full of vipers.<a name="FNanchor_98" id="FNanchor_98"></a><a href="#Footnote_98" class="fnanchor">[98]</a> Nothing was too bad<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span> +for use in those days; nor can it be ascertained when +or why they ceased to be used. Greek fire was used +with great effect in the sea-battles between the Saracens +and Christians; and it is a fair cause for wonder +that the invention of gunpowder should have so +entirely superseded it as to cause its very manufacture +to have been forgotten. Neither does history record +the date of, nor the reason for, the disuse of quicklime, +which in the famous fight off Dover in 1217 +between the French and English contributed so greatly +to the victory of the latter.<a name="FNanchor_99" id="FNanchor_99"></a><a href="#Footnote_99" class="fnanchor">[99]</a></p> + +<p>It is difficult to believe that sentiments of humanity +should have caused these methods to be discarded +from maritime hostilities; but that such motives led +to a certain mitigation in the use of fire-ships appears +from a passage in Captain Brenton’s ‘Naval +History,’ where he says: ‘The use of fire-ships has +long been laid aside, to the honour of the nation which +first dispensed with this barbarous aggravation of the +horrors of war.’ That is to say, as he explains it, +though fire-ships continued to accompany the fleets, +they were only used in an anchorage where there was +a fair chance of the escape of the crew against which +they were sent; they ceased to be used, as at one +time, to burn or blow up disabled ships, which the +conqueror dared not board and carry into port, and +which were covered with the wounded and dying. +The last instance in which they were so used by +the English was in the fight off Toulon, in 1744; and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span> +their use on that occasion is said to have received +merited reproach from an historian of the day.<a name="FNanchor_100" id="FNanchor_100"></a><a href="#Footnote_100" class="fnanchor">[100]</a></p> + +<p>As the service of a fire-ship was one that required +the greatest bravery and coolness—since it was, of +course, attacked in every possible way, and it was +often difficult to escape by the boat chained behind +it—it displays the extraordinary inconsistency of +opinion about such matters that it should have been +accounted rather a service of infamy than of honour. +Molloy, in 1769, wrote of it as the practice of his day +to put to death prisoners made from a fire-ship: +‘Generally the persons found in them are put to death +if taken.’<a name="FNanchor_101" id="FNanchor_101"></a><a href="#Footnote_101" class="fnanchor">[101]</a> And another writer says: ‘Whether it be +from a refined idea, or from the most determined +resentment towards those who act in fire-ships, may +be difficult to judge; but there is rarely any quarter +given to such as fall into the enemy’s power.’<a name="FNanchor_102" id="FNanchor_102"></a><a href="#Footnote_102" class="fnanchor">[102]</a></p> + +<p>Clock-machines, or torpedoes, were introduced into +European warfare by the English, being intended to +destroy Napoleon’s ships at Boulogne in 1804. It is +remarkable that the use of them was at first reprobated +by Captain Brenton, and by Lord St. Vincent, +who foresaw that other Powers would in turn adopt +the innovation.<a name="FNanchor_103" id="FNanchor_103"></a><a href="#Footnote_103" class="fnanchor">[103]</a> The French, who picked up some of +them near Boulogne, called them infernal machines. +But at present they seem fairly established as part of +good warfare, in default of any international agreement +against them, such as that which exists against explosive +bullets.</p> + +<p>The same International Act which abolished pri<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span>vateering +between the signatory Powers settled also +between them two other disputed points which for +centuries were a frequent cause of war and jealousy—namely, +the liability of the property of neutrals to +be seized when found in the ships of an enemy, and +of the property of an enemy to be seized when found +in the ships of a neutral.</p> + +<p>Over the abstract right of belligerents so to deal +with the ships or property of neutral Powers the publicists +for long fought a battle-royal, contending either +that a neutral ship should be regarded as neutral +territory, or that an enemy’s property was lawful prize +anywhere. Whilst the French or Continental theory +regarded the nationality of the vessel rather than of its +cargo, so that the goods of a neutral might be fairly +seized on an enemy’s vessel, but those of an enemy +were safe even in a neutral ship; the English theory +was diametrically the opposite, for the Admiralty restored +a neutral’s property taken on an enemy’s vessel, +but confiscated an enemy’s goods if found on a neutral +vessel. This difference between the English rule and +that of other countries was a source of endless contention. +Frederick II. of Prussia, in 1753, first resisted +the English claim to seize hostile property sailing +under a neutral flag. Then came against the same +claim the first Armed Neutrality of 1780, headed by +Russia, and again in 1801 the second armed coalition +of the Northern Powers. The difference of rule was, +therefore, as such differences always must be, a source +of real weakness to England, on account of the enemies +it raised against her all over the world. Yet the +Continental theory of free ships making free goods<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span> +was considered for generations to be so adverse to the +real interests of England, that Lord Nelson, in 1801, +characterised it in the House of Lords as ‘a proposition +so monstrous in itself, so contrary to the law of +nations, and so injurious to the maritime interests of +England, as to justify war with the advocates of such +a doctrine, so long as a single man, a single shilling, +or a single drop of blood remained in the country.’<a name="FNanchor_104" id="FNanchor_104"></a><a href="#Footnote_104" class="fnanchor">[104]</a> +The Treaty of Paris has made binding the Continental +rule, and in spite of Lord Nelson free ships now make +free goods.</p> + +<p>The fact, therefore, that if England were now at +war with France she could not take French property +(unless it were contraband) from a Russian or American +ship, we owe not to the publicists who were +divided about it, nor to naval opinion which was +decided against it, but to the accidental alliance +between France and England in the Crimean war. +In order to co-operate together, each waived its old +claim, according to which France would have been +free to seize the property of a neutral found on Russian +vessels, and England to seize Russian property on the +vessels of a neutral. As the United States and other +neutral Powers as well would probably have resisted +by arms the claim of either so to interfere with their +neutrality, the mutual concession was one of common +prudence; and as the same opposition would have +been perennial, it was no great sacrifice on the part of +either to perpetuate and extend by a treaty at the +close of the war the agreement that at first was only +to last for its continuance.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span></p> + +<p>Much, however, as that treaty has done for the +peace of the world, by assimilating in these respects +the maritime law of nations, it has left many customs +unchanged to challenge still the attention of reformers. +It is therefore of some practical interest to consider of +what nature future changes should be, inasmuch as, if +we cannot agree to cease from fighting altogether, the +next best thing we can do is to reduce the pretexts for +it to as few as possible.</p> + +<p>The reservation, then, in favour of confiscating +property that is contraband of war has left the right +of visiting and searching neutral or hostile merchantmen +for contraband untouched; though nothing has +been a more fruitful source of quarrel than the want +of a common definition of what constitutes contraband. +Anything which, without further manipulation, +adds directly to an enemy’s power, as weapons of war, +are contraband by universal admission; but whether +corn and provisions are, as some text-writers assert +and others deny; whether coined money, horses, or +saddles are, as was decided in 1863 between the +Northern Powers of Europe; whether tar and pitch +for ships are, as was disputed between England and +Sweden for 200 years; whether coal should be, as +Prince Bismarck claimed against England in 1870; or +whether rice is a war-threatening point of difference +between England and France in this very year of +grace; these are questions that remain absolutely undecided, +or are left to the treaties between the several +Powers or the arbitrary caprice of belligerents.</p> + +<p>The Declaration of Paris was equally silent as to +the right (demanded by all the Powers save England)<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span> +for ships of war, which have always been exempt from +search, to exempt from search also the merchant vessels +sailing under their convoy. So fundamental a divergence +between the maritime usages of different countries +can only be sustained under the peril of incurring +hostility and war, without any corresponding advantage +in compensation.</p> + +<p>The Declaration of Paris has also left untouched +the old usage of embargoes. A nation wronged by +another may still seize the vessels of that other which +may be in its ports, in order to secure attention to its +claims; restoring them in the event of a peaceable +settlement, but confiscating them if war ensues. The +resemblance of this practice of hostile embargo to +robbery, ‘occurring as it does in the midst of peace +... ought,’ says an American jurist, ‘to make it +disgraceful and drive it into disuse.’<a name="FNanchor_105" id="FNanchor_105"></a><a href="#Footnote_105" class="fnanchor">[105]</a> It would be as +reasonable to seize the persons and property of all the +merchants resident in the country, as used to be done +by France and England. In 1795, Holland, having +been conquered by France, became thereby an enemy +of England. Accordingly, ‘orders were issued to seize +all Dutch vessels in British ports;’ in virtue of which, +several gun-ships and between fifty and sixty merchant +vessels in Plymouth Sound were detained by the port +admiral.<a name="FNanchor_106" id="FNanchor_106"></a><a href="#Footnote_106" class="fnanchor">[106]</a> It is difficult to conceive anything less defensible +as a practice between civilised States.</p> + +<p>It equally descends from the barbarous origin +of maritime law that all ships of an enemy wrecked on +our coast, or forced to take refuge in our harbours by +stress of weather or want of provisions, or in ignorance<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span> +of the existence of hostilities, should become ours by +right of war. There are generous instances to the +contrary. The Spanish Governor of Havana in 1746, +when an English vessel was driven into that hostile +port by stress of weather, refused to seize the vessel +and take the captain prisoner; and so did another +Spanish governor in the case of an English vessel +whose captain was ignorant that Honduras was hostile +territory. But these cases are the exception; the rule +being, that a hostile Power avails itself of a captain’s +ignorance or distress to make him a prisoner and his +ship a prize of war; another proof, if further needed, +how very little magnanimity really enters into the +conduct of hostilities.</p> + +<p>It is a still further abuse of the rights of war that +a belligerent State may do what it pleases, not only +with all the vessels of its own subjects, but with all +those of neutrals as well which happen to be within +its jurisdiction at the beginning of a war; that it may, +on paying the owners the value of their freight beforehand, +confiscate such vessels and compel them to +serve in the transport of its troops or its munitions of +war. Yet this is the so-called <i>jus angariæ</i>, to which +Prince Bismarck appealed when in the war with France +the Germans sank some British vessels at the mouth +of the Seine.<a name="FNanchor_107" id="FNanchor_107"></a><a href="#Footnote_107" class="fnanchor">[107]</a> It is true we received liberal compensation, +but the right is none the less one which all the +Powers are interested in abolishing.</p> + +<p>If, then, from the preceding retrospect it appears +that whatever advance we have made on the maritime +usages of our ancestors has been due solely to inter<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span>national +agreement, and to a friendly concert between +the chief Powers of the world, acting with +a view to their permanent and collective interests, +the inference is evidently in favour of any further +advance being only possible in the same way. The +renunciations of each Power redound to the benefit +of each and all; nor can the gain of the world involve +any real loss for the several nations that compose +it. We shall therefore, perhaps, not err far from the +truth, if we imagine the following articles, in complement +of those formulated in Paris in 1856, to constitute +the International Marine Code which will be +found in the future to be most calculated to remove +sources of contention between nations, and best +adapted, therefore, to the permanent interests of the +contracting parties:</p> + +<ol> + +<li>Privateering is and remains abolished.</li> + +<li>The merchant vessels and cargoes of belligerents +shall be exempted from seizure and confiscation.</li> + +<li>The colonies of either belligerent shall be excluded +from the field of legitimate hostilities, +and the neutrality of their territory shall +extend to their ships and commerce.</li> + +<li>The right of visiting and searching neutral or +hostile merchantmen for contraband of war +shall be abolished.</li> + +<li>Contraband of war shall be defined by international +agreement; and to deal in such contraband +shall be made a breach of the civil law, +prohibited and punished by each State as a +violation of its proclamation of neutrality.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span></li> + +<li>Except in the case of contraband as aforesaid, +all trade shall be lawful between the subjects +of either belligerent, since individuals are no +more involved in the quarrel between their +respective governments at sea than they are +on land.</li> + +<li>The only limitation to commerce shall be so +effective a blockade of an enemy’s ports as +shall render it impossible for ships to enter or +leave them; and the mere notification that a +port is blockaded shall not justify the seizure +of ships that have sailed from, or are sailing +to, them in any part of the world.</li> + +<li>The right to lay hostile embargoes on the ships +of a friendly Power, by reason of a dispute +arising between them, shall be abolished.</li> + +<li>The right to confiscate or destroy the ships +of a friendly Power for the service of a +belligerent State, the <i>jus angariæ</i>, shall be +abolished.</li></ol> + +<p>What, then, would remain for the naval forces of +maritime Powers to do? Everything, it may be +replied, which constitutes legitimate warfare, and +conforms to the elementary conception of a state +of hostility; the blockading of hostile ports, and all +the play of attack and defence that may be imagined +between belligerent navies. Whatsoever is more +than this—the plunder of an enemy’s commerce, +embargoes on his ships, the search of neutral vessels—not +only cometh of piracy, as has been shown, but +is in fact piracy itself, without any necessary connection +with the conduct of legitimate hostilities.</p> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV.</a><br /> +<span class="smaller">MILITARY REPRISALS.</span></h2> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>Si quis clamet iniquum non dare pœnas qui peccavit, respondeo +multo esse iniquius tot innocentium millia citra meritum in extremam +vocari calamitatem.</i>—<span class="smcap">Erasmus.</span></p></blockquote> + +<p class="summary">International law on legitimate reprisals—The Brussels Conference on +the subject—Illustrations of barbarous reprisals—Instances of non-retaliation—Savage +reprisals in days of chivalry—Hanging the +commonest reprisals for a brave defence, as illustrated by the warfare +of the fifteenth century—Survival of the custom to our own +times—The massacre of a conquered garrison still a law of war—The +shelling of Strasburg by the Germans—Brutal warfare of +Alexander the Great—The connection between bravery and cruelty—The +abolition of slavery in its effects on war—The storming of +Magdeburg, Brescia, and Rome—Cicero on Roman warfare—The +reprisals of the Germans in France in 1870—Their revival of the +custom of taking hostages—Their resort to robbery as a plea of +reprisals—General Von Moltke on perpetual peace—The moral +responsibility of the military profession—The Press as a potent +cause of war—Plea for the abolition of demands for unconditional +surrender, such as led to the bombardment of Alexandria in +1882.</p> + +<p>On no subject connected with the operations of war +has International Law come as yet to lamer conclusions +than concerning Military Reprisals, or the +revenge that may be fairly exacted by one belligerent +from the other for violation of the canons of honourable +warfare.</p> + +<p>General Halleck, for instance, whilst as against an<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span> +enemy who puts in force the extreme rights of war +he justifies a belligerent in following suit, denies the +right of the latter to do so against an enemy who +passes all bounds and conducts war in a downright +savage fashion. Whilst therefore, according to him, +the law of retaliation would never justify such acts as +the massacre of prisoners, the use of poison, or promiscuous +slaughter, he would consider as legitimate +reprisals acts like the sequestration by Denmark of +debts due from Danish to British subjects in retaliation +for the confiscation by England of the Danish fleet +in 1807, or Napoleon’s seizure of all English travellers +in France in retaliation for England’s seizure and +condemnation of French vessels in 1803.<a name="FNanchor_108" id="FNanchor_108"></a><a href="#Footnote_108" class="fnanchor">[108]</a> And a +French writer, in the same spirit, denies that the +French Government would have been justified in retaliating +on Russia, when the Czar had his French +prisoners of war consigned to the mines of Siberia.<a name="FNanchor_109" id="FNanchor_109"></a><a href="#Footnote_109" class="fnanchor">[109]</a></p> + +<p>The distinction is clearly untenable on any rational +theory of the laws of retributive justice. You +may retaliate for the lesser, but not for the greater +injury! You may check resort to infamous hostilities +by the threat of reprisals, but must fold your hands +and submit, if your enemy becomes utterly barbarous! +You may restrain him from burning your crops by +burning his, but must be content to go without redress +if he slays your wives and children!</p> + +<p>How difficult the question really is appears from +the attempt made to settle it at the Brussels Conference +of 1874, when the following clauses formed part<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span> +of the original Russian project submitted to the consideration +of that meeting:</p> + +<p><i>Section IV.</i> 69. ‘Reprisals are admissible in extreme +cases only, due regard being paid as far as +possible to the laws of humanity when it shall have +been unquestionably proved that the laws and customs +of war have been violated by the enemy, and +that they have had recourse to measures condemned +by the law of nations.’</p> + +<p>70. ‘The selection of the means and extent of the +reprisals should be proportionate to the degree of +the infraction of the law committed by the enemy. +Reprisals that are disproportionately severe are contrary +to the rules of international law.’</p> + +<p>71. ‘Reprisals should be allowed only on the +authority of the commander-in-chief, who shall likewise +determine the degree of their severity and their +duration.’</p> + +<p>The delicacy of dealing with such a subject, when +the memories of the Franco-German war were still +fresh and green, led ultimately to a unanimous +agreement to suppress these clauses altogether, and +to leave the matter, as the Belgian deputy expressed +it, in the domain of unwritten law till the progress of +science and civilisation should bring about a completely +satisfactory solution. Nevertheless, the majority +of men will be inclined, in reference to this +resolution, to say with the Russian Baron Jomini, the +skilful President of that Military Council: ‘I regret +that the uncertainty of silence is to prevail with respect +to one of the most bitter necessities of war. If the +practice could be suppressed by this reticence, I could<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span> +not but approve of this course; but if it is still to exist +among the necessities of war, this reticence and this +obscurity may, it is to be feared, remove any limits to +its existence.’</p> + +<p>The necessity of some regulation of reprisals, such +as that contained in the clauses suggested at Brussels, +is no less attested by the events of the war of 1870 +than by the customs in this respect which have at all +times prevailed, and which, as earlier in time, form a +fitting introduction to those later occurrences.</p> + +<p>That the fear of reprisals should act as a certain +check upon the character of hostilities is too obvious +a consideration not to have always served as a wholesome +restraint upon military licence. When, for instance, +Philip II. of Spain in his war with the Netherlands +ordered that no prisoners of war should +be released or exchanged, nor any contributions be +accepted as an immunity from confiscation, the threat +of retaliation led to the withdrawal of his iniquitous +proclamation. Nor would other similar instances be +far to seek.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, it is evident that, as seldom as war +itself is prevented by consideration of the forces in +opposition, will its peculiar excesses, which constitute +its details, be restrained by the fear of retaliatory +measures; and inasmuch as the primary offence is more +often the creation of rumour than a proved fact, the +usual result of reprisals is, not that one belligerent +amends its ways, but that both belligerents become +more savage and enter on a fatal career of competitive +atrocities. In the wars of the fifteenth century +between the Turks and Venetians, ‘Sultan Mahomet<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span> +would not suffer his soldiers to give quarter, but +allowed them a ducat for every head, and the Venetians +did the same.’<a name="FNanchor_110" id="FNanchor_110"></a><a href="#Footnote_110" class="fnanchor">[110]</a> When the Duke of Alva was in +the Netherlands, the Spaniards, at the siege of Haarlem, +threw the heads of two Dutch officers over the +walls. The Dutch in return beheaded twelve Spanish +prisoners, and sent their heads into the Spanish +trenches. The Spaniards in revenge hung a number of +prisoners in sight of the besieged; and the latter in +return killed more prisoners; and so it went on +during all the time that Alva was in the country, +without the least improvement resulting from such +sanguinary reprisals.<a name="FNanchor_111" id="FNanchor_111"></a><a href="#Footnote_111" class="fnanchor">[111]</a> At the siege of Malta, the +Grand Master, in revenge for some horrible Turkish +barbarities, massacred all his prisoners and shot their +heads from his cannon into the Turkish camp.<a name="FNanchor_112" id="FNanchor_112"></a><a href="#Footnote_112" class="fnanchor">[112]</a> In +one of the wars of Louis XIV., the Imperialist forces +having put to death a French lieutenant and thirty +troopers a few hours after having promised them +quarter, Feuquières, for reprisals, slew the whole +garrison of two towns that he won by surprise, though +the number so slain in each instance amounted to 650 +men (1689).<a name="FNanchor_113" id="FNanchor_113"></a><a href="#Footnote_113" class="fnanchor">[113]</a></p> + +<p>To all these cases the question asked by Vattel +very pertinently applies: ‘What right have you to +cut off the nose and ears of the ambassador of a barbarian +who has treated your ambassador in that manner?’ +The question is not an easy one to answer, +for we have no more right in war than in civil life to +punish the innocent for the guilty apart from the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span> +ordinary accidents of hostilities, even if otherwise we +must dispense with redress altogether. To do so by +intention and in cold blood is ferocious, whatever the +pretext of justification, and is never worth the passing +gratification it affords. The citizens of Ghent, in +their famous war with the Earl of Flanders, not only +destroyed his house, but the silver cradle and bathing +tub he had used as a child and the very font in which +he had been baptized; but such reprisals are soon regretted, +and read very pitiably in the eyes of the +after-world.</p> + +<p>It is pleasanter to record some instances where +abstinence from reprisals has not been without its +reward. It is said that Cæsar in Iberia, when, in spite +of a truce, the enemy killed many of his men, instead +of retaliating, released some of his prisoners and +thereby brought the foe to regard him with favour. +We read in Froissart that the Lisboners refrained +from retaliating on the Castilians, when the latter +mutilated their Portuguese prisoners; and the English +Government acted nobly when it refused to reciprocate +the decree of the French Convention (though that +also was meant as a measure of reprisals) that no +English or Hanoverian prisoner should be allowed +any quarter.<a name="FNanchor_114" id="FNanchor_114"></a><a href="#Footnote_114" class="fnanchor">[114]</a> But the best story of this kind is that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span> +told by Herodotus of Xerxes the Persian. The Spartans +had thrown into a well the Persian envoys who +had come to demand of them earth and water. In +remorse they sent two of their nobles to Xerxes to +be killed in atonement; but Xerxes, when he heard +the purport of their visit, answered them that he +would not act like the Spartans, who by killing his +heralds had broken the laws that were regarded as +sacred by all mankind, and that, of such conduct as +he blamed in them, he would never be guilty himself.<a name="FNanchor_115" id="FNanchor_115"></a><a href="#Footnote_115" class="fnanchor">[115]</a></p> + +<p>But the most curious feature in the history of +reprisals is the fact that they were once regarded as +justly exacted for the mere offence of hostile opposition +or self-defence. Grotius states that it was the +almost constant practice of the Romans to kill the +leaders of an enemy, whether they had surrendered or +been captured, on the day of triumph. Jugurtha +indeed was put to death in prison; but the more +usual practice appears to have been to keep conquered +potentates in custody, after they had been led in +triumph before the consul’s chariot. This was the +fate of Perseus, king of Macedonia, who was also +allowed to retain his attendants, money, plate, and +furniture;<a name="FNanchor_116" id="FNanchor_116"></a><a href="#Footnote_116" class="fnanchor">[116]</a> of Gentius, king of Illyria;<a name="FNanchor_117" id="FNanchor_117"></a><a href="#Footnote_117" class="fnanchor">[117]</a> of Bituitus, +king of the Arvernians. Prisoners of less distinction +were sold as slaves, or kept in custody till their friends +paid their ransom.</p> + +<p>But in the mediæval history of Europe, in the +so-called times of chivalry, a far worse spirit prevailed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span> +with regard to the treatment of captives. Godfrey of +Bouillon, one of the brightest memories of chivalry, +was responsible for the promiscuous slaughter of three +days which the Crusaders exacted for the six weeks’ +siege which it had cost them to take Jerusalem (1099). +The Emperor Barbarossa had 1,190 Swabian prisoners +delivered to the executioner at Milan, or shot from +military engines.<a name="FNanchor_118" id="FNanchor_118"></a><a href="#Footnote_118" class="fnanchor">[118]</a> Charles of Anjou reserved many +prisoners, taken at the battle of Beneventum, to be +killed as criminals on his entrance into Naples. When +the French took the castle of Pesquière from the +Venetians by storm, they slew all but three who +surrendered to the pleasure of the king; and Louis +XII., who counted for a humane monarch, though his +victims offered 100,000 ducats for their lives, swore +that he would neither eat nor drink till they were +hanged (1509).<a name="FNanchor_119" id="FNanchor_119"></a><a href="#Footnote_119" class="fnanchor">[119]</a></p> + +<p>The indignation of the Roman Senate on one +occasion with a consul who had sold as slaves +10,000 Ligurian prisoners, though they had surrendered +at discretion,<a name="FNanchor_120" id="FNanchor_120"></a><a href="#Footnote_120" class="fnanchor">[120]</a> was a sentiment that never +affected the warriors of mediæval Christendom. A +surrender at discretion ceased to constitute a claim +for mercy. Where the pagan held it wrong to enslave, +the Christian never hesitated to kill. Froissart’s story +of the six citizens of Calais, whom Edward III. was +with difficulty restrained from hanging for the obstinate +siege which their town had resisted, throws a +light over the war customs of that time, which other +incidents of history abundantly confirm. The record<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span> +of the capitulations of cities or garrisons is no pleasant +one, but it is a record which must be touched upon, +in order that war and its still prevalent maxims may +be judged at their proper value. We need scarcely +travel further than the fifteenth century alone in +search of facts to place in its proper light this aspect +of martial atrocities.</p> + +<p>When the town of Rouen surrendered to Henry +V. of England, the latter stipulated for three of the +citizens to be left to his disposal, of whom two +purchased their lives, and the third was beheaded +(1419).<a name="FNanchor_121" id="FNanchor_121"></a><a href="#Footnote_121" class="fnanchor">[121]</a> When the same king the year following +was besieging the castle of Montereau, he sent some +twenty prisoners to treat with the governor for a +surrender; but when the governor refused to treat, +even to save their lives, and when, after a fearful +leave-taking with their wives and relatives, they had +been escorted back to the English army, ‘the King +of England ordered a gallows to be erected and +had them all hanged in sight of those within the +castle.’<a name="FNanchor_122" id="FNanchor_122"></a><a href="#Footnote_122" class="fnanchor">[122]</a> When the English took the castle of +Rougemont by storm, and some sixty of its defenders +alive, with the loss of only one Englishman, Henry V., +in revenge for his death, caused all the prisoners +to be drowned in the Loire.<a name="FNanchor_123" id="FNanchor_123"></a><a href="#Footnote_123" class="fnanchor">[123]</a> When Meaux surrendered +to the same king, it was stipulated that six +of its bravest defenders should be delivered up to +<i>justice</i>, four of whom were beheaded at Paris, and +its commander at once hung to a tree outside the +walls of the city (1422).<a name="FNanchor_124" id="FNanchor_124"></a><a href="#Footnote_124" class="fnanchor">[124]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span></p> + +<p>Not that there was any special cruelty in the +English mode of warfare. They simply conformed to +the customs of the time, as we may see by reference +to the French and Burgundian wars into which they +allowed themselves to be drawn. In 1434, the garrison +of Chaumont ‘was soon so hardly pressed that +it surrendered at discretion to the Duke of Burgundy +(Philip the Good), who had upwards of 100 +of them hanged;’ and as with the townsmen, so with +those in the castle.<a name="FNanchor_125" id="FNanchor_125"></a><a href="#Footnote_125" class="fnanchor">[125]</a> Bournonville, who commanded +Soissons for the Duke of Burgundy, and whom Monstrelet +calls ‘the flower of the warriors of all France,’ was +beheaded at Paris, after the capture of the town, by +order of the king and council, and his body hung +to a gibbet, like a common malefactor’s (1414).<a name="FNanchor_126" id="FNanchor_126"></a><a href="#Footnote_126" class="fnanchor">[126]</a> +When Dinant was taken by storm by the Burgundians, +the prisoners, about 800, were drowned before +Bovines (1466).<a name="FNanchor_127" id="FNanchor_127"></a><a href="#Footnote_127" class="fnanchor">[127]</a> When the town of Saint-frou surrendered +to the Duke of Burgundy, ten men, left to +the disposal of that warrior, were beheaded; and so +it fared also with the town of Tongres (1467).<a name="FNanchor_128" id="FNanchor_128"></a><a href="#Footnote_128" class="fnanchor">[128]</a> +After the storming and slaughter at Liège, before the +Duke of Burgundy (Charles the Bold) left the city, +‘a great number of those poor creatures who had hid +themselves in the houses when the town was taken +and were afterwards made prisoners, were hanged’ +(1468).<a name="FNanchor_129" id="FNanchor_129"></a><a href="#Footnote_129" class="fnanchor">[129]</a> At Nesle, most of those who were taken +alive were hung, and some had their hands cut off<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span> +(1472).<a name="FNanchor_130" id="FNanchor_130"></a><a href="#Footnote_130" class="fnanchor">[130]</a> After the battle of Granson, the Swiss retook +two castles from the French, and hung all the Burgundians +they found in them. They then retook the +town and castle of Granson, and ordered 512 Germans +whom the Burgundians had hung to be cut down, +and as many of the Burgundians as were still in +Granson to be suspended on the same halters (1476). +In the skirmishes that occurred in a time of truce on +the frontiers of Picardy, between the French king’s +forces and those of the Duke of Austria, ‘all the +prisoners that were taken on both sides were immediately +hanged, without permitting any, of what degree +or rank soever, to be ransomed’ (1481). And as a +climax to these facts, let us recall the decree of the +Duke of Anjou, who, when Montpellier was taken by +siege, condemned 600 prisoners to be put to death, +200 by the sword, 200 by the halter, and 200 by fire, +and who, but for the remonstrances of a cardinal and +a friar, would undoubtedly have executed his sentence.</p> + +<p>Ghastly facts enough these! and a strange insight +they afford us into the real character of a profession +which, in the days when these things were its commonest +occurrences, was held to be the noblest of all, +but of which it is only too patent that its mainsprings +were simply the brigand’s love of plunder and of bloodshed. +One story may be quoted to show that in this +respect the sixteenth century was no improvement on +the fifteenth. In the war between the Dutch and the +Spaniards, the captain of Weerd Castle, having previously +refused to surrender to Sir Francis de Vere,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span> +begged at last for a capitulation with the honours +of war; Vere’s answer was, that the honours of war +were halters for a garrison that had dared to defend +such a hovel against artillery. The commandant was +killed first, and the remaining 26 men, having been +made to draw black and white straws, the 12 who +drew the white straws were hanged, the thirteenth +only escaping by consenting to act as executioner of +the rest!<a name="FNanchor_131" id="FNanchor_131"></a><a href="#Footnote_131" class="fnanchor">[131]</a></p> + +<p>It is clear, therefore, that in the wars of the past +the axe and the halter have played as conspicuous a +part as the sword or the lance; a fact to which its +due prominence has not always been given in the +standard histories of military antiquities. It is surprising +to find how close to the glories of war lie the +sickening vulgarities of murder.</p> + +<p>To the Duke of Somerset, the regent of England +for Edward VI., appears to be due the credit of instituting +a milder treatment of a besieged but surrendered +garrison than had been previously customary. For +De Thou, the historian, speaks of the admiration the +Duke received for sparing the lives of a Scotch garrison, +contrary to that ‘ancient maxim in war which declares +that a weak garrison forfeits all claim to mercy on +the part of the conquerors, when, with more courage +than prudence, they obstinately persevere in defending +an ill-fortified place against the royal army,’ or refuse +reasonable conditions.</p> + +<p>But the ancient maxim lasted, in spite of this +better example, throughout the seventeenth and till late +into the eighteenth century, for we find Vattel even<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span> +then thus protesting against it: ‘How could it be +conceived in an enlightened age that it was lawful to +punish with death a governor who has defended his +town to the last extremity, or who in a weak place +had the courage to hold out against a royal army? +In the last century this notion still prevailed; it was +looked upon as one of the laws of war, and is not +even at present totally exploded. What an idea! to +punish a brave man for having performed his duty.’<a name="FNanchor_132" id="FNanchor_132"></a><a href="#Footnote_132" class="fnanchor">[132]</a></p> + +<p>But not even yet is the notion definitely expunged +from the unwritten code of martial etiquette. The +original Russian project, submitted to the Brussels +Conference, proposed to exclude, among other illicit +means of war, ‘the threat of extermination towards +a garrison that obstinately holds a fortress.’ The +proposal was unanimously rejected, and that clause +was carefully excluded from the published modified +text! But as the execution of a threat is morally +of the same value as the threat itself, it is evident +that the massacre of a brave but conquered garrison +still holds its place among the laws of Christian +warfare!</p> + +<p>This peculiar and most sanguinary law of reprisals +has always been defended by the common military +sophism, that it shortens the horrors of war. The +threat of capital punishment against the governor or +defenders of a town should naturally dispose them to +make a conditional surrender, and so spare both sides +the miseries of a siege. But arguments in defence of +atrocities, on the ground of their shortening a war, +and coming from military quarters, must be viewed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span> +with the greatest suspicion, and, inasmuch as they +provoke reprisals and so intensify passion, with the +greatest distrust. It was to such an argument that +the Germans resorted in defence of their shelling the +town of Strasburg, in order to intimidate the inhabitants +and drive them to force General Uhrich to a +surrender. ‘The abbreviation,’ said a German writer, +‘of the period of actual fighting and of the war itself is +an act of humanity towards both parties;’<a name="FNanchor_133" id="FNanchor_133"></a><a href="#Footnote_133" class="fnanchor">[133]</a> although +the savage act failed in its purpose and General +Werder had to fall back, after his gratuitous destruction +of life and property, on the slower process of a +regular siege. If their tendency to shorten a war be +the final justification of military proceedings, the +ground begins to slip from under us against the use +of aconitine or of clothes infected with the small-pox. +Therefore such a pretext should meet with prompt condemnation, +notwithstanding the efforts of the modern +military school to render it popular upon the earth.</p> + +<p>In respect, therefore, to this law of reprisals, the +comparison is not to the credit of modern times as +compared with the pagan era. A surrender, which +in Greek and Roman warfare involved as a rule +personal security, came in Christianised Europe to +involve capital punishment out of motives of pure +vindictiveness. The chivalry so often associated +with the battle-field as at least a redeeming feature +fades on closer inspection into the veriest fiction +of romance. Bravery under any form has been the +constant pretext for capital reprisals. Edward I. +had William Wallace, the brave Scotch leader, exe<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span>cuted +on Tower Hill; and it has been observed by +one writer, as the facts already quoted prove, that the +custom of thus killing defeated generals ‘may be +traced through a series of years so connected and +extensive that we are not able to point out the exact +time when it ceased.’<a name="FNanchor_134" id="FNanchor_134"></a><a href="#Footnote_134" class="fnanchor">[134]</a></p> + +<p>A characteristic incident of this sort is connected +with the famous pacification of Guienne by Montluc +in 1562. Montluc had won Montsegur by storm, +and its commander had been taken alive. The latter +was a man of notorious valour, and in a previous +campaign had been Montluc’s fellow-soldier and +friend. For that reason many interceded for his life, +but Montluc decided to hang him, and simply on +account of his valour. ‘I well knew his courage,’ he +says, ‘which made me hang him.... I knew him +to be valiant, but that made me the rather put him +to death.’ What of your chivalry after that?</p> + +<p>But Alexander the Great, whose career has been +the ideal of all succeeding aspirants to military fame, +dealt even more severely than Montluc with Betis, +the gallant defender of Gaza. When Gaza was at +last taken by storm, Betis, after fighting heroically, +had the misfortune to be taken alive and to be +brought into the presence of the conqueror. Alexander +addressed him thus: ‘You shall not die, Betis, +in the manner you wished; but make up your mind +to suffer whatever torture can be thought of against a +prisoner;’ and when Betis for all answer returned him +but the silence of disdain, Alexander had thongs fixed +to his ankles, and, himself acting as charioteer, drove<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span> +his yet living victim round the city, attached to his +chariot wheels; priding himself that by such conduct +he rivalled Achilles’ treatment of Hector.<a name="FNanchor_135" id="FNanchor_135"></a><a href="#Footnote_135" class="fnanchor">[135]</a></p> + +<p>A valiant resistance was with Alexander always a +sufficient motive for the most sanguinary reprisals. +Arimages, who defended a fortified rock in Sogdia, +thought his position so strong that when summoned +to surrender, he asked tauntingly whether Alexander +could fly; and for this offence, when, unable to hold +out any longer, Arimages and his relations descended +to Alexander’s camp to beg for quarter, Alexander +had them first of all flogged and then crucified at the +foot of the rock they had so bravely defended.<a name="FNanchor_136" id="FNanchor_136"></a><a href="#Footnote_136" class="fnanchor">[136]</a> +After the long siege of Tyre, Alexander had 2,000 +Tyrians, over and above the 6,000 who fell during the +storming of that city, nailed to crosses along the +shore,<a name="FNanchor_137" id="FNanchor_137"></a><a href="#Footnote_137" class="fnanchor">[137]</a> perhaps in reprisal for a violation of the laws +of war—for Quintus Curtius declares that the Tyrians +had murdered some Macedonian ambassadors, and +Arrian, who makes no mention of the crucifixion, +declares that they slew some Macedonian prisoners +and threw them from their walls—but more probably +(since there were evidently different stories of the +Tyrians’ offence) on account simply of the obstinate +resistance they had offered to Alexander’s attack.</p> + +<p>The Macedonian conqueror regarded his whole +expedition against Persia as an act of reprisals for the +invasion of Greece by Xerxes, 150 years before his +own time. When he set fire to the Persian capital +and palace, Persepolis, he justified himself against<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span> +Parmenio’s remonstrances on the ground that it was +in revenge for the destruction of the temples in Greece +during the Persian invasion;<a name="FNanchor_138" id="FNanchor_138"></a><a href="#Footnote_138" class="fnanchor">[138]</a> and this motive was +constantly present with him, in justification both of +the war itself and of particular atrocities connected +with it. In the course of his expedition, he came to +a city of the Branchidæ, whose ancestors at Miletus +had betrayed the treasures of a temple in their charge +to Xerxes, and had by him been removed from +Miletus to Asia. As Greeks they met Alexander’s +army with joy, and at once surrendered their city to +him. The next day, after reflection given to the +matter, Alexander had every single inhabitant of the +city slain, in spite of their powerlessness, in spite of +their supplications, in spite of their community of +language and origin. He even had the walls of the +city dug up from their foundation, and the trees of +their sacred groves uprooted, that not a trace of their +city might remain.<a name="FNanchor_139" id="FNanchor_139"></a><a href="#Footnote_139" class="fnanchor">[139]</a></p> + +<p>Nor can doubt be thrown on these deeds by the +fact that they are only mentioned by Quintus Curtius +and not by Arrian. The silence of the one is no proof +of the falsity or credulity of the other. Both writers +lived many centuries after Alexander, and were dependent +for their knowledge on the writings, then +extant but long since lost, of contemporaries and +eye-witnesses of the expedition to Asia. That those +witnesses often gave conflicting accounts of the same +event we have the assurance of either writer; but +since it is impossible to determine the degree of discretion +with which each made their selections from<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span> +the original authorities, it is only reasonable to regard +them both as of the same and equal validity. +Seneca, who lived before Arrian and who therefore +was equally conversant with the original authorities, +hardly ever mentions Alexander without expressions +of the strongest reprobation.</p> + +<p>Cruelty, in fact, is revealed to us by history as the +most conspicuous trait in the character of Alexander, +though not in his case nor in others inconsistent with +occasional acts of magnanimity and the gleams of a +higher nature. This cruelty, however, taken in connection +with his undoubted bravery, calls in question +the truth of a remark made by Philip de Commines, +and supported, he affirmed, by all historians, that no +cruel man is ever courageous. The popular theory, +that inhumanity is more likely to be the concomitant +of a timid than of a daring nature, ignores altogether +the teaching of history and the conclusions of <i>à priori</i> +reasoning. For if our regard for the sufferings of +others is proportioned to our regard for our own +sufferings, inasmuch as our self-love is the foundation +and measure of our powers of sympathy, a man’s disregard +for the sufferings of others—in other words his +cruelty—is likely to be the exact reflection of his disregard +for suffering in his own person, or, in other +words, of his physical courage. Men, moreover, like +Cicero, of whom it was said by Livy that he was +better calculated for anything than for war, by their +very incapacity for positions where their humanity is +likely to be tested, are rarely exposed to those temptations +of cruelty in which men of a more daring temperament +naturally find themselves placed.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span></p> + +<p>And accordingly we find, by reference to instances +which lie on the surface of history, that great bravery +and great cruelty have more often been united than +separate. In French history there is the cruelty of +Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy; of Montluc +and Des Adretz, the latter of whom made 30 soldiers +and their captain leap from the precipice of a strong +place they had defended, and of both of whom +Brantôme remarks that they were very brave but very +cruel.<a name="FNanchor_140" id="FNanchor_140"></a><a href="#Footnote_140" class="fnanchor">[140]</a> In Scotch history, it was David I. who, though +famed for his courage and humanity, suffered the sick +and aged to be slain in their beds, even infants to be +killed and priests murdered at the very altars.<a name="FNanchor_141" id="FNanchor_141"></a><a href="#Footnote_141" class="fnanchor">[141]</a> In +English history, it was Richard Cœur-de-Lion who had +5,000 Saracen prisoners led out to a large plain to be +massacred (1191).<a name="FNanchor_142" id="FNanchor_142"></a><a href="#Footnote_142" class="fnanchor">[142]</a> In Jewish history, it was King +David who, when he took Rabbah of the Ammonites, +‘brought forth the people that were therein and put +them under saws and harrows of iron and under axes +of iron, and made them pass through the brick kiln; +and thus did he unto all the cities of the children of +Ammon.’<a name="FNanchor_143" id="FNanchor_143"></a><a href="#Footnote_143" class="fnanchor">[143]</a> It is not therefore more probable that a +man famed for his intrepidity will not lend himself +to counsels or actions of cruelty than that another +deficient in personal courage will not be humane.</p> + +<p>And here one cause is deserving of attention as +helping to explain the greater barbarity practised by +the modern nations in the matter of reprisals, than +that which was permitted by the code of honour which<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span> +acted in restraint of them in the better periods of +pagan antiquity; and that is the change that has +occurred with regard to slavery.</p> + +<p>The abolition of slavery, which in Western Europe +has been the greatest achievement of modern +civilisation, did not unfortunately tend to greater +mildness in the customs of war. For in ancient times +the sale of prisoners as slaves operated to restrain that +indiscriminate and objectless slaughter which has been, +even to cases within this century, the marked feature +of the battle-field, and more especially where cities or +places have been taken by storm. Avarice ceased to +operate, as it once did, in favour of humanity. In +one day the population of Magdeburg, taken by +storm, was reduced from 25,000 to 2,700; and an +English eye-witness of that event thus described it: +‘Of 25,000, some said 30,000 people, there was not a +soul to be seen alive, till the flames drove those that +were hid in vaults and secret places to seek death in +the streets rather than perish in the fire; of these +miserable creatures some were killed too by the +furious soldiers, but at last they saved the lives of +such as came out of their cellars and holes, and +so about 2,000 poor desperate creatures were left.’<a name="FNanchor_144" id="FNanchor_144"></a><a href="#Footnote_144" class="fnanchor">[144]</a> +‘There was little shooting, the execution was all +cutting of throats and mere house murders.... We +could see the poor people in crowds driven down the +streets, flying from the fury of the soldiers, who +followed butchering them as fast as they could, +and refused mercy to anybody; till, driving them +down to the river’s edge, the desperate wretches<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span> +would throw themselves into the river, where thousands +of them perished, especially women and children.’<a name="FNanchor_145" id="FNanchor_145"></a><a href="#Footnote_145" class="fnanchor">[145]</a></p> + +<p>It is difficult to read this graphic description of a +stormed city without the suspicion arising in the mind +that a sheer thirst for blood and love of murder is a +much more potent sustainer of war than it is usual or +agreeable to believe. The narratives of most victories +and of taken cities support this theory. At Brescia, +for instance, taken by the French from the Venetians +in 1512, it is said that 20,000 of the latter fell to only +50 of the former.<a name="FNanchor_146" id="FNanchor_146"></a><a href="#Footnote_146" class="fnanchor">[146]</a> When Rome was sacked in 1527 +by the Imperialist forces, we are told that ‘the soldiery +threw themselves upon the unhappy multitude, +and, without distinction of age or sex, massacred all +who came in their way. Strangers were spared as +little as Romans, for the murderers fired indiscriminately +at everyone, from a mere thirst of blood.’<a name="FNanchor_147" id="FNanchor_147"></a><a href="#Footnote_147" class="fnanchor">[147]</a></p> + +<p>But this thirst of blood was checked in the days +of slavery by the counteracting thirst of money; there +having been an obvious motive for giving quarter +when a prisoner of war represented something of +tangible value, like any other article of booty. The +sack of Thebes by Alexander, and its demolition +to the sound of the lute, was bad enough; but after +the first rage for slaughter was over, there remained +30,000 persons of free birth to be sold as slaves. +And in Roman warfare the rule was to sell as slaves +those who were taken prisoners in a stormed city;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span> +and it must be remembered that many so sold were +slaves already.<a name="FNanchor_148" id="FNanchor_148"></a><a href="#Footnote_148" class="fnanchor">[148]</a> All who were unarmed or who laid +down their arms were spared from destruction, as well +as from plunder;<a name="FNanchor_149" id="FNanchor_149"></a><a href="#Footnote_149" class="fnanchor">[149]</a> and for exceptions to this rule, as +for instance for the indiscriminate and cruel massacre +committed at Illiturji in Spain, there was always at +least the pretext of reprisals, or some special military +motive.<a name="FNanchor_150" id="FNanchor_150"></a><a href="#Footnote_150" class="fnanchor">[150]</a></p> + +<p>Cicero, who lived to see the Roman arms triumphant +over the world and the conversion of the +Roman republic into a military despotism, found +occasion to deplore at the same time the debased standard +of military honour. He believed that in cruel +vindictiveness and rapacity his contemporaries had +degenerated from the customs of their ancestors, and +he contrasted regretfully the utter destruction of +Carthage, Numantia, and Corinth, with the milder +treatment of their earlier enemies, the Sabines, +Tusculans, and others. He adduced as a proof of +the greater ferocity of the war spirit of his day +the fact that the only term for an enemy was originally +the milder term of stranger, and that it was +only by degrees that the word meaning stranger came +to have the connotation of hostility. ‘What,’ he +asks, ‘could have been added to this mildness, to +call him with whom you are at war by so gentle +a name as stranger? But now the progress of time +has given a harder signification to the word; for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span> +it has ceased to apply to a stranger, and has remained +the proper term for an actual enemy in arms.’<a name="FNanchor_151" id="FNanchor_151"></a><a href="#Footnote_151" class="fnanchor">[151]</a></p> + +<p>Is a similar process taking place in modern warfare +with regard to the law of reprisals? It is a long +leap from ancient Rome to modern Germany; but to +Germany, as the chief military Power now in existence, +we must turn, in order to understand the law of reprisals +as it is interpreted by the practice of a country +whose power and example will make her actions +precedents in all wars that may occur in future.</p> + +<p>The worst feature in reprisals is that they are indiscriminate +and more often directed against the innocent +than the guilty. To murder women and children, old +men, or any one else, on the ground of their connection +with an enemy who has committed an action +calling for retribution, can be justified by no theory +that would not equally apply to a similar parody of +justice in civil life. It is a return to the theory and +practices of savages, who, if they cannot revenge +themselves on a culprit, revenge themselves complacently +on some one else. For bodies of peasants to +resist a foreign invader by forming ambuscades or +making surprises against him, though his advance +is marked by fire and pillage and outrage, may be contrary +to the laws of war (though that point has never +been agreed upon); but to make such attacks the +pretext for indiscriminate murder and robbery is an +extension of the law of reprisals that was only<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span> +definitely imported into the military code of Europe +by the German invaders of France in 1870.</p> + +<p>The following facts, offered in proof of this statement, +are taken from a small pamphlet, published +during the war by the International Society for Help +to the Wounded, and containing only such facts as +were attested by the evidence of official documents or +of persons whose positions gave them an exceptional +title to credit.<a name="FNanchor_152" id="FNanchor_152"></a><a href="#Footnote_152" class="fnanchor">[152]</a> At one place, where twenty-five francs-tireurs +had hidden in a wood and received the Germans +with a fusillade, reprisals were carried so far that +the curé, rushing into the streets, seized the Prussian +captain by the shoulders and entreated mercy for the +women and children. ‘No mercy’ was the only +reply.<a name="FNanchor_153" id="FNanchor_153"></a><a href="#Footnote_153" class="fnanchor">[153]</a> At another place twenty-six young men had +joined the francs-tireurs; the Baden troops took and +shot their fathers.<a name="FNanchor_154" id="FNanchor_154"></a><a href="#Footnote_154" class="fnanchor">[154]</a> At Nemours, where a body of +Uhlans had been surprised and captured by some +mobiles, the floors and furniture of several houses +were first saturated with petroleum and then fired +with shells.<a name="FNanchor_155" id="FNanchor_155"></a><a href="#Footnote_155" class="fnanchor">[155]</a></p> + +<p>The new theory also was imported into the military +code, that a village, by the mere fact of trying to +defend itself, constituted itself a place of war which +might be legitimately bombarded and, when taken, +subjected to the rights of war which still govern the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span> +fate of places taken by assault.<a name="FNanchor_156" id="FNanchor_156"></a><a href="#Footnote_156" class="fnanchor">[156]</a> Nor let it be supposed +that those rights were not exercised as rigorously +as they ever have been by victorious troops. +At Nogent-sur-Seine, the Wurtemburg troops carried +their fury to the slaughter of women and children and +even of the wounded. And if the belief still lingers +that the German troops of the Emperor William +behaved otherwise towards the weaker sex than +their ancestors in Rome and Italy under the Constable +of Bourbon, let the reader refer to the experiences +of Clermont, Andernay, or Neuville.<a name="FNanchor_157" id="FNanchor_157"></a><a href="#Footnote_157" class="fnanchor">[157]</a></p> + +<p>Reprisals beget, of course, reprisals; and had the +French and German war been by any accident prolonged, +it is appalling to think of the barbarities that +would have occurred. ‘Threat for threat,’ wrote +Colonel R. Garibaldi to the Prussian commander at +Châtillon, in reference to the latter’s resolve to punish +the inhabitants of that place for the acts of some +francs-tireurs; ‘I give you my assurance that I will not +spare one of the 200 Prussians whom you know +to be in my hands.’<a name="FNanchor_158" id="FNanchor_158"></a><a href="#Footnote_158" class="fnanchor">[158]</a> ‘We will fight,’ wrote General +Chanzy to the Prussian commander at Vendôme, +‘without truce or mercy, because it is a question now +not of fighting loyal enemies, but hordes of devastators.’<a name="FNanchor_159" id="FNanchor_159"></a><a href="#Footnote_159" class="fnanchor">[159]</a></p> + +<p>Under the theory of legitimate reprisals, the Germans +resuscitated the custom of taking hostages. +The French having (in accordance with the still recognised +but barbarous rule of war) taken prisoners +the captains of some German merchant vessels, the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span> +Germans retaliated by taking twenty persons of respectable +position at Dijon, and nine at Vesoul, and +detaining them as hostages. Nor was this an uncommon +episode in the campaign: though the sending to +Germany as prisoners of war of French merchants, +magistrates, lawyers, and doctors, and the making +them answerable with their lives and fortunes for +actions of their countrymen which they could neither +prevent nor repress, was a revival in its worst form of +the theory of vicarious punishment, and a direction of +hostilities against non-combatants, which was a gross +violation of the proclamation of the Prussian king, +made at the beginning of the campaign (after the +common cant of the leaders of armies), that his forces +had no war to wage with the peaceable inhabitants of +France.</p> + +<p>Even plunder enters into the German law of reprisals. +Remiremont in the Vosges had to pay +8,000<i>l.</i> because two German engineers and one soldier +had been taken prisoners by the French troops. The +usual forced military contributions which the victors +exacted did not exclude a system of pillage and +devastation that the present age fondly believed to +belong only to a past state of warfare. On December +5, 1870, a German soldier wrote to the <i>Cologne +Gazette</i>: ‘Since the war has entered upon its present +stage it is a real life of brigands we lead. For four +weeks we have passed through districts entirely +ravaged; the last eight days we have passed through +towns and villages where there was absolutely nothing +left to take.’ Nor was this plunder only the work +of the common military serfs or conscripts, whose<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span> +miserable poverty might have served as an excuse, +but it was conducted by officers of the highest rank, +who, for their own benefit, robbed farms and stables +of their sheep and horses, and sacked country houses +of their works of art, their plate, and even of their +ladies’ jewels.<a name="FNanchor_160" id="FNanchor_160"></a><a href="#Footnote_160" class="fnanchor">[160]</a></p> + +<p>The world, therefore, at least owes this to the +Germans, that they have taught us to see war in +its true light, by removing it from the realm of romance, +where it was decked with bright colours and +noble actions, to the region of sober judgment, where +the soldier, the thief, and the murderer are seen in +scarcely distinguishable colours. They have withdrawn +the veil which blinded our ancestors to the +evils of war, and which led dreamy humanitarians to +believe in the possibility of <i>civilised warfare</i>; so that +now the deeds of shame threaten to obscure the deeds +of glory. In the middle ages it was the custom to declare +a war that was intended to be waged with special +fury by sending a man with a naked sword in one hand +and a burning torch in the other, to signify that the +war so begun was to be one of blood and fire. We +have since learnt that there is no need to typify by +any peculiar ceremony the character of any particular +war; for that the characteristics of all are the same.</p> + +<p>The German general Von Moltke, in a published +letter wherein he maintained that Perpetual Peace +was a dream and not even a beautiful one, went on to +say, in defence of war, that in it the noblest virtues of +mankind were developed—courage, self-abnegation, +faithfulness to duty, the spirit of sacrifice; and that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span> +without wars the world would soon stagnate and lose +itself in materialism.<a name="FNanchor_161" id="FNanchor_161"></a><a href="#Footnote_161" class="fnanchor">[161]</a> We have no data from which +to judge of the probable state of a warless world, but +we do know that the brightest samples of these virtues +have been ever given by those who in peace and +obscurity, and without looking for lands, or titles, or +medals for their reward, have laboured not to destroy +life but to save it, not to lower the standard of morality +but to raise it, not to preach revenge but mercy, not to +spread misery and poverty and crime but to increase +happiness, wealth, and virtue. Is there or will there +be no scope for courage, for self-sacrifice, for duty, +where fever and disease are the foes to be combated, +where wounds and pain need to be cured or soothed, +or where sin and ignorance and poverty are the +forces to be assailed? But apart from this there is +another side to the picture of war, of which Von +Moltke says not a word, but of which, in the preceding +pages, some indication has been given. Now +that we are no longer satisfied with the dry narratives +of strategical operations, but are beginning to search +into the details of military proceedings; into the fate +of the captured, of the wounded, of the pursued; +into the treatment of hostages, of women, of children; +into the statistics of massacre and spoliation that are +the penalties of defeat; into the character of stratagems; +and into the justice of reprisals, we see war in +another mirror, and recognise that the old one gave +but a distorted reflection of its realities. No one ever +denied but that great qualities are displayed in war; +but the doubt is spreading fast, not only whether<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span> +it is the worthiest field for their display, but whether +it is not also the principal nursing-bed of the crimes +that are the greatest disgrace to our nature.</p> + +<p>It is idle to think that our humanity will fail to +take its colouring from our calling. Marshal Montluc, +the bravest yet most cruel of French soldiers, was +fond of protesting that the inhumanity he was guilty +of was in corruption of his original and better nature; +and at the close of his book and of his life, he consoled +himself for the blood he had caused to flow like water +by the consideration, that the sovereigns whose servant +he had been were (as he told one of them) really +responsible for the misery he had caused. But does +the excuse avail him, or the millions who have succeeded +to his trade? A king or a government can +commission men to execute its policy or its vengeance; +but is a free agent, who accepts a commission that he +believes to be iniquitous, morally acquitted of his +share of culpability? Is his responsibility no greater +than that of the sword, the axe, or the halter with +which he carries out his orders; or does the plea +of military discipline justify him in acting with no +more moral restraint than a slave, or than a horse that +has no understanding? The Prussian officer who +at Dijon blew out his brains rather than execute some +iniquitous order<a name="FNanchor_162" id="FNanchor_162"></a><a href="#Footnote_162" class="fnanchor">[162]</a> showed that he understood the dignity +of human nature as it was understood in the days +of the bygone moral grandeur of Rome. Such a man +deserved a monument far more than most to whom +memorial monuments are raised.</p> + +<p>Recent events lend an additional interest to the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span> +question of reprisals, and add emphasis to the necessity +of placing them, as it was sought to do at +Brussels, on the footing of an International Agreement. +It is sometimes said that dynastic wars belong +to the past, and that kings have no longer the power +to make war, as they once did, for their own pleasure +or pastime. There may be truth in this, though the +last great war in Europe but one had its immediate +cause in an inter-dynastic jealousy; but a far more +potent agency for war than ever existed in monarchical +power is now wielded by the Press. War in every +country is the direct pecuniary interest of the Daily +Press. ‘I know proprietors of newspapers,’ said +Cobden during the Crimean war, ‘who have pocketed +3,000<i>l.</i> or 4,000<i>l.</i> a year through the war as directly as +if the money had been voted to them in the Parliamentary +estimates.’<a name="FNanchor_163" id="FNanchor_163"></a><a href="#Footnote_163" class="fnanchor">[163]</a> The temptation, therefore, is +great, first to justify any given war by irrelevant +issues or by stories of the enormities committed by +the enemy, or even by positive false statements (as +when the English Press, with the <i>Times</i> at its head, +with almost one voice taught us that the Afghan ruler +had insulted our ambassador, and left us to find out +our mistake when a too ready credulity had cost us a +war of some 20,000,000<i>l.</i>); and then, when war has once +begun, to fan the flame by demanding reprisals for +atrocities that have generally never been committed +nor established by anything like proof. In this way +the French were charged at the beginning of the last +German war with bombarding the open town of +Saarbrück, and with firing explosive bullets from the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span> +mitrailleuse; and the belief, thus falsely and purposely +propagated, covered of course with the cloak of reprisals +a good deal of all that came afterwards.</p> + +<p>In this way has arisen the modern practice of justifying +every resort to war, not as a trial of strength +or test of justice between enemies, but as an act of +virtuous and necessary chastisement against criminals. +Charges of violated faith, of the abuse of flags of truce, +of dishonourable stratagems, of the ill-treatment or +torture of prisoners, are seized upon, regardless of any +inquiry into their truth, and made the pretext for +the indefinite prolongation of hostilities. The lawful +enemy is denounced as a rebel or a criminal, whom +it would be wicked to treat with or trust; and only +an unconditional surrender, which drives him to desperation, +and so embitters the war, is regarded as a +possible preliminary to peace. The time has surely +come when such a demand, on the ground of reprisals, +should cease to operate as a bar to peace. One of the +proposals at the Brussels Conference was that no +commander should be forced to capitulate under +dishonourable conditions, that is to say, without the +customary honours of war. It should be one of the +demands of civilisation that an unconditional surrender, +such as was insisted upon from Arabi in 1882 +and led to the bombardment of Alexandria with all the +subsequent troubles, should under no circumstances be +insisted on in treating with an enemy; and that no +victorious belligerent should demand of a defeated +one what under reversed conditions it would consider +dishonourable to grant itself.</p> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V.</a><br /> +<span class="smaller">MILITARY STRATAGEMS.</span></h2> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>Hé! qu’il y a de tromperie au monde! et en nostre mestier plus +qu’en autre qui soit.</i>—<span class="smcap">Marshal Montluc.</span></p></blockquote> + +<p class="summary">Grotius’ theory of fair stratagems—The teaching of international law—Ancient +and modern naval stratagems—Early Roman dislike of +such stratagems as ambuscades, feigned retreats, or night attacks—The +degenerate standard of Frontinus and Polyænus—The conference-stratagem +of modern Europe—The distinction between +perfidy and stratagem—The perfidy of Francis I.—Vattel’s theory +about spies—Frederick the Great’s military instructions about spies—Lord +Wolseley on spies and truth in war—The custom of hanging +or shooting spies—Better to keep them as prisoners of war—Balloonists +regarded as spies—The practice of military surprises—Death +formerly the penalty for capture in a surprise—Stratagems of uncertain +character, such as forged despatches or false intelligence—The +use of the telegraph in deceiving the enemy—May prisoners of +war be compelled to propagate lies?—General character of the military +code of fraud.</p> + +<p>One of the most interesting aspects of the state +of war is that of its connection with fraud, deceit, and +guile. If we may seek to obtain our ends by force, +we may surely, it is argued, do so by fraud; for what +is the moral difference between overcoming by superiority +of muscle and the same result obtained by dint +of brain? Lysander the Spartan went so far as to +say that boys were to be cheated with dice, but an +enemy with oaths; and if the world has professed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span> +horror at his sentiment, it has not altogether despised +his authority.</p> + +<p>Among military stratagems the older writers used +to include every kind of deception practised by +generals in war, not only against the enemy, but +against their own troops; as, for instance, devices for +preventing or suppressing a mutiny, for stopping the +spread of a panic, or for encouraging them with false +news before or during an engagement.</p> + +<p>But in modern use the term stratagem has almost +exclusive reference to artifices of deception practised +against an enemy; and the greater interest that attaches +to the latter kind of guile justifies the narrowed +denotation of the word. No one, for instance, would +now regard as a stratagem the clever behaviour of +that Thracian general Cosingas, who, acting also as +priest to his forces, brought them back to obedience +by the report he artfully propagated that certain long +ladders which he had caused to be made and fastened +together were intended to enable him to climb to +heaven, there to complain to Juno of their misconduct. +The false pretence that is involved in a stratagem is +addressed to the leaders of a hostile force, in order that +their fear or confidence, unduly raised by it, may be +played upon to the advantage of their more artful +opponents. In the consideration, therefore, of military +stratagems, or <i>ruses de guerre</i>, it is best to conform +entirely to the more restricted sense in which they are +understood in modern parlance.</p> + +<p>The following stratagem is a good one to start +with. During the Franco-German War of 1870, +twenty-five franc-tireurs clothed themselves in Prussian<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span> +uniform, and by the help of that disguise killed several +Prussians at Sennegy near Troyes; and the deed was +made a subject of open boast in a French journal.<a name="FNanchor_164" id="FNanchor_164"></a><a href="#Footnote_164" class="fnanchor">[164]</a> +Was the boast a justifiable or a shameful one?</p> + +<p>Distinctly justifiable, if at least Grotius, the father +of our international law, is of any authority. The +reasoning of Grotius runs in this wise. There is a +distinction between conventional signs that are established +by the general consent of all the world and +those which are only established by particular societies +or by individuals; deception directed against the +former involves the violation of a mutual obligation, +and is therefore unlawful, whereas that against the +latter is lawful, because it involves no such violation. +Therefore, whilst it is wrong to deceive an enemy by +words or signs which by general consent are universally +understood in a given sense, it is not wrong to +overcome an enemy by conduct which involves no +violation of a generally recognised and universally +binding custom. Under conduct of the latter type +fall such acts as a simulated flight, or the use of an +enemy’s arms, his standards, uniform, or sails. A +flight is not an instituted sign of fear, nor have the +arms or colours of a particular country any universally +established meaning.<a name="FNanchor_165" id="FNanchor_165"></a><a href="#Footnote_165" class="fnanchor">[165]</a></p> + +<p>And in spite of the sound of sophistry that accompanies +this reasoning, the teaching of international +law has not substantially swerved on this point from +the direction given to it by Grotius. In Cicero’s +opinion, although both force and fraud were resources<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span> +most unworthy of rational humanity, the one pertaining +rather to the nature of the lion and the other +to that of the fox, fraud was an expedient deserving +of more hatred than the other.<a name="FNanchor_166" id="FNanchor_166"></a><a href="#Footnote_166" class="fnanchor">[166]</a> But the teaching of +later times has tended to overlook this distinction. +Bynkershoek, that celebrated Dutch jurist who advocated +the use of poison as one of the fair modes of +employing force, declares it to be a matter of perfect +indifference whether stratagem or open force be employed +against an enemy, provided perfidy be absent +from the former. And Bluntschli, who is the German +publicist of greatest authority in our own day, expressly +includes among the lawful stratagems of war +the use of an enemy’s uniform or flag.<a name="FNanchor_167" id="FNanchor_167"></a><a href="#Footnote_167" class="fnanchor">[167]</a></p> + +<p>If, then, we test the received military theory by +some actual experience, the following episodes of +history must challenge rather our admiration than +our blame, and stand justified by the most advanced +theories of modern international law.</p> + +<p>Cimon, the Athenian admiral, having captured +some Persian ships, made his own men step into them +and dress themselves in the clothes of the Persians; +and then, when the ships reached Cyprus, and the +inhabitants of that island came out joyfully to welcome +their friends, they were of course more easily +defeated by their enemies.<a name="FNanchor_168" id="FNanchor_168"></a><a href="#Footnote_168" class="fnanchor">[168]</a></p> + +<p>Aristomachus, having taken some Cardian ships, +placed his own rowers in them and towed his own +ships behind them, as if they were being conducted +in triumph. When the Cardians came out to greet +their supposed victorious crews, Aristomachus and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span> +his men fell upon them and succeeded in committing +great carnage.<a name="FNanchor_169" id="FNanchor_169"></a><a href="#Footnote_169" class="fnanchor">[169]</a></p> + +<p>Modern history supplies analogous cases. In +September 1800 an English crew attacked two ships +that lay at anchor at Barcelona, by forcing a Swedish +vessel to take on board some English officers, soldiers, +and sailors, and so obtaining a means of approach that +was otherwise impossible.<a name="FNanchor_170" id="FNanchor_170"></a><a href="#Footnote_170" class="fnanchor">[170]</a> And English naval historians +tell with pride, rather than with shame, how +in 1798 two English ships, the ‘Sibylle’ and the +‘Fox,’ by sailing under false colours captured three +Spanish gunboats in Manilla Roads. When the +Spanish guard-boat was sent to inquire what the +ships were, the pilot of the ‘Fox’ replied that they belonged +to the French squadron, and that they wished +to put into Manilla, for the recovery of the crews from +sickness. The English Captain Cooke was introduced +under the French name of Latour; and a conversation +ensued in which the ceremony of wishing success to +the united exertions of the Spaniards and French +against the English was not forgotten. Two Spanish +boats having then come to visit the vessels, their +crews were quickly handed below; and a party of +British sailors having changed clothes with them and +got into their boat, advanced to the gunboats, which +they captured without pulling a trigger.<a name="FNanchor_171" id="FNanchor_171"></a><a href="#Footnote_171" class="fnanchor">[171]</a></p> + +<p>On another occasion the same ‘Sibylle,’ which had +been taken from the French by Romney in 1794, +captured a large French vessel that lay at anchor, by<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span> +standing in under French colours, and only hoisting +her real ones when within a cable’s length of her +prize;<a name="FNanchor_172" id="FNanchor_172"></a><a href="#Footnote_172" class="fnanchor">[172]</a> the only limit to such a stratagem on the sea +being the necessity for a ship to hoist her real flag +before proceeding to actual hostilities. A state of +war must surely play strange tricks with our minds +to make it possible for us to approve such infamous +actions as those quoted. There can be no greater +proof of the utter demoralisation it causes than that +such devices should have ever come to be thought +honourable; and that no scruples should have ever +intervened against the prostitution of a country’s flag, +the symbol of her independence, her nationality, and +her pride, to the shame of open falsehood. Antiquaries +dispute the correctness of the statement of +Polyænus that Artemisia, the Queen of Caria and +ally of Xerxes against Greece, hoisted Persian colours +when in pursuit of Greek ships, but a Greek flag to +prevent Greek ships from pursuing herself, because +they say that flags were not then in use; but undoubtedly +the custom is a very old one on the seas +of having a number of different flags on board a ship, +for the purpose either of more easily capturing a +weaker or of more easily escaping from a stronger +vessel than herself. The French, for instance, in +1337 plundered and burnt Portsmouth, after having +been suffered to land under the cover of English +banners.<a name="FNanchor_173" id="FNanchor_173"></a><a href="#Footnote_173" class="fnanchor">[173]</a> Not only the vessels of pirates and privateers, +but the war vessels of the State, learned to sail<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span> +under colours that belied their nationality.<a name="FNanchor_174" id="FNanchor_174"></a><a href="#Footnote_174" class="fnanchor">[174]</a> The +only limit to the stratagem of the false flag (to which +international custom gradually came to give the force +of law) came to be the necessity of hoisting the real +flag before proceeding to fire, a limitation that was +not of much moment after the successful deception +had brought a defenceless merchant vessel within the +reach of easy capture. And with regard to ships of +war, the cannon-shot by which one vessel replied to +the challenge of its suspected nationality by the other +came to be equivalent to the captain’s word of honour +that the flag which floated above the cannon he fired +represented the nationality of which it professed to +be the symbol. The flag itself might tell a lie, therefore +the cannon-shot oath must redeem it from suspicion. +Such are the extraordinary ideas of honour +and morality that the system of universal fear, distrust, +and hostility, by many thought to be so surpassingly +glorious, has caused to become prevalent upon the +ocean.</p> + +<p>In spite, therefore, of Grotius, the above stratagems +must be considered as dishonourable; and that so +they are beginning to be considered is indicated by +the fact that at the Brussels Conference of 1874 the +use of an enemy’s flag or uniform was expressly +rejected from the category of fair military stratagems. +But the improvement is in spite of international law, +not in consequence of it.</p> + +<p>There is an obvious distinction indeed between<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span> +the above method of overcoming an enemy and +such favourite devices as ambuscades, feigned retreats, +night attacks, or the diversion of a defence to the +wrong point. But perhaps nothing in the history of +moral opinion is more curious than that even these +modes of deceit should have been, not by one people +or an unwarlike people, but by several people, and +one among them the most warlike nation known to +history, deliberately rejected as unfair and dishonourable +modes of warfare. The historical evidence on +this point appears to be quite conclusive, and is worth +recalling for the interest that cannot but attach to +one of the strangest but most neglected chapters in +the history of human ethics.</p> + +<p>The Achæans, says Polybius, disdained even to +subdue their enemies with the help of deceit. In their +opinion a victory was neither honourable nor secure +that was not obtained in open combat by superior +courage. Therefore they esteemed it a kind of law +among them never to use any concealed weapons, nor +to throw darts from a distance, being persuaded that +an open and close conflict was the only fair method of +combat. For the same reason they not only made a +declaration of war, but sent notice each to the other +of their resolution to try the fortune of a battle, and +of the place where they were determined to engage.<a name="FNanchor_175" id="FNanchor_175"></a><a href="#Footnote_175" class="fnanchor">[175]</a></p> + +<p>And in Ternate, one of the Molucca Islands, which +suffered such untold miseries after the Europeans had +discovered its spices and its heathenism, not only was +war never begun without being first declared, but +it was also customary to inform the enemy of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span> +number of men and the amount and kind of weapons +with which it was intended to conduct hostilities.<a name="FNanchor_176" id="FNanchor_176"></a><a href="#Footnote_176" class="fnanchor">[176]</a></p> + +<p>But the case of the Romans is by far the most +remarkable. Polybius, Livy, and Ælian all agree in +their testimony that for a long period of their history +the Romans refrained from all kinds of stratagem as +from a sort of military meanness; and their evidence +is corroborated by Valerius Maximus, who says that +the Romans, having no word in their language to +express a military ruse, were forced to borrow the +Greek word, from which our own word stratagem is +derived.<a name="FNanchor_177" id="FNanchor_177"></a><a href="#Footnote_177" class="fnanchor">[177]</a> Polybius, who lived and wrote as late as +the second century before Christ, after complaining +that artifice was then so prevalent among the Romans +that their chief study was to deceive one another in +war and in politics, adds that, in spite of this degeneracy, +they still declared war solemnly beforehand, +seldom formed ambuscades, and preferred to fight man +to man in close engagement. So late as the year 172 +<span class="small">B.C.</span> the elder senators regretted the lost virtue of their +ancestors, who refrained from such stratagems as night +attacks, counterfeit flights, and sudden returns, and +who sometimes even appointed the day of battle and +fixed the field of combat, looking for victory not from +fraud, but only from superiority in personal bravery.<a name="FNanchor_178" id="FNanchor_178"></a><a href="#Footnote_178" class="fnanchor">[178]</a> +Ælian, too, declares that the Romans never resorted +to stratagems till about the end of the Second Punic +War; and truly the great Roman general, Scipio, who<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span> +took the name of Africanus, displayed a thorough +African skill in the use he made of spies and surprises +to bring that war to a successful issue.</p> + +<p>With regard to night attacks the Macedonians +appear to have cherished similar feelings, since we find +Alexander refusing to attack Darius by night on the +ground that he did not wish to gain a stolen victory. +And with regard to close combat, something of the +old Roman and Achæan feeling was displayed in +Europe when first the crossbow, and in later times the +musket, rendered personal prowess of lesser importance. +Before the time of Richard I., when the crossbow +became the chief weapon in war, warriors, says +the Abbé Velley, were so free and brave that they +would only owe victory to their lance and their sword, +and everybody detested those perfidious arms with +which a coward under shelter was enabled to slay the +bravest.<a name="FNanchor_179" id="FNanchor_179"></a><a href="#Footnote_179" class="fnanchor">[179]</a> So said Montluc of the musket, which in +1523 had not yet, he says, superseded in France the +use of the crossbow: ‘Would to God this accursed +instrument had never been invented.... So many +brave and valiant men would not have met their +deaths at the hands very often of the greatest cowards, +who would not so much as dare look at the man whom +they knock down from a distance with their accursed +balls.’<a name="FNanchor_180" id="FNanchor_180"></a><a href="#Footnote_180" class="fnanchor">[180]</a> And in the same spirit Charles XII. of +Sweden once bade his soldiers to come to close quarters +with the enemy without shooting, on the ground +that it was only for cowards to shoot.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span></p> + +<p>Such ideas are, of course, dead beyond the hope of +recovery; but they are an odd commentary on our +conceit in the improved tone of our military code of +honour. We have long since learned to despise these +old-world notions of honour and courage, and to make +very few exceptions indeed to the newer doctrine of +Christendom, that in war anything and everything is +fair. But it is worth the pause of a moment to reflect +that such moral sentiments in restraint of the use of +fraud in war should have once had a real existence in +the world; that they should once have swayed the +minds of the most successful military nation that ever +existed, and stood by them till they had attained that +high degree of power which was theirs at the time of +the Second Punic War (217-199 <span class="small">B.C.</span>) In comparing +the code of military honour prevalent in pagan antiquity +with that of more recent times, it is but fair to +remember that the pagan nations of old recognised +some principles of action which were never dreamt of +in the best days of Christian chivalry; and that the +generals of the people who we are sometimes told +were a mere robber community would have had as +strong a feeling against the righteousness of a night +attack, a feigned retreat, or a surprise, as our modern +generals would have of an open violation of a truce or +convention.</p> + +<p>The downward path in this matter is easy, and the +history of Rome after Scipio Africanus is associated +with a change of opinion concerning stratagems that +in no degree fell short of that subtlety of the Greeks, +Gauls, or Africans, which the Romans once regarded +as perfidy. Frontinus, who wrote a book on strata<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span>gems +in the reign of Trajan, and still more Polyænus, +who wrote a large book on the same subject for the +Emperors Verus and Antoninus, appear to have +thought that no deceit was too bad to serve as a +good precedent for the conduct of war. Polyænus +not merely made a collection of some nine hundred +stratagems, but collected them for the express purpose +of their being of service to the Roman Emperors +in the war then undertaken against Parthia. +To the rulers of a people who had once regarded +even an ambuscade as beneath their chivalry he +brought as worthy of their recollection and study actions +which are an eternal stain on the memory of +those who committed them. Let us take for example +the devices he records for obtaining possession of +besieged places, remembering that from the moment +the chamade has been beaten, or any other sign been +given for a conference or parley between the contending +forces, a truce by tacit agreement is held to +suspend their mutual hostilities.</p> + +<p>1. Thibron persuaded the governor of a fort in +Asia to come out to arrange terms, under an oath +that he should return if they failed to agree. During +the relaxation of guard that naturally ensued, Thibron’s +men took the fort by assault: and Thibron, reconducting +the governor according to his word, forthwith put +him to death.<a name="FNanchor_181" id="FNanchor_181"></a><a href="#Footnote_181" class="fnanchor">[181]</a></p> + +<p>2. In the same way behaved Paches, the Athenian +general at Notium. Having got Hippias, the governor, +into his power under the same promise that +Thibron made, he took the place by storm, massacred<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span> +all he found in it, reconducted Hippias according to +his oath, and had him killed upon the spot.<a name="FNanchor_182" id="FNanchor_182"></a><a href="#Footnote_182" class="fnanchor">[182]</a></p> + +<p>3. Autophrodates proposed a parley with the chiefs +of the Ephesian army, having previously ordered his +cavalry officers and other troops to attack the Ephesians +during the conference. The result was a signal +victory, and the capture or slaughter of a great number +of Ephesians.<a name="FNanchor_183" id="FNanchor_183"></a><a href="#Footnote_183" class="fnanchor">[183]</a></p> + +<p>4. Philip of Macedon sent some envoys into a +Thracian city, and whilst the people all met in assembly +to hear the proposals of the enemy the King +of Macedon attacked and took the city.<a name="FNanchor_184" id="FNanchor_184"></a><a href="#Footnote_184" class="fnanchor">[184]</a></p> + +<p>5. The Thracians, having been defeated by the +Bœotians, made a truce with them, for a certain +number of <i>days</i>, and attacked them one <i>night</i>, whilst +the enemy were engaged in making sacrifices. And +so dealt Cleomenes with the Argives; he made a +truce with them for seven days, and attacked them +the second night.</p> + +<p>All these things are told by Polyænus, not only +without a word of disapproval, but apparently as +good examples for the conduct of a war actually in +progress. Such was the state of moral debasement +in which their long career of military success ultimately +landed the great Roman people.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, it is not for modern history to cast +stones at Paches or at Thibron. The Conference-stratagem +attained its highest development in the +practice of warfare in Christendom; so that Montaigne +declares it to have become a fixed maxim<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span> +among the military men of his time (the sixteenth +century) never in time of siege to go out to a parley. +That great French soldier Montluc, whose autobiography +contained in his Commentaries displays so +curious a mixture of bravery and cruelty, of loyalty +and cunning, and is perhaps the best military book +by a military man that has been written since Cæsar, +tells us how once, whilst he was bargaining with the +governor of Sarvenal about the terms of a capitulation, +his men entered the place by a window on the other +side and compelled the governor to surrender at +discretion, and how on another occasion he sent his +soldiers to enter Mont de Marsan and put all they +met to the sword, whilst he himself was deluding the +governor with a parley. ‘The moments of a parley +are dangerous,’ he justly observes, ‘and then more +than ever should the besieged be careful in guarding +their walls, for it is the time when the besiegers, +fearful of losing by a capitulation the booty that +would be theirs if they took the place by storm, study +to avail themselves of the relaxation of vigilance +promoted by the truce to approach the walls with +greater facility and success.’ And the man who +wrote this as the experience of his time, and illustrated +it by the above accounts of his own practice, +rose to be a Marshal of France!</p> + +<p>Some other examples of the same stratagem prove +how widely the custom entered into the warfare of +the European nations. The governor of Terouanne, +besieged by the forces of the Emperor Charles V., +having forgotten in a negotiation for a capitulation +to stipulate for a suspension of arms, the town was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span> +surprised during the conference, pillaged, and utterly +destroyed.<a name="FNanchor_185" id="FNanchor_185"></a><a href="#Footnote_185" class="fnanchor">[185]</a> And Feuquières, a French general of +Louis XIV., and the writer of a book of military +memoirs which ran through several editions, tells us +how he surprised a place called Kreilsheim in 1688: +‘I could not have taken this place by force, surrounded +as it was with a wall and a strong enough castle; but +the colonel in command having been imbecile enough +to come outside the place to parley with me, without +exacting a promise from me to let him return, I +retained him and compelled him to order his garrison +to surrender itself prisoner of war.’<a name="FNanchor_186" id="FNanchor_186"></a><a href="#Footnote_186" class="fnanchor">[186]</a> And he actually +quotes this to show that when it is necessary to take +a post, all sorts of means should be employed, provided +they do not dishonour the general who resorts +to them, as would the failure of his word to the +colonel have dishonoured himself had the colonel +demanded it of him.</p> + +<p>A sounder sense of military honour was displayed +by the English general, Lord Peterborough, at the +siege of Barcelona in 1705. Don Velasco had promised +to capitulate within a certain number of days, +in the event of no succour arriving, and he surrendered +one gate as a proof of his sincerity. During the truce +involved in this proceeding, the German and Catalonian +allies of the English entered the town and +began that career of plunder and outrage which is the +constant reward and crown of such military successes. +Lord Peterborough undertook to prevent disorder in +the town, expel the allied soldiery, and return to his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span> +position. He was taken at his word, acted up to his +word, and saved the honour of England. But what +of that of his allies?</p> + +<p>It is a fine line that divides a stratagem from an +act of perfidy. Valerius Maximus denounces as an +act of perfidy the conduct of Cnæus Domitius, who, +having received the King of the Arverni as a guest +under the pretence of a colloquy, sent him by sea a +prisoner to Rome;<a name="FNanchor_187" id="FNanchor_187"></a><a href="#Footnote_187" class="fnanchor">[187]</a> but it is not easy to distinguish +it from the actions of Montluc or Feuquières. Vattel +lays down the following doctrine on the subject: As +humanity compels us to prefer the gentlest means in +the prosecution of our rights, if we can master a +strong place, surprise or overcome an enemy by a +stratagem or a feint void of perfidy, it is better to +do so than to have resort to a bloody siege or the +carnage of a battle. He expressly excludes perfidy; +but might not Polyænus have defended it on precisely +the same humanitarian grounds as those by +which Vattel justifies the more ordinary stratagems? +Might not an act of perfidy equally prevent a siege or +a battle? If we are justified in contending for our +rights by force, it is hard to say that we may not do so +by fraud; but it is still harder to distinguish the kinds +and the limits of such fraud, or to say where it ceases +to be lawful.</p> + +<p>And to this length did Polyænus apparently go, as +we see in the cases of downright perfidy which he +includes in his collection of stratagems. The Locrians +swore to observe a treaty with the Sicilians so long as +they trod the earth they then walked on, or carried<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span> +their heads on their shoulders: the next day they +threw away the heads of garlic which they had +carried under their cloaks on their shoulders, and the +earth they had strewn in their shoes, and began a +general massacre of the Sicilians.<a name="FNanchor_188" id="FNanchor_188"></a><a href="#Footnote_188" class="fnanchor">[188]</a> The Campanians, +having agreed to surrender half their arms, cut them +in half, and so virtually surrendered nothing.<a name="FNanchor_189" id="FNanchor_189"></a><a href="#Footnote_189" class="fnanchor">[189]</a> Paches, +the Athenian, says Frontinus, having promised personal +safety to his enemies on condition of their +laying down their arms, or as he termed it, their <i>iron</i>, +slew all those who, having laid down their arms, still +retained the <i>iron</i> clasps in their cloaks.<a name="FNanchor_190" id="FNanchor_190"></a><a href="#Footnote_190" class="fnanchor">[190]</a></p> + +<p>By these means it is undoubtedly possible to gain +that advantage over your enemy which, according to +every theory of war, it is the paramount object of +hostilities to obtain; for it has been too often forgotten +that a nation’s honour and character, which an +enlightened patriotism should value higher than the +mere earth on which it feeds and treads, are sacrificed +and impaired whenever a treaty is taken by one of +the parties to it to have been made in another sense +from that which was clearly understood by both +parties to have constituted its spirit at the time of +making it. What a lasting stain rests, for instance, +on the memory of Francis I., who before signing the +Treaty of Madrid, by which he swore, in return for his +liberty, to restore the Duchy of Burgundy, and to +return a prisoner to Spain if he failed to do so, made +a formal protest beforehand, in the presence of some +friends, that the oath he was about to take was involuntary +and therefore void, and broke it the moment<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span> +he was free! And this was the man whose memory +is associated with the famous saying after the battle +of Pavia: ‘All is lost save honour.’ What he really +said after that event, in a letter to his mother, was +this: ‘All is lost save my honour and my life, which +is safe,’ and the letter went on at length, much more +in keeping with the character of that monarch.<a name="FNanchor_191" id="FNanchor_191"></a><a href="#Footnote_191" class="fnanchor">[191]</a> His +life indeed he saved; his honour he never recovered.</p> + +<p>It was agreed at the Brussels Conference that +resort to every possible method of obtaining information +about the forces or country of an enemy should +count as a fair military stratagem; and, indeed, with +the subject of the deceitful side of war the military +theory and treatment of Spies occupies no inconsiderable +place.</p> + +<p>Vattel is again as good an exponent as we can +have of what international law teaches on this subject. +His argument is as follows: It is not contrary to the +law of nations to seduce one of the hostile side to +turn spy, nor to bribe a governor to deliver a town, +because such actions do not, like the use of poison or +assassination, strike at the common welfare and safety +of mankind. Such actions are the common episodes +of every war. But that they are not in themselves +honourable or compatible with a good conscience is +proved by the fact that generals who resort to such +means never boast of them; and, if they are at all +excusable, it is only in the case of a very just war, +when there is no other way of saving a country from +ruin at the hands of lawless conquerors. A sovereign +has no right to require the services of a spy from any<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span> +of his subjects, but he may hold out the temptation of +reward to mercenary souls; and if a governor is willing +to sell himself and offer us a town for money, +should we scruple to take advantage of his crime, +and to get without danger what we have a right to +get by force? At the same time a spy may rightly +be put to death, because it is the only way we have of +guarding against the mischief he may do us.<a name="FNanchor_192" id="FNanchor_192"></a><a href="#Footnote_192" class="fnanchor">[192]</a></p> + +<p>Frederick the Great of Prussia was a contemporary +of Vattel, and in November 1760 he published +some military instructions for the use of his generals +which, in the matter of spies, was based on a wider +practical knowledge of the matter than of course +belonged to the more pacific publicist. He classified +spies into ordinary spies, double spies, spies of distinction, +and spies by compulsion. By double spies he +meant spies who also pretended to be in the service +of the side they betrayed. By spies of distinction +he meant officers of hussars, whose services he had +found useful under the peculiar circumstances of the +Austrian campaign. When he could not procure +himself spies among the Austrians, owing to the careful +guard which their light troops kept round their +camp, the idea occurred to him, and he acted on it +with success, of utilising the suspension of arms that +was customary after a skirmish between hussars +to make those officers the means of conducting an +epistolary correspondence with the officers on the +other side. Spies by compulsion he explained in this +way: ‘When you wish to convey false information +to an enemy, you take a trustworthy soldier and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span> +compel him to pass to the enemy’s camp to report +there all that you wish the enemy to believe; you also +send by him letters to excite the troops to desertion.’ +And in the event of its being impossible to obtain +information about the enemy, this distinguished child +of Mars prescribes the following: Choose some rich +citizen, who has land and wife and children, and +another man disguised as his servant or coachman, +who understands the enemy’s language. Force the +former to take the latter with him to the enemy’s camp +to complain of injuries sustained, threatening him that +if he fail to bring the man back with him after having +stayed long enough for the desired object, his wife +and children shall be hanged and his house burnt. +‘I was myself constrained,’ adds this great warrior, +‘to have recourse to this method, when we were +encamped at ——, and it succeeded.’<a name="FNanchor_193" id="FNanchor_193"></a><a href="#Footnote_193" class="fnanchor">[193]</a></p> + +<p>Such were the military ethics of the great philosopher +and king, whose character in the closer intimacy +of biography proved so disagreeable a revelation to +Carlyle. Pagan antiquity might be searched in vain +for practice or sentiments more ignoble. Sertorius, +the Roman captain, was one of the greatest masters of +stratagem in the world, yet how different his language +from that of the Great Frederick! ‘A man,’ he said, +‘who has any dignity of feeling should conquer with +honour, and not use any base means even to save his +life.’</p> + +<p>From the sentiments of Frederick the Great regarding +spies, let us pass to those of our own time. +From Lord Wolseley’s ‘Soldier’s Pocket-Book’ may be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span> +gained some insight as to the manner in which a spy +in an enemy’s camp may correspond with the hostile +general. The best way, he suggests, is to send a +peasant with a letter written on very thin paper, +which may be rolled up so tightly as to be portable +in a quill an inch and a half long, and this precious +quill may be hidden in the hair or beard, or in a +hollow made at the end of a walking-stick. It is +also a good plan to write secret correspondence in +lemon-juice across a newspaper or the leaves of a +New Testament; it is then safe against discovery, +and will become legible when held before a fire or +near a red iron.</p> + +<p>‘As a nation,’ says Lord Wolseley, ‘we are bred +up to feel it a disgrace even to succeed by falsehood; +the word spy conveys something as repulsive as slave; +we will keep hammering along with the conviction +that honesty is the best policy, and that truth always +wins in the long run. These pretty little sentiments +do well for a child’s copy-book, but a man who acts +upon them had better sheathe his sword for ever.’<a name="FNanchor_194" id="FNanchor_194"></a><a href="#Footnote_194" class="fnanchor">[194]</a> +Was there ever such a confession of the incompatibility +of the soldier’s calling with the precepts of +ordinary honour? For how not so, if he must so far +stoop from the ordinary level of moral rectitude as +to be ready to scorn honesty and to trifle with truth? +And then the question is, Had not a man better +sheathe his sword for ever, or rather not enter at all +upon a trade where he will have to regard the eternal +principles of right and wrong as so much pretty +sentiment only fit for the copy-book?</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span></p> + +<p>Since, therefore, we have the authority of Vattel, +of Frederick the Great, and of Lord Wolseley that +spies may or even must be employed in war, and +that, be the trickery or bribery never so mean that +procures their services, no discredit reflects itself upon +those generals who use them—it is impossible not to +notice it as one of the chief anomalies in existing +military usages that, although a general has an unlimited +right to avail himself of the services of a spy +or a traitor, the penalty for acting in either of the +latter capacities is death. The capital penalty is not +of itself any test of the moral character of the action +to which it is affixed, for the service of a fire-ship, +which demanded the most desperate bravery, used to +be undertaken in the face of capital punishment. +Moreover, some of the most famous names in military +history have not hesitated to act as spies. Sertorius +was honoured by Marius with the usual rewards of +signal valour for having learnt the language of the +Gauls and gone as a spy amongst them disguised in +their dress. The French general Custine entered +Mayence in the disguise of a butcher. Catinat spied +out the strength of Luxembourg in the costume of a +coal-heaver. Montluc entered Perpignan as a cook, +and only resolved never again to act as a spy because +the narrowness of his escape convinced him, not that +it was a service of too much dishonour, but a service +of too much danger.</p> + +<p>The custom of killing spies is an old Roman +one,<a name="FNanchor_195" id="FNanchor_195"></a><a href="#Footnote_195" class="fnanchor">[195]</a> and, indeed, seems to have prevailed all the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span> +world over. Nevertheless there have been exceptions +even to that. Scipio Africanus had some Carthaginian +spies who were brought before him led through +the camp, and then dismissed under escort, and with +the polite inquiry whether they had examined everything +to their satisfaction.<a name="FNanchor_196" id="FNanchor_196"></a><a href="#Footnote_196" class="fnanchor">[196]</a></p> + +<p>The consul Lævinus is said to have dealt in the +same way with some spies that were taken, and so +did Xerxes by some Greek detectives. At the famous +siege of Antwerp in 1584-5, when a Brabant spy was +brought before the Prince of Parma, the latter gave +orders that he should be shown all the works connected +with the wonderful bridge that he was then +constructing across the Scheldt, and then sent him +back to the besieged city with these words: ‘Go and +tell those who sent you what you have seen. Tell +them that I firmly intend either to bury myself +beneath the ruin of this bridge or by means of it to +pass into your city.’</p> + +<p>There is a clear middle course between both +extremes. Instead of being hung or shot or sent +away scot free, a spy might fairly be made a prisoner +of war. Suggestions in this sense were made at the +Brussels Conference on the Laws of War. The +Spanish delegate proposed that the custom of hanging +or shooting detected spies should be abolished, +and the custom be substituted of interning them as +prisoners of war during the continuance of hostilities. +The Belgian delegate proposed that in no case should<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span> +they be put to death without trial; and it was even +sought to establish a distinction between the deserts +of the really patriotic and the merely mercenary spy. +The feeling in fact made itself clearly visible, that an +act of which a general might fairly avail himself +could not in common justice be regarded as criminal +in the agent. Between a general and a spy the +common-law rule of principal and agent plainly holds +good: ‘He who acts through another acts through +himself.’ In a case of espionage either both principal +and agent are guilty of a criminal act, or neither is. +If the spy as such violates the laws of war, so does +the general who employs him; and either deserves +the same punishment. Were it not so, a general who +should hire a bravo to assassinate an enemy would +incur no moral blame, nor could be held to act outside +the boundary of lawful and honourable hostilities.</p> + +<p>In some other respects the Brussels Conference +displayed the vagueness of sentiment that prevails +about the use of spies in war. It was agreed between +all the Powers that no one should be considered as a +spy but one who secretly or under false pretences +sought to obtain information for the enemy in occupied +districts; that military men collecting such information +within the zone of hostile operations should +not be regarded as spies if it were possible to recognise +their military character; and that military men, and +even civilians, if their proceedings were open, charged +with despatches, should not, if captured, be treated as +spies; nor individuals who carried despatches or kept +up communications between different parts of an +army through the air in balloons. The German dele<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span>gate +proposed, with regard to balloons, that those +who sailed in them might be first of all summoned +to descend, then fired at if they refused, and if captured +be treated as prisoners, not as spies. The +rejection of his proposal implies that by the laws of +modern war a balloonist is liable to be shot as a spy; +so that, from the point of view of personal danger, +the service of a balloon becomes doubly heroic. The +Brussels Conference settled nothing, owing to the +withdrawal of England from that attempt to settle +by agreement between the nations the laws that +should govern their relations in war-time; but from +what was on that occasion agreed to or rejected may +be gathered the prevalent practice of European warfare. +Is it not then a little remarkable that for the +dangerous service of espionage a different justice +should be meted out to civilians and to military men; +and that a patriot who risks his life in a balloon +should also risk it in the same way as a spy, a +deserter, or a traitor?</p> + +<p>But whatever be the fate of a spy, and in spite +of distinguished precedents to the contrary, men of +honour will always instinctively shrink from a service +which involves falsehood from beginning to end. The +sentiment is doubtless praiseworthy: but what is the +moral difference between entering a town as a spy +and the military service of winning it by surprise? +What, for instance, shall we think of the Spanish +officers and soldiers who, dressed as peasants and +with baskets of nuts and apples on their arms, gained +possession of Amiens in 1597 by spilling the contents +of their baskets and then slaying the sentinels as they<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span> +scrambled to pick them up?<a name="FNanchor_197" id="FNanchor_197"></a><a href="#Footnote_197" class="fnanchor">[197]</a> What of the officers +who, in the disguise of peasants and women, and +concealing daggers and pistols, got possession of Ulm +for the Elector of Bavaria? What of the French +who, in Dutch costume, and by supplications in Dutch +to be granted a refuge from a pursuing enemy, surprised +a fort in Holland in 1672?<a name="FNanchor_198" id="FNanchor_198"></a><a href="#Footnote_198" class="fnanchor">[198]</a> What of Prince +Eugene, who took the fortress of Breysach by sending +in a large force concealed in hay-carts under the conduct +of two hundred officers disguised as peasants?<a name="FNanchor_199" id="FNanchor_199"></a><a href="#Footnote_199" class="fnanchor">[199]</a> +What of the Chevalier Bayard, that favourite of legendary +chivalry, who, having learnt from a spy the whereabouts +of a detachment of Venetian infantry, went by +night to the village where they slept, and with his +men slew all but three out of some three hundred +men as they ran out of their houses?<a name="FNanchor_200" id="FNanchor_200"></a><a href="#Footnote_200" class="fnanchor">[200]</a> What of +Callicratidas the Cyrenæan, who begged the commander +of a fort to receive four sick soldiers, and +sent them in on their beds with an escort of sixteen +soldiers, so that they easily overpowered the guards +and won the place for their general?<a name="FNanchor_201" id="FNanchor_201"></a><a href="#Footnote_201" class="fnanchor">[201]</a> What of +Phalaris, who, having petitioned for the hand of a +commandant’s daughter, overcame the garrison by +sending in soldiers dressed as women servants, and +purporting to bear presents to his betrothed?<a name="FNanchor_202" id="FNanchor_202"></a><a href="#Footnote_202" class="fnanchor">[202]</a> What +of Feuquières, who, whilst pretending to lead a German +force and praying for shelter from a snowstorm, affixed +his pétards to the gates of Neuborg, and, having taken<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span> +the town, put the whole of the garrison of 650 men +to the sword?<a name="FNanchor_203" id="FNanchor_203"></a><a href="#Footnote_203" class="fnanchor">[203]</a></p> + +<p>In what respect do such actions which are the +everyday stratagems of a campaign, and count as +perfectly fair, differ from the false pretences which constitute +the iniquity of the spy? In this respect only—that +whilst he bears his danger alone, in the case of +a surprise the danger is distributed among numbers.</p> + +<p>And, in point of fact, there was a time when the +service of a surprise and that of espionage were so far +regarded as the same that by the laws of war death +was not only the allotted portion of the captured spy +but of all who were caught in an endeavour to take a +place by surprise. The rule, according to Vattel, was +not changed, nor the soldiers who were captured in a +surprise regarded or treated as prisoners of war, till +the year 1597, when, Prince Maurice having failed in +an attempt to take Venloo by surprise, and having +lost some of his men, who were put to death for that +offence, the new rule that has since prevailed was +agreed upon by both sides for the sake of their future +mutual immunity from that peril.</p> + +<p>The usual rule laid down to distinguish a bad +from a good stratagem is that in the latter there is +no violation of an expressly or tacitly pledged faith. +The violation of a conference, a truce, or a treaty has +always therefore been reprobated, however commonly +practised. But certain occurrences of history suggest +the feasibility of corresponding stratagems which +cannot be judged by so simple a formula and which +therefore are of still uncertain right.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span></p> + +<p>The first stratagem of this kind that suggests +itself is that of forgery. Hannibal, having defeated +and slain the Roman general Marcellus, and thereby +become possessed of his seal, the Romans found it +necessary to despatch messages to all their garrison +towns that no more attention should be paid to orders +purporting to come from Marcellus. The precedent +suggests the use of forged despatches as a weapon of +war. To obtain in time of peace, for use in time of +war, the signatures of men likely to be hostile commanders, +would obviously be of immense military +service for purposes either of defence or aggression. +The stratagem would be dishonourable in the highest +degree; but, unfortunately, the standard of measurement +in such cases is rather their effectiveness than +their abstract morality.</p> + +<p>The second stratagem of the sort is the stratagem +of false intelligence. To what extent is it lawful to +deceive an enemy by downright falsehood? The +Chevalier Bayard, ‘without fear or reproach,’ when +besieged by the Imperialists in Mézières, contrived +to make the enemy raise the siege by sending a +messenger with letters containing false information +destined to fall into the hands of the enemy. The +invention of the telegraph has increased the means of +deceiving the enemy by false intelligence, and was +freely so used in the Civil War of the United States. +It is said to be better to secure the services of a few +telegraph operators in a hostile country than to have +dozens of ordinary spies; and for this reason, according +to the eminent author of the ‘Soldier’s Pocket-Book’: +‘Before or during an action an enemy may<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span> +be deceived to any extent by means of such men; +messages can be sent ordering him to concentrate +upon wrong points, or, by giving him false information, +you may induce him to move as you wish.’</p> + +<p>Another stratagem is suggested by the conduct of +the Prince of Orange, who, having detected in one of +his own secretaries a spy in the service of the Prince +of Luxembourg, forced him to write a letter to the +latter containing such information as enabled himself +to effect a march he wished to conceal. Might +not, then, prisoners of war be used for the same +compulsory service? For a spy just as much as a +soldier is a recognised and accredited military agent, +and, if the former may be made the channel of falsehood, +why not the prisoner of war? The Romans +made use of the latter to acquire information about +their enemy’s plans, if in no other way, by torture or +the threat of it; the Germans forced some of their +French prisoners to perform certain military services +connected with carrying on their campaign—would +it be therefore unfair to make use of them as the +Prince of Orange made use of his secretary?</p> + +<p>To such questions there is no answer from the +international law writers. Still less is there any authoritative +military doctrine concerning them, and, +if the stratagems in debate are excluded from ‘good’ +war by the military honour of to-day, the above study +of warlike artifices has been made to little purpose if +it has not taught us how changeable and capricious +that standard is, and of what marvellous adjustment +it is capable.</p> + +<p>It were a treat at which the gods themselves might<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span> +smile to see and hear a moral philosopher and a +military officer brought into conference together concerning +the stratagems permissible in war. Let the +reader imagine them trying to distribute in just and +equal parts the due share of blame attaching severally +to the following agents—to the man who betrays his +country or his cause for gold, and the general who +tempts him to his crime or accepts it gladly; to the +man who serves as a spy, to the general who on the +one side sends or employs him as a spy, and to the +general who on the other side hangs him as a spy; to +the man who discovers the strength of a town in the +disguise of a butcher, and to his fellow-soldiers who +enter it disguised as peasants or under the plea of +shelter from sickness or a snowstorm; to the man +who gains an advantage by propagating false intelligence, +and the man who does so by the use of forged +despatches; the man who, like Scipio, plays at negotiations +for peace in order the better to spy out and +avail himself of an enemy’s weakness, and the man +who makes offers of treason to an enemy in order the +more easily to take him at a disadvantage—and the +conclusion will be not unlikely to occur to him, when +he shudders at the possible length and futility of that +imaginary disputation, that, whatever havoc is caused +by a state of war to life, to property, to wealth, to +family affections, to domestic honour, it is a havoc +absolutely incomparable to that which it produces +among the received moral principles of mankind. +The military code regarding the fair and legitimate +use of fraud and deception has nothing whatever in +common with the ordinary moral code of civil life, the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span> +principles openly professed in it being so totally foreign +to our simplest rules of upright and worthy conduct +that in any other than the fighting classes of our +civilised societies they would not be advocated for +very shame, nor listened to for a moment without +resentment.</p> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI.</a><br /> +<span class="smaller">BARBARIAN WARFARE.</span></h2> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>Non avaritia, non crudelitas modum novit.... Quæ clam commissa +capite luerentur, quia paludati fecere laudamus.</i>—<span class="smcap">Seneca.</span></p></blockquote> + +<p class="summary">Variable notions of honour—Primitive ideas of a military life—What +is civilised warfare—Advanced laws of war among several savage +tribes—Symbols of peace among savages—The Samoan form of +surrender—Treaties of peace among savages—Abeyance of laws of +war in hostilities with savages—Zulus blown up in caves with gun-cotton—Women +and men kidnapped for transport service on the +Gold Coast—Humane intentions of the Spaniards in the New World +contrasted with the inhumanity of their actions—Wars with natives +of English and French in America—High rewards offered for scalps—The +use of bloodhounds in war—The use of poison and infected +clothes—Penn’s treaty with the Indians—How Missionaries come +to be a cause of war—Explanation of the failure of modern Missions—The +Mission Stations as centres of hostile intrigue—Plea for the +State-regulation of Missions—Depopulation under Protestant influences—The +prevention of false rumours, <i>Tendenzlügen</i>—Civilised +and barbarian warfare—No real distinction between them.</p> + +<p>A missionary, seeing once a negro furrowing his +face with scars, asked him why he put himself to such +needless pain, and the reply was: ‘For honour, and +that people on seeing me may say, There goes a man +of heart.’</p> + +<p>Ridiculous as this negro’s idea of honour must +appear to us, it bears a sufficient resemblance to other +notions of the same kind that have passed current in +the world at different times to satisfy us of the extreme<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span> +variability of the sentiment in question. Cæsar built +with difficulty a bridge across the Rhine, chiefly +because he held it beneath his own dignity, or the +Roman people’s, for his army to cross it in boats. The +Celts of old thought it as ignominious to fly from an +inundation, or from a burning or falling house, as to +retreat from an enemy. The Spartans considered it +inglorious to pursue a flying foe, or to be killed in +storming a besieged city. The same Gauls who +gloried in broadsword-wounds would almost go mad +with shame if wounded by an arrow or other missile +that only left an imperceptible mark. The use of +letters was once thought dishonourable by all the +European nations. Marshal Montluc, in the sixteenth +century, considered it a sign of abnormal overbookishness +for a man to prefer to spend a night in his study +than to spend it in the trenches, though, now, a contrary +taste would be thought by most men the mark +of a fool.</p> + +<p>Such are some of the curious ideas of honour that +have prevailed at different times. Wherein we seem +to recognise not merely change but advance; one +chief difference between the savage and civilised state +lying in the different estimates entertained in either +of martial prowess and of military honour. We laugh +nowadays at the ancient Britons who believed that the +souls of all who had followed any other pursuit than +that of arms, after a despised life and an unlamented +death, hovered perforce over fens and marshes, unfit +to mingle with those of warriors in the higher and +brighter regions; or at the horsemen who used before +death to wound themselves with their spears, in order<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span> +to obtain that admission to Walhalla which was denied +to all who failed to die upon a battle-field; or at the +Spaniards, who, when Cato disarmed them, preferred +a voluntary death to a life destined to be spent without +arms.<a name="FNanchor_204" id="FNanchor_204"></a><a href="#Footnote_204" class="fnanchor">[204]</a> No civilised warrior would pride himself, as +Fijian warriors did, on being generally known as the +‘Waster’ or ‘Devastator’ of such-and-such a district; +the most he would look for would be a title and perhaps +a perpetual pension for his descendants. We +have nothing like the custom of the North American +tribes, among whom different marks on a warrior’s +robe told at a glance whether his fame rested on the +slaughter of a man or a woman, or only on that of a +boy or a girl. We are inferior in this respect to the +Dacota tribes, among whom an eagle’s feather with a +red spot on it denoted simply the slaughter of an +enemy, the same feather with a notch and the sides +painted red, that the said enemy had had his throat +cut, whilst according as the notches were on one side +or on both, or the feather partly denuded, anyone +could tell after how many others the hero had succeeded +in touching the dead body of a fallen foe. The stride +is clearly a great one from Pyrrhus, the Epirot king, +who, when asked which of two musicians he thought +the better, only deigned to reply that Polysperchon +was the general, to Napoleon, the French emperor, +who conferred the cross of the Legion of Honour on +Crescentini the singer.</p> + +<p>And as the pursuit of arms comes with advancing +civilisation to occupy a lower level as compared with +the arts of peace, so the belief is the mark of a more<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span> +polished people that the rapacity and cruelty which +belong to the war customs of a more backward nation, +or of an earlier time, are absent from their own. They +invent the expression <i>civilised warfare</i> to emphasise a +distinction they would fain think inherent in the nature +of things; and look, by its help, even on the mode of +killing an enemy, with a moral vision that is absurdly +distorted. How few of us, for example, but see the +utmost barbarity in sticking a man with an assegai, +yet none whatever in doing so with a bayonet? And +why should we pride ourselves on not mutilating the +dead, while we have no scruples as to the extent to +which we mutilate the living? We are shocked at +the mention of barbarian tribes who poison their +arrows, or barb their darts, yet ourselves think nothing +of the frightful gangrenes caused by the copper cap in +the Minié rifle-ball, and reject, on the score of the +expense of the change, the proposal that bullets of +soft lead, which cause needless pain, should no longer +be used among the civilised Powers for small-arm +ammunition.<a name="FNanchor_205" id="FNanchor_205"></a><a href="#Footnote_205" class="fnanchor">[205]</a></p> + +<p>But whilst the difference in these respects between +barbarism and civilisation is thus one that rather +touches the surface than the substance of war, the result +is inevitably in either state a different code of +military etiquette and sentiment, though the difference +is far less than in any other points of comparison +between them. When the nations of Christendom therefore +came in contact with unknown and savage races, +whose customs seemed different from their own and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span> +little worthy of attention, they assumed that the latter +recognised no laws of war, much as some of the +earlier travellers denied the possession or faculty of +speech to people whose language they could not +interpret. From which assumption the practical inference +followed, that the restraints which were held +sacred between enemies who inherited the same traditions +of military honour had no need to be observed +in hostilities with the heathen world. It is worth +while, therefore, to show how baseless was the primary +assumption, and how laws of war, in no way dissimilar +to those of Europe, may be detected in the military +usages of barbarism.</p> + +<p>To spare the weak and helpless was and is a common +rule in the warfare of the less civilised races. +The Guanches of the Canary Islands, says an old +Spanish writer, ‘held it as base and mean to molest or +injure the women and children of the enemy, considering +them as weak and helpless, therefore improper +objects of their resentment; neither did they throw +down or damage houses of worship.’<a name="FNanchor_206" id="FNanchor_206"></a><a href="#Footnote_206" class="fnanchor">[206]</a> The Samoans +considered it cowardly to kill a woman:<a name="FNanchor_207" id="FNanchor_207"></a><a href="#Footnote_207" class="fnanchor">[207]</a> and in +America the Sioux Indians and Winnebagoes, though +barbarous enough in other respects, are said to have +shown the conventional respect to the weaker sex.<a name="FNanchor_208" id="FNanchor_208"></a><a href="#Footnote_208" class="fnanchor">[208]</a> +The Basutos of South Africa, whatever may be their +customs now, are declared by Casalis, one of the +first French Protestant missionaries to their country, +to have respected in their wars the persons of women,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span> +children, and travellers, and to have spared all prisoners +who surrendered, granting them their liberty on the +payment of ransom.<a name="FNanchor_209" id="FNanchor_209"></a><a href="#Footnote_209" class="fnanchor">[209]</a></p> + +<p>Few savage races were of a wilder type than the +Abipones of South America; yet Dobritzhoffer, the +Jesuit missionary, assures us not only that they thought +it unworthy of them to mangle the bodies of dead +Spaniards, as other savages did, but that they generally +spared the unwarlike, and carried away boys and +girls uninjured. The Spaniards, Indians, negroes, or +mulattoes whom they took in war they did not +treat like captives, but with kindness and indulgence +like children. Dobritzhoffer never saw a prisoner +punished by so much as a word or a blow, but he +bears testimony to the compassion and confidence +often displayed to captives by their conquerors. It +is common to read of the cruelty of the Red Indians +to their captives; but Loskiel, another missionary, +declares that prisoners were often adopted by the +victors to supply the place of the slain, and that even +Europeans, when it came to an exchange of prisoners, +sometimes refused to return to their own countrymen. +In Virginia notice was sent before war to the enemy, +that in the event of their defeat, the lives of all should +be spared who should submit within two days’ time.</p> + +<p>Loskiel gives some other rather curious testimony +about the Red Indians. ‘When war was in contemplation +they used to admonish each other to hearken +to the good and not to the evil spirits, the former +always recommending peace. They seem,’ he adds +with surprise, ‘to have had no idea of the devil as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span> +the prince of darkness before the Europeans came +into the country.’ The symbol of peace was the +burial of the hatchet or war-club in the ground; and +when the tribes renewed their covenants of peace, +they exchanged certain belts of friendship which were +singularly expressive. The principal belt was white, +with black streaks down each side and a black spot +at each end: the black spots represented the two +people, and the white streak between them signified, +that the road between them was now clear of all trees, +brambles, and stones, and that every hindrance was +therefore removed from the way of perfect harmony.</p> + +<p>The Athenians used the same language of symbolism +when they declared war by letting a lamb +loose into the enemy’s country: this being equivalent +to saying, that a district full of the habitations of men +should shortly be turned into a pasture for sheep.<a name="FNanchor_210" id="FNanchor_210"></a><a href="#Footnote_210" class="fnanchor">[210]</a></p> + +<p>The Fijians used to spare their enemy’s fruit trees; +the Tongan islanders held it as sacrilege to fight +within the precincts of the burial place of a chief, +where the greatest enemies were obliged to meet as +friends.</p> + +<p>Most of the lower races recognise the inviolability +of ambassadors and heralds, and have well-established +emblems of a truce or armistice. The wish for peace +which the Zulu king in vain sought from his English +invaders by the symbol of an elephant’s tusk (1879), +was conveyed in the Fiji Islands by a whale’s tooth, +in the Sandwich by a young plantain tree or green +branch of the ti plant, and among most North +American tribes by a white flag of skin or bark.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span> +The Samoan symbol for an act of submission in +deprecation of further hostilities conveys some indication +of the possible origin of these pacific symbols. +The conquered Samoan would carry to his victor +some bamboo sticks, some firewood, and some small +stones; for as a piece of split bamboo was the original +Samoan knife, and small stones and firewood +were used for the purpose of roasting pigs, this symbol +of submission was equivalent to saying: ‘Here +we are, your pigs, to be cooked if you please, and +here are the materials wherewith to do it.’<a name="FNanchor_211" id="FNanchor_211"></a><a href="#Footnote_211" class="fnanchor">[211]</a> In the +same way the elephant’s tusk or the whale’s tooth +may be a short way of saying to the victor: ‘Yours +is the strength of the elephant or the whale; we recognise +the uselessness of fighting with you.’</p> + +<p>In the same way many savage tribes take the +greatest pains to impress the terms of treaties as +vividly as possible on the memory of the contracting +parties by striking and intelligible ceremonies. In +the Sandwich Islands a wreath woven conjointly by +the leaders of either side and placed in a temple was +the chief symbol of peace. On the Fiji Islands, the +combatant forces would meet and throw down their +weapons at one another’s feet. The Tahitians wove +a wreath of green boughs, furnished by each side; +exchanged two young dogs; and having also made +a band of cloth together, deposited the wreath and +the band in the temple, with imprecations on the side +which should first violate so solemn a treaty of peace.<a name="FNanchor_212" id="FNanchor_212"></a><a href="#Footnote_212" class="fnanchor">[212]</a> +On the Hervey Islands, the token of the cessation of +war was the breaking of a number of spears against<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span> +a large chestnut tree; the almost imperishable coral +tree was planted in the valleys to signify the hope +that the peace might last as long as the tree; and +after the drum of peace had been solemnly beaten +round the island, it was unlawful for any man to carry +a weapon, or to cut down any iron-wood, which he +might turn into an implement of destruction.</p> + +<p>Even our custom of proclaiming that a war is not +undertaken against a people but against its rulers is +not unknown in savage life. The Ashantee army +used to strew leaves on their march, to signify that +their hostility was not with the country they passed +through but only with the instigators of the war; +they told the Fantees that they had no war with them +collectively, but only with some of them.<a name="FNanchor_213" id="FNanchor_213"></a><a href="#Footnote_213" class="fnanchor">[213]</a> How +common a military custom this appeal to the treason +of an enemy is, notwithstanding the rarity of its +success, everybody knows. When, for instance, the +Anglo-Zulu war began, it was solemnly proclaimed +that the British Government had no quarrel with the +Zulu people; it was a war against the Zulu king, not +against the Zulu nation. (Jan. 11, 1879.) So were +the Ashantees told by the English invading force; so +were the Afghans; so were the Egyptians; and so +were the French by the Emperor William before his +merciless hordes laid waste and desolate some of the +fairest provinces of France; so, no doubt, will be +told the Soudan Arabs. And yet this appeal to +treason, this premium on a people’s disloyalty, is the +regular precursor of wars, wherein destruction for its +own sake, the burning of grain and villages for the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span> +mere pleasure of the flames, forms almost invariably +the most prominent feature. The military view +always prevails over the civil, of the meaning of hostilities +that have no reference to a population but +only to its government. In the Zulu war, for instance, +in spite of the above proclamation, the lieutenant-general +ordered raids to be made into Zululand +for the express purpose of burning empty kraals or +villages; defending such procedure by the usual +military logic, that the more the natives at large felt +the strain of the war, the more anxious they would be +to see it concluded; and it was quite in vain for the +Lieutenant-Governor of Natal to argue that the burning +of empty kraals would neither do much harm to +the Zulus nor good to the English; and that whereas +the war had been begun on the ground that it was +waged against the Zulu king and not against his +nation, such conduct was calculated to alienate from +the invaders the whole of the Zulu people, including +those who were well disposed to them. Such arguments +hardly ever prevail over that passion for +wanton destruction and for often quite unnecessary +slaughter, which finds a ready and comprehensive +shelter under the wing of military exigencies.</p> + +<p>The assumption, therefore, that savage races are +ignorant of all laws of war, or incapable of learning +them, would seem to be based rather on our indifference +about their customs than on the realities of the +case, seeing that the preceding evidence to the contrary +results from the most cursory inquiry. But +whatever value there may be in our own laws of war, +as helping to constitute a real difference between<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span> +savage and civilised warfare, the best way to spread +the blessing of a knowledge of them would clearly be +for the more civilised races to adhere to them strictly +in all wars waged with their less advanced neighbours. +An English commander, for instance, should no more +set fire to the capital of Ashantee or Zululand for so +paltry a pretext as the display of British power than +he would set fire to Paris or Berlin; he should no +more have villages or granaries burnt in Africa or +Afghanistan than he would in Normandy; and he +should no more keep a Zulu envoy or truce-bearer in +chains<a name="FNanchor_214" id="FNanchor_214"></a><a href="#Footnote_214" class="fnanchor">[214]</a> than he would so deal with the bearer of a +white flag from a Russian or Italian enemy.</p> + +<p>The reverse principle, which is yet in vogue, that +with barbarians you must or may be barbarous, leads +to some curious illustrations of civilised warfare when +it comes in conflict with the less civilised races. In +one of the Franco-Italian wars of the sixteenth century, +more than 2,000 women and children took refuge +in a large mountain cavern, and were there suffocated +by a party of French soldiers, who set fire to a +quantity of wood, straw, and hay, which they stacked +at the mouth of the cave; but it was considered so +shameful an act, that the Chevalier Bayard had two +of the ringleaders hung at the cavern’s mouth.<a name="FNanchor_215" id="FNanchor_215"></a><a href="#Footnote_215" class="fnanchor">[215]</a> Yet +when the French General Pélissier in this century +suffocated the unresisting Algerians in their caves, it +was even defended as no worse than the shelling of a +fortress; and there is evidence that gun-cotton was +not unfrequently used to blast the entrance to caves<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span> +in Zululand in which men, women, and children had +hoped to find shelter against an army which professed +only to be warring with their king.<a name="FNanchor_216" id="FNanchor_216"></a><a href="#Footnote_216" class="fnanchor">[216]</a></p> + +<p>The following description of the way in which, in +the Ashantee war, the English forces obtained native +carriers for their transport service is not without its +instruction in this respect:—</p> + +<p>‘We took to kidnapping upon a grand scale. +Raids were made on all the Assin villages within +reach of the line of march, and the men, and sometimes +the women, carried off and sent up the country under +guard, with cases of provisions. Lieutenant Bolton, +of the 1st West India Regiment, rendered immense +service in this way. Having been for some time +commandant of Accra, he knew the coast and many +of the chiefs; and having a man-of-war placed at his +disposal, he went up and down the coast, landing +continually, having interviews with chiefs, and obtaining +from them large numbers of men and women; or +when this failed, landing at night with a party of +soldiers, surrounding villages, and sweeping off the +adult population, leaving only a few women to look +after the children. In this way, in the course of a +month, he obtained several thousands of carriers.’<a name="FNanchor_217" id="FNanchor_217"></a><a href="#Footnote_217" class="fnanchor">[217]</a></p> + +<p>And then a certain school of writers talks of the +love and respect for the British Empire which these +exhibitions of our might are calculated to win from the +inferior races! The Ashantees are disgraced by the +practice of human sacrifices, and the Zulus have many<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span> +a barbarous usage; but no amount of righteous indignation +on that account justifies such dealings with them as +those above described. If it does, we can no longer condemn +the proceedings of the Spaniards in the New +World. For we have to remember that it was not only +the Christianity of the Inquisition, or Spanish commerce +that they wished to spread; not mere gold nor +new lands that they coveted, but that they also strove +for such humanitarian objects as the abolition of barbarous +customs like the Mexican human sacrifices. ‘The +Spaniards that saw these cruel sacrifices,’ wrote a +contemporary, the Jesuit Acosta, ‘resolved with all +their power to abolish so detestable and cursed a +butchery of men.’ The Spaniards of the sixteenth +century were in intention or expression every whit as +humane as we English of the nineteenth. Yet their +actions have been a reproach to their name ever since. +Cortes subjected Guatamozin, king of Mexico, to +torture. Pizarro had the Inca of Peru strangled at +the stake. Alvarado invited a number of Mexicans to +a festival, and made it an opportunity to massacre +them. Sandoval had 60 caziques and 400 nobles +burnt at one time, and compelled their relations and +children to witness their punishment. The Pope +Paul had very soon (1537) to issue a bull, to the effect +that the Indians were really men and not brutes, as +the Spaniards soon affected to regard them.</p> + +<p>The whole question was, moreover, argued out at +that time between Las Casas and Sepulveda, historiographer +to the Emperor Charles V. Sepulveda contended +that more could be effected against barbarism +by a month of war than by 100 years of preaching;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span> +and in his famous dispute with Las Casas at Valladolid +in 1550, defended the justice of all wars undertaken +against the natives of the New World, either on +the ground of the latter’s sin and wickedness, or on +the plea of protecting them from the cruelties of their +own fellow-countrymen; the latter plea being one +to which in recent English wars a prominent place +has been always given. Las Casas replied—and his +reply is unanswerable—that even human sacrifices +are a smaller evil than indiscriminate warfare. He +might have added that military contact between +people unequally civilised does more to barbarise the +civilised than to civilise the barbarous population. It +is well worthy of notice and reflection that the European +battle-fields became distinctly more barbarous +after habits of greater ferocity had been acquired in +wars beyond the Atlantic, in which the customary +restraints were forgotten, and the ties of a common +human nature dissolved by the differences of religion +and race.</p> + +<p>The same effect resulted in Roman history, when +the extended dominion of the Republic brought its +armies into contact with foes beyond the sea. The +Roman annalists bear witness to the deterioration that +ensued both in their modes of waging war and in the +national character.<a name="FNanchor_218" id="FNanchor_218"></a><a href="#Footnote_218" class="fnanchor">[218]</a> It is in an Asiatic war that we first +hear of a Roman general poisoning the springs;<a name="FNanchor_219" id="FNanchor_219"></a><a href="#Footnote_219" class="fnanchor">[219]</a> in a +war for the possession of Crete that the Cretan captives +preferred to poison themselves rather than suffer +the cruelties inflicted on them by Metellus;<a name="FNanchor_220" id="FNanchor_220"></a><a href="#Footnote_220" class="fnanchor">[220]</a> in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span> +Thracian war that the Romans cut off their prisoners’ +hands, as Cæsar afterwards did those of the Gauls.<a name="FNanchor_221" id="FNanchor_221"></a><a href="#Footnote_221" class="fnanchor">[221]</a> +And we should remember that a practical English +statesman like Cobden foresaw, as a possible evil +result of the closer relations between England and the +East, a similar deterioration in the national character +of his countrymen. ‘With another war or two,’ he +wrote, ‘in India and China, the English people would +have an appetite for bull-fights if not for gladiators.’<a name="FNanchor_222" id="FNanchor_222"></a><a href="#Footnote_222" class="fnanchor">[222]</a></p> + +<p>Nor is there often any compensation for such +results in the improved condition of the tribes whom +it is sought to civilise after the method recommended +by Sepulveda. The happiest fate of the populations +he wished to see civilised by the sword was where they +anticipated their extermination or slavery by a sort of +voluntary suicide. In Cuba, we are told that ‘they +put themselves to death, whole families doing so +together, and villages inviting other villages to join +them in a departure from a world that was no longer +tolerable.’<a name="FNanchor_223" id="FNanchor_223"></a><a href="#Footnote_223" class="fnanchor">[223]</a> And so it was in the other hemisphere; +the Ladrone islanders, reduced by the sword and the +diseases of the Spaniards, took measures intentionally +to diminish their numbers and to check population, +preferring voluntary extinction to the foul mercies of +the Jesuits: till now a lepers’ hospital is the only +building left on what was once one of the most +populous of their islands.</p> + +<p>It must, however, be admitted in justice to the +Spaniards, that the principles which governed their +dealings with heathen races infected more or less the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span> +conduct of colonists of all nationalities. A real or +more often a pretended zeal for the welfare of native +tribes came among all Christian nations to co-exist +with the doctrine, that in case of conflict with them +the common restraints of war might be put in abeyance. +What, for instance, can be worse than this, told +of the early English settlers in America by one of +themselves? ‘The Plymouth men came in the mean +time to Weymouth, and there pretended to feast the +savages of those parts, bringing with them forks and +things for the purpose, which they set before the +savages. They ate thereof without any suspicion of +any mischief, who were taken upon a watchword +given, and with their own knives hanging about their +necks were by the Plymouth planters stabbed and +slain.’<a name="FNanchor_224" id="FNanchor_224"></a><a href="#Footnote_224" class="fnanchor">[224]</a></p> + +<p>Among the early English settlers it soon came to +be thought, says Mather, a religious act to kill an +Indian. In the latter half of the seventeenth century +both the French and English authorities adopted the +custom of scalping and of offering rewards for the +scalps of their Indian enemies. In 1690 the most +healthy and vigorous Indians taken by the French +‘were sold in Canada, the weaker were sacrificed and +scalped, and for every scalp they had a premium.’<a name="FNanchor_225" id="FNanchor_225"></a><a href="#Footnote_225" class="fnanchor">[225]</a> +Caleb Lyman, who afterwards became an elder of a +church at Boston, left an account of the way in which +he himself and five Indians surprised a wigwam, and +scalped six of the seven persons inside, so that each +might receive the promised reward. On their petition<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span> +to the great and general court they received 30<i>l.</i> +each, and Penhallow says not only that they probably +expected eight times as much, but that at the time of +writing the province would have readily paid a sum +of 800<i>l.</i> for a similar service.<a name="FNanchor_226" id="FNanchor_226"></a><a href="#Footnote_226" class="fnanchor">[226]</a> Captain Lovewell, says +the same contemporary eulogist of the war that lasted +from July 1722 to December 1725, ‘from Dunstable +with thirty volunteers went northward, who marching +several miles up country came on a wigwam where +were two Indians, one of whom they killed and the +other took, for which they received the promised +bounty of 100<i>l.</i> a scalp, and two shillings and sixpence +a day besides.’ (December 19, 1724.)<a name="FNanchor_227" id="FNanchor_227"></a><a href="#Footnote_227" class="fnanchor">[227]</a> At the surprise +of Norridjwock ‘the number of dead which +we scalped were 26, besides Mr. Rasle the Jesuit, who +was a bloody incendiary.’<a name="FNanchor_228" id="FNanchor_228"></a><a href="#Footnote_228" class="fnanchor">[228]</a> It is evident that these +very liberal rewards must have operated as a frequent +cause of Indian wars, and made the colonists open-eared +to tales of native outrages; indeed the whites +sometimes disguised themselves like Indians, and +robbed like Indians, in order, it would appear, the +more effectually to raise the war-cry against them.<a name="FNanchor_229" id="FNanchor_229"></a><a href="#Footnote_229" class="fnanchor">[229]</a></p> + +<p>Since the Spaniards first trained bloodhounds +in Cuba to hunt the Indians, the alliance between +soldiers and dogs has been a favourite one in barbarian +warfare. The Portuguese used them in Brazil<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span> +when they hunted the natives for slaves.<a name="FNanchor_230" id="FNanchor_230"></a><a href="#Footnote_230" class="fnanchor">[230]</a> And +an English officer in a treatise he wrote in the last +century as a sort of military guide to Indian warfare +suggested coolly: ‘Every light horseman ought to be +provided with a bloodhound, which would be useful +to find out the enemy’s ambushes and to follow their +tracks. They would seize the naked savages, and +at least give time to the horsemen to come up with +them.’<a name="FNanchor_231" id="FNanchor_231"></a><a href="#Footnote_231" class="fnanchor">[231]</a> In the Molucca Islands the use of two bloodhounds +against a native chief was the cause of a great +confederacy between all the islands to shake off the +Spanish and Portuguese yoke.<a name="FNanchor_232" id="FNanchor_232"></a><a href="#Footnote_232" class="fnanchor">[232]</a> And even in the war +waged by the United States in Florida from 1838 to +1840, General Taylor was authorised to send to Cuba +for bloodhounds to scent out the Indians; nor, according +to one account, was their aid resorted to in vain.<a name="FNanchor_233" id="FNanchor_233"></a><a href="#Footnote_233" class="fnanchor">[233]</a></p> + +<p>Poison too has been called in aid. Speaking of +the Yuta Indians, a traveller assures us that ‘as in +Australia, arsenic and corrosive sublimate in springs +and provisions have diminished their number.’<a name="FNanchor_234" id="FNanchor_234"></a><a href="#Footnote_234" class="fnanchor">[234]</a> And +in the same way ‘poisoned rum helped to exterminate +the Tasmanians.’<a name="FNanchor_235" id="FNanchor_235"></a><a href="#Footnote_235" class="fnanchor">[235]</a></p> + +<p>But there is worse yet in this direction. The +Portuguese in Brazil, when the importation of slaves +from Africa rendered the capture of the natives less<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span> +desirable than their extermination, left the clothes of +persons who had died of small-pox or scarlet fever to +be found by them in the woods.<a name="FNanchor_236" id="FNanchor_236"></a><a href="#Footnote_236" class="fnanchor">[236]</a> And the caravan +traders from the Missouri to Santa Fé are said by the +same method or in presents of tobacco to have communicated +the small-pox to the Indian tribes of that +district in 1831.<a name="FNanchor_237" id="FNanchor_237"></a><a href="#Footnote_237" class="fnanchor">[237]</a> The enormous depopulation of +most tribes by the small-pox since their acquaintance +with the whites is one of the most remarkable results +in the history of their mutual connection; nor is it +likely ever to be known to what extent the coincidence +was accidental.</p> + +<p>It is pleasant to turn from these practical illustrations +of the theory that no laws of war need be regarded +in hostilities with savage tribes to the only recorded +trial of a contrary system, and to find, not only that it +is associated with one of the greatest names in English +history, but also that the success it met with fully +justifies the suspicion and disfavour with which the +commoner usage is beginning to be regarded. The +Indians with whom Penn made his famous treaty in +1682 (of which Voltaire said that it was the only treaty +that was never ratified by an oath, and the only treaty +that was never broken), were of the same Algonquin +race with whom the Dutch had scarcely ever kept at +peace, and against whom they had warred in the +customary ruthless fashion of those times. The +treaty was based on the principle of an adjustment +of differences by a tribunal of an equal number of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span> +Red men and of White. ‘Penn,’ says the historian, +‘came without arms; he declared his purpose to +abstain from violence, he had no message but peace, +and not one drop of Quaker blood was ever shed by +an Indian’<a name="FNanchor_238" id="FNanchor_238"></a><a href="#Footnote_238" class="fnanchor">[238]</a> For more than seventy years, from 1682 +to 1754, when the French war broke out, in short, +during the whole time that the Quakers had the principal +share in the government of Pennsylvania, the +history of the Indians and Whites in that province +was free from the tale of murders and hostilities that +was so common in other districts; so that the single +instance in which the experiment of equal laws and +forbearance has been patiently persevered in, can at +least boast of a success that in support of the contrary +system it were very difficult to find for an equal +number of years in any other part of the world.</p> + +<p>It may also be said against Sepulveda’s doctrine, +that the habits of a higher civilisation, where they are +really worth spreading, spread more easily and with +more permanent effect among barbarous neighbours +by the mere contagion of a better example than by +the teaching of fire and sword. Some of the Dyak +tribes in Borneo are said to have given up human +sacrifices from the better influences of the Malays +on the coast district.<a name="FNanchor_239" id="FNanchor_239"></a><a href="#Footnote_239" class="fnanchor">[239]</a> The Peruvians, according to +Prescott, spread their civilisation among their ruder +neighbours more by example than by force. ‘Far +from provoking hostilities, they allowed time for the +salutary example of their own institutions to work<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span> +its effect, trusting that their less civilised neighbours +would submit to their sceptre from a conviction of +the blessings it would secure to them.’ They exhorted +them to lay aside their cannibalism, their human +sacrifices, and their other barbarities; they employed +negotiation, conciliatory treatment, and presents to +leading men among the tribes; and only if all these +means failed did they resort to war, but to war which +at every stage was readily open to propositions of +peace, and in which any unnecessary outrage on the +persons or property of their enemy was punished with +death.</p> + +<p>Something will have been done for the cause of +this better method of civilising the lower races, if we +forewarn and forearm ourselves against the symptoms +of hostilities with them by a thorough understanding +of the conditions which render such hostilities probable. +For as an outbreak of fever is to some extent +preventable by a knowledge of the conditions which +make for fevers, so may the outbreak of war be +averted by a knowledge of the laws which govern +their appearance. The experience which we owe to +history in this respect is amply sufficient to enable us +to generalise with some degree of confidence and +certainty as to the causes or steps which produce +wars or precede them; and from the remembrance of +our dealings with the savage races of South Africa +we may forecast with some misgivings the probable +course of our connection with a country like New +Guinea.</p> + +<p>A colony of Europeans in proximity with barbarian +neighbours naturally desires before long an<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span> +increase of territory at the expense of the latter. +The first sign of such a desire is the expedition of +missionaries into the country, who not only serve to +spy it out for the benefit of the colony, but invariably +weaken the native political force by the creation of a +division of feeling, and of an opposition between the +love of old traditions and the temptation of novel +customs and ideas. The innovating party, being at +first the smaller, consisting of the feeblest and poorest +members of the community, and of those who gladly +flock to the mission-stations for refuge from their +offences against tribal law, the missionaries soon perceive +the impossibility of further success without the +help of some external aid. The help of a friendly +force can alone turn the balance of influence in their +favour, and they soon learn to contemplate with complacency +the advantages of a military conquest of the +natives by the colony or mother-country. The evils +of war are cancelled, in their eyes, by the delusive +visions of ultimate benefit, and, in accordance with a +not uncommon perversion of the moral sense, an end +that is assumed to be religious is made to justify +measures that are the reverse.</p> + +<p>When the views and interests of the colonial +settlers and of the missionaries have thus, inevitably +but without design, fallen into harmony, a war is +certain to be not far distant. Apparently accidental, +it is in reality as certain as the production of green +from a mixture of blue and yellow. Some dispute +about boundaries, some passing act of violence, will +serve for a reason of quarrel, which will presently +be supported by a fixed array of collateral pretexts.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span> +The Press readily lends its aid; and in a week the +colony trembles or affects to tremble from a panic +of invasion, and vials of virtue are expended on the +vices of the barbarians which have been for years +tolerated with equanimity or indifference. Their customs +are painted in the blackest colours; the details +of savage usages are raked up from old books of +travel; rumours of massacres and injuries are sedulously +propagated; and the whole country is represented +as in such a state of anarchy, that the majority +of the population, in their longing for deliverance +from their own rulers, would gladly welcome even a +foreign conqueror. In short, a war against them +comes speedily to be regarded as a war in their behalf, +as the last word of philanthropy and beneficence; +and the atrocities that subsequently ensue are professedly +undertaken, not against the unfortunate people +who endure them, but to liberate them from the ruler +of their choice or sufferance, in whose behalf however +they fight to the death.</p> + +<p>To every country, therefore, which would fain be +spared from these discreditable wars with barbarian +tribes on the borders of its colonies, it is clear that +the greatest caution is necessary against the abuses +of missionary propagandism. The almost absolute +failure of missions in recent centuries, and more especially +in the nineteenth, is intimately associated with +the greater political importance which the improved +facilities of travel and intercourse have conferred upon +them. Everyone has heard how Catholicism was +persecuted in Japan, till at last the very profession of +Christianity was made a capital crime in that part of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span> +the world. But a traveller, who knew the East intimately +at the time, explains how it was that the +Jesuits’ labours resulted so disastrously. On the outbreak +of civil dissensions in Japan, ‘the Christian +priests thought it a proper time for them to settle +their religion on the same foundation that Mahomet +did his, by establishing it in blood. Their thoughts +ran on nothing less than extirpating the heathen out +of the land, and they framed a conspiracy of raising +an army of 50,000 Christians to murder their countrymen, +that so the whole island might be illuminated +by Christianity such as it was then.’<a name="FNanchor_240" id="FNanchor_240"></a><a href="#Footnote_240" class="fnanchor">[240]</a> And in the +same way, a modern writer, speaking of the very +limited success of missions in India, has asserted +frankly that ‘in despair many Christians in India are +driven to wish and pray that some one, or some +way, may arise for converting the Indians by the +sword.’<a name="FNanchor_241" id="FNanchor_241"></a><a href="#Footnote_241" class="fnanchor">[241]</a></p> + +<p>Nor are the heathen themselves blind to the political +dangers which are involved in the presence of missionaries +among them. All over the world conversion +is from the native point of view the same thing as +disaffection, and war is dreaded as the certain consequence +of the adoption of Christianity. The French +bishop, Lefebvre, when asked by the mandarins of +Cochin China, in 1847, the purpose of his visit, said +that he read in their faces that they suspected him +‘of having come to excite some outbreak among +the neophytes, and perhaps prepare the way for an +European army;’ and the king was ‘afraid to see<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span> +Christians multiply in his kingdom, and in case of +war with European Powers, combine with his enemies.’<a name="FNanchor_242" id="FNanchor_242"></a><a href="#Footnote_242" class="fnanchor">[242]</a> +How right events have proved him to have +been!</p> + +<p>The story is the same in Africa. ‘Not long after +I entered the country,’ said the missionary, Mr. Calderwood, +of Caffraria, ‘a leading chief once said to me, +“When my people become Christians, they cease to be +my people.”’<a name="FNanchor_243" id="FNanchor_243"></a><a href="#Footnote_243" class="fnanchor">[243]</a> The Norwegian missionaries were for +twenty years in Zululand without making any converts +but a few destitute children, many of whom had been +given to them out of pity by the chiefs,<a name="FNanchor_244" id="FNanchor_244"></a><a href="#Footnote_244" class="fnanchor">[244]</a> and their +failure was actually ascribed by the Zulu king to their +having taught the incompatibility of Christianity with +allegiance to a heathen ruler.<a name="FNanchor_245" id="FNanchor_245"></a><a href="#Footnote_245" class="fnanchor">[245]</a> In 1877, a Zulu of +authority expressed the prevalent native reasoning on +this point in language which supplies the key to disappointments +that extend much further than Zululand: +‘We will not allow the Zulus to become so-called +Christians. It is not the king says so, but every man +in Zululand. If a Zulu does anything wrong, he at +once goes to a mission-station, and says he wants to +become a Christian; if he wants to run away with a +girl, he becomes a Christian; if he wishes to be +exempt from serving the king, he puts on clothes, and +is a Christian; if a man is an umtagati (evil-doer), he +becomes a Christian.’<a name="FNanchor_246" id="FNanchor_246"></a><a href="#Footnote_246" class="fnanchor">[246]</a></p> + +<p>It is on this account that in wars with savage<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span> +nations the destruction of mission-stations has always +been so constant an episode. Nor can we wonder at +this when we recollect that in the Caffre war of 1851, +for instance, it was a subject of boast with the missionaries +that it was Caffres trained on the mission-stations +who had preserved the English posts along +the frontiers, carried the English despatches, and +fought against their own countrymen for the preservation +and defence of the colony.<a name="FNanchor_247" id="FNanchor_247"></a><a href="#Footnote_247" class="fnanchor">[247]</a> It is rather a poor +result of all the money and labour that has been spent +in the attempt to Christianise South Africa, that the +Wesleyan mission-station at Edendale should have +contributed an efficient force of cavalry to fight against +their countrymen in the Zulu campaign; and we may +hesitate whether most to despise the missionaries who +count such a result as a triumph of their efforts, or +the converts whom they reward with tea and cake for +military service with the enemies of their countrymen.<a name="FNanchor_248" id="FNanchor_248"></a><a href="#Footnote_248" class="fnanchor">[248]</a></p> + +<p>It needs no great strain of intelligence to perceive +that this use of mission-stations as military training-schools +scarcely tends to enhance the advantages of +conversion in the minds of the heathen among whom +they are planted.</p> + +<p>For these reasons, and because it is becoming daily +more apparent that wars are less a necessary evil than +an optional misery of human life, the principal measure +for a country which would fain improve, and live at +peace with, the less civilised races which touch the +numerous borders of its empire, would be the legal<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span> +restraint or prevention of missionary enterprise: a +proposal that will appear less startling if we reflect that +in no quarter of the globe can that method of civilising +barbarism point to more than local or ephemeral +success. The Protestant missions of this century are +in process of failure, as fatal and decided as that which +befel the Catholic missions of the French, Portuguese, +or Spanish, in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, +and very much from the same causes. The English +wars in South Africa, with which the Protestant +missionaries have been so closely connected, have +frustrated all attempts to Christianise that region, just +as ‘the fearful wars occasioned directly or indirectly +by the missionaries’ sent by the Portuguese to the +kingdoms of Congo and Angola in the sixteenth century +rendered futile similar attempts on the West +Coast.<a name="FNanchor_249" id="FNanchor_249"></a><a href="#Footnote_249" class="fnanchor">[249]</a></p> + +<p>The same process of depopulation under Protestant +influences may now be observed in the Sandwich +Islands or New Zealand that reduced the population +of Hispaniola, under Spanish Christianity, from a +million to 14,000 in a quarter of a century.<a name="FNanchor_250" id="FNanchor_250"></a><a href="#Footnote_250" class="fnanchor">[250]</a> No +Protestant missionary ever laboured with more zeal +than Eliot did in America in the seventeenth century, +but the tribes he taught have long since been extinct: +‘like one of their own forest trees, they have withered +from core to bark;’<a name="FNanchor_251" id="FNanchor_251"></a><a href="#Footnote_251" class="fnanchor">[251]</a> and, in short, the history of both +Catholic and Protestant missions alike may be summed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span> +up in this one general statement: either they have +failed altogether of results on a sufficient scale to be +worthy of notice, or the impartial page of history +unfolds to us one uniform tale of civil war, persecution, +conquest, and extirpation in whatever regions they +can boast of more at least of the semblance of success.</p> + +<p>Another measure in the interests of peace would +be the organisation of a class of well-paid officials +whose duty it should be to examine on the spot into +the truth of all rumours of outrages or atrocities +which are circulated from time to time, in order to set +the tide of public opinion in favour of hostile measures. +Such rumours may, of course, have some foundation, +but in nine cases out of ten they are false. So lately +as the year 1882, the <i>Times</i> and other English papers +were so far deceived as to give their readers a horrible +account of the sacrifice of 200 young girls to the +spirits of the dead in Ashantee; and people were +beginning to ask themselves whether such things +could be suffered within reach of an English army, +when it was happily discovered that the whole story +was fictitious. Stories of this sort are what the +Germans call <i>Tendenzlügen</i>, or lies invented to produce +a certain effect. Their effect in rousing the war-spirit +is undeniable; and, although the healthy scepticism +which has of recent years been born of experience +affords us some protection, no expenditure could be +more economical than one which should aim at rendering +them powerless by neutralising them at the +fountain-head.</p> + +<p>In the preceding historical survey of the relations +in war between communities standing on different<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span> +levels of civilisation, the allusion, among some of the +rudest tribes, to laws of war very similar to those +supposed to be binding between more polished nations +tends to discredit the distinction between civilised +and barbarian warfare. The progress of knowledge +threatens the overthrow of the distinction, just +as it has already reduced that between organic and +inorganic matter, or between animal and vegetable life, +to a distinction founded rather on human thought than +on the nature of things. And it is probable that the +more the military side of savage life is studied, the +fewer will be found to be the lines of demarcation +which are thought to establish a difference in kind in +the conduct of war by belligerents in different stages +of progress. The difference in this respect is chiefly +one of weapons, of strategy, and of tactics; and it +would seem that whatever superiority the more civilised +community may claim in its rules of war is more +than compensated in savage life both by the less +frequent occurrence of wars and by their far less fatal +character.</p> + +<p>But, however much the frequency and ferocity of +the wars waged by barbarian races as compared with +those waged by civilised nations has been exaggerated, +there is no doubt but that in warfare, more than in +anything else, there is most in common between civilisation +and savagery, and that the distinction between +them most nearly disappears. In art and knowledge +and religion the distinction between the two is so +wide that the evolution of one from the other seems +still to many minds incredible; but in war, and the +thoughts which relate to it, the points of analogy<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span> +cannot fail to strike the most indifferent. We see +still in either condition, the same notions of the glory +of fighting, the same belief in war as the only source +of strength and honour, the same hope from it of +personal advancement, the same readiness to seize +any pretext for resorting to it, the same foolish +sentiment that it is mean to live without it.</p> + +<p>Then only will the distinction between the two be +final, complete, and real, when all fighting is relegated +to barbarism, and regarded as unworthy of civilised +humanity; when the enlightenment of opinion, which +has freed us already from such curses as slavery, the +torture-chamber, or duelling, shall demand instinctively +the settlement of all causes of quarrel by peaceful +arbitration, and leave to the lower races and the +lower creation the old-fashioned resort to a trial of +violence and might, to competition in fraud and +ferocity.</p> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII.</a><br /> +<span class="smaller">WAR AND CHRISTIANITY.</span></h2> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>Etsi adierant milites ad Joannem et formam observationis +acceperant, si etiam centurio crediderat, omnem postea militem +Dominus in Petro exarmando discinxit.</i>—<span class="smcap">Tertullian.</span></p></blockquote> + +<p class="summary">The war question at the time of the Reformation—The remonstrances +of Erasmus against the custom—Influence of Grotius on the side of +war—The war question in the early Church—The Fathers against +the lawfulness of war—Causes of the changed views of the Church—The +clergy as active combatants for over one thousand years—Fighting +Bishops—Bravery in war and ecclesiastical preferment—Pope +Julius II. at the siege of Mirandola—The last fighting Bishop—Origin +and meaning of the declaration of war—Superstition in +the naming of weapons, ships, &c.—The custom of kissing the earth +before a charge—Connection between religious and military ideas—The +Church as a pacific agency—Her efforts to set limits to reprisals—The +altered attitude of the modern Church—Early reformers only +sanctioned just wars—Voltaire’s reproach against the Church—Canon +Mozley’s sermon on war—The answer to his apology.</p> + +<p>Whether military service was lawful for a Christian +at all was at the time of the Reformation one of the +most keenly debated questions; and considering the +force of opinion arrayed on the negative side, its +ultimate decision in the affirmative is a matter of +more wonder than is generally given to it. Sir +Thomas More charges Luther and his disciples with +carrying the doctrines of peace to the extreme limits +of non-resistance; and the views on this subject of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span> +the Mennonites and Quakers were but what at one +time seemed not unlikely to have been those of the +Reformed Church generally.</p> + +<p>By far the foremost champion on the negative +side was Erasmus, who being at Rome at the time +when the League of Cambray, under the auspices of +Julius II., was meditating war against the Republic of +Venice, wrote a book to the Pope, entitled ‘Antipolemus,’ +which, though never completed, probably exists +in part in his tract known under the title of ‘Dulce +Bellum inexpertis,’ and printed among his ‘Adagia.’ +In it he complained, as one might complain still, that +the custom of war was so recognised as an incident +of life that men wondered there should be any to +whom it was displeasing; and likewise so approved +of generally, that to find any fault with it savoured +not only of impiety, but of actual heresy. To speak +of it, therefore, as he did in the following passage, +required some courage: ‘If there be anything in the +affairs of mortals which it is the interest of men not +only to attack, but which ought by every possible +means to be avoided, condemned, and abolished, it is +of all things war, than which nothing is more impious, +more calamitous, more widely pernicious, more inveterate, +more base, or in sum more unworthy of a +man, not to say of a Christian.’ In a letter to +Francis I. on the same subject, he noticed as an +astonishing fact, that out of such a multitude of +abbots, bishops, archbishops, and cardinals as existed +in the world, not one of them should step forward to +do what he could, even at the risk of his life, to put +an end to so deplorable a practice.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span></p> + +<p>The failure of this view of the custom of war, +which is in its essence more opposed to Christianity +than the custom of selling men for slaves or sacrificing +them to idols, to take any root in men’s minds, +is a misfortune on which the whole history of Europe +since Erasmus forms a sufficient commentary. That +failure is partly due to the unlucky accident which led +Grotius in this matter to throw all his weight into the +opposite scale. For this famous jurist, entering at +much length into the question of the compatibility +of war with the profession of Christianity (thereby +proving the importance which in his day still attached +to it), came to conclusions in favour of the received +opinion, which are curiously characteristic both of the +writer and his time. His general argument was, that +if a sovereign was justified in putting his own subjects +to death for crimes, much more was he justified +in using the sword against people who were not his +subjects, but strangers to him. And this absurd +argument was enforced by considerations as feeble as +the following: that laws of war were laid down in +the Book of Deuteronomy; that John the Baptist did +not bid the soldiers, who consulted him, to forsake +their calling, but to abstain from extortion and be +content with their wages; that Cornelius the centurion, +whom St. Peter baptized, neither gave up his +military life, nor was exhorted by the apostle to do +so; that the Emperor Constantine had many Christians +in his armies, and the name of Christ inscribed +upon his banners; and that the military oath after +his time was taken in the name of the Three Persons +of the Trinity.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span></p> + +<p>One single reflection will suffice to display the +utter shallowness of this reasoning, which was after +all only borrowed from St. Augustine. For if Biblical +texts are a justification of war, they are clearly a +justification of slavery; whilst, on the other hand, the +general spirit of the Christian religion, to say nothing +of several positive passages, is at least equally opposed +to one custom as to the other. If then the +abolition of slavery is one of the services for which +Christianity as an influence in history claims a large +share of the credit, its failure to abolish the other +custom must in fairness be set against it; for it were +easier to defend slave-holding out of the language of +the New Testament than to defend military service, +far more being actually said there to inculcate the +duty of peace than to inculcate the principles of +social equality: and the same may be said of the +writings of the Fathers.</p> + +<p>The different attitude of the Church towards these +two customs in modern times, her vehement condemnation +of the one, and her tolerance or encouragement +of the other, appears all the more surprising +when we remember that in the early centuries of our +era her attitude was exactly the reverse, and that, +whilst slavery was permitted, the unlawfulness of war +was denounced with no uncertain or wavering voice.</p> + +<p>When Tertullian wrote his treatise ‘De Corona’ +(201) concerning the right of Christian soldiers to +wear laurel crowns, he used words on this subject +which, even if at variance with some of his statements +made in his ‘Apology’ thirty years earlier, may be +taken to express his maturer judgment. ‘Shall the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span> +son of peace’ (that is, a Christian), he asks, ‘act in +battle when it will not befit him even to go to +law? Shall he administer bonds and imprisonments +and tortures and punishments who may not avenge +even his own injuries?... The very transference of +his enrolment from the army of light to that of +darkness is sin.’ And again: ‘What if the soldiers +did go to John and receive the rule of their service, +and what if the Centurion did believe; the Lord by +his disarming of Peter disarmed every soldier from +that time forward.’ Tertullian made an exception in +favour of soldiers whose conversion was subsequent +to their enrolment (as was implied in discussing their +duty with regard to the laurel-wreath), though insisting +even in their case that they ought either to +leave the service, as many did, or to refuse participation +in its acts, which were inconsistent with their +Christian profession. So that at that time Christian +opinion was clearly not only averse to a military life +being entered upon after baptism (of which there are +no instances on record), but in favour of its being +forsaken, if the enrolment preceded the baptism. +The Christians who served in the armies of Rome +were not men who were converts or Christians at the +time of enrolling, but men who remained with the +colours after their conversion. If it is certain that +some Christians <i>remained</i> in the army, it appears +equally certain that no Christian at that time thought +of <i>entering</i> it.</p> + +<p>This seems the best solution of the much-debated +question, to what extent Christians served at all in the +early centuries. Irenæus speaks of the Christians in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span> +the second century as not knowing how to fight, and +Justin Martyr, his contemporary, considered Isaiah’s +prophecy about the swords being turned into ploughshares +as in part fulfilled, because his co-religionists, +who in times past had killed one another, did not +then know how to fight even with their enemies. The +charge made by Celsus against the Christians, that +they refused to bear arms even in case of necessity, +was admitted by Origen, but justified on the ground +of the unlawfulness of war. ‘We indeed,’ he says, +‘fight in a special way on the king’s behalf, but we +do not go on campaigns with him, even should he +press us to do so; we do battle on his behalf as +a peculiar army of piety, prevailing by our prayers to +God for him.’ And again: ‘We no longer take up +the sword against people, nor learn to make war +any more, having become through Jesus, who is our +general, sons of peace.’ Nothing could be clearer +nor more conclusive than this language; and the +same attitude towards war was expressed or implied +by the following Fathers in chronological order: +Justin Martyr, Tatian, Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian, +Cyprian, Lactantius, Archelaus, Ambrose, +Chrysostom, Jerome, and Cyril. Eusebius says that +many Christians in the third century laid aside the +military life rather than abjure their religion. Of +10,050 pagan inscriptions that have been collected, +545 were found to belong to pagan soldiers, while of +4,734 Christian inscriptions of the same period, only +27 were those of soldiers; from which it seems rather +absurd to infer, as a French writer has inferred, not +that there was a great disproportion of Christian to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span> +pagan soldiers in the imperial armies, but that most +Christian soldiers being soldiers of Christ did not like +to have it recorded on their epitaphs that they had +been in the service of any <i>man</i>.<a name="FNanchor_252" id="FNanchor_252"></a><a href="#Footnote_252" class="fnanchor">[252]</a></p> + +<p>On the other hand, there were certainly always +some Christians who remained in the ranks after +their conversion, in spite of the military oath in the +names of the pagan deities and the quasi-worship of +the standards which constituted some part of the +early Christian antipathy to war. This is implied in +the remarks of Tertullian, and stands in no need of +the support of such legends as the Thundering Legion +of Christians, whose prayers obtained rain, or of the +Theban legion of 6,000 Christians martyred under +Maximian. It was left as a matter of individual +conscience. In the story of the martyr Maximilian, +when Dion the proconsul reminded him that there +were Christian soldiers among the life-guards of the +Emperors, the former replied, ‘They know what is +best for them to do; but I am a Christian and cannot +fight.’ Marcellus, the converted centurion, threw +down his belt at the head of his legion, and suffered +death rather than continue in the service; and the +annals of the early Church abound in similar martyrdoms. +Nor can there be much doubt but that a love +of peace and dislike of bloodshed were the principal +causes of this early Christian attitude towards the +military profession, and that the idolatry and other +pagan rites connected with it only acted as minor and +secondary deterrents. Thus, in the Greek Church +St. Basil would have excluded from communion for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span> +three years any one who had shed an enemy’s blood; +and a similar feeling explains Theodosius’ refusal to +partake of the Eucharist after his great victory over +Eugenius. The canons of the Church excluded from +ordination all who had served in an army after +baptism; and in the fifth century Innocent I. blamed +the Spanish churches for their laxity in admitting +such persons into holy orders.<a name="FNanchor_253" id="FNanchor_253"></a><a href="#Footnote_253" class="fnanchor">[253]</a></p> + +<p>The anti-military tendency of opinion in the early +period of Christianity appears therefore indisputable, +and Tertullian would probably have smiled at the +prophet who should have predicted that Christians +would have ceased to keep slaves long before they +should have ceased to commit murder and robbery +under the fiction of hostilities. But it proves the +strength of the original impetus, that Ulphilas, the +first apostle to the Goths, should purposely, in his +translation of the Scriptures, have omitted the Books +of Kings, as too stimulative of a love of war.</p> + +<p>How utterly in this matter Christianity came to +forsake its earlier ideal is known to all. This resulted +partly from the frequent use of the sword for the +purpose of conversion, and partly from the rise of the +Mahometan power, which made wars with the infidel +appear in the light of acts of faith, and changed the +whole of Christendom into a kind of vast standing +military order. But it resulted still more from that +compromise effected in the fourth century between +paganism and the new religion, in which the former +retained more than it lost, and the latter gave less +than it received. Considering that the Druid priests<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span> +of ancient Gaul or Britain, like those of pagan Rome, +were exempt from military service,<a name="FNanchor_254" id="FNanchor_254"></a><a href="#Footnote_254" class="fnanchor">[254]</a> and often, according +to Strabo, had such influence as to part combatants +on the point of an engagement, nothing is more remarkable +than the extent to which the Christian +clergy, bishops, and abbots came to lead armies and +fight in battle, in spite of canons and councils of the +Church, at a time when that Church’s power was +greater, and its influence wider, than it has ever been +since. Historians have scarcely given due prominence +to this fact, which covers a period of at least a thousand +years; for Gregory of Tours mentions two +bishops of the sixth century who had killed many +enemies with their own hands, whilst Erasmus, in the +sixteenth, complains of bishops taking more pride in +leading three or four hundred dragoons, with swords +and guns, than in a following of deacons and divinity +students, and asks, with just sarcasm, why the trumpet +and fife should sound sweeter in their ears than the +singing of psalms or the words of the Bible.</p> + +<p>In the fourteenth century, when war and chivalry +were at their height, occurred a remarkable protest +against this state of things from Wycliffe, who, in +this, as in other respects, anticipated the Reformation: +‘Friars now say that bishops can fight best of all +men, and that it falleth most properly to them, since +they are lords of all this world. They say, Christ +bade his disciples sell their coats, and buy them +swords; but whereto, if not to fight? Thus friars<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span> +make a great array, and stir up men to fight. But +Christ taught not his apostles to fight with a sword of +iron, but with the sword of God’s word, which standeth +in meekness of heart and in the prudence of man’s +tongue.... If manslaying in others be odious to +God, much more in priests who should be vicars +of Christ.’ And Wycliffe proceeds not only to protest +against this, but to advocate the general cause of +peace on earth, on grounds which he is aware that +men of the world will scorn and reject as fatal to the +existence of kingdoms.<a name="FNanchor_255" id="FNanchor_255"></a><a href="#Footnote_255" class="fnanchor">[255]</a></p> + +<p>It was no occasional, but an inveterate practice, +and, apparently, common in the world, long before +the system of feudalism gave it some justification by +the connection of military service with the enjoyment +of lands. Yet it has now so completely disappeared +that—as a proof of the possible change of thought +which may ultimately render a Christian soldier as +great an anomaly as a fighting bishop—it is worth +recalling from history some instances of so curious +a custom. ‘The bishops themselves—not all, but +many’—says a writer of King Stephen’s reign, +‘bound in iron, and completely furnished with arms, +were accustomed to mount war-horses with the perverters +of their country, to share in their spoil; to +bind and torture the knights whom they took in the +chance of war, or whom they met full of money.’<a name="FNanchor_256" id="FNanchor_256"></a><a href="#Footnote_256" class="fnanchor">[256]</a> +It was at the battle of Bouvines (1214) that the +famous Bishop of Beauvais fought with a club instead +of a sword, out of respect for the rule of the canon<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span> +which forbade an ecclesiastic to shed blood. Matthew +Paris tells the story how Richard I. took the said +bishop prisoner, and when the Pope begged for his +release as being his own son and a son of the Church, +sent to Innocent III. the episcopal coat of mail, with +the inquiry whether he recognised it as that of his son +or of a son of the Church; to which the Pope had the +wit to reply that he could not recognise it as belonging +to either.<a name="FNanchor_257" id="FNanchor_257"></a><a href="#Footnote_257" class="fnanchor">[257]</a> The story also bears repeating of the +impatient knight who, sharing the command of a +division at the battle of Falkirk with the Bishop of +Durham, cried out to his slower colleague, before +closing with the Scots, ‘It is not for you to teach us +war; to your Mass, bishop!’ and therewith rushed +with his followers into the fray (1298).<a name="FNanchor_258" id="FNanchor_258"></a><a href="#Footnote_258" class="fnanchor">[258]</a></p> + +<p>It is, however, needless to multiply instances, +which, if Du Cange may be credited, became more common +during the devastation of France by the Danes +in the ninth century, when all the military aid that +was available became a matter of national existence. +That event rendered Charlemagne’s capitulary a dead +letter, by which that monarch had forbidden any +ecclesiastic to march against an enemy, save two or +three bishops to bless the army or reconcile the +combatants, and a few priests to give absolution and +celebrate the Mass.<a name="FNanchor_259" id="FNanchor_259"></a><a href="#Footnote_259" class="fnanchor">[259]</a> It appears that this law was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span> +made in response to an exhortation by Pope Adrian II., +similar to one addressed in the previous century by +Pope Zachary to Charlemagne’s ancestor, King Pepin. +But though military service and the tenure of ecclesiastical +benefices became more common from the time +of the Danish irruptions, instances are recorded of +abbots and archbishops who chose rather to surrender +their temporalities than to take part in active service; +and for many centuries the whole question seems to +have rested on a most uncertain footing, law and +custom demanding as a duty that which public and +ecclesiastical opinion condoned, but which the Church +herself condemned.</p> + +<p>It is a signal mark of the degree to which religion +became enveloped in the military spirit of those miserable +days of chivalry, that ecclesiastical preferment +was sometimes the reward of bravery on the field, as +in the case of that chaplain to the Earl of Douglas +who, for his courage displayed at the battle of Otterbourne, +was, Froissart tells us, promoted the same +year to a canonry and archdeaconry at Aberdeen.</p> + +<p>Vasari, in his ‘Life of Michael Angelo,’ has a good +story which is not only highly typical of this martial +Christianity, but may be also taken to mark the +furthest point of divergence reached by the Church +in this respect from the standpoint of her earlier +teaching. Pope Julius II. went one day to see a +statue of himself which Michael Angelo was executing. +The right hand of the statue was raised in a dignified +attitude, and the artist consulted the Pope as to +whether he should place a book in the left. ‘Put a +sword into it,’ quoth Julius, ‘for of letters I know but<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span> +little.’ This was the Pope of whom Bayle says that +never man had a more warlike soul, and of whom, +with some doubt, he repeats the anecdote of his +having thrown into the Tiber the keys of St. Peter, +with the declaration that he would thenceforth use +the sword of St. Paul. However this may be, he +went in person to hasten the siege of Mirandola, in +opposition to the protests of the cardinals and to the +scandal of Christendom (1510). There it was that +to encourage the soldiers he promised them, that if +they exerted themselves valiantly he would make no +terms with the town, but would suffer them to sack +it;<a name="FNanchor_260" id="FNanchor_260"></a><a href="#Footnote_260" class="fnanchor">[260]</a> and though this did not occur, and the town ultimately +surrendered on terms, the head of the Christian +Church had himself conveyed into it by the breach.</p> + +<p>The scandal of this proceeding contributed its +share to the discontent which produced the Reformation; +and that movement continued still further the +disfavour with which many already viewed the connection +of the clergy with actual warfare. It has, +however, happened occasionally since that epoch that +priests of martial tastes have been enabled to gratify +them, the custom having become more and more rare +as public opinion grew stronger against it. The last +recorded instance of a fighting divine was, it would +seem, the Bishop of Derry, who, having been raised to +that see by William III. in gratitude for the distinguished +bravery with which, though a clergyman, he +had conducted the defence of Londonderry against the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span> +forces of James II., and for which the University of +Oxford rewarded him with the title of Doctor of +Divinity, was shot dead at the battle of the Boyne. +He had, says Macaulay, ‘during the siege in which he +had so highly distinguished himself, contracted a passion +for war,’ but his zeal to gratify it on that second +occasion cost him the favour of the king. It is, however, +somewhat remarkable that history should have +called no special attention to the last instance of a +bishop who fought and died upon a battle-field, nor have +sufficiently emphasised the great revolution of thought +which first changed a common occurrence into something +unusual, and finally into a memory that seems +ridiculous. No historical fact affords a greater justification +than this for the hope that, absurd as is the idea +of a fighting bishop to our own age, that of a fighting +Christian may be to our posterity.</p> + +<p>As bishops were in the middle ages warriors, so +they were also the common bearers of declarations of +war. The Bishop of Lincoln bore, for instance, the +challenge of Edward III. and his allies to Charles V. +at Paris; and greatly offended was the English king +and his council when Charles returned the challenge +by a common valet—they declared it indecent for a +war between two such great lords to be declared by a +mere servant, and not by a prelate or a knight of valour.</p> + +<p>The declaration of war in those times appears to +have meant simply a challenge or defiance like that +then and afterwards customary in a duel. It appears to +have originated out of habits that governed the relations +between the feudal barons. We learn from Froissart +that when Edward was made Vicar of the German<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span> +Empire an old statute was renewed which had before +been made at the emperor’s court, to the effect that +no one, intending to injure his neighbour, might do +so without sending him a defiance three days beforehand. +The following extract from the challenge of +war sent by the Duke of Orleans, the brother of the +King of France, to Henry IV. of England, testifies to +the close resemblance between a declaration of war +and a challenge to a deed of arms, and to the levity +which often gave rise to either: ‘I, Louis, write and +make known to you, that with the aid of God and +the blessed Trinity, in the desire which I have to gain +renown, and which you likewise should feel, considering +idleness as the bane of lords of high birth who do not +employ themselves in arms, and thinking I can no +way better seek renown than by proposing to you to +meet me at an appointed place, each of us accompanied +with 100 knights and esquires, of name and +arms without reproach, there to combat till one of the +parties shall surrender; and he to whom God shall grant +the victory shall do with his prisoners as he pleases. +We will not employ any incantations that are forbidden +by the Church, but make use of the bodily strength +given us by God, with armour as may be most agreeable +to everyone for the security of his person, +and with the usual arms, that is lance, battle-axe, +sword, and dagger ... without aiding himself by any +bodkins, hooks, bearded darts, poisoned needles or +razors, as may be done by persons unless they are +positively ordered to the contrary....’<a name="FNanchor_261" id="FNanchor_261"></a><a href="#Footnote_261" class="fnanchor">[261]</a> Henry IV. +answered the challenge with some contempt, but<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span> +expressed his readiness to meet the duke in single +combat, whenever he should visit his possessions in +France, in order to prevent any greater effusion of +Christian blood, since a good shepherd, he said, should +expose his own life for his flock. It even seemed at one +time as if wars might have resolved themselves into +this more rational mode of settlement. The Emperor +Henry IV. challenged the Duke of Swabia to single +combat. Philip Augustus of France is said to have +proposed to Richard I. to settle their differences by a +combat of five on each side; and when Edward III. +challenged the realm of France, he offered to settle +the question by a duel or a combat of 100 men on +each side, with which the French king would, it appears, +have complied, had Edward consented to stake the +kingdom of England against that of France.</p> + +<p>In the custom of naming the implements of war +after the most revered names of the Christian hagiology +may be observed another trace of the close alliance +that resulted between the military and spiritual sides +of human life, somewhat like that which prevailed in +the sort of worship paid to their lances, pikes, and +battle-axes by the ancient Scandinavians.<a name="FNanchor_262" id="FNanchor_262"></a><a href="#Footnote_262" class="fnanchor">[262]</a> Thus the +two first forts which the Spaniards built in the Ladrone +Islands they called respectively after St. Francis +Xavier and the Virgin Mary. Twelve ships in the +Armada were called after the Twelve Apostles, and +so were twelve of his cannons by Henry VIII., one +of which, St. John by name, was captured by the +French in 1513.<a name="FNanchor_263" id="FNanchor_263"></a><a href="#Footnote_263" class="fnanchor">[263]</a> It is probable that mere irreverence<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span> +had less to do with this custom than the hope thereby +of obtaining favour in war, such as may also be +traced in the ceremony of consecrating military banners, +which has descended to our own times.<a name="FNanchor_264" id="FNanchor_264"></a><a href="#Footnote_264" class="fnanchor">[264]</a></p> + +<p>To the same order of superstition belongs the old +custom of falling down and kissing the earth before +starting on a charge or assault of battle. The practice +is alluded to several times in Montluc’s Commentaries, +but so little was it understood by a modern +French editor that in one place he suggests the reading +<i>baissèrent la tête</i> (they lowered their heads) for <i>baisèrent +la terre</i> (they kissed the earth). But the latter +reading is confirmed by passages elsewhere; as, for +instance, in the ‘Memoirs of Fleurange,’ where it is +stated that Gaston de Foix and his soldiers kissed +the earth, according to custom, before proceeding to +march against the enemy;<a name="FNanchor_265" id="FNanchor_265"></a><a href="#Footnote_265" class="fnanchor">[265]</a> and, again, in the ‘Life +of Bayard,’ by his secretary, who records it among +the virtues of that knight that he would rise from his +bed every night to prostrate himself at full length on +the floor and kiss the earth.<a name="FNanchor_266" id="FNanchor_266"></a><a href="#Footnote_266" class="fnanchor">[266]</a> This kissing of the +earth was an abbreviated form of taking a particle of +it in the mouth, as both Elmham and Livius mention +to have been done by the English at Agincourt before +attacking the French; and this again was an +abbreviated form of receiving the sacrament, for +Villani says of the Flemish at Cambray (1302) that +they made a priest go all over the field with the +sacred elements, and that, instead of communicating,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span> +each man took a little earth and put it into his +mouth.<a name="FNanchor_267" id="FNanchor_267"></a><a href="#Footnote_267" class="fnanchor">[267]</a> This seems a more likely explanation than +that the custom was intended as a reminder to the +soldier of his mortality, as if in a trade like his there +could be any lack of testimony of that sort.</p> + +<p>It is curious to observe how war in every stage of +civilisation has been the central interest of public +religious supplication; and how, from the pagans of +old to modern savages, the pettiest quarrels and conflicts +have been deemed a matter of interest to the +immortals. The Sandwich islanders and Tahitians +sought the aid of their gods in war by human sacrifices. +The Fijians before war were wont to present +their gods with costly offerings and temples, and offer +with their prayers the best they could of land crabs +or whales’ teeth; being so convinced that they thereby +ensured to themselves the victory, that once, when +a missionary called the attention of a war party to the +scantiness of their numbers, they only replied, with +disdainful confidence, ‘Our allies are the gods.’ The +prayer which the Roman pontifex addressed to Jupiter +on behalf of the Republic at the opening of the war +with Antiochus, king of Syria, is extremely curious: +‘If the war which the people has ordered to be waged +with King Antiochus shall be finished after the wish of +the Roman senate and people, then to thee, O Jupiter, +will the Roman people exhibit the great games for +ten successive days, and offerings shall be presented +at all the shrines of such value as the senate shall<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span> +decree.’<a name="FNanchor_268" id="FNanchor_268"></a><a href="#Footnote_268" class="fnanchor">[268]</a> This rude state of theology, wherein a +victory from the gods may be obtained for a fair consideration +in exchange, tends to keep alive, if it did +not originate, that sense of dependence on invisible +powers which constitutes the most rudimentary form of +religion; for it is a remarkable fact that the faintest +notions of supernatural agencies are found precisely +among tribes whose military organisation or love for +war is the lowest and least developed. In proportion +as the war-spirit is cultivated does the worship of war-presiding +deities prevail; and since these are formed +from the memories of warriors who have died or +been slain, their attributes and wishes remain those of +the former earthly potentate, who though no longer +visible, may still be gratified by presents of fruit, or by +slaughtered oxen or slaves.</p> + +<p>The Khonds of Orissa, in India, afford an instance +of this close and pernicious association between religious +and military ideas, which may be traced +through the history of many far more advanced communities. +For though they regard the joy of the +peace dance as the very highest attainable upon earth, +they attribute, not to their own will, but to that of +their war god, Loha Pennu, the source of all their +wars. The devastation of a fever or tiger is accepted +as a hint from that divinity that his service has been +too long neglected, and they acquit themselves of all +blame for a war begun for no better reason, by the +following philosophy of its origin: ‘Loha Pennu said +to himself, Let there be war, and he forthwith entered +into all weapons, so that from instruments of peace<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span> +they became weapons of war; he gave edge to the +axe and point to the arrow; he entered into all kinds +of food and drink, so that men in eating and drinking +were filled with rage, and women became instruments +of discord instead of soothers of anger.’ And they +address this prayer to Loha Pennu for aid against +their enemies: ‘Let our axes crush cloth and bones +as the jaws of the hyæna crush its prey. Make the +wounds we give to gape.... When the wounds of +our enemies heal, let lameness remain. Let their +stones and arrows fall on us as the flowers of the +mowa-tree fall in the wind.... Make their weapons +brittle as the long pods of the karta-tree.’</p> + +<p>In their belief that wars were of external causation +to themselves, and in their endeavour to win by +prayer a favourable issue to their appeal to arms, it +could scarcely be maintained that the nations of +Christendom have at all times shown any marked +superiority over the modern Khonds. But in spite of +this, and of the fierce military character that Christianity +ultimately assumed, the Church always kept +alive some of her earlier traditions about peace, and +even in the darkest ages set some barriers to the +common fury of the soldier. When the Roman +Empire was overthrown, her influence in this direction +was in marked contrast with what it has been ever +since. Even Alaric when he sacked Rome (410) was +so far affected by Christianity as to spare the churches +and the Christians who fled to them. Leo the Great, +Bishop of Rome, inspired even Attila with respect for +his priestly authority, and averted his career of conquest +from Rome; and the same bishop, three years<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span> +later (455), pleaded with the victorious Genseric that +his Vandals should spare the unresisting multitude +and the buildings of Rome, nor allow torture to be +inflicted on their prisoners. At the instance of Gregory +II., Luitprand, the Lombard king, withdrew +his troops from the same city, resigned his conquests, +and offered his sword and dagger on the tomb of St. +Peter (730).</p> + +<p>Yet more praiseworthy and perhaps more effective +were the efforts of the Church from the tenth century +onwards to check that system of private war which +was then the bane of Europe, as the system of public +and international wars has been since. In the south +of France several bishops met and agreed to exclude +from the privileges of a Christian in life and after +death all who violated their ordinances directed +against that custom (990). Only four years later the +Council of Limoges exhorted men to swear by the +bodies of the saints that they would cease to violate +the public peace. Lent appears to have been to some +extent a season of abstinence from fighting as from +other pleasures, for one of the charges against Louis +le Débonnaire was that he summoned an expedition +for that time of the year.</p> + +<p>In 1032 a Bishop of Aquitaine declared himself +the recipient of a message from heaven, ordering men +to cease from fighting; and, not only did a peace, +called the Truce of God, result for seven years, but it +was resolved that such peace should always prevail +during the great festivals of the Church, and from +every Thursday evening to Monday morning. And +the regulation for one kingdom was speedily extended<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span> +over Christendom, confirmed by several Popes, and +enforced by excommunication.<a name="FNanchor_269" id="FNanchor_269"></a><a href="#Footnote_269" class="fnanchor">[269]</a> If such efforts were +not altogether successful, and the wars of the barons +continued till the royal power in every country was +strong enough to suppress them, it must none the +less be recognised that the Church fought, if she +fought in vain, against the barbarism of a military +society, and with an ardour that is in striking contrast +with her apathy in more recent history.</p> + +<p>It must also be granted that the idea of what the +Papacy might do for the peace of the world, as the +supreme arbiter of disputes and mediator between +contending Powers, gained possession of men’s minds, +and entered into the definite policy of the Church +about the twelfth century, in a manner that might +suggest reflection for the nineteenth. The name of +Gerohus de Reigersperg is connected with a plan for +the pacification of the world, by which the Pope was +to forbid war to all Christian princes, to settle all +disputes between them, and to enforce his decisions +by the greatest powers that have ever yet been devised +for human authority—namely, by excommunication +and deposition. And the Popes attempted something +of this sort. When, for instance, Innocent III. bade +the King of France to make peace with Richard I., +and was told that the dispute concerned a matter of +feudal relationship with which the Pope had no right +of interference, he replied that he interfered by right +of his power to censure what he thought sin, and +quite irrespective of feudal rights. He also refused to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span> +consider the destruction of places and the slaughter +of Christians as a matter of no concern to him; and +Honorius III. forbade an attack upon Denmark, on +the ground that that kingdom lay under the special +protection of the Papacy.<a name="FNanchor_270" id="FNanchor_270"></a><a href="#Footnote_270" class="fnanchor">[270]</a></p> + +<p>The clergy, moreover, were even in the most warlike +times of history the chief agents in negotiations +for peace, and in the attempt to set limits to military +reprisals. When, for instance, the French and English +were about to engage at Poitiers, the Cardinal of +Perigord spent the whole of the Sunday that preceded +the day of battle in laudable but ineffectual attempts +to bring the two sides to an agreement without a +battle. And when the Duke of Anjou was about to +put 600 of the defenders of Montpellier to death by +the sword, by the halter, and by fire, it was the Cardinal +of Albany and a Dominican monk who saved +him from the infamy of such a deed by reminding him +of the duty of Christian forgiveness.</p> + +<p>In these respects it must be plain to every one that +the attitude and power of the Church has entirely +changed. She has stood apart more and more as time +has gone on from her great opportunities as a promoter +of peace. Her influence, it is notorious, no longer +counts for anything, where it was once so powerful, in +the field of negotiation and reconcilement. She lifts +no voice to denounce the evils of war, nor to plead for +greater restraint in the exercise of reprisals and the +abuse of victory. She lends no aid to teach the duty +of forbearance and friendship between nations, to +diminish their idle jealousies, nor to explain the real<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span> +identity of their interests. It may even be said +without risk of contradiction, that whatever attempt +has been made to further the cause of peace upon earth +or to diminish the horror of the customs of war, has +come, not from the Church, but from the school of +thought to which she has been most opposed, and +which she has studied most persistently to revile.</p> + +<p>In respect, too, of the justice of the cause of war, +the Church within recent centuries has entirely vacated +her position. It is noticeable that in the 37th article +of the English Church, which is to the effect that a +Christian at the command of the magistrate may wear +weapons and serve in the wars, the word <i>justa</i>, which +in the Latin form preceded the word <i>bella</i> or wars, has +been omitted.<a name="FNanchor_271" id="FNanchor_271"></a><a href="#Footnote_271" class="fnanchor">[271]</a> The leaders of the Reformation decided +on the whole in favour of the lawfulness of military +service for a Christian, but with the distinct +reservation that the cause of war should be just. +Bullinger, who was Zwingli’s successor in the Reformed +Church at Zurich, decided that though a Christian +might take up arms at the command of the magistrate, +it would be his duty to disobey the magistrate if he +purposed to make war on the guiltless; and that only +the death of those soldiers on the battle-field was +glorious who fought for their religion or their country. +Thomas Becon, chaplain to Archbishop Cranmer, +complained of the utter disregard of a just and patriotic +motive for war in the code of military ethics then +prevalent. Speaking of the fighters of his day, he thus +characterised their position in the State: ‘The rapacity<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span> +of wolves, the violence of lions, the fierceness of tigers +is nothing in comparison of their furious and cruel +tyranny; and yet do many of them this not for the +safeguard of their country (for so it would be the more +tolerable), but to satisfy their butcher-like affects, to +boast another day of how many men they have been +the death, and to bring home the more preys that they +may live the fatter ever after for these spoils and stolen +goods.’<a name="FNanchor_272" id="FNanchor_272"></a><a href="#Footnote_272" class="fnanchor">[272]</a> From military service he maintained that all +considerations of justice and humanity had been entirely +banished, and their stead been taken by robbery +and theft, ‘the insatiable spoiling of other men’s goods, +and a whole sea of barbarous and beast-like manners.’ +In this way the necessity of a just cause as a reason +for taking part in actual warfare was reasserted at the +time of the Reformation, and has only since then been +allowed to drop out of sight altogether; so that now +public opinion has no guide in the matter, and even less +than it had in ancient Rome, the attitude of the Church +towards the State on this point being rather that of +Anaxarchus the philosopher to Alexander the Great, +when, to console that conqueror for his murder of Clitus, +he said to him: ‘Know you not that Jupiter is represented +with Law and Justice at his side, to show that +whatever is done by sovereign power is right?’</p> + +<p>Considering, therefore, that no human institution +yet devised or actually in existence has had or has a +moral influence or facilities for exercising it at all +equal to that enjoyed by the Church, it is all the +more to be regretted that she has never taken any +real interest in the abolition of a custom which is at<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span> +the root of half the crime and misery with which she +has to contend. Whatever hopes might at one time +have been reasonably entertained of the Reformed +Church as an anti-military agency, the cause of peace +soon sank into a sort of heresy, or what was worse, an +unfashionable tenet, associated, condemned, and contemned +with other articles of religious dissent. ‘Those +who condemn the profession or art of soldiery,’ said +Sir James Turner, ‘smell rank of anabaptism and +quakery.’<a name="FNanchor_273" id="FNanchor_273"></a><a href="#Footnote_273" class="fnanchor">[273]</a></p> + +<p>It would be difficult to find in the whole range of +history any such example of wasted moral force. As +Erasmus had cause to deplore it in the sixteenth +century, so had Voltaire in the eighteenth. The +latter complained that he did not remember a single +page against war in the whole of Bourdaloue’s sermons, +and he even suggested that the real explanation +might be a literal want of courage on the part of the +clergy. The passage is worth quoting from the original, +both for its characteristic energy of expression and for +its clear insight into the real character of the custom +of war:—‘Pour les autres moralistes à gages que l’on +nomme prédicateurs, ils n’ont jamais seulement osé +prêcher contre la guerre.... Ils se gardent bien de +décrier la guerre, qui réunit tout ce que la perfidie a +de plus lâche dans les manifestes, tout ce que l’infâme +friponnerie a de plus bas dans les fournitures des +armées, tout ce que le brigandage a d’affreux dans le +pillage, le viol, le larcin, l’homicide, la dévastation, la +destruction. Au contraire, ces bons prêtres bénissent +en cérémonie les étendards de meurtre; et leurs con<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span>frères +chantent pour de l’argent des chansons juives, +quand la terre a été inondée de sang.’<a name="FNanchor_274" id="FNanchor_274"></a><a href="#Footnote_274" class="fnanchor">[274]</a></p> + +<p>If Voltaire’s reproach is unjust, it can of course be +easily refuted. The challenge is a fair one. Let him +be convicted of overstating his charge, by the mention +of any ecclesiastic of mark from either the Catholic or +the Protestant school within the last two centuries +whose name is associated with the advocacy of the +mitigation or the abolition of contests of force; or +any war in the same period which the clergy of either +denomination have as a body resisted either on the +ground of the injustice of its origin or of the ruthless +cruelty with which it has been waged. Whatever has +yet been attempted in this direction, or whatever +anti-military stimulus has been given to civilisation, +has come distinctly from men of the world or men of +letters, not from men of distinction in the Church: +not from Fénelon or Paley, but from William Penn, +the Abbé St.-Pierre (whose connection with the +Church was only nominal), from Vattel, Voltaire, and +Kant. In other words, the Church has lost her old +position of spiritual ascendency over the consciences +of mankind, and has surrendered to other guides and +teachers the influence she once exercised over the +world.</p> + +<p>This is especially the case with our own Church; +for before the most gigantic evil of our time, her +pulpit stands mute, and colder than mute. Whatever +sanction or support a body like the Peace Society has +met with from the Church or churches of England +during its seventy years’ struggle on behalf of humanity<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span> +has been, not the general rule, but the rare exception; +and recent events would even seem to show that the +voice of the pulpit, so far from ever becoming a +pacific agency, is destined to become in the future the +great tocsin of war, the loudest clamourer for counsels +of aggression.</p> + +<p>This attitude on the part of the Church having +become more and more marked and conspicuous, as +wars in recent centuries have become more frequent +and more fierce, it was not unnatural that some attempt +should at last have been made to give some +sort of justification of a fact which has undoubtedly +become an increasing source of perplexity and distress +to all sincere and reflective Christians. In +default of a better, let us take the justification offered +by Canon Mozley in his sermon on ‘War,’ preached +before the University of Oxford on March 12, 1871, +of which the following summary conveys a faithful, +though of necessity an abbreviated, reflection. The +main points dwelt upon in that explanation or +apology are: That Christianity, by its original recognition +of the division of the world into nations, with +all their inherent rights, thereby recognised the right +of war, which was plainly one of them; that the +Church, never having been constituted a judge of +national questions or motives, can only stand neutral +between opposing sides, contemplating war as it were +forensically, as a mode of international settlement +that is amply justified by the want of any other; that +a natural justice is inherent not only in wars of self-defence, +but in wars for rectifying the political distribution +of the world’s races or nationalities, and in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span> +wars that aim at progress and improvement; that +the spirit of self-sacrifice inseparable from war confers +upon it a moral character that is in special harmony +with the Christian type; that as war is simply the +working out of a problem by force, there is no more +hatred between the individual combatants than there +is in the working out of an argument by reasoning, +‘the enmity is in the two wholes—the abstractions—the +individuals are at peace;’ that the impossibility +of a substitution of a universal empire for independent +nations, or of a court of arbitration, bars all +hope of the attainment of an era of peace through +the natural progress of society; that the absence of +any head to the nations of the world constitutes a +defect or want of plan in its system, which as it has +been given to it by nature cannot be remedied by +other means; that it is no part of the mission of +Christianity to reconstruct that system, or rather +want of system, of the world, from which war flows, +nor to provide another world for us to live in; but +that, nevertheless, Christianity only sanctions it +through the medium of natural society, and on the +hypothesis of a world at discord with itself.</p> + +<p>One may well wonder that such a tissue of irrelevant +arguments could have been addressed by any +man in a spirit of seriousness to an assembly of his +fellows. Imagine such utterances being the last word +of Christianity! Surely a son of the Church were +more recognisable under the fighting Bishop of Beauvais’ +coat of mail than under the disguise of such +language as this. Why should it be assumed, one +might ask, that the existence of distinct nations,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span> +each enjoying the power, and therefore the right to +make war upon its neighbours, is incompatible with +the existence of an international morality which should +render the exercise of the war-right impossible, or +very difficult; or that the Church, had she tried, could +have contributed nothing to so desirable a result? It +is begging the question altogether to contend that a +state of things is impossible which has never been +attempted, when the very point at issue is whether, +had it been attempted, it might not by this time have +come to be realised. The right of the mediæval +barons and their vassals to wage private war together +belonged once as much to the system, or want of system, +of the world as the right of nations to attack one another +in our own or an earlier period of history; yet so far +was the Church, even in those days, from shrinking +from contact with so barbarous a custom as something +beyond her power or her mission, that she was herself +the main social instrument that brought it to an end. +The great efforts made by the Church to abolish the +custom of private war have already been mentioned: +a point which Canon Mozley, perhaps, did wisely to +ignore. Yet there is, surely, no sufficient reason why +the peace of the world should be an object of less +interest to the Church in these days than it was in +those; or why her influence should be less as one +chief element in the natural progress of society than +it was when she fought to release human society from +the depraving custom of the right of private war. It +is impossible to contend that, had the Church inculcated +the duties of the individual to other nations as +well as to his own, in the way to which human reason<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span> +would naturally respond, such a course would have +had no effect in solving the problem of enabling separate +nationalities to coexist in a state of peace as well +as of independence. It is at least the reverse of self-evident +that the promotion of feelings of international +fraternity, the discouragement of habits of international +jealousy, the exercise of acts of international +friendship, the teaching of the real identity of international +interests, in all of which the pulpit might +have lent, or might yet lend, an invaluable aid, would +have had, or would still have any detrimental effect +on the political system of distinct nationalities, or on +the motives and actions of a rational patriotism. It +is difficult to believe that the denunciations of a Church +whose religious teaching had power to restrain the +military fury of an Alaric or a Genseric would have +been altogether powerless over the conduct of those +German hordes whose military excesses in France, in +1870, have left a lasting blot on their martial triumph +and the character of their discipline; or that her +efforts on behalf of peace, which more than a thousand +years ago effectually reconciled the Angles and +Mercians, the Franks and Lombards, would be wasted +in helping to remove any standing causes of quarrel +that may still exist between France and Germany, +England and Russia, Italy and Austria.</p> + +<p>There are, indeed, hopeful signs, in spite of Canon +Mozley’s apology of despair, that the priesthood of +Christendom may yet reawake to a sense of its +power and opportunities for removing from the world +an evil custom which lies at the root of almost every +other, and is the main cause and sustenance of crime<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span> +and pauperism and disease. It is possible that we +have already passed the worst period of indifference +in this respect, or that it may some day prove only to +have been connected with the animosities of rival +sects, ever ready to avail themselves of the chances +that war between different nations might severally +bring to their several petty interests. With the +subsidence of such animosities, it were reasonable to +expect the Church to reassert the more genuine +principle of her action and attitude—that no evil +incident to human society is to be regarded as irremediable +till every resource has been exhausted to +cope with it, and every outlet of escape from it been +proved to be a failure. Then, but not till then, is it +becoming in Christian priests to utter the language +of helplessness; then, but not till then, should the +Church fold her hands in despair.</p> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII.</a><br /> +<span class="smaller">CURIOSITIES OF MILITARY DISCIPLINE.</span></h2> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>La discipline n’est que l’art d’inspirer aux soldats plus de peur +de leurs officiers que des ennemis.</i>—<span class="smcap">Helvetius.</span></p></blockquote> + +<p class="summary">Increased severity of discipline—Limitation of the right of matrimony—Compulsory +Church parade, and its origin—Atrocious military +punishments—Reasons for the military love of red—The origin of +bear-skin hats—Different qualities of bravery—Historical fears for +the extinction of courage—The conquests of the cause of peace—Causes +of the unpopularity of military service—The dulness of life +in the ranks—The prevalence of desertion—Articles of war against +malingering—Military artificial ophthalmia—The debasing influence +of discipline illustrated from the old flogging system—The discipline +of the Peninsular army—Attempts to make the service more +popular, by raising the private’s wages, by shortening his term of +service—The old recruiting system of France and Germany—The +conscription imminent in England—The question of military service +for women—The probable results of the conscription—Militarism +answerable for Socialism.</p> + +<p>Two widely different conceptions of military discipline +are contained in the words of an English writer +of the seventeenth century, and in those of the French +philosopher, Helvetius, in the eighteenth century. +There is a fine ring of the best English spirit in the +sentence of Gittins: ‘A soldier ought to fear nothing +but God and dishonour.’ And there is the true +French wit and insight in that of Helvetius: ‘Discipline +is but the art of inspiring soldiers with more<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span> +fear for their own officers than they have for the +enemy.’<a name="FNanchor_275" id="FNanchor_275"></a><a href="#Footnote_275" class="fnanchor">[275]</a></p> + +<p>But the difference involved lies less in the national +character of the writers than in the lapse of time +between them, discipline having by degrees gained +so greatly in severity that a soldier had come to be +regarded less as a moral free agent than as a mechanical +instrument, who, if he had any fear left for God +and dishonour, felt it in a very minor degree to that +which he cherished for his colonel or commander. This +is the broad fact which explains and justifies the proposition +of Helvetius; though no one, recollecting the +evils of the days of looser discipline, might see cause +to regret the change which deprived a soldier almost +entirely of the moral liberty that naturally belonged +to him as a man.</p> + +<p>The tendency of discipline to become more and +more severe has of course the effect of rendering +military service less popular, and consequently recruiting +more difficult, without, unhappily, any corresponding +diminution in the frequency of wars, which +are independent of the hirelings who fight them. +Were it otherwise, something might be said for the +military axiom, that a soldier enjoys none of the +common rights of man. There is therefore no gain +from any point of view in denying to the military +class the enjoyment of the rights and privileges of +ordinary humanity.</p> + +<p>The extent of this denial and its futility may be +shown by reference to army regulations concerning +marriage and religious worship. In the Prussian<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span> +army, till 1870, marriages were legally null and void +and the offspring of them illegitimate in the case of +officers marrying without royal consent, or of subordinate +officers without the consent of the commander +of their regiments. But after the Franco-German +war so great was the social disorder found to be +consequent upon these restrictions, that a special law +had to be made to remove the bar of illegitimacy from +the marriages in question.<a name="FNanchor_276" id="FNanchor_276"></a><a href="#Footnote_276" class="fnanchor">[276]</a> In the English army the +inability of privates to marry before the completion of +seven years’ service, and the possession of at least one +badge, and then only with the consent of the commanding +officer, is a custom so entirely contrary to +the liberty enjoyed in other walks of life, that, whatever +its incidental advantages, it can scarcely fail to +act as a deterring motive when the choice of a career +becomes a subject of reflection.</p> + +<p>The custom of what is known in the army as +Church Parade affords another instance of the unreasonable +curtailments of individual liberty that are +still regarded as essential to discipline. A soldier is +drummed to church just as he is drummed to the +drill-ground or the battle-field. His presence in church +is a matter of compulsion, not of choice or conviction; +and the general principle that such attendance is +valueless unless it is voluntary is waived in his case +as in that of very young children, with whom, in this +respect, he is placed on a par. If we inquire for the +origin of the practice, we shall probably find it in +certain old Saxon and imperial articles of war, which +show that the prayers of the military were formerly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span> +regarded as equally efficacious with their swords in +obtaining victories over their enemies; and therefore +as a very necessary part of their duty.<a name="FNanchor_277" id="FNanchor_277"></a><a href="#Footnote_277" class="fnanchor">[277]</a> The American +articles of war, since 1806, enact that ‘it is earnestly +recommended to all officers and soldiers to attend +divine service,’ thus obviating in a reasonable way all +the evils inevitably connected with a purely compulsory, +and therefore humiliating, church parade.<a name="FNanchor_278" id="FNanchor_278"></a><a href="#Footnote_278" class="fnanchor">[278]</a></p> + +<p>It may be that these restrictions of a soldier’s +liberty are necessary; but if they are, and if, as Lord +Macaulay says, soldiers must, ‘for the sake of public +freedom, in the midst of public freedom, be placed +under a despotic rule,’ ‘must be subject to a sharper +penal code and to a more stringent code of procedure +than are administered by the ordinary tribunals,’ so +that acts, innocent in the citizen or only punished +slightly, become crimes, capitally punishable, when +committed by them, then at least we need no longer +be astonished that it should be almost as difficult to +entrap a recruit as to catch a criminal.</p> + +<p>But over and above the intrinsic disadvantages of +military service, it would almost seem as if the war-presiding +genii had of set purpose essayed to make it +as distasteful as possible to mankind. For they have +made discipline not merely a curtailment of liberty +and a forfeiture of rights, but, as it were, an experiment +on the extreme limits of human endurance. There has +been no tyranny in the world, political, judicial, or +ecclesiastical, but has had its parent and pattern in some +military system. It has been from its armies more<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span> +than from its kings that our world has learnt its lesson +of arbitrary tribunals, tortures, and cruel punishments. +The Inquisition itself could scarcely have devised a +more excruciating punishment than the old English +military one of riding the Wooden Horse, when the +victim was made to sit astride planks nailed together +in a sharp ridge, so as roughly to resemble a horse, +with his hands tied behind him, and muskets fixed to +his legs to drag them downwards; or again, than the +punishment of the Picket, in which the hand was +fastened to a hook in a post above the head, and the +man’s suspended body left to be supported by his +bare heel resting on a wooden stump, of which the +end was cut to the sharpness of a sword point.<a name="FNanchor_279" id="FNanchor_279"></a><a href="#Footnote_279" class="fnanchor">[279]</a> The +punishment of running the gauntlet (from the German +<i>Gassenlaufen</i>, street running, because the victim ran +through the street between two lines of soldiers who +tormented him on his course) is said to have been +invented by Gustavus Adolphus; and is perhaps, +from the fact of thus bringing the cruelty of many +men to bear on a single comrade, the most cowardly +form of torture that has ever yet found favour among +military authorities.<a name="FNanchor_280" id="FNanchor_280"></a><a href="#Footnote_280" class="fnanchor">[280]</a></p> + +<p>But the penal part of military discipline, with its +red-hot irons, its floggings, and its various forms of +death, is too repulsive to do more than glance at as +testimony of the cruelty and despotism that have +never been separated from the calling of arms. The +art of the disciplinarian has ever been to bring such a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</a></span> +series of miseries to bear upon a man’s life that the +prospect of death upon the battle-field should have +for him rather charms than terrors; and the tale of +the soldier who, when his regiment was to be decimated, +drew a blank without the fatal D upon it, and immediately +offered it to a comrade, who had not yet drawn, +for half-a-crown, shows at how cheap a rate men may +be reduced to value their lives after experience of the +realities of a military career.</p> + +<p>Many of the devices are curious by which this +indifference to life has been matured and sustained. +In ancient Athens the public temples were closed to +those who refused military service, who deserted their +ranks or lost their bucklers; whilst a law of Charondas +of Catana constrained such offenders to sit for three +days in the public forum dressed in the garments of +women. Many a Spartan mother would stab her son +who came back alive from a defeat; and such a man, +if he escaped his mother, was debarred not only from +public offices but from marriage; exposed to the +blows of all who chose to strike him; compelled to +dress in mean clothing, and to wear his beard negligently +trimmed. And in the same way a Norse +soldier who fled, or lost his shield, or received a wound +in any save the front part of his body, was by law +prevented from ever afterwards appearing in public.<a name="FNanchor_281" id="FNanchor_281"></a><a href="#Footnote_281" class="fnanchor">[281]</a></p> + +<p>There are, indeed, few military customs but have +their origin and explanation in the artificial promotion +of courage in the minds of the combatants. This is +true even to the details and peculiarities of costume. +English children are, perhaps, still taught that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span> +French soldiers wear red trousers in order that the +sight of blood may not frighten them in war-time; +and doubtless French children imbibe a similar theory +regarding the red coats of the English. The same +reason was given by Julius Ferretus in the middle of +the sixteenth century for the short red frock then +generally worn by the military.<a name="FNanchor_282" id="FNanchor_282"></a><a href="#Footnote_282" class="fnanchor">[282]</a> The first mention +of red as a special military colour in England is said +to have been the order issued in 1526 for the coats of +all yeomen of the household to be of red cloth.<a name="FNanchor_283" id="FNanchor_283"></a><a href="#Footnote_283" class="fnanchor">[283]</a> But +the colour goes, at least, as far back as Lycurgus, +the Spartan lawgiver, who chose it, according to +Xenophon, because red is most easily taken by cloth +and most lasting; according to Plutarch, that its +brightness might help to raise the spirits of its +wearers; or, according to Ælian and Valerius Maximus, +in order to conceal the sight of blood, that raw +soldiers might not be dispirited and the enemy proportionately +encouraged.</p> + +<p>The bear-skin hats, which still make some English +regiments so ridiculous and unsightly, were originally +no doubt intended to inspire terror. Evelyn, writing +of the year 1678, says: ‘Now were brought into +service a new sort of soldiers called Grenadiers, +who were dexterous in flinging hand-grenades, every +man having a handful. They had furred caps with +coped crowns like Janizaries, which made them look +very fierce; and some had long hoods hanging down +behind as we picture fools.’ We may fairly identify +the motive of such headgear with the result; and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span> +the more so since the looking fierce with the borrowed +skins of bears was a well-known artifice of the +ancient Romans. Thus Vegetius speaks of helmets +as covered with bear-skins in order to terrify the +enemy,<a name="FNanchor_284" id="FNanchor_284"></a><a href="#Footnote_284" class="fnanchor">[284]</a> and Virgil has a significant description of a +warrior as</p> + +<p class="center">Horridus in jaculis et pelle Libystidis ursæ.</p> + +<p>We may trace the same motive again in the figures +of fierce birds or beasts depicted on flags and shields +and helmets, whence they have descended with less +harmful purpose to crests and armorial bearings. +Thus the Cimbri, whom Marius defeated, wore on +their plume-covered helmets the head of some fierce +animal with its mouth open, vainly hoping thereby to +intimidate the Romans. The latter, before it became +customary to display the images of their emperors +on their standards, reared aloft the menacing representations +of dragons, tigers, wolves, and such like; +and the figure of a dragon in use among the Saxons +at the time of the Conquest, and after that event retained +by the early Norman princes among the ensigns +of war,<a name="FNanchor_285" id="FNanchor_285"></a><a href="#Footnote_285" class="fnanchor">[285]</a> may reasonably be attributed to the same +motive. The legend of St. George killing the Dragon, +if it is not a survival of Theseus and the Minotaur, +very likely originated as a myth, intended to be explanatory +of the custom.</p> + +<p>Lastly, under this head should be mentioned +Villani’s account of the English armour worn in the +thirteenth century, where he describes how the pages<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span> +studied to keep it clean and bright, so that when their +masters came to action their armour shone like +looking glass and gave them a more terrifying appearance.<a name="FNanchor_286" id="FNanchor_286"></a><a href="#Footnote_286" class="fnanchor">[286]</a> +Was the result here again the motive, and +must we look for the primary cause of the great solicitude +still paid to the brightness of accoutrements +to the hope thereby to add a pang the more to the +terror desirable to instil into an enemy?</p> + +<p>Such were some of the artificial supports supplied +to bravery in former times. But there is all the +difference in the world between the bravery appealed +to by our ancestors and that required since the revolution +effected in warfare by the invention of gunpowder. +Before that epoch, the use of catapults, +bows, or other missiles did not deduct from the paramount +importance of personal valour. The brave +soldier of olden times displayed the bravery of a man +who defied a force similar or equal to his own, and +against which the use of his own right hand and intellect +might help him to prevail; but his modern +descendant pits his bravery mainly against hazard, +and owes it to chance alone if he escape alive from a +battle. However higher in kind may be the bravery +required to face a shower of shrapnel than to contend +against swords and spears, it is assuredly a bravery +that involves rather a blind trust in luck than a +rational trust in personal fortitude.</p> + +<p>So thoroughly indeed was this change foreseen and +appreciated that at every successive advance in the +methods of slaughter curious fears for the total extinction +of military courage have haunted minds too<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span> +readily apprehensive, and found sometimes remarkable +expression. When the catapult<a name="FNanchor_287" id="FNanchor_287"></a><a href="#Footnote_287" class="fnanchor">[287]</a> was first +brought from Sicily to Greece, King Archidamus saw +in it the grave of true valour; and the sentiment +against firearms, which led Bayard to exclaim, ‘C’est +une honte qu’un homme de cœur soit exposé à périr par +une miserable friquenelle,’ was one that was traceable +even down to the last century in the history of +Europe. For Charles XII. of Sweden is declared by +Berenhorst to have felt keenly the infamy of such a +mode of fighting; and Marshal Saxe held musketry +fire in such contempt that he even went so far as to +advocate the reintroduction of the lance, and a return +to the close combats customary in earlier times.<a name="FNanchor_288" id="FNanchor_288"></a><a href="#Footnote_288" class="fnanchor">[288]</a></p> + +<p>But our military codes contain no reflection of the +different aspects under which personal bravery enters +into modern, as compared with ancient, warfare; and +this omission has tended to throw governments back +upon pure force and compulsion, as the only possible +way of recruiting their regiments. The old Roman +military punishments, such as cruelly scourging a man +before putting him to death, afford certainly no models +of a lenient discipline; but when we read of companies +who lost their colours being for punishment only +reduced to feed on barley instead of wheat, and reflect +that death by shooting would be the penalty under +the discipline of most modern nations<a name="FNanchor_289" id="FNanchor_289"></a><a href="#Footnote_289" class="fnanchor">[289]</a> for an action +bearing any complexion of cowardice, it is impossible +to admit that a rational adjustment of punishments to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span> +offences is at all better observed in the war articles +of the moderns than in the military codes of pagan +antiquity.</p> + +<p>This, at least, is clear, from the history of military +discipline, that only by the most repressive laws, and +by a tyranny subversive of the commonest rights of +men, is it possible to retain men in the fighting +service of a country, after forcing or cajoling them into +it. And this consideration fully meets the theory of +an inherent love of fighting dominating human +nature, such as that contended for in a letter from +Lord Palmerston to Cobden, wherein he argues that +man is by nature a fighting and quarrelling animal. +The proposition is true undoubtedly of some savage +races, and of the idle knights of the days of chivalry, +but, not even in those days, of the lower classes, who +incurred the real dangers of war, and still less of the +unfortunate privates or conscripts of modern armies. +Fighting is only possible between civilised countries, +because discipline first fits men for war and for nothing +else, and then war again necessitates discipline. +Nor is anything gained by ignoring the conquests that +have already been won over the savage propensity +to war. Single States no longer suffer private wars +within their boundaries, like those customary between +the feudal barons; we decide most of our quarrels +in law courts, not upon battle-fields, and wisely prefer +arguments to arms. A population as large as +that of Ireland and about double as large as that +of all our colonies in Australia put together lives +in London alone, not only without weapons of defence +in their hands, but with so little taste for blood-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span>encounters +that you may walk for whole days through +its length and breadth without so much as seeing a +single street-fight. If then this miracle of social order +has been achieved, why not the wider one of that +harmony between nations which requires but a little +common-sense and determination on the part of those +most concerned in order to become an accomplished +reality?</p> + +<p>The limitations of personal liberty already alluded +to would of themselves suffice in a country of free +institutions to render the military profession distasteful +and unpopular. The actual perils of war, +at no time greater than those of mines, railways, +or merchant-shipping, would never alone deter men +from service; so that we must look for other causes +to explain the difficulty of recruiting and the frequency +of desertion, which are the perplexity of military +systems still based, as our own is, on the principle of +voluntary not compulsory enlistment.</p> + +<p>What then makes a military life so little an object +of desire in countries where it can be avoided is more +than its dangers, more even than its loss of liberty, its +irredeemable and appalling dulness. The shades in +point of cheerfulness must be few and fine which distinguish +a barrack from a convict prison. In none of +the employments of civil life is there anything to compare +with the unspeakable monotony of parades, recurring +three or four times every day, varied perhaps +in wet weather by the military catechism, and with +the intervals of time spent in occupations of neither +interest nor dignity. The length of time devoted +to the mere cleaning and polishing of accoutrements<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span> +is such, that the task has actually come to have the +name ‘soldiering’; and the work which comes next +in importance to this soldiering is the humble one of +peeling potatoes for dinner. Even military greatcoats +require on a moderate estimate half a hour or more +every day to be properly folded, the penalty of an +additional hour’s drill being the probable result of +any carelessness in this highly important military +function. But for the attention thus given to military +dress the author of the ‘Soldier’s Pocket Book’ +supplies us with a reason: ‘The better you dress a +soldier, the more highly he will be thought of by +women and consequently by himself.’</p> + +<p>Still less calculated to lend attractiveness to the +life of the ranks are the daily fatigue works, or extra +duties which fall in turn on the men of every company, +such as coal carrying, passage cleaning, gutter clearing, +and other like menial works of necessity.</p> + +<p>But it is the long hours of sentry duty, popularly +called ‘Sentry-go,’ which constitute the soldier’s +greatest bane. Guard duty in England, recurring at +short periods, lasts a whole day and night, every four +hours of the twenty-four being spent in full accoutrements +in the guard-room, and every intervening two +hours on active sentry, thus making in all—sixteen +hours in the guard-room, and eight on the sentry post. +The voluntary sufferings of the saints, the tortures +devised by the religious orders of olden days, or the +self-inflicted hardships of sport, pale before the two +hours’ sentry-go on a winter’s night. This it is that +kills our soldiers more fatally than an enemy’s cannon, +and is borne with more admirable patience than even<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span> +the hardships of a siege. ‘After about thirty-one +or thirty-two years of age,’ says Sir F. Roberts, ‘the +private soldier usually ages rapidly, and becomes a +veteran both in looks and habits;’<a name="FNanchor_290" id="FNanchor_290"></a><a href="#Footnote_290" class="fnanchor">[290]</a> and this distinguished +military commander points to excessive sentry +duty as the cause.</p> + +<p>But, possible as it thus is, by rigour of discipline, +to produce in a soldier total indifference to death, by +depriving him of everything that makes life desirable, +it is impossible to produce indifference to tedium; +and a policy is evidently self-destructive which, by +aiming exclusively at producing a mechanical character, +renders military service itself so unpopular that only +the young, the inexperienced, or the ill-advised will +join the colours at all; that 10 per cent. of those who +do join them will desert; and that the rest will regard +it as the gala day of their lives when they become +legally entitled to their discharge from the ranks.</p> + +<p>In England about 10 per cent. of the recruits +desert every year, as compared with 50 per cent. from +the small army of the United States. The reason +for so great a difference is probably not so much that +the American discipline is more severe or dull than +the English, as that in the newer country, where subsistence +is easier, the counter-attractions of peaceful +trades offer more plentiful inducements to desertion.</p> + +<p>Desertion from the English ranks has naturally +diminished since the introduction of the short-service +system has set a visible term to the hardships of a military +life. Adherence to the colours for seven or eight<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span> +years, or even for twelve, which is now the longest service +possible at the time of enlistment, and adherence to +them for life, clearly place a very different complexion +on the desirability of an illegal escape from them. So +that considering the reductions that have been made +in the term of service, and the increase of pay made +in 1867, and again in 1873, nothing more strongly +demonstrates the national aversion of the English +people to arms than the exceeding difficulty with +which the ranks are recruited, and the high average +of the percentage of desertions. If of recent years +recruiting has been better, the explanation is simply +that trade has been worse; statistics of recruiting +being the best possible barometer of the state of the +nation, since the scarcity or abundance of recruits +varies concomitantly with the brisk or slack demand +for labour in other employments.</p> + +<p>In few things has the world grown more tolerant +than in its opinion and treatment of Desertion. +Death was once its certain penalty, and death with +every aggravation that brutal cruelty could add. +Two of Rome’s most famous generals were Scipio +Æmilianus and Paulus Æmilius; yet the former consigned +deserters to fight wild beasts at the public +games, and the latter had them trodden to death by +elephants.</p> + +<p>A form of desertion, constituting one of the most +curious but least noticed chapters in the history of +military discipline, is that of Malingering, or the +feigning of sickness, and self-mutilation, disabling +from service. The practice goes far back into history. +Cicero tells of a man who was sold for a slave for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</a></span> +having cut off a finger, in order to escape from a +campaign in Sicily. Vegetius, the great authority +on Roman discipline, speaks of soldiers who simulated +sickness being punished as traitors;<a name="FNanchor_291" id="FNanchor_291"></a><a href="#Footnote_291" class="fnanchor">[291]</a> and an +old English writer on the subject says of the Romans: +‘Whosoever mutilated their own or their children’s +bodies so as thereby designedly to render them unfit +to carry arms (a practice common enough in those +elder times when all were pressed to the wars), were +adjudicated to perpetual exile.’<a name="FNanchor_292" id="FNanchor_292"></a><a href="#Footnote_292" class="fnanchor">[292]</a></p> + +<p>The writer here referred to lived long before the +days of the conscription, with which he fancied self-mutilation +to be connected. And it certainly seems +that whereas all the military codes of modern nations +contain articles dealing with that offence, and decreeing +penalties against it, there was less of it in the +days before compulsory service. There is, for instance, +no mention of it in the German articles of war of the +seventeenth century, though the other military crimes +were precisely those that are common enough still.<a name="FNanchor_293" id="FNanchor_293"></a><a href="#Footnote_293" class="fnanchor">[293]</a></p> + +<p>But even in England, where soldiers are not yet +military slaves, it has been found necessary to deal, +by specific clauses in the army regulations, with a +set of facts of which there is no notice in the war +articles of the seventeenth or eighteenth century.<a name="FNanchor_294" id="FNanchor_294"></a><a href="#Footnote_294" class="fnanchor">[294]</a> +The inference therefore is, that the conditions of +military service have become universally more disagreeable. +The clauses in the actual war articles +deserve to be quoted, that it may appear, by the +provisions against it, to what lengths the arts of self-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</a></span>mutilation +are carried by despairing men. The 81st +Article of War provides punishment against any +soldier in Her Majesty’s army ‘who shall malinger, +feign or produce disease or infirmity, or shall wilfully +do any act or wilfully disobey any orders whether in +hospital or otherwise, thereby producing or aggravating +disease or infirmity or delaying his cure, ... +or who shall maim or injure himself or any other +soldier, whether at the instance of such other soldier +or not, or cause himself to be maimed or injured by +any other person with intent thereby to render himself +or such other soldier unfit for service, ... or who +shall tamper with his eyes with intent thereby to +render himself unfit for service.’</p> + +<p>That it should be necessary thus to provide against +self-inflicted injuries is surely commentary enough on +the condition of life in the ranks. The allusion to +tampering with the eyes may be illustrated from a +passage in the ‘Life of Sir C. Napier,’ wherein we are +told how in the year 1808 a private of the 28th Regiment +taught his fellow-soldiers to produce artificial +ophthalmia by holding their eyelids open, whilst a +comrade in arms would scrape some lime from the +barrack ceiling into their eyes.<a name="FNanchor_295" id="FNanchor_295"></a><a href="#Footnote_295" class="fnanchor">[295]</a> For a profession of +which such things are common incidents, surely the +wonder is, not that it should be difficult, but that it +should be possible at all, to make recruits. In the days +of Mehemet Ali in Egypt, so numerous were the cases +in which the natives voluntarily blinded themselves, +and even their children, of one eye in order to escape +the conscription, that Mehemet Ali is said to have<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</a></span> +found himself under the necessity of raising a one-eyed +regiment. Others for the same purpose would chop +off the trigger finger of the right hand, or disable +themselves from biting cartridges by knocking out +some of their upper teeth. Scarcely a peasant in the +fields but bore the trace of some such voluntarily +inflicted disfigurement. But with such facts it seems +idle to talk of any inherent love for fighting dominating +the vast majority of mankind.</p> + +<p>The severity of military discipline has even a +worse effect than those yet alluded to in its tendency +to demoralise those who are long subject to it, by inducing +mental habits of servility and baseness. After +Alexander the Great had killed Clitus in a fit of +drunken rage, the Macedonian soldiery voted that +Clitus had been justly slain, and prayed that he might +not enjoy the rites of sepulture.<a name="FNanchor_296" id="FNanchor_296"></a><a href="#Footnote_296" class="fnanchor">[296]</a> Military servility +could scarcely go further than that, but such baseness +is only possible under a state of discipline which, to +make a soldier, unmakes a man, by depriving him of +all that distinguishes his species. Under no other than +military training, and in no other than the military +class, would the atrocities have been possible which +used to be perpetrated in the barrack riding-school +in the old flogging days. Officers and privates needed +the debasing influence of discipline to enable them to +look on as patient spectators at the sufferings of a +helpless comrade tortured by the cat-o’-nine tails. Sir +C. Napier said that as a subaltern he ‘frequently saw +600, 700, 800, 900, and 1,000 lashes sentenced by +regimental courts-martial and generally every lash<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</a></span> +inflicted;’ a feeling of horror would run through the +ranks at the first blows and some recruits would faint, +but that was all.<a name="FNanchor_297" id="FNanchor_297"></a><a href="#Footnote_297" class="fnanchor">[297]</a> Had they been men and not +soldiers, they would not have stood such iniquities. +A typical instance of this martial justice or law (to +employ the conventional profanation of those words) +was that of a sergeant who in 1792 was sentenced to +1,000 lashes for having enlisted two drummers for +the East India Company whom he knew to belong +already to the Foot Guards; but the classical description +of an English flogging will always be Somerville’s +account of its infliction upon himself in his ‘Autobiography +of a Working Man.’<a name="FNanchor_298" id="FNanchor_298"></a><a href="#Footnote_298" class="fnanchor">[298]</a> There you may +read how the regiment was drawn up four-deep inside +the riding-school; how the officers (men of gentle +birth and breeding) stood within the lines of the men; +how the basin of water and towels were ready prepared +in case the victim should faint; how the hands +and feet of the latter were fastened to a ladder by a +rope; and how the regimental sergeant-major stood +with book and pencil coolly counting each stroke as it +was delivered with slow and deliberate torture till the +full complement of a hundred lashes had been inflicted. +The mere reading of it even now is enough to make +the blood boil, but that men, brave and freeborn, +should have stood by in their hundreds and seen the +actual reality without stirring, proves how utterly all +human feeling is eradicable by discipline, and how +sure is the training it supplies in disregard for the +common claims of humanity.</p> + +<p>Happily, floggings in the English army now count<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</a></span> +among the curiosities of military discipline, like the +wooden horse or the thumb-screw; but the striking +thing is that the discipline, in the sense of the good +conduct of the army in the field, was never worse +than in the days when 1,000 lashes were common +sentences. It was precisely when courts-martial had +the legal power to exercise such tyranny that the Duke +of Wellington complained to Lord Castlereagh that +the law was not strong enough to maintain discipline +in an army upon actual service.<a name="FNanchor_299" id="FNanchor_299"></a><a href="#Footnote_299" class="fnanchor">[299]</a> Speaking of the +army in the Peninsula he says: ‘It is impossible to +describe to you the irregularities and outrages committed +by the troops; ... there is not an outrage of +any description which has not been committed on a +people who have received us as friends by soldiers +who never yet for one moment suffered the slightest +want or the smallest privation.... We are an excellent +army on parade, an excellent one to fight, but +we are worse than an enemy in a country.’ And again +a few months later: ‘I really believe that more plunder +and outrage have been committed by this army than +by any other that was ever in the field.’ In the +general order of May 19, 1809, are these words: ‘The +officers of companies must attend to the men in their +quarters as well as on the march, or the army will +soon be no better than a banditti.’<a name="FNanchor_300" id="FNanchor_300"></a><a href="#Footnote_300" class="fnanchor">[300]</a></p> + +<p>Whence it is fair to infer that severity of discipline +has no necessary connection with the good behaviour +or easy control of troops in the field, such discipline +under the Iron Duke himself having been conspicuous<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</a></span> +for so lamentable a failure. The real fact would seem +to be, that troops are difficult to manage just in proportion +to the rigour, the monotony, and the dulness +of the discipline imposed upon them in time of peace; +the rebound corresponding to the compression, by a +moral law that seems to follow the physical one. This +fact is nowhere better noticed than in Lord Wolseley’s +narrative of the China war of 1860, where he says, in +allusion to the general love of pillage and destruction +that characterises soldiers and was so conspicuously +displayed at the shameful burning of the beautiful +palaces in and round Pekin: ‘Soldiers are nothing +more than grown-up schoolboys. The wild moments +of enjoyment passed in the pillage of a place live long +in a soldier’s memory.... Such a time forms so +marked a contrast with the ordinary routine of existence +passed under the tight hand of discipline that it +becomes a remarkable event in life and is remembered +accordingly.’<a name="FNanchor_301" id="FNanchor_301"></a><a href="#Footnote_301" class="fnanchor">[301]</a></p> + +<p>The experience of the Peninsular war proves how +slender is the link between a well-drilled and a well-disciplined +army. The best disciplined army is the +one which conducts itself with least excess in the field +and is least demoralised by victory. It is the hour of +victory that is the great test of the value of military +regulations; and so well aware of this was the best +disciplined State of antiquity, that the soldiers of +Sparta desisted from pursuit as soon as victory was +assured to them, partly because it was deemed ungenerous +to destroy those who could make no further +resistance (a sentiment absolutely wanting from the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</a></span> +boasted chivalry of Christian warfare), and partly that +the enemy might be tempted to prefer flight to resistance. +It is a reproach to modern generalship that it +has been powerless to restrain such excesses as those +which have made the successful storming of cities +rather a disgrace than an honour to those who have +won them. The only way to check them is to make +the officers responsible for what occurs, as might be +done, for instance, by punishing a general capitally +for storming a city with forces so badly disciplined +as to nullify the advantages of success. An English +military writer, speaking of the storming of Ismail +and Praga by the Russians under Suwarrow, says +truly that ‘posterity will hold the fame and honour +of the commander responsible for the life of every +human being sacrificed by disciplined armies beyond +the fair verge of battle;’ but it is idle to speak as if +only Russian armies were guilty of such excesses, or +to say that nothing but the prospect of them could +tempt the Russian soldier to mount the breach or +the scaling-ladder. The Russian soldier in history +yields not one whit to the English or French in +bravery, nor is there a grain of difference between +the Russian storming of Ismail and Praga and the +English storming of Ciudad Rodrigo, Badajoz, or San +Sebastian, that tarnished the lustre of the British arms +in the famous Peninsular war.</p> + +<p>And should we be tempted to think that successes +like these associated with the names of these places +may be so important in war as to outweigh all other +considerations, we must also not forget that the permanent +military character of nations, for humanity or<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</a></span> +the reverse, counts for more in the long run of a +people’s history than any advantage that can possibly +be gained in a single campaign.</p> + +<p>Enough has, perhaps, been said of the unpopularity +of military service, and of the obvious causes +thereof, to make it credible that, had the system of +conscription never been resorted to in Europe, and the +principle of voluntary enlistment remained intact and +universal, the difficulty of procuring the human fighting +material in sufficient quantities would in course +of time have rendered warfare impossible. As other +industries than mere fighting have won their way in +the world, the difficulty of hiring recruits to sell their +lives to their country has kept even pace with the +facility of obtaining livelihoods in more regular and +more lucrative as well as less miserable avocations. +In the fourteenth century soldiers were very highly +paid compared with other classes, and the humblest +private received a daily wage equivalent to that of a +skilled mechanic;<a name="FNanchor_302" id="FNanchor_302"></a><a href="#Footnote_302" class="fnanchor">[302]</a> but the historical process has so +far reversed matters that now the pay of the humblest +mechanic would compare favourably with that of all +the fighting grades lower than the commissioned and +warrant ranks. Consequently, every attempt to make +the service popular has as yet been futile, no amelioration +of it enabling it to compete with pacific occupations. +The private’s pay was raised from sixpence +to a shilling during the wars of the French Revolution;<a name="FNanchor_303" id="FNanchor_303"></a><a href="#Footnote_303" class="fnanchor">[303]</a> +and before that it was found necessary, about +the time of the war with the American colonies, to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</a></span> +bribe men to enlist by the system (since abolished) of +giving bounties at the time of enlistment. Previous +to the introduction of the bounty system, a guinea to +provide the recruit with necessaries and a crown +wherewith to drink the king’s health was all that was +given upon enlistment, the service itself (with the +chances of loot and the allied pleasures) having been +bounty enough.<a name="FNanchor_304" id="FNanchor_304"></a><a href="#Footnote_304" class="fnanchor">[304]</a> Even the system of bounties proved +attractive only to boys; for as the English statesman +said, whose name is honourably associated with the first +change in our system from enlistment for life to enlistment +for a limited period, ‘men grown up with all the +grossness and ignorance and consequent want of consideration +incident to the lower classes’ were too wary +to accept the offers of the recruiting department.<a name="FNanchor_305" id="FNanchor_305"></a><a href="#Footnote_305" class="fnanchor">[305]</a></p> + +<p>The shortening of the term of service in 1806 and +subsequently the increase of pay, the mitigation of +punishments, must all be understood as attempts to +render the military life more attractive and more capable +of competing with other trades; but that they +have all signally failed is proved by the chronic and +ever-increasing difficulty of decoying recruits. The +little pamphlet, published by authority and distributed +gratis at every post-office in the kingdom, showing +forth ‘the Advantages of the Army’ in their rosiest +colours, cannot counteract the influence of the oral +evidence of men, who, after a short period of service, +are dispersed to all corners of the country, with their +tales of military misery to tell, confirming and propagating +that popular theory of a soldier’s life which<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</a></span> +sees in it a sort of earthly purgatory for faults of +character acquired in youth, a calling only to be +adopted by those whose antecedents render industry +distasteful to them, and unfit them for more useful +pursuits.</p> + +<p>The same difficulty of recruiting was felt in France +and Germany in the last century, when voluntary +enlistment was still the rule. In that curious old +military book, Fleming’s ‘Volkommene Teutsche +Soldat,’ is a picture of the recruiting officer, followed +by trumpeters and drummers, parading the streets, +and shaking a hat full of silver coins near a table +spread with the additional temptations of wine and +beer.<a name="FNanchor_306" id="FNanchor_306"></a><a href="#Footnote_306" class="fnanchor">[306]</a> But it soon became necessary to supplement +this system by coercive methods; and when the +habitual neglect of the wounded and the great +number of needless wars made it difficult or impossible +to fill up the ranks with fresh recruits, the +German authorities resorted to a regular system of +kidnapping, taking men as they could get them from +their ploughs, their churches, or even from their very +beds.</p> + +<p>In France, too, Louis XIV. had to resort to force +for filling his ranks in the war of the Spanish Succession; +although the system of recruiting remained +nominally voluntary till very much later. The total +cost of a French recruit amounted to ninety-two +livres; but the length of his service, though it was +changed from time to time from periods varying from +three to eight years, never exceeded the latter limit, nor +came to be for life as it did practically in England.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</a></span></p> + +<p>The experience of other countries proves, therefore, +that England will sooner or later adopt the +principle of conscription or cease to waste blood and +money in Continental quarrels. The conscription +will be for her the only possible way of obtaining an +army at all, or one at all commensurate with those of +her possible European rivals. We should not forget +that in 1878, when we were on the verge of a war +with Russia (and we live always on the verge of a war +with Russia), our best military experts met and agreed +that only by means of compulsory service could we +hope to cope with our enemy with any chance of +success. And the conscription, whether under a free +government or not, means a tyranny compared to which +the tyrannies of the Tudors or Stuarts were as a yoke +of silk to a yoke of iron. It would matter little that +it should lead to or involve a political despotism, +for the greater despotism would ever be the military +one, crushing out all individuality, moral liberty, and +independence, and consigning to the soul-destroying +routine of petty military details all the talent, taste, +knowledge, and wealth of our country, which have +hitherto given it a distinctive character in history, and +a foremost place among the nations of the earth.</p> + +<p>In the year 1702 a woman served as a captain in +the French army with such signal bravery that she +was rewarded with the Order of St. Louis. Nor was +this the only result; for the episode roused a serious +debate in the world, whether, or not, military service +might be expected of, or exacted from, the female sex +generally.<a name="FNanchor_307" id="FNanchor_307"></a><a href="#Footnote_307" class="fnanchor">[307]</a> Why, then, should the conscription be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</a></span> +confined to one half only of a population, in the face +of so many historical instances of women who have +shown pre-eminent, or at least average, military capacity? +And if military service is so ennobling and +excellent a thing, as it is said to be, for the male +population of a country, why not also for the female? +Or as we may be sure that it would be to the last +degree debasing for the latter half of the community, +may we not suspect that the reasoning is altogether +sophistical which claims other effects as the consequence +of its operation on the stronger sex?</p> + +<p>What those effects are likely to be on the further +development of European civilisation, we are as yet +scarcely in a position to judge. We are still living +only on the threshold of the change, and can hardly +estimate the ultimate effect on human life of the +transference to the whole male population of a country +of the habits and vices previously confined to only a +section of it. But this at least is certain, that at +present every prediction which ushered in the change +is being falsified from year to year. This universal +service which we call the conscription was, we were +told, to usher in a sort of millennium; it was to +have the effect of humanising warfare; of raising the +moral tone of armies; and of securing peace, by +making the prospect of its alternative too appalling +to mankind. Not only has it done none of these +things, but there are even indications of consequences +the very reverse. The amenities that cast occasional +gleams over the professional hostilities of the eighteenth +century, as when, for instance, Crillon besieging +Gibraltar sent a cart-load of carrots to the English<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</a></span> +governor, whose men were dying of scurvy, have +passed altogether out of the pale of possibility, and +given place to a hatred between the combatant forces +that is tempered by no courtesy nor restrained by the +shadow of humanity. Whole nations, instead of a +particular class, have been familiarised with deeds of +robbery and bloodshed, and parted with a large part +of their leisure once available for progress in industry. +War itself is at any given moment infinitely more +probable than it used to be, from the constant expectation +of it which comes of constant preparation; +nothing having been proved falser by history than +the popular paradox which has descended to us from +Vegetius that the preparation for war is the high road +to peace.<a name="FNanchor_308" id="FNanchor_308"></a><a href="#Footnote_308" class="fnanchor">[308]</a> When, one may ask, has the world not +been prepared for war, and how then has it had so +much of it? And as to the higher moral tone likely +to spring from universal militarism, of what kind may +we expect it to be, when we read in a work by the +greatest living English general, destined, Carlyle +hoped, one day to make short work of Parliament, +such an exposition as the following of the relation +between the moral duties of a soldier and those of a +civilian: ‘He (the soldier) must be taught to believe +that his duties are the noblest which fall to a man’s +lot. He must be taught to despise all those of civil +life. Soldiers, like missionaries, must be fanatics.’<a name="FNanchor_309" id="FNanchor_309"></a><a href="#Footnote_309" class="fnanchor">[309]</a></p> + +<p>Erasmus once observed in a letter to a friend how +little it mattered to most men to what nationality they +belonged, seeing that it was only a question of paying<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</a></span> +taxes to Thomas instead of to John, or to John +instead of to Thomas; but it becomes a matter of +even less importance when it is only a question of +being trained for murder and bloodshed in the drill-yards +of this or that government. What is it to a +conscript whether it is for France or Germany that +he is forced to undergo drill and discipline, when the +insipidity of the drill and the tyranny of the discipline +is the same in either case? If the old definition +of a man as a reasoning animal is to be exchanged +for that of a fighting animal, and the claims of a +country upon a man are to be solely or mainly in +respect of his fighting utility, it is evident that the +relation is altered between the individual and his +country, and that there is no longer any tie of affection +between them, nor anything to make one nationality +different from or preferable to another. This is +clearly the tendency of the conscription; and it is +already remarkable how it has lessened those earlier +and narrower views of patriotism which were the +pretext formerly for so many trials of strength between +nations. What, then, are the probable ultimate +effects of this innovation on the development and +maintenance of the peace in Europe?</p> + +<p>The conscription, by reducing the idea of a country +to that merely of a military despotism, has naturally +caused the differences between nations to sink into a +secondary place, and to be superseded by those differences +of class, opinions, and interests which are +altogether independent of nationality, and regardless +of the barriers of language or geography. Thus the +artisan of one country has learnt to regard his fellow-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</a></span>worker +of another country as in a much truer sense +his countryman than the priest or noble who, because +he lives in the same geographical area as himself, pays +his taxes to the same central government; and the +different political schools in the several countries of +Europe have far more in common with one another +than with the opposite party of their own nationality. +So that the first effect of that great military engine, +the conscription, has been to unloosen the bonds of +the idea of nationality which has so long usurped the +title to patriotism; to free us from that notion of our +duty towards our neighbour which bids us hate him +because he is our neighbour; and to diminish to that +extent the chances of war by the undermining of the +prejudice which has ever been its mainstay.</p> + +<p>But the conscription in laying one spectre has +raised another; for over against Nationalism, the +jealousy of nations, it has reared Socialism, the +jealousy of classes. It has done so, not only by +weakening the old national idea which kept the +rivalry of classes in abeyance, but by the pauperism, +misery, and discontent which are necessarily involved +in the addition it causes to military expenditure. The +increase caused by it is so enormous as to be almost +incredible. In France the annual military expenditure +is now about twenty-five million pounds, whereas +in 1869, before the new law of universal liability to +service, the total annual cost of the army was little +over fifteen millions, or the average annual cost of +the present army of Great Britain. ‘Nothing,’ said +Froissart, ‘drains a treasury like men-at-arms;’ +and it is probably below the truth to say that a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</a></span> +country is the poorer by a pound for every shilling +it expends upon its army. Thus by the nature of +things is Socialism seen to flow from the conscription; +and we have only to look at the recent history of +Europe to see how the former has grown and spread +in exact ratio to the extension of the latter. That +it does not yet prevail so widely in England as in +France, or Germany, or Russia is because as yet we +have not that compulsory military service for which +our military advisers are beginning to clamour.</p> + +<p>The growth of Socialism in its turn is not without +an effect that may prove highly beneficial as a solvent +of the militarism which is the uncompensated evil of +modern times. For it tends to compel the governments +of our different nationalities to draw closer together, +and, adopting some of the cosmopolitanism of their +common foe, to enter into league and union against +those enemies to actual institutions for whom militarism +itself is primarily responsible, owing to the +example so long set by it in methods of lawlessness, +to the sanction so long given by it to crime. With +Socialistic theories permeating every country, but +more especially those that groan under the conscription, +international jealousies are smothered and kept +down, and must, if the cause continues, ultimately die +out. Hence the curious result, but a result fraught +with hopefulness for the future, that the peace of the +world should owe itself now, in an indirect but clearly +traceable manner, to the military system which of all +others that was ever invented is the best calculated +to prevent and endanger it. But since this is merely +to say that the danger of foreign war is lessened by<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</a></span> +the imminent fear of civil war, little is gained by +the exchange of one peril for another. Socialism can +only be averted by removing the cause which gives +birth to it—namely, that unproductive expenditure +on military forces which intensifies and perpetuates +pauperism. So that the problem of the times for us +in England is not how we may obtain a more liberal +military expenditure, still less how we may compass +compulsory service; but rather how most speedily we +can disband our army—an ever-growing danger to +our peace and liberty—and how we can advance elsewhere +the cause of universal disarmament.</p> + +<hr class="chap" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX.</a><br /> +<span class="smaller">THE LIMITS OF MILITARY DUTY.</span></h2> + +<blockquote> + +<p><i>‘I confess when I went into arms at the beginning of this war, +I never troubled myself to examine sides; I was glad to hear the +drums beat for soldiers, as if I had been a mere Swiss, that had +not cared which side went up or down, so I had my pay.’</i>—<span class="smcap">Memoirs +of a Cavalier.</span></p></blockquote> + +<p class="summary">The old feeling of the moral stain of bloodshed—Military purificatory +customs—Modern change of feeling about warfare—Descartes on +the profession of arms—The old-world sentiment in favour of piracy—The +central question of military ethics—May a soldier be indifferent +to the cause of war?—The right to serve made conditional +on a good cause, by St. Augustine, Bullinger, Grotius, and Sir +James Turner—Old Greek feeling about mercenary service—Origin +of our mercenary as opposed to gratuitous service—Armies raised by +military contractors—The value of the distinction between foreign +and native mercenaries—Original limitation of military duty to the +actual defence of the realm—Extension of the notion of allegiance—The +connection of the military oath with the first Mutiny Act—Recognised +limits to the claims on a soldier’s obedience—The falsity +of the common doctrine of duty illustrated by the devastation of +the Palatinate by the French and by the bombardment of Copenhagen +by the English—The example of Admiral Keppel—Justice +between nations—Its observation in ancient India and Rome—St. +Augustine and Bayard on justice in war—Grotius on good grounds +of war—The military claim to exemption from moral responsibility—The +soldier’s first duty to his conscience—The admission of this +principle involves the end of war.</p> + +<p>It must needs be that new questions arise, or old +perplexities in a fresh form; and of these one that has +risen again in our time is this: Does any moral stain +attach to bloodshed committed upon the battle-field?<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</a></span> +Or is the difference between military and ordinary +homicide a real one, and does the plea of duty sanction +any act, however atrocious in the abstract, provided it +be committed under the uniform of the State?</p> + +<p>The general opinion is, of course, that no soldier +in his military capacity can be guilty of crime; but +opinion has not always been so fixed, and it is worth +noticing that in the forms of civilisation that preceded +our own, and in some existing modern races of lower +type than our own, traces clearly appear of a sense of +wrong attaching to any form of bloodshed whatever, +whether of fair battle or of base treachery, calling alike +for the purifying influences of expiation and cleansing. +In South Africa, for instance, the Basuto returning from +war proceeds with all his arms to the nearest stream, +to purify not only his own person but his javelins and +his battle-axe. The Zulu, too, practises ablutions on +the same occasion; and the Bechuana warrior wears a +rude kind of necklace, to remind him of the expiation +due from him to the slain, and to disperse the dreams +that might otherwise trouble him, and perhaps even +drive him to die of remorse.<a name="FNanchor_310" id="FNanchor_310"></a><a href="#Footnote_310" class="fnanchor">[310]</a></p> + +<p>The same feelings may be detected in the old world. +The Macedonians had a peculiar form of sacrificatory +purification, which consisted in cutting a dog in half +and leading the whole army, arrayed in full armour, +between the two parts.<a name="FNanchor_311" id="FNanchor_311"></a><a href="#Footnote_311" class="fnanchor">[311]</a> As the Bœotians had the +same custom, it was probably for the same reason. At +Rome, for the same purpose, a sheep, and a bull, and a +pig or boar, were every year led three times round the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[Pg 251]</a></span> +army and then sacrificed to Mars. In Jewish history +the prohibition to King David to build the temple was +expressly connected with the blood he had shed in +battle. In old Greek mythology Theseus held himself +unfit, without expiation, to be admitted to the mysteries +of Ceres, though the blood that stained his hands was +only that of thieves and robbers. And in the same +spirit Hector refused to make a libation to the gods +before he had purified his hands after battle. ‘With +unwashen hands,’ he said, ‘to pour out sparkling wine +to Zeus I dare not, nor is it ever the custom for one +soiled with the blood and dust of battle to offer prayers +to the god whose seat is in the clouds.’<a name="FNanchor_312" id="FNanchor_312"></a><a href="#Footnote_312" class="fnanchor">[312]</a></p> + +<p>For the cause of this feeling we may perhaps choose +between an almost instinctive reluctance to take human +life, and some such superstition as explains the necessity +for purification among the Basutos,—the idea, +namely, of escaping the revenge of the slain by the +medium of water.<a name="FNanchor_313" id="FNanchor_313"></a><a href="#Footnote_313" class="fnanchor">[313]</a> The latter explanation would be +in keeping with the not uncommon notion in savage +life of the inability of a spirit to cross running water, +and would help to account for the necessity there was +for a Hebrew to flee, or for a Greek to make some +expiation, even though only guilty of an act of unintentional +homicide. And in this way it is possible +that the sanctity of human life, which is one of the chief +marks, and should be one of the chief objects, of civilisation, +originated in the very same fear of a post-mortem +vengeance, which leads some savage tribes<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[Pg 252]</a></span> +to entreat pardon of the bear or elephant they have +slain after a successful chase.</p> + +<p>But, account as we like for the origin of the feeling, +its undoubted existence is the point of interest, for it is +easy to see that under slightly more favourable conditions +of history it might have ripened into a state +of thought which would have held the soldier and the +manslayer in equal abhorrence. Christianity in its +primitive form certainly aimed at and very nearly +effected the transition. In the Greek Church a Christian +soldier was debarred from the Eucharist for three +years if he had slain an enemy in battle; and the +Christian Church of the first three centuries would have +echoed the sentiment expressed by St. Cyprian in his +letter to Donatus: ‘Homicide when committed by an +individual is a crime, but a virtue when committed in +a public war; yet in the latter case it derives its impunity, +not from its abstract harmlessness, but solely +from the scale of its enormity.’</p> + +<p>The education of centuries has long since effaced +the earlier scruple; but there are tens of thousands of +Englishmen to whom the military profession is the last +they would voluntarily adopt, and it would be rash to +predict the impossibility of the revival of the older feeling, +or the dimensions it may ultimately assume. The +greatest poet of our time, who more than any other +living man has helped to lead European opinion into +new channels, may, perhaps, in the following lines +have anticipated the verdict of the coming time, and +divined an undercurrent of thought that is beginning +to flow even now amongst us with no inconsiderable +force of feeling:—</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[Pg 253]</a></span></p> + +<div class="center"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">La phrase, cette altière et vile courtisane,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Dore le meurtre en grand, fourbit la pertuisane,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Protège les soudards contre le sens commun,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Persuade les niais que tous sont faits pour un,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Prouve que la tuerie est glorieuse et bonne,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Déroute la logique et l’évidence, et donne<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Un sauf-conduit au crime à travers la raison.<a name="FNanchor_314" id="FNanchor_314"></a><a href="#Footnote_314" class="fnanchor">[314]</a><br /></span> +</div></div></div> + +<p>The destruction of the romance of war by the +greater publicity given to its details through the +medium of the press clearly tends to strengthen this +feeling, by tempering popular admiration for military +success with a cooling admixture of horror and disgust. +Take, for instance, the following description of the +storming of the Egyptian trenches at Tel-el-Kebir, by +an eye-witness of it:—‘In the redoubts into which +our men were swarming the Egyptians, throwing +away their arms, were found cowering, terror-stricken, +in the corners of the works, to hide themselves from +our men. Although they had made such a contemptible +exhibition, from a soldierly point of view, it +was impossible to help pitying the poor wretches as +they huddled together; <i>it seemed so much like rats in +a pit when the terrier has set to work</i>.’ And some +2,500 of them were afterwards buried on the spot, +most of them killed by bayonet wounds in the back.</p> + +<p>This is an instance of the <i>tuerie</i> that Victor Hugo +speaks of, which we all call glorious when we meet in +the streets, reserving, some of us, another opinion for +the secret chamber. Still, when it comes to comparing +the work of a victory to that of a terrier in a rat-pit, +it must be admitted that the realism of war threatens<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[Pg 254]</a></span> +to become more repellent than its romance was once +attractive, and to deter men more and more from the +choice of a profession of which similar disgusting +scenes are the common and the probable episodes.</p> + +<p>Descartes, the father of modern philosophy and of +free thought, who, from a youthful love for arms and +camp-life, which he attributed to a certain heat of liver, +began life in the army, actually gave up his military +career for the reasons which he thus expressed in a letter +to a friend: ‘Although custom and example render the +profession of arms the noblest of all, I, for my own +part, who only regard it like a philosopher, value it at +its proper worth, and, indeed, I find it very difficult +to give it a place among the honourable professions, +seeing that idleness and licentiousness are the two +principal motives which now attract most men to +it.’<a name="FNanchor_315" id="FNanchor_315"></a><a href="#Footnote_315" class="fnanchor">[315]</a></p> + +<p>Of course no one in modern times would come +to the same conclusions as Descartes for the same +reasons, the discipline of our armies being somewhat +more serious than it was in the first half of the seventeenth +century. Nevertheless, it is impossible to +read of the German campaign in France without +hoping, for the good of the world, that the inevitable +association of war with the most revolting forms of +crime therein displayed, may some day produce a +general state of sentiment similar to that anticipated +by Descartes.</p> + +<p>It may be, said that the example of Descartes +proves and indicates nothing; and we may feel +pretty sure that his scruples seemed extravagantly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[Pg 255]</a></span> +absurd to his contemporaries, if he suffered them to +know them. Nevertheless, he might have appealed +to several well-known historical facts as a reason +against too hasty a condemnation of his apparent +super-sensitiveness. He might have argued that the +profession of a pirate once reflected no more moral +discredit than that of a soldier did in his days; that +the pirate’s reply to Alexander, that he infested the +seas by the same right wherewith the conqueror +devastated the land, conveyed a moral sentiment +once generally accepted, nor even then quite extinct; +that in the days of Homer it was as natural to ask a +seafarer whether he were a freebooter as whether he +were a merchant; that so late in Greek history as +the time of Thucydides, several tribes on the mainland +of Greece still gloried in piracy, and accounted +their plunder honourably won; and that at Rome +the Cilician pirates, whom it devolved on Pompey to +disperse, were joined by persons of wealth, birth, and +education, ‘as if,’ says Plutarch, ‘their employment +were worthy of the ambition of men of honour.’</p> + +<p>Remembering, therefore, these things, and the +fact that not so very many centuries ago public +opinion was so lenient to the practice of bishops +and ecclesiastics taking an active part in warfare that +they commonly did so in spite of canons and councils +to the contrary, it is a fair subject for speculation +whether the moral opinion of the future may not +come to coincide with the feeling of Descartes, and it +behoves us to keep our minds alive to possibilities of +change in this matter, already it would seem in process +of formation. Who will venture to predict what may<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[Pg 256]</a></span> +be the effect of the rise of the general level of education, +and of the higher moral life of our time, on +the popular judgment of even fifty years hence regarding +a voluntarily adopted military life?</p> + +<p>We may, perhaps, attribute it to the extreme +position taken up with regard to military service by +the Quakers and Mennonites that the example of +Descartes had so slight a following. That thick +phalanx of our kind who fondly mistake their own +mental timidity for moderation, perpetually make use +of the doctrines of extremists as an excuse for tolerating +or even defending what in the abstract they +admit to be evil; and it was unfortunately with this +moderate party that Grotius elected to throw in his +lot. No one admitted more strongly the evils of war. +The reason he himself gave for writing his ‘De Jure +Pacis et Belli’ was the licence he saw prevailing +throughout Christendom in resorting to hostilities; +recourse had to arms for slight motives or for none; +and when war was once begun an utter rejection of +all reverence for divine or human law, just as if the +unrestrained commission of every crime became +thenceforth legitimate. Yet, instead of throwing the +weight of his judgment into the scale of opinion +which opposed the custom altogether (though he did +advocate an international tribunal that should decide +differences and compel obedience to its decisions), he +only tried to shackle it with rules of decency that are +absolutely foreign to it, with the result, after all, that +he did very little to humanise wars, and nothing to +make them less frequent.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, though Grotius admitted the abstract<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[Pg 257]</a></span> +lawfulness of military service, he made it conditional +on a thorough conviction of the righteousness of the +cause at issue. This is the great and permanent +merit of his work, and it is here that we touch on the +pivot or central question of military ethics. The +orthodox theory is, that with the cause of war a +soldier has no concern, and that since the matter in +contention is always too complicated for him to judge +of its merits, his only duty is to blindfold his reason +and conscience, and rush whithersoever his services +are commanded. Perhaps the best exposition of this +simple military philosophy is that given by Shakespeare +in his scene of the eve of Agincourt, where +Henry V., in disguise, converses with some soldiers of +the English army. ‘Methinks,’ says the king, ‘I could +not die anywhere so contented as in the king’s company, +his cause being just and his quarrel honourable.’</p> + +<p><i>William.</i> ‘That’s more than we know.’</p> + +<p><i>Bates.</i> ‘Ay, or more than we should seek after, +for we know enough if we know we are the king’s +subjects. If his cause be wrong, our obedience to +the king wipes the crime of it out of us.’</p> + +<p>Yet the whisper of our own day is, Does it? For +a soldier, nowadays, enjoys equally with the civilian, +who by his vote contributes to prevent or promote +hostilities, the greater facilities afforded by the spread +of knowledge for the exercise of his judgment; and +it is to subject him to undeserved ignominy to debar +him from the free use of his intellect, as if he were a +minor or an imbecile, incompetent to think for himself. +Putting even the difficulty of decision at its +worst, it can never be greater for the soldier than it is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[Pg 258]</a></span> +for the voter; and if the former is incompetent to +form an opinion, whence does the peasant or mechanic +derive his ability? Moreover, the existence of a just +and good cause has always been the condition insisted +on as alone capable of sanctioning military service by +writers of every shade of thought—by St. Augustine +as representing the early Catholic Church, by Bullinger +or Becon as representatives of the early Reformed +Church, and by Grotius as representative of +the modern school of publicists. Grotius contends +that no citizen or subject ought to take part in an +unjust war, even if he be commanded to do so. He +openly maintains that disobedience to orders is in +such a case a lesser evil than the guilt of homicide +that would be incurred by fighting. He inclines to +the opinion that, where the cause of war seems +doubtful, a man would do better to refrain from +service, and to leave the king to employ those whose +readiness to fight might be less hampered by questions +of right and wrong, and of whom there would +always be a plentiful supply. Without these reservations +he regards the soldier’s task as so much the +more detestable than the executioner’s, as manslaughter +without a cause is more heinous than manslaughter +with one,<a name="FNanchor_316" id="FNanchor_316"></a><a href="#Footnote_316" class="fnanchor">[316]</a> and thinks no kind of life more +wicked than that of men who, without regard for the +cause of war, fight for hire, and to whom the question of +right is equivalent to the question of the highest wage.<a name="FNanchor_317" id="FNanchor_317"></a><a href="#Footnote_317" class="fnanchor">[317]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[Pg 259]</a></span></p> + +<p>These are strong opinions and expressions, and +as their general acceptance would logically render +war impossible, it is no small gain to have in their +favour so great an authority as Grotius. But it is an +even greater gain to be able to quote on the same +side an actual soldier. Sir James Turner at the end +of his military treatise called ‘Pallas Armata,’ published +in 1683, came to conclusions which, though +adverse to Grotius, contain some remarkable admissions +and show the difference that two centuries have +made on military maxims with regard to this subject. +‘It is no sin for a mere soldier,’ he says, ‘to serve for +wages, unless his conscience tells him he fights in an +unjust cause.’ Again, ‘That soldier who serves or +fights for any prince or State for wages in a cause he +knows to be unjust, sins damnably.’ He even argues +that soldiers whose original service began for a just +cause, and who are constrained by their military +oaths to continue in service for a new and unjust +cause of war, ought to ‘desert their employment and +suffer anything that could be done to them before +they draw their swords against their own conscience +and judgments in an unjust quarrel.’<a name="FNanchor_318" id="FNanchor_318"></a><a href="#Footnote_318" class="fnanchor">[318]</a></p> + +<p>These moral sentiments of a military man of the +seventeenth century are absolutely alien to the military +doctrines of the present day; and his remarks +on wages recall yet another important landmark of +ancient thought that has been removed by the progress +of time. Early Greek opinion justly made +no distinction between the mercenary who served<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[Pg 260]</a></span> +a foreign country and the mercenary who served his +own. All hired military service was regarded as +disgraceful, nor would anyone of good birth have +dreamt of serving his own country save at his own +expense. The Carians rendered their names infamous +as the first of the Greek race who served for +pay; whilst at Athens Pericles introduced the custom +of supporting the poorer defenders of their country out +of the exchequer.<a name="FNanchor_319" id="FNanchor_319"></a><a href="#Footnote_319" class="fnanchor">[319]</a> Afterwards, of course, no people +ever committed itself more eagerly to the pursuit +of mercenary warfare.</p> + +<p>In England also gratuitous military service was +originally the condition of the feudal tenure of land, +nor was anyone bound to serve the king for more +than a certain number of days in the year, forty being +generally the longest term. For all service in excess +of the legal limit the king was obliged to pay; and +in this way, and by the scutage tax, by which many +tenants bought themselves off from their strict obligations, +the principle of a paid military force was +recognised from the time of the Conquest. But the +chief stipendiary forces appear to have been foreign +mercenaries, supported, not out of the commutation +tax, but out of the king’s privy purse, and still more +out of the loot won from their victims in war. These +were those soldiers of fortune, chiefly from Flanders, +Brabançons, or Routers, whose excesses as brigands +led to their excommunication by the Third Lateran +Council (1179), and to their destruction by a crusade +three years later.<a name="FNanchor_320" id="FNanchor_320"></a><a href="#Footnote_320" class="fnanchor">[320]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[Pg 261]</a></span></p> + +<p>But the germ of our modern recruiting system must +rather be looked for in those military contracts or indentures, +by which from about the time of Edward III. +it became customary to raise our forces: some powerful +subject contracting with the king, in consideration of a +certain sum, to provide soldiers for a certain time and +task. Thus in 1382 the war-loving Bishop of Norwich +contracted with Richard II. to provide 2,500 men-at-arms +and 2,500 archers for a year’s service in France, +in consideration of the whole fifteenth that had been +voted by Parliament for the war.<a name="FNanchor_321" id="FNanchor_321"></a><a href="#Footnote_321" class="fnanchor">[321]</a> In the same way +several bishops indented to raise soldiers for Henry V. +And thus a foreign war became a mere matter of +business and hire, and armies to fight the French were +raised by speculative contractors, very much as men +are raised nowadays to make railways or take part +in other works needful for the public at large. The +engagement was purely pecuniary and commercial, +and was entirely divested of any connection with +conscience or patriotism. On the other hand, the +most obviously just cause of war, that of national +defence in case of invasion, continued to be altogether +disconnected with pay, and remained so much the +duty of the militia or capable male population of the +country, that both Edward III. and Richard II. directed +writs even to archbishops and bishops to arm and array +all abbots, priors, and monks, between the ages of +sixteen and sixty, for the defence of the kingdom.<a name="FNanchor_322" id="FNanchor_322"></a><a href="#Footnote_322" class="fnanchor">[322]</a></p> + +<p>Originally, therefore, the paid army of England, +as opposed to the militia, implied the introduction of +a strictly mercenary force consisting indifferently of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[Pg 262]</a></span> +natives or foreigners, into our military system. But +clearly there was no moral difference between the +two classes of mercenaries so engaged. The hire, and +not the cause, being the main consideration of both, +the Englishman and the Brabançon were equally mercenaries +in the ordinary acceptation of the term. The +prejudice against mercenaries either goes too far or +not far enough. If a Swiss or an Italian hiring himself +to fight for a cause about which he was ignorant +or indifferent was a mercenary soldier, so was an +Englishman who with equal ignorance and indifference +accepted the wages offered him by a military +contractor of his own nation. Either the conduct of +the Swiss was blameless, or the Englishman’s moral +delinquency was the same as his.</p> + +<p>The public opinion of former times regarded +both, of course, as equally blameless, or rather as +equally meritorious. And it is worth noticing that +the word <i>mercenary</i> was applied alike to the hired +military servant of his own as of another country. +Shakespeare, for instance, applies the term mercenary +to the 1,600 Frenchmen of low degree slain at +Agincourt, whom Monstrelet distinguishes from the +10,000 Frenchmen of position who lost their lives on +that memorable day—</p> + +<div class="center"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i6">In this ten thousand they have lost,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">There are but sixteen hundred mercenaries.<br /></span> +</div></div></div> + +<p>And even so late as 1756, the original signification +of the word had so little changed, that in the +great debate in the House of Lords on the Militia Bill +of that year Lord Temple and several other orators<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[Pg 263]</a></span> +spoke of the national standing army as an army of +<i>mercenaries</i>, without making any distinction between +the Englishmen and the Hessians who served in it.<a name="FNanchor_323" id="FNanchor_323"></a><a href="#Footnote_323" class="fnanchor">[323]</a></p> + +<p>The moral distinction that now prevails between +the paid service of natives and of foreigners is, therefore, +of comparatively recent origin. It was one of +the features of the Reformation in Switzerland that +its leaders insisted for the first time on a moral difference +between Swiss soldiers who served their own +country for pay, and those who with equal bravery and +credit sold their strength to the service of the highest +foreign bidder.</p> + +<p>Zwingli, and after him his disciple Bullinger, +effected a change in the moral sentiment of Switzerland +equivalent to that which a man would effect +nowadays who should persuade men to discountenance +or abandon military service of any kind for pay. One +of the great obstacles to Zwingli’s success was his +decided protest against the right of any Swiss to sell +himself to foreign governments for the commission of +bloodshed, regardless of any injury in justification; +and it was mainly on that account that Bullinger +succeeded in 1549 in preventing a renewal of the +alliance or military contract between the cantons and +Henry II. of France. ‘When a private individual,’ +he said, ‘is free to enrol himself or not, and engages +himself to fight against the friends and allies of his +sovereign, I know not whether he does not hire himself +to commit homicide, and whether he does not act +like the gladiators, who, to amuse the Roman people, +let themselves to the first comer to kill one another.’</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[Pg 264]</a></span></p> + +<p>But it is evident that, except with a reservation +limiting a man’s service to a just national cause, +Bullinger’s argument will also apply to the case of a +hired soldier of his own country. The duty of every +man to defend his country in case of invasion is intelligible +enough; and it is very important to notice +that originally in no country did the duty of military +obedience mean more. In 1297 the High Constable +and Marshal of England refused to muster the forces +to serve Edward I. in Flanders, on the plea that +neither they nor their ancestors were obliged to serve +the king outside his dominions;<a name="FNanchor_324" id="FNanchor_324"></a><a href="#Footnote_324" class="fnanchor">[324]</a> and Sir E. Coke’s +ruling in Calvin’s case,<a name="FNanchor_325" id="FNanchor_325"></a><a href="#Footnote_325" class="fnanchor">[325]</a> that Englishmen are bound to +attend the king in his wars as well without as within +the realm, and that their allegiance is not local but +indefinite, was not accepted by writers on the constitution +of the country. The existing militia oath, which +strictly limits obedience to the defence of the realm, +covered the whole military duty of our ancestors; +and it was only the innovation of the military contract +that prepared the way for our modern idea of +the soldier’s duty as unqualified and unlimited with +regard to cause and place and time. The very word +<i>soldier</i> meant originally stipendiary, his pay or <i>solde</i> +(from the Latin <i>solidum</i>) coming to constitute his +chief characteristic. From a servant hired for a certain +task for a certain time the steps were easy to a +servant whose hire bound him to any task and for the +whole of his life. The existing military oath, which +binds a recruit and practically compels him as much<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[Pg 265]</a></span> +to a war of aggression as of defence at the bidding +of the executive, owes its origin to the revolution of +1689, when the refusal of Dumbarton’s famous Scotch +regiment to serve their new master, William III., in +the defence of Holland against France, rendered it +advisable to pass the Mutiny Act, containing a more +stringent definition of military duty by an oath +couched in extremely general terms. Such has been +the effect of time in confirming this newer doctrine of +the contract implied by the military status, that the +defence of the monarch ‘in person, crown, and dignity +against all enemies,’ to which the modern recruit +pledges himself at his attestation, would be held to +bind the soldier not to withhold his services were he +called upon to exercise them in the planet Mars itself.</p> + +<p>Hence it appears to be an indisputable fact of +history that the modern military theory of Europe, +which demands complete spiritual self-abandonment +and unqualified obedience on the part of a soldier, is +a distinct trespass outside the bounds of the original +and, so to speak, constitutional idea of military duty; +and that in our own country it is as much an encroachment +on the rights of Englishmen as it is on the wider +rights of man.</p> + +<p>But what is the value of the theory itself, even if +we take no account of the history of its growth? If +military service precludes a man from discussing the +justice of the end pursued in a war, it can hardly be +disputed that it equally precludes him from inquiries +about the means, and that if he is bound to consider +himself as fighting in any case for a lawful cause he +has no right to bring his moral sense to bear upon the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[Pg 266]</a></span> +details of the service required of him. But here occurs +a loophole, a flaw, in the argument; for no subject +nor soldier can be compelled to serve as a spy, however +needful such service may be. That proves that +a limit does exist to the claims on a soldier’s obedience. +And Vattel mentions as a common occurrence the +refusal of troops to act when the cruelty of the deeds +commanded of them exposed them to the danger of +savage reprisals. ‘Officers,’ he says, ‘who had the +highest sense of honour, though ready to shed their +blood in a field of battle for their prince’s service, have +not thought it any part of their duty to run the +hazard of an ignominious death,’ such as was involved +in the execution of such behests. Yet why not, if +their prince or general commanded them? By what +principle of morality or common sense were they +justified in declining a particular service as too +iniquitous for them and yet in holding themselves +bound to the larger iniquity of an aggressive war? +What right has a machine to choose or decide between +good and bad any more than between just and unjust? +Its moral incompetence must be thoroughgoing, or +else in no case afford an extenuating plea. You +must either grant it everything or nothing, or else +offer a rational explanation for your rule of distinction. +For it clearly needs explaining, why, if there +are orders which a soldier is not bound to obey, if +there are cases where he is competent to discuss the +moral nature of the services required of him, it should +not also be open to him to discuss the justice of the +war itself of which those services are merely incidents.</p> + +<p>Let us turn from the abstract to the concrete,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[Pg 267]</a></span> +and take two instances as a test of the principle. +In 1689, Marshal Duras, commander of the French +army of the Rhine, received orders to destroy the +Palatinate, and make a desert between France and +Germany, though neither the Elector nor his people +had done the least injury to France. Did a single +soldier, did a single officer quail or hesitate? Voltaire +tells us that many officers felt shame in acting as the +instrument of this iniquity of Louis XIV., but they +acted nevertheless in accordance with their supposed +honour, and with the still orthodox theory of military +duty. They stopped short at no atrocity. They cut +down the fruit-trees, they tore down the vines, they +burnt the granaries; they set fire to villages, to +country-houses, to castles; they desecrated the tombs +of the ancient German emperors at Spiers; they plundered +the churches; they reduced well-nigh to ashes +Oppenheim, Spiers, Worms, Mannheim, Heidelberg, +and other flourishing cities; they reduced 400,000 +human beings to homelessness and destruction—and +all in the name of military duty and military honour! +Yet, of a truth, those were dastardly deeds if ever +dastardly deeds have been done beneath the sun; and +it is the sheerest sophistry to maintain that the men +who so implicitly carried out their orders would not +have done more for their miserable honour, would +not have had a higher conception of duty, had they +followed the dictates of their reason and conscience +rather than those of their military superiors, and refused +to sacrifice their humanity to an overstrained +theory of their military obligation, and their memory +to everlasting execration.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[Pg 268]</a></span></p> + +<p>In the case of these destroyers military duty +meant simply military servility, and it was this reckless +servility that led Voltaire in his ‘Candide’ to +put into the mouth of his inimitable philosopher, +Martin, that definition of an army which tales like +the foregoing suggested and justified: ‘A million of +assassins, in regiments, traversing Europe from end +to end, and committing murder and brigandage by +rules of discipline for the sake of bread, because incompetent +to exercise any more honest calling.’<a name="FNanchor_326" id="FNanchor_326"></a><a href="#Footnote_326" class="fnanchor">[326]</a></p> + +<p>An English case of this century may be taken as +a parallel one to the French of the seventeenth, and as +an additional test of the orthodox military dogma +that with the cause of war a soldier has no concern. +It is the Copenhagen expedition of 1807, than which +no act of might within this century was more strongly +reprobated by the public opinion of Europe, and by +all but the Tory opinion of England. A fleet and +army having been sent to the Danish capital, and +the Danish Government having refused to surrender +their fleet, which was demanded as the alternative of +bombardment, the English military officials proceeded +to bombard the city, with infinite destruction and +slaughter, which were only stayed at last by the surrender +of the fleet as originally demanded. There was +no quarrel with Denmark at the time, there was no +complaint of injury; only the surrender of the fleet was +demanded. English public opinion was both excited +and divided about the morality of this act, which was +only justified on the plea that the Government was +in possession of a secret article of the Treaty of Tilsit<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[Pg 269]</a></span> +between Napoleon and the Czar of Russia, by which +the Danish fleet was to be made use of in an attack +upon England. But this secret article was not divulged, +according to Alison, till ten years afterwards,<a name="FNanchor_327" id="FNanchor_327"></a><a href="#Footnote_327" class="fnanchor">[327]</a> +and many disbelieved in its existence altogether, even +supposing that its existence would have been a good +case for war. Many military men therefore shared +in the feeling that condemned the act, yet they +scrupled not to contribute their aid to it. Were they +right? Read Sir C. Napier’s opinion of it at the +time, and then say where, in the case of a man so +thinking, would have lain his duty: ‘This Copenhagen +expedition—is it an unjust action for the general +good? Who can say that such a precedent is pardonable? +When once the line of justice has been +passed, there is no shame left. England has been +unjust.... Was not our high honour worth the +danger we might perhaps have risked in maintaining +that honour inviolate?’<a name="FNanchor_328" id="FNanchor_328"></a><a href="#Footnote_328" class="fnanchor">[328]</a></p> + +<p>These opinions, whether right or wrong, were +shared by many men in both services. Sir C. Napier +himself says: ‘Were there not plenty of soldiers who +thought these things wrong? ... but would it have +been possible to allow the army and navy ... to +decide upon the propriety of such attacks?’<a name="FNanchor_329" id="FNanchor_329"></a><a href="#Footnote_329" class="fnanchor">[329]</a> The +answer is, that if they did, whether allowed or not, +such things would be impossible, or, at all events, less +probable: which is the best reason possible for the +contention that they should. Had they done so in +this very instance, our historians would have been<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[Pg 270]</a></span> +spared the explanation of an episode that is a dark blot +upon our annals.</p> + +<p>A more pleasing precedent, therefore, than that of +the French officers in the Palatinate, or of the English +at Copenhagen, is the case of Admiral Keppel, who, +whilst numbers of naval officers flocked to the Admiralty +to offer their services or to request employment, +steadily declined to take part in the war of England +against her American colonies, because he deemed +her cause a bad one.<a name="FNanchor_330" id="FNanchor_330"></a><a href="#Footnote_330" class="fnanchor">[330]</a> He did no violence to his reason +or conscience nor tarnished his fame by acting a part, +of which in his individual capacity he disapproved. +His example is here held up as illustrating the only +true doctrine, and the only one that at all accords with +the most rudimentary principles of either religion or +morality. The contrary doctrine bids a man to forswear +the use of both his reason and his conscience in +consideration for his pay, and deprives him of that +liberty of thought and moral action compared with +which his civil and political liberty are nothing worth. +For what indeed is this contrary time-honoured doctrine +when stripped of all superfluities, and displayed +in the outfit of common sense and common words? +What is it but that the duty of military obedience +overrides all duty of a man towards himself; that, +though he may not voluntarily destroy his body, he +cannot do too much violence to his soul; that it is his +duty to annihilate his moral and intellectual being, to +commit spiritual suicide, to forego the use of the noblest +faculties which belong to him as a man; that to do all +this is a just cause of pride to him, and that he is in all<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[Pg 271]</a></span> +respects the nobler and better for assimilating himself +to that brainless and heartless condition which is that +also of his charger or his rifle?</p> + +<p>If this doctrine is true and sound, then it may be +asked whether there has ever been or exists upon +the earth any tyranny, ecclesiastical or political, comparable +to this military one; whether any but the baser +forms of priestcraft have ever sought to deprive a man +so completely of the enjoyment of his highest human +attributes, or to absolve him so utterly from all moral +responsibility for his actions.</p> + +<p>This position can scarcely be disputed, save by +denying the reality of any distinction between just and +unjust in international conduct; and against this denial +may be set not only the evidence of every age, but of +every language above the stage of mere barbarism. +Disregard of the difference is one of the best measures +of the civilisation of a people or epoch. We at once, +for instance, form a higher estimate of the civilisation +of ancient India, when we read in Arrian that her kings +were so apprehensive of committing an unjust aggression +that they would not lead their armies out of India +for the conquest of other nations.<a name="FNanchor_331" id="FNanchor_331"></a><a href="#Footnote_331" class="fnanchor">[331]</a> One of the best +features in the old pagan world was the importance +attached to the justice of the motives for breaking the +peace. The Romans appear never to have begun a +war without a previous consultation with the College +of Fecials as to its justice; and in the same way, and +for the same purpose, the early Christian emperors +consulted the opinion of the bishops. If a Roman +general made an unjust attack upon a people his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[Pg 272]</a></span> +triumph was refused, or at least resisted; nor are the +instances infrequent in which the senate decreed restitution +where a consul, acting on his own responsibility, +had deprived a population of its arms, its lands, +or its liberties.<a name="FNanchor_332" id="FNanchor_332"></a><a href="#Footnote_332" class="fnanchor">[332]</a> Hence the Romans, with all their +apparent aggressiveness, won the character of a strict +regard to justice, which was no small part of the secret +of their power. ‘You boast,’ the Rhodians said to +them, ‘that your wars are successful because they are +just, and plume yourselves not so much on the victory +which concludes them as on the fact that you never +begin them without good cause.’<a name="FNanchor_333" id="FNanchor_333"></a><a href="#Footnote_333" class="fnanchor">[333]</a> Conquest corrupted +the Romans in these respects as it has done many +another people; but even to the end of the Republic +the tradition of justice survived; nor is there anything +finer in the history of that people than the attempt of +the party headed by Ateius the tribune to prevent +Crassus leaving Rome when he was setting out to make +war upon the Parthians, who not only had committed +no injury, but were the allies of the Republic; or than +the vote of Cato, that Cæsar, who, in time of peace, +had slain or routed 300,000 Germans, should be given +up to the people he had injured in atonement for the +wrong he had done to them.</p> + +<p>The idea of the importance of a just cause of war +may be traced, of course, in history, after the extinction +of the grand pagan philosophy in which it had its +origin. It was insisted on even by Christian writers<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[Pg 273]</a></span> +who, like St. Augustine, did not regard all military +service as wicked. What, he asked, were kingdoms +but robberies on a vast scale, if their justice were put +out of the reckoning.<a name="FNanchor_334" id="FNanchor_334"></a><a href="#Footnote_334" class="fnanchor">[334]</a> A French writer of the time of +Charles V. concluded that while soldiers who fell in a +just cause were saved, those who died for an unjust +cause perished in a state of mortal sin.<a name="FNanchor_335" id="FNanchor_335"></a><a href="#Footnote_335" class="fnanchor">[335]</a> Even the +Chevalier Bayard, who accompanied Charles VIII. +without any scruple in his conquest of Naples, was +fond of saying that all empires, kingdoms, and provinces +were, if without the principle of justice, no better +than forests full of brigands;<a name="FNanchor_336" id="FNanchor_336"></a><a href="#Footnote_336" class="fnanchor">[336]</a> and the fine saying is +attributed to him, that the strength of arms should +only be employed for the establishment of right and +equity. But on the whole the justice of the cause of +war became of less and less importance as time went +on; nor have our modern Christian societies ever derived +benefit in that respect from the instruction or +guidance of their churches at all equal to that which +the society of pagan Rome derived from the institution +of its Fecials, as the guardians of the national conscience.</p> + +<p>It was among the humane endeavours of Grotius +to try to remedy this defect in modern States by +establishing certain general principles by which it +might be possible to test the pretext of any given +war from the side of its justice. At first sight it +appears obvious that a definite injury is the only<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[Pg 274]</a></span> +justification for a resort to hostilities, or, in other +words, that only a defensive war is just; but then +the question arises how far defence may be anticipatory, +and an injury feared or probable give the +same rights as one actually sustained. The majority +of wars, that have not been merely wars of conquest +and robbery, may be traced to that principle in history, +so well expressed by Livy, that men’s anxiety +not to be afraid of others causes them to become +objects of dread themselves.<a name="FNanchor_337" id="FNanchor_337"></a><a href="#Footnote_337" class="fnanchor">[337]</a> For this reason Grotius +refused to admit as a good <i>casus belli</i> the fact that +another nation was making warlike preparations, +building garrisons and fortresses, or that its power +might, if unchecked, grow to be dangerous. He also +rejected the pretext of mere utility as a good ground +for war, or such pleas as the need of better territory, +the right of first discovery, or the improvement or +punishment of barbarous nations.</p> + +<p>A strict adherence to these principles, vague as +they are, would have prevented most of the bloodshed +that has occurred in Europe since Grotius wrote. +The difficulty, however, is, that, as between nations, +the principle of utility easily overshadows that of +justice; and although the two are related as the +temporary to the permanent expediency, and therefore +as the lesser to the greater expediency, the +relation between them is seldom obvious at the time +of choice, and it is easy beforehand to demonstrate +the expediency of a war of which time alone can<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[Pg 275]</a></span> +show both the inexpediency and the injustice. Any +war, therefore, however unjust it may seem, when +judged by the canons of Grotius, is easily construed +as just when measured by the light of an imperious +and magnified passing interest; and the absence of +any recognised definition or standard of just dealing +between nations affords a salve to many a conscience +that in the matters of private life would be sensitive +and scrupulous enough. The story of King Agesilaus +is a mirror in which very few ages or countries may +not see their own history reflected. When Phœbidas, +the Spartan general, seized the Cadmeia of Thebes in +the time of peace, the greater part of Greece and +many Spartans condemned it as a most iniquitous +act of war; but Agesilaus, who at other times was +wont to talk of justice as the greatest of all the +virtues, and of valour without it as of little worth, +defended his officer’s action, on the plea that it was +necessary to regard the tendency of the action, and +to account it even as glorious if it resulted in an +advantage to Sparta.</p> + +<p>But when every allowance is made for wars of +which the justice is not clearly defined from the +expediency, many wars have occurred of so palpably +unjust a character, that they could not have been +possible but for the existence of the loosest sentiments +with regard to the responsibility of those who +took part in them. We read of wars or the pretexts +of wars in history of which we all, whether military +men or civilians, readily recognise the injustice; and +by applying the same principles of judgment to the +wars of our own country and time we are each and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[Pg 276]</a></span> +all of us furnished for the direction of our conscience +with a standard which, if not absolutely scientific or +consistent, is sufficient for all the practical purposes +of life, and is completely subversive of the excuse +which is afforded by occasional instances of difficult +and doubtful decision. The same facilities which +exist for the civilian when he votes for or against +taxation for a given war, or in approval or disapproval +of the government which undertakes it, exist +also for the soldier who lends his active aid to it; +nor is it unreasonable to claim for the action of the +one the same responsibility to his own conscience +which by general admission attaches to the other.</p> + +<p>It is surely something like a degradation to the +soldier that he should not enjoy in this respect the +same rights as the civilian; that his merit alone +should be tested by no higher a theory of duty than +that which is applied to the merit of a horse; and +that his capacity for blind and unreasoning obedience +should be accounted his highest attainable virtue. +The transition from the idea of military vassalage to +that of military allegiance has surely produced a +strange conception of honour, and one fitter for conscripts +than for free men, when a man is held as by a +vice to take part in a course of action which he +believes to be wrong. Not only does no other profession +enforce such an obligation, but in every other +walk of life a man’s assertion of his own personal +responsibility is a source rather of credit to him than +of infamy. That in the performance of any social +function a man should be called upon to make an unconditional +surrender of his free will, and yield an<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[Pg 277]</a></span> +obedience as thoughtless as a dummy’s to superior +orders, would seem to be a principle of conduct +pilfered from the Society of Jesus, and utterly unworthy +of the nobility of a soldier. As a matter of +history, the priestly organisation took the military +one for its model: which should lead us to suspect +that the tyranny we find fault with in the copy is +equally present in the original, and that the latter is +marked by the same vices that it transmitted to the +borrowed organisation.</p> + +<p>The principle here contended for, that the soldier +should be fully satisfied in his own mind of the justice +of the cause he fights for, is the condition that +Christian writers, from Augustine to Grotius, have +placed on the lawfulness of military service. The +objection to it, that its adoption would mean the ruin +of military discipline, will appear the greatest argument +of all in its favour when we reflect that its +universal adoption would make war itself, which is +the only reason for discipline, altogether impossible. +Where would have been the wars of the last two +hundred years had it been in force? Or where the +English wars of the last six, with their thousands of +lives and their millions of money spent for no visible +good nor glory in fighting with Afghans, Zulus, +Egyptians, and Arabs? Once restrict legitimate +warfare to the limits of national defence, and it is +evident that the refusal of men to take part in a war +of aggression would equally put an end to the necessity +of defensive exertion. If no government could +rely on its subjects for the purposes of aggression and +injustice, it goes without saying that the just cause of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[Pg 278]</a></span> +war would perish simultaneously. It is therefore +altogether to be wished that that reliance should be +weakened and destroyed.</p> + +<p>The reasoning, then, which contains the key that +is alone capable of closing permanently the portals of +Janus is this: that there exists a distinction between +a just and an unjust war, between a good and a bad +cause, and that no man has a right either to take part +knowingly and wilfully in a cause he believes to be +unjust, nor to commit himself servilely to a theory +of duty which deprives him, at the very outset, of +his inalienable human birthright of free thought and +free will. This is the principle of personal responsibility +which has long since won admission everywhere +save in the service of Mars, and which requires +but to be extended there to free the world from the +custom that has longest and most ruinously afflicted +it. For it attacks that custom where it has never yet +been seriously attacked before, at its real source—namely, +in the heart, the brain, and the conscience, +that, in spite of all warping and training, still belong +to the individual units who alone make it possible. +It behoves all of us, therefore, who are interested in +abolishing military barbarism, not merely to yield a +passive assent to it ourselves, but to claim for it assent +and assertion from others. We must ask and reask +the question: What is the title by which a man, +through the mere fact of his military cloth, claims +exemption from the moral law that is universally +binding upon his fellows?</p> + +<p>For this principle of individual military responsi<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[Pg 279]</a></span>bility +is of such power, that if carried to its consequences, +it must ultimately prove fatal to militarism; +and if it has not yet the prescription of time and +common opinion in its favour, it is sealed nevertheless +with the authority of many of the best intellects that +have helped to enlighten the past, and is indissolubly +contained in the teaching alike of our religious as of +our moral code. It can, in fact, only be gainsaid by +a denial of the fundamental maxims of those two +guides of our conduct, and for that reason stands +absolutely proof against the assaults of argument. +Try to reconcile with the ordinary conceptions of the +duties of a man or a Christian the duty of doing what +his conscience condemns, and it may be safely predicted +that you will try in vain. The considerations +that may occur of utility and expediency beat in vain +against the far greater expediency of a world at +peace, freed from the curse of the warrior’s destructiveness; +nor can the whole armoury of military logic +supply a single counter-argument which does not resolve +itself into an argument of supposed expediency, +and which may not therefore be effectually parried, +even on this narrower debating ground, by the consideration +of the overwhelming advantages which +could not but flow from the universal acceptance of the +contrary and higher principle—the principle that for +a soldier, as for anyone else, his first duty is to his +conscience.</p> + +<p>Or, to put the conclusion in the fewest words: The +soldier claims to be a non-moral agent. That is the +corner-stone of the whole military system. Challenge<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[Pg 280]</a></span> +then the claimant to justify his first principle, and the +custom of war will shake to its foundation, and in +time go the way that other evil customs have gone +before it, when once their moral support has been +undermined or shattered.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_1" id="Footnote_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> Halleck’s <i>International Law</i>, ii. 21. Yet within three weeks of +the beginning of the war with France 60,000 Prussians were <i>hors de +combat</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_2" id="Footnote_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> ‘Artem illam <i>mortiferam et Deo odibilem</i> balistrariorum et sagittariorum +adversus Christianos et Catholicos exerceri de cætero sub +anathemate prohibemus.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_3" id="Footnote_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> Fauchet’s <i>Origines des Chevaliers</i>, &c. &c., ii. 56; Grose’s <i>Military +Antiquities</i>, i. 142; and Demmin’s <i>Encyclopédie d’Armurerie</i>, 57, 496.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_4" id="Footnote_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> Fauchet, ii. 57. ‘Lequel engin, pour le mal qu’il faisait (pire +que le venin des serpens), fut nommé serpentine,’ &c.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_5" id="Footnote_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> Grose, ii. 331.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_6" id="Footnote_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> Dyer, <i>Modern Europe</i>, iii. 158.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_7" id="Footnote_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> Scoffern’s <i>Projectile Weapons</i>, &c., 66.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_8" id="Footnote_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> <i>Sur l’Esprit</i>, i. 562.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_9" id="Footnote_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> Reade, <i>Ashantee Campaign</i>, 52.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_10" id="Footnote_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> Livy, xliv. 42.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_11" id="Footnote_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> These Instructions are published in Halleck’s <i>International Law</i>, +ii. 36-51; and at the end of Edwards’s <i>Germans in France</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_12" id="Footnote_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> ‘It would have been desirable,’ said the Russian Government, +‘that the voice of a great nation like England should have been heard at +an inquiry of which the object would appear to have met with its +sympathies.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_13" id="Footnote_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> <i>Jus Gentium</i>, art. 887, 878.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_14" id="Footnote_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> Florus, ii. 20.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_15" id="Footnote_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> Edwards’s <i>Germans in France</i>, 164.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_16" id="Footnote_16"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> This remarkable fact is certified by Mr. Russell, in his <i>Diary in +the last Great War</i>, 398, 399.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_17" id="Footnote_17"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> Cicero, <i>In Verrem</i>, iv. 54.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_18" id="Footnote_18"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> See even the <i>Annual Register</i>, lvi. 184, for a denunciation of this +proceeding.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_19" id="Footnote_19"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19"><span class="label">[19]</span></a> Sismondi’s <i>Hist. des Français</i>, xxv.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_20" id="Footnote_20"></a><a href="#FNanchor_20"><span class="label">[20]</span></a> Edwards’s <i>Germans in France</i>, 171.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_21" id="Footnote_21"></a><a href="#FNanchor_21"><span class="label">[21]</span></a> Lieut-Col. Charras, <i>La Campagne de 1815</i>, i. 211, ii. 88.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_22" id="Footnote_22"></a><a href="#FNanchor_22"><span class="label">[22]</span></a> Woolsey’s <i>International Law</i>, p. 223.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_23" id="Footnote_23"></a><a href="#FNanchor_23"><span class="label">[23]</span></a> Cf. lib. xii. 81, and xiii. 25, 26; quoted by Grotius, iii. xi. xiii.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_24" id="Footnote_24"></a><a href="#FNanchor_24"><span class="label">[24]</span></a> iii. 41.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_25" id="Footnote_25"></a><a href="#FNanchor_25"><span class="label">[25]</span></a> <i>Cambridge Essays</i>, 1855, ‘Limitations to Severity in War,’ by +C. Buxton.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_26" id="Footnote_26"></a><a href="#FNanchor_26"><span class="label">[26]</span></a> See Raumer’s <i>Geschichte Europa’s</i>, iii. 509-603, if any doubt is +felt about the fact.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_27" id="Footnote_27"></a><a href="#FNanchor_27"><span class="label">[27]</span></a> General Order of October 9, 1813. Compare those of May 29, +1809, March 25, 1810, June 10, 1812, and July 9, 1813.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_28" id="Footnote_28"></a><a href="#FNanchor_28"><span class="label">[28]</span></a> Vattel, iii. ix. 165.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_29" id="Footnote_29"></a><a href="#FNanchor_29"><span class="label">[29]</span></a> Sir W. Napier (<i>Peninsular War</i>, ii. 322) says of the proceeding +that it was ‘politic indeed, yet scarcely to be admitted within the pale +of civilised warfare.’ It occurred in May 1810.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_30" id="Footnote_30"></a><a href="#FNanchor_30"><span class="label">[30]</span></a> Bluntschli’s <i>Modernes Völkerrecht</i>, art. 573.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_31" id="Footnote_31"></a><a href="#FNanchor_31"><span class="label">[31]</span></a> For the character of modern war see the account of the Franco-German +war in the <i>Quarterly Review</i> for April 1871.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_32" id="Footnote_32"></a><a href="#FNanchor_32"><span class="label">[32]</span></a> Halleck, ii. 22.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_33" id="Footnote_33"></a><a href="#FNanchor_33"><span class="label">[33]</span></a> Vehse’s <i>Austria</i>, i. 369. Yet, as usual on such occasions, the +excesses were committed in the teeth of Tilly’s efforts to oppose them. +</p> +<p> +‘Imperavit Tillius a devictorum cædibus et corporum castimonia +abstinerent, quod imperium a quibusdam furentibus male servatum +annales aliqui fuere conquesti.’—Adlzreiter’s <i>Annales Boicæ Gentis</i>, +Part iii. l. 16, c. 38.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_34" id="Footnote_34"></a><a href="#FNanchor_34"><span class="label">[34]</span></a> <i>Battles in the Peninsular War</i>, 181, 182.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_35" id="Footnote_35"></a><a href="#FNanchor_35"><span class="label">[35]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> 396.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_36" id="Footnote_36"></a><a href="#FNanchor_36"><span class="label">[36]</span></a> Foxe’s <i>Actes and Monuments</i>, iii. 52.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_37" id="Footnote_37"></a><a href="#FNanchor_37"><span class="label">[37]</span></a> Saint-Palaye, <i>Mémoires sur la Chevalerie</i>, iii. 10, 133.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_38" id="Footnote_38"></a><a href="#FNanchor_38"><span class="label">[38]</span></a> Vinsauf’s <i>Itinerary of Richard I.</i>, ii. 16.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_39" id="Footnote_39"></a><a href="#FNanchor_39"><span class="label">[39]</span></a> Matthew of Westminster, 460; Grose, ii. 348.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_40" id="Footnote_40"></a><a href="#FNanchor_40"><span class="label">[40]</span></a> Monstrelet, ii. 115.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_41" id="Footnote_41"></a><a href="#FNanchor_41"><span class="label">[41]</span></a> <i>Mémoires sur la Chevalerie</i>, i. 322.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_42" id="Footnote_42"></a><a href="#FNanchor_42"><span class="label">[42]</span></a> Petitot, v. 102; and Ménard, <i>Vie de B. du Guesclin</i>, 440.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_43" id="Footnote_43"></a><a href="#FNanchor_43"><span class="label">[43]</span></a> Petitot, v. 134.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_44" id="Footnote_44"></a><a href="#FNanchor_44"><span class="label">[44]</span></a> Meyrick, <i>Ancient Armour</i>, ii. 5.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_45" id="Footnote_45"></a><a href="#FNanchor_45"><span class="label">[45]</span></a> i. 123.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_46" id="Footnote_46"></a><a href="#FNanchor_46"><span class="label">[46]</span></a> Monstrelet, i. 259.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_47" id="Footnote_47"></a><a href="#FNanchor_47"><span class="label">[47]</span></a> ii. 5.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_48" id="Footnote_48"></a><a href="#FNanchor_48"><span class="label">[48]</span></a> ii. 11.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_49" id="Footnote_49"></a><a href="#FNanchor_49"><span class="label">[49]</span></a> ii. 22, compare ii. 56.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_50" id="Footnote_50"></a><a href="#FNanchor_50"><span class="label">[50]</span></a> Monstrelet, ii. 111.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_51" id="Footnote_51"></a><a href="#FNanchor_51"><span class="label">[51]</span></a> ii. 113.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_52" id="Footnote_52"></a><a href="#FNanchor_52"><span class="label">[52]</span></a> See for some, Livy, xxix. 8, xxxi. 26, 30, xxxvii. 21, xliii. 7, +xliv. 29.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_53" id="Footnote_53"></a><a href="#FNanchor_53"><span class="label">[53]</span></a> Livy, xliv. 29.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_54" id="Footnote_54"></a><a href="#FNanchor_54"><span class="label">[54]</span></a> Meyrick, i. 41.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_55" id="Footnote_55"></a><a href="#FNanchor_55"><span class="label">[55]</span></a> Demmin, <i>Encyclopédie d’Armurerie</i>, 490.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_56" id="Footnote_56"></a><a href="#FNanchor_56"><span class="label">[56]</span></a> Meyrick, ii. 204.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_57" id="Footnote_57"></a><a href="#FNanchor_57"><span class="label">[57]</span></a> Grose, ii. 114.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_58" id="Footnote_58"></a><a href="#FNanchor_58"><span class="label">[58]</span></a> Petitot, xvi. 134.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_59" id="Footnote_59"></a><a href="#FNanchor_59"><span class="label">[59]</span></a> Grose, ii. 343.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_60" id="Footnote_60"></a><a href="#FNanchor_60"><span class="label">[60]</span></a> iv. 27.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_61" id="Footnote_61"></a><a href="#FNanchor_61"><span class="label">[61]</span></a> iv. 36.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_62" id="Footnote_62"></a><a href="#FNanchor_62"><span class="label">[62]</span></a> iii. 109.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_63" id="Footnote_63"></a><a href="#FNanchor_63"><span class="label">[63]</span></a> <i>Mémoires</i>, vi. 1.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_64" id="Footnote_64"></a><a href="#FNanchor_64"><span class="label">[64]</span></a> Halleck, <i>International Law</i>, ii. 154.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_65" id="Footnote_65"></a><a href="#FNanchor_65"><span class="label">[65]</span></a> <i>Elements of Morality</i>, sec. 1068.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_66" id="Footnote_66"></a><a href="#FNanchor_66"><span class="label">[66]</span></a> <i>Des Droits et Devoirs des Nations neutres</i>, ii. 321-323.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_67" id="Footnote_67"></a><a href="#FNanchor_67"><span class="label">[67]</span></a> <i>History of the Royal Navy</i>, i. 357.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_68" id="Footnote_68"></a><a href="#FNanchor_68"><span class="label">[68]</span></a> Nicolas, ii. 341.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_69" id="Footnote_69"></a><a href="#FNanchor_69"><span class="label">[69]</span></a> Nicolas, ii. 405.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_70" id="Footnote_70"></a><a href="#FNanchor_70"><span class="label">[70]</span></a> Monstrelet, i. 12.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_71" id="Footnote_71"></a><a href="#FNanchor_71"><span class="label">[71]</span></a> Nicolas, ii. 108.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_72" id="Footnote_72"></a><a href="#FNanchor_72"><span class="label">[72]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> i. 333.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_73" id="Footnote_73"></a><a href="#FNanchor_73"><span class="label">[73]</span></a> Froissart, ii. 85.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_74" id="Footnote_74"></a><a href="#FNanchor_74"><span class="label">[74]</span></a> Entick, <i>New Naval History</i> (1757), 823. ‘Some of the Spanish +prizes were immensely rich, a great many of the French were of considerable +value, and so were many of the English; but the balance was +about two millions in favour of the latter.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_75" id="Footnote_75"></a><a href="#FNanchor_75"><span class="label">[75]</span></a> From Entick’s <i>New Naval History</i> (1757), 801-817.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_76" id="Footnote_76"></a><a href="#FNanchor_76"><span class="label">[76]</span></a> Martens, <i>Essai sur les Corsaires</i> (Horne’s translation), 86, 87.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_77" id="Footnote_77"></a><a href="#FNanchor_77"><span class="label">[77]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> 93.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_78" id="Footnote_78"></a><a href="#FNanchor_78"><span class="label">[78]</span></a> III. xv. 229.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_79" id="Footnote_79"></a><a href="#FNanchor_79"><span class="label">[79]</span></a> Emerigon, <i>On Insurances</i> (translation), 442.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_80" id="Footnote_80"></a><a href="#FNanchor_80"><span class="label">[80]</span></a> Martens, 19.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_81" id="Footnote_81"></a><a href="#FNanchor_81"><span class="label">[81]</span></a> Hautfeuille, <i>Des Droits et Devoirs des Nations neutres</i>, ii. 349.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_82" id="Footnote_82"></a><a href="#FNanchor_82"><span class="label">[82]</span></a> <i>De Jure Maritimo</i>, i. 72.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_83" id="Footnote_83"></a><a href="#FNanchor_83"><span class="label">[83]</span></a> <i>Despatches</i>, vi. 145.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_84" id="Footnote_84"></a><a href="#FNanchor_84"><span class="label">[84]</span></a> <i>Despatches</i>, vi. 79.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_85" id="Footnote_85"></a><a href="#FNanchor_85"><span class="label">[85]</span></a> The last occasion was on April 13, 1875.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_86" id="Footnote_86"></a><a href="#FNanchor_86"><span class="label">[86]</span></a> Halleck, <i>International Law</i>, ii. 316.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_87" id="Footnote_87"></a><a href="#FNanchor_87"><span class="label">[87]</span></a> Bluntschli, <i>Modernes Völkerrecht</i>, art. 665.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_88" id="Footnote_88"></a><a href="#FNanchor_88"><span class="label">[88]</span></a> James, <i>Naval History</i>, i. 255.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_89" id="Footnote_89"></a><a href="#FNanchor_89"><span class="label">[89]</span></a> James, ii. 71.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_90" id="Footnote_90"></a><a href="#FNanchor_90"><span class="label">[90]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> ii. 77.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_91" id="Footnote_91"></a><a href="#FNanchor_91"><span class="label">[91]</span></a> Ortolan, <i>Diplomatie de la Mer</i>, ii. 32.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_92" id="Footnote_92"></a><a href="#FNanchor_92"><span class="label">[92]</span></a> Campbell’s <i>Admirals</i>, viii. 40.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_93" id="Footnote_93"></a><a href="#FNanchor_93"><span class="label">[93]</span></a> <i>Campbell</i>, vii. 21. <i>James</i>, i. 161. Stinkpots are jars or shells +charged with powder, grenades, &c.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_94" id="Footnote_94"></a><a href="#FNanchor_94"><span class="label">[94]</span></a> James, i. 283.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_95" id="Footnote_95"></a><a href="#FNanchor_95"><span class="label">[95]</span></a> Brenton, ii. 471.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_96" id="Footnote_96"></a><a href="#FNanchor_96"><span class="label">[96]</span></a> Caltrops, or crows’-feet, are bits of iron with four spikes so +arranged that however they fall one spike always remains upwards. +Darius planted the ground with caltrops before Arbela.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_97" id="Footnote_97"></a><a href="#FNanchor_97"><span class="label">[97]</span></a> Chapter xix. of the <i>Tactica</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_98" id="Footnote_98"></a><a href="#FNanchor_98"><span class="label">[98]</span></a> Frontinus, <i>Strategematicon</i>, IV. vii. 9, 10. ‘Amphoras pice et +tæda plenas; ... vascula viperis plena.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_99" id="Footnote_99"></a><a href="#FNanchor_99"><span class="label">[99]</span></a> Roger de Wendover, <i>Chronica</i>. ‘Calcem vivam, et in pulverem +subtilem redactam, in altum projicientes, vento illam ferente, Francorum +oculos excæcaverunt.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_100" id="Footnote_100"></a><a href="#FNanchor_100"><span class="label">[100]</span></a> Brenton, i. 635.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_101" id="Footnote_101"></a><a href="#FNanchor_101"><span class="label">[101]</span></a> <i>De Jure Maritimo</i>, i. 265.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_102" id="Footnote_102"></a><a href="#FNanchor_102"><span class="label">[102]</span></a> Rees’s <i>Cyclopædia</i>, ‘Fire-ship.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_103" id="Footnote_103"></a><a href="#FNanchor_103"><span class="label">[103]</span></a> Brenton, ii. 493, 494.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_104" id="Footnote_104"></a><a href="#FNanchor_104"><span class="label">[104]</span></a> Halleck, ii. 317.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_105" id="Footnote_105"></a><a href="#FNanchor_105"><span class="label">[105]</span></a> Woolsey, <i>International Law</i>, 187.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_106" id="Footnote_106"></a><a href="#FNanchor_106"><span class="label">[106]</span></a> James, i. 277.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_107" id="Footnote_107"></a><a href="#FNanchor_107"><span class="label">[107]</span></a> Phillimore, <i>International Law</i>, iii. 50-52.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_108" id="Footnote_108"></a><a href="#FNanchor_108"><span class="label">[108]</span></a> <i>International Law</i>, ii. 95.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_109" id="Footnote_109"></a><a href="#FNanchor_109"><span class="label">[109]</span></a> Villiaumé, <i>L’Esprit de la Guerre</i>, 56.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_110" id="Footnote_110"></a><a href="#FNanchor_110"><span class="label">[110]</span></a> De Commines, viii. 8.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_111" id="Footnote_111"></a><a href="#FNanchor_111"><span class="label">[111]</span></a> Watson’s <i>Philip II.</i>, ii. 74.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_112" id="Footnote_112"></a><a href="#FNanchor_112"><span class="label">[112]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> i. 213.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_113" id="Footnote_113"></a><a href="#FNanchor_113"><span class="label">[113]</span></a> <i>Memoirs</i>, c. 19.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_114" id="Footnote_114"></a><a href="#FNanchor_114"><span class="label">[114]</span></a> Villiaumé (<i>L’Esprit de la Guerre</i>, 71) gives the following version: +‘En 1793 et en 1794, le gouvernement anglais ayant violé le droit des +gens contre la République Française, la Convention, dans un accès de +brutale colère, décréta qu’il ne serait plus fait aucun prisonnier anglais +ou hanovrien, c’est-à-dire que les vaincus seraient mis à mort, encore +qu’ils se rendissent. Mais ce décret fut simplement comminatoire; le +Comité de Salut Public, sachant très-bien que de misérables soldats +n’étaient point coupables, donna l’ordre secret de faire grâce à tous les +vaincus.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_115" id="Footnote_115"></a><a href="#FNanchor_115"><span class="label">[115]</span></a> Herodotus, vii. 136.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_116" id="Footnote_116"></a><a href="#FNanchor_116"><span class="label">[116]</span></a> Livy, xlv. 42.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_117" id="Footnote_117"></a><a href="#FNanchor_117"><span class="label">[117]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> xlv. 43.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_118" id="Footnote_118"></a><a href="#FNanchor_118"><span class="label">[118]</span></a> Ward, <i>Law of Nations</i>, i. 250.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_119" id="Footnote_119"></a><a href="#FNanchor_119"><span class="label">[119]</span></a> Petitot’s <i>Mémoires</i>, xvi. 177.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_120" id="Footnote_120"></a><a href="#FNanchor_120"><span class="label">[120]</span></a> Livy, xlii. 8, 9.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_121" id="Footnote_121"></a><a href="#FNanchor_121"><span class="label">[121]</span></a> Monstrelet, <i>Chronicles</i>, i. 200.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_122" id="Footnote_122"></a><a href="#FNanchor_122"><span class="label">[122]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> i. 224.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_123" id="Footnote_123"></a><a href="#FNanchor_123"><span class="label">[123]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> i. 249.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_124" id="Footnote_124"></a><a href="#FNanchor_124"><span class="label">[124]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> i. 259.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_125" id="Footnote_125"></a><a href="#FNanchor_125"><span class="label">[125]</span></a> Monstrelet, ii. 156.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_126" id="Footnote_126"></a><a href="#FNanchor_126"><span class="label">[126]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> 120.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_127" id="Footnote_127"></a><a href="#FNanchor_127"><span class="label">[127]</span></a> Philip de Commines, ii. 1.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_128" id="Footnote_128"></a><a href="#FNanchor_128"><span class="label">[128]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> ii. 2.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_129" id="Footnote_129"></a><a href="#FNanchor_129"><span class="label">[129]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> ii. 14.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_130" id="Footnote_130"></a><a href="#FNanchor_130"><span class="label">[130]</span></a> Philip de Commines, iii. 9.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_131" id="Footnote_131"></a><a href="#FNanchor_131"><span class="label">[131]</span></a> Motley’s <i>United Netherlands</i>, iii. 323.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_132" id="Footnote_132"></a><a href="#FNanchor_132"><span class="label">[132]</span></a> Vattel, iii. 8, 143.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_133" id="Footnote_133"></a><a href="#FNanchor_133"><span class="label">[133]</span></a> Borbstaedt, <i>Franco-German War</i> (translation), 662.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_134" id="Footnote_134"></a><a href="#FNanchor_134"><span class="label">[134]</span></a> Ward, i. 223.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_135" id="Footnote_135"></a><a href="#FNanchor_135"><span class="label">[135]</span></a> Quintus Curtius, iv. 6, and Grote, viii. 368.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_136" id="Footnote_136"></a><a href="#FNanchor_136"><span class="label">[136]</span></a> Quintus Curtius, vii. 11.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_137" id="Footnote_137"></a><a href="#FNanchor_137"><span class="label">[137]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> iv. 15.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_138" id="Footnote_138"></a><a href="#FNanchor_138"><span class="label">[138]</span></a> Arrian, iii. 18.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_139" id="Footnote_139"></a><a href="#FNanchor_139"><span class="label">[139]</span></a> Quintus Curtius, vii. 5.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_140" id="Footnote_140"></a><a href="#FNanchor_140"><span class="label">[140]</span></a> ‘Tous deux furent très braves, très vaillants, fort bizarres et cruels.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_141" id="Footnote_141"></a><a href="#FNanchor_141"><span class="label">[141]</span></a> Lyttleton, <i>Henry II.</i>, i. 183.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_142" id="Footnote_142"></a><a href="#FNanchor_142"><span class="label">[142]</span></a> Hoveden, 697.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_143" id="Footnote_143"></a><a href="#FNanchor_143"><span class="label">[143]</span></a> 2 Samuel xii. 31.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_144" id="Footnote_144"></a><a href="#FNanchor_144"><span class="label">[144]</span></a> <i>Memoirs of a Cavalier</i>, i. 47.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_145" id="Footnote_145"></a><a href="#FNanchor_145"><span class="label">[145]</span></a> <i>Memoirs of a Cavalier</i>, 49.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_146" id="Footnote_146"></a><a href="#FNanchor_146"><span class="label">[146]</span></a> ‘Life of Bayard’ in Petitot’s <i>Mémoires</i>, xvi. 9.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_147" id="Footnote_147"></a><a href="#FNanchor_147"><span class="label">[147]</span></a> Major-General Mitchell’s <i>Biographies of Eminent Soldiers</i>, 92.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_148" id="Footnote_148"></a><a href="#FNanchor_148"><span class="label">[148]</span></a> Livy, xxxi. 40. When Pelium was taken by storm, only the +slaves were taken as spoil; the freemen were even let off without +ransom.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_149" id="Footnote_149"></a><a href="#FNanchor_149"><span class="label">[149]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> xxviii. 3.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_150" id="Footnote_150"></a><a href="#FNanchor_150"><span class="label">[150]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> xxviii. 20, xxvii. 16, xxxi. 27.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_151" id="Footnote_151"></a><a href="#FNanchor_151"><span class="label">[151]</span></a> <i>De Officiis</i>, i. 12. Yet on this passage is founded the common +assertion that among the Romans ‘the word which signified stranger +was the same with that which in its original denoted an enemy’ (Ward, +ii. 174); implying that in their eyes a stranger and an enemy were one +and the same thing. Cicero says exactly the reverse.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_152" id="Footnote_152"></a><a href="#FNanchor_152"><span class="label">[152]</span></a> <i>Recueil de Documents sur les exactions, vols, et cruautés des armées +prussiennes en France.</i> The book is out of print, but may be seen at +the British Museum, under the title, ‘Prussia—Army of.’ It is to be regretted +that, whilst every book, however dull, relating to that war has +been translated into English, this record has hitherto escaped the publicity +it so well deserves.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_153" id="Footnote_153"></a><a href="#FNanchor_153"><span class="label">[153]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> 19.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_154" id="Footnote_154"></a><a href="#FNanchor_154"><span class="label">[154]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> 8.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_155" id="Footnote_155"></a><a href="#FNanchor_155"><span class="label">[155]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> 13.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_156" id="Footnote_156"></a><a href="#FNanchor_156"><span class="label">[156]</span></a> Chaudordy’s Circular of November 29, 1870, in the <i>Recueil</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_157" id="Footnote_157"></a><a href="#FNanchor_157"><span class="label">[157]</span></a> <i>Recueil</i>, 12, 15, 67, 119.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_158" id="Footnote_158"></a><a href="#FNanchor_158"><span class="label">[158]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> 56.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_159" id="Footnote_159"></a><a href="#FNanchor_159"><span class="label">[159]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> 54.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_160" id="Footnote_160"></a><a href="#FNanchor_160"><span class="label">[160]</span></a> <i>Recueil</i>, 33-37, and Lady Bloomfield’s <i>Reminiscences</i>, ii. 235, 8, 9.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_161" id="Footnote_161"></a><a href="#FNanchor_161"><span class="label">[161]</span></a> The <i>Times</i>, March 7, 1881.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_162" id="Footnote_162"></a><a href="#FNanchor_162"><span class="label">[162]</span></a> <i>Recueil</i>, 29; compare 91.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_163" id="Footnote_163"></a><a href="#FNanchor_163"><span class="label">[163]</span></a> Morley’s <i>Cobden</i>, ii. 177.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_164" id="Footnote_164"></a><a href="#FNanchor_164"><span class="label">[164]</span></a> Professor Sheldon Amos quotes the fact, but refrains from naming +the paper, in his preface to Manning’s <i>Commentaries on the Law of +Nations</i>, xl. Was it not the <i>Journal de France</i> for Nov. 21, 1871?</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_165" id="Footnote_165"></a><a href="#FNanchor_165"><span class="label">[165]</span></a> iii. i. viii. 4.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_166" id="Footnote_166"></a><a href="#FNanchor_166"><span class="label">[166]</span></a> <i>De Officiis</i>, i. 13.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_167" id="Footnote_167"></a><a href="#FNanchor_167"><span class="label">[167]</span></a> <i>Modernes Völkerrecht</i>, Art. 565.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_168" id="Footnote_168"></a><a href="#FNanchor_168"><span class="label">[168]</span></a> Polyænus, <i>Strategematum libri octo</i>, i. 34.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_169" id="Footnote_169"></a><a href="#FNanchor_169"><span class="label">[169]</span></a> Polyænus, v. 41.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_170" id="Footnote_170"></a><a href="#FNanchor_170"><span class="label">[170]</span></a> Ortolan’s <i>Diplomatie de la mer</i>, ii. 31, 375-7.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_171" id="Footnote_171"></a><a href="#FNanchor_171"><span class="label">[171]</span></a> James’s <i>Naval History</i>, ii. 211; Campbell’s <i>Admirals</i>, vii. 132.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_172" id="Footnote_172"></a><a href="#FNanchor_172"><span class="label">[172]</span></a> James, <i>Naval History</i>, ii. 225.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_173" id="Footnote_173"></a><a href="#FNanchor_173"><span class="label">[173]</span></a> Nicolas, <i>Royal Navy</i>, ii. 27.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_174" id="Footnote_174"></a><a href="#FNanchor_174"><span class="label">[174]</span></a> Hautefeuille, <i>Droit Maritime</i>, iii. 433. ‘Les vaisseaux de l’Etat +eux-mêmes ne rougissent pas de ces grossiers mensonges qui prennent +le nom de ruses de guerre.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_175" id="Footnote_175"></a><a href="#FNanchor_175"><span class="label">[175]</span></a> xiii. 1.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_176" id="Footnote_176"></a><a href="#FNanchor_176"><span class="label">[176]</span></a> Montaigne, ch. v.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_177" id="Footnote_177"></a><a href="#FNanchor_177"><span class="label">[177]</span></a> vii. 4. ‘Quia appellatione nostra vix apte exprimi possunt, Græca +pronuntiatione Stratagemata dicuntur.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_178" id="Footnote_178"></a><a href="#FNanchor_178"><span class="label">[178]</span></a> Livy, xlii. 47.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_179" id="Footnote_179"></a><a href="#FNanchor_179"><span class="label">[179]</span></a> <i>Histoire de la France</i>, iii. 401.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_180" id="Footnote_180"></a><a href="#FNanchor_180"><span class="label">[180]</span></a> The word musket is from <i>muschetto</i>, a kind of hawk, implying +that its attack was equally destructive and unforeseen.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_181" id="Footnote_181"></a><a href="#FNanchor_181"><span class="label">[181]</span></a> Polyænus, ii. 19.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_182" id="Footnote_182"></a><a href="#FNanchor_182"><span class="label">[182]</span></a> Polyænus, iii. 2; from Thucydides, iii. 34.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_183" id="Footnote_183"></a><a href="#FNanchor_183"><span class="label">[183]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> vii. 27, 2.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_184" id="Footnote_184"></a><a href="#FNanchor_184"><span class="label">[184]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> iv. 2-4.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_185" id="Footnote_185"></a><a href="#FNanchor_185"><span class="label">[185]</span></a> Liskenne, <i>Bibliothèque Historique et Militaire</i>, iii. 845.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_186" id="Footnote_186"></a><a href="#FNanchor_186"><span class="label">[186]</span></a> <i>Memoirs</i>, ch. xix.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_187" id="Footnote_187"></a><a href="#FNanchor_187"><span class="label">[187]</span></a> ix. 6, 3.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_188" id="Footnote_188"></a><a href="#FNanchor_188"><span class="label">[188]</span></a> vi. 22.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_189" id="Footnote_189"></a><a href="#FNanchor_189"><span class="label">[189]</span></a> vi. 15.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_190" id="Footnote_190"></a><a href="#FNanchor_190"><span class="label">[190]</span></a> iv. 7, 17.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_191" id="Footnote_191"></a><a href="#FNanchor_191"><span class="label">[191]</span></a> E. Fournier, <i>L’Esprit dans l’Histoire</i>, 145-150.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_192" id="Footnote_192"></a><a href="#FNanchor_192"><span class="label">[192]</span></a> iii. 10.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_193" id="Footnote_193"></a><a href="#FNanchor_193"><span class="label">[193]</span></a> Liskenne, v. 233-4.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_194" id="Footnote_194"></a><a href="#FNanchor_194"><span class="label">[194]</span></a> <i>Soldier’s Pocket-Book</i>, 81.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_195" id="Footnote_195"></a><a href="#FNanchor_195"><span class="label">[195]</span></a> Polyænus, viii. 16, 8. ‘Lege Romanorum jubente hostium exploratores +interficere.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_196" id="Footnote_196"></a><a href="#FNanchor_196"><span class="label">[196]</span></a> Livy, xxx. 29. According to Polyænus, he gave them a dinner +and sent them back with instructions to tell what they had seen; +viii. 16, 8.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_197" id="Footnote_197"></a><a href="#FNanchor_197"><span class="label">[197]</span></a> Watson’s <i>Philip II.</i> iii. 311.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_198" id="Footnote_198"></a><a href="#FNanchor_198"><span class="label">[198]</span></a> Liskenne, iii. 840.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_199" id="Footnote_199"></a><a href="#FNanchor_199"><span class="label">[199]</span></a> Hoffman, <i>Kriegslist</i>, 15.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_200" id="Footnote_200"></a><a href="#FNanchor_200"><span class="label">[200]</span></a> Petitot’s <i>Mémoires de la France</i>, xv. 317.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_201" id="Footnote_201"></a><a href="#FNanchor_201"><span class="label">[201]</span></a> Polyænus, ii. 27.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_202" id="Footnote_202"></a><a href="#FNanchor_202"><span class="label">[202]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> v. 1, 4.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_203" id="Footnote_203"></a><a href="#FNanchor_203"><span class="label">[203]</span></a> <i>Memoirs</i>, ch. xix.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_204" id="Footnote_204"></a><a href="#FNanchor_204"><span class="label">[204]</span></a> Livy, xxxiv. 17.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_205" id="Footnote_205"></a><a href="#FNanchor_205"><span class="label">[205]</span></a> As at the Brussels Conference, 1874, when such a proposal was +made by the member for Sweden and Norway.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_206" id="Footnote_206"></a><a href="#FNanchor_206"><span class="label">[206]</span></a> In Pinkerton, xvi. 817.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_207" id="Footnote_207"></a><a href="#FNanchor_207"><span class="label">[207]</span></a> Turner’s <i>Nineteen Years in Samoa</i>, 304.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_208" id="Footnote_208"></a><a href="#FNanchor_208"><span class="label">[208]</span></a> Schoolcraft’s <i>Indian Tribes</i>, iv. 52.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_209" id="Footnote_209"></a><a href="#FNanchor_209"><span class="label">[209]</span></a> <i>The Basutos</i>, 223.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_210" id="Footnote_210"></a><a href="#FNanchor_210"><span class="label">[210]</span></a> Potter’s <i>Grecian Antiquities</i>, ii. 69.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_211" id="Footnote_211"></a><a href="#FNanchor_211"><span class="label">[211]</span></a> Turner’s <i>Samoa</i>, 298.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_212" id="Footnote_212"></a><a href="#FNanchor_212"><span class="label">[212]</span></a> Ellis’s <i>Polynesian Researches</i>, i. 275.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_213" id="Footnote_213"></a><a href="#FNanchor_213"><span class="label">[213]</span></a> Hutton’s <i>Voyage to Africa</i>, 1821, 337.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_214" id="Footnote_214"></a><a href="#FNanchor_214"><span class="label">[214]</span></a> Colenso and Durnford’s <i>Zulu War</i>, 364, 379.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_215" id="Footnote_215"></a><a href="#FNanchor_215"><span class="label">[215]</span></a> Petitot’s <i>Mémoires</i>, xv. 329.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_216" id="Footnote_216"></a><a href="#FNanchor_216"><span class="label">[216]</span></a> The evidence is collected in <i>Cetschwayo’s Dutchman</i>, 99-103.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_217" id="Footnote_217"></a><a href="#FNanchor_217"><span class="label">[217]</span></a> Henty’s <i>March to Coomassie</i>, 443. Compare Reade’s <i>Ashantee +Campaign</i>, 241-2.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_218" id="Footnote_218"></a><a href="#FNanchor_218"><span class="label">[218]</span></a> Florus, ii. 19; iii. 4; Velleius Paterculus, ii. 1.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_219" id="Footnote_219"></a><a href="#FNanchor_219"><span class="label">[219]</span></a> Florus, ii. 20.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_220" id="Footnote_220"></a><a href="#FNanchor_220"><span class="label">[220]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> iii. 7.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_221" id="Footnote_221"></a><a href="#FNanchor_221"><span class="label">[221]</span></a> Florus, iii. 4; Cæsar, <i>De Bello Gallico</i>, ix. 44.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_222" id="Footnote_222"></a><a href="#FNanchor_222"><span class="label">[222]</span></a> Morley’s <i>Cobden</i>, ii. 355.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_223" id="Footnote_223"></a><a href="#FNanchor_223"><span class="label">[223]</span></a> Sir A. Helps’ <i>Las Casas</i>, 29.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_224" id="Footnote_224"></a><a href="#FNanchor_224"><span class="label">[224]</span></a> T. Morton’s <i>New England Canaan</i>, 1637, iii.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_225" id="Footnote_225"></a><a href="#FNanchor_225"><span class="label">[225]</span></a> Belknap’s <i>New Hampshire</i>, i. 262.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_226" id="Footnote_226"></a><a href="#FNanchor_226"><span class="label">[226]</span></a> Penhallow’s <i>Indian Wars</i>, 1826, republished 1859, 31-3.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_227" id="Footnote_227"></a><a href="#FNanchor_227"><span class="label">[227]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> 105, 6.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_228" id="Footnote_228"></a><a href="#FNanchor_228"><span class="label">[228]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> 103. For further details of this debased military practice, +see Adair’s <i>History of American Indians</i>, 245; Kercheval’s <i>History of +the Valley of Virginia</i>, 263; Drake’s <i>Biography and History of the +Indians</i>, 210, 373; Sullivan’s <i>History of Maine</i>, 251.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_229" id="Footnote_229"></a><a href="#FNanchor_229"><span class="label">[229]</span></a> Kercheval’s <i>Virginia</i>, 113.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_230" id="Footnote_230"></a><a href="#FNanchor_230"><span class="label">[230]</span></a> Eschwege’s <i>Brazil</i>, i. 186; Tschudi’s <i>Reisen durch Südamerika</i>, +i. 262.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_231" id="Footnote_231"></a><a href="#FNanchor_231"><span class="label">[231]</span></a> Parkman’s <i>Expedition against Ohio Indians</i>, 1764, 117.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_232" id="Footnote_232"></a><a href="#FNanchor_232"><span class="label">[232]</span></a> Argensola, <i>Les Isles Molucques</i>, i. 60.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_233" id="Footnote_233"></a><a href="#FNanchor_233"><span class="label">[233]</span></a> Drake’s <i>Biography and History of the Indians</i>, 489, 490.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_234" id="Footnote_234"></a><a href="#FNanchor_234"><span class="label">[234]</span></a> R. C. Burton’s <i>City of the Saints</i>, 576; Eyre’s <i>Central Australia</i>, +i. 175-9.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_235" id="Footnote_235"></a><a href="#FNanchor_235"><span class="label">[235]</span></a> Borwick’s <i>Last of the Tasmanians</i>, 58.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_236" id="Footnote_236"></a><a href="#FNanchor_236"><span class="label">[236]</span></a> Tschudi’s <i>Reisen</i>, ii. 262.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_237" id="Footnote_237"></a><a href="#FNanchor_237"><span class="label">[237]</span></a> Maccoy’s <i>Baptist Indian Missions</i>, 441; Froebel’s <i>Seven Years +in Central America</i>, 272; Wallace’s <i>Travels on the Amazon</i>, 326.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_238" id="Footnote_238"></a><a href="#FNanchor_238"><span class="label">[238]</span></a> Bancroft’s <i>United States</i>, ii. 383-5; and compare Clarkson’s <i>Life +of Penn</i>, chaps. 45 and 46.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_239" id="Footnote_239"></a><a href="#FNanchor_239"><span class="label">[239]</span></a> Brooke’s <i>Ten Years in Sarawak</i>, i. 74.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_240" id="Footnote_240"></a><a href="#FNanchor_240"><span class="label">[240]</span></a> Captain Hamilton’s <i>East Indies</i>, in Pinkerton, viii. 514.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_241" id="Footnote_241"></a><a href="#FNanchor_241"><span class="label">[241]</span></a> W. H. Russell’s <i>My Diary in India</i>, 150.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_242" id="Footnote_242"></a><a href="#FNanchor_242"><span class="label">[242]</span></a> <i>Annals of the Propagation of the Faith</i>, viii. 280-6.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_243" id="Footnote_243"></a><a href="#FNanchor_243"><span class="label">[243]</span></a> <i>Caffres and Caffre Missions</i>, 210.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_244" id="Footnote_244"></a><a href="#FNanchor_244"><span class="label">[244]</span></a> <i>Memorials of Henrietta Robertson</i>, 259, 308, 353.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_245" id="Footnote_245"></a><a href="#FNanchor_245"><span class="label">[245]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> 353.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_246" id="Footnote_246"></a><a href="#FNanchor_246"><span class="label">[246]</span></a> Colenso and Durnford’s <i>Zulu War</i>, 215.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_247" id="Footnote_247"></a><a href="#FNanchor_247"><span class="label">[247]</span></a> Holden’s <i>History of Natal</i>, 210, 211.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_248" id="Footnote_248"></a><a href="#FNanchor_248"><span class="label">[248]</span></a> Moister’s <i>Africa, Past and Present</i>, 310, 311.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_249" id="Footnote_249"></a><a href="#FNanchor_249"><span class="label">[249]</span></a> Tams’s <i>Visit to Portuguese Possessions</i>, i. 181, ii. 28, 179.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_250" id="Footnote_250"></a><a href="#FNanchor_250"><span class="label">[250]</span></a> Robertson’s <i>America</i>; Works, vi. 177, 205.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_251" id="Footnote_251"></a><a href="#FNanchor_251"><span class="label">[251]</span></a> Thomson’s <i>Great Missionaries</i>, 30; Halkett’s <i>Indians of North +America</i>, 247, 249, 256.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_252" id="Footnote_252"></a><a href="#FNanchor_252"><span class="label">[252]</span></a> Le Blant, <i>Inscriptions Chrétiennes</i>, i. 86.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_253" id="Footnote_253"></a><a href="#FNanchor_253"><span class="label">[253]</span></a> Bingham, <i>Christian Antiquities</i>, i. 486.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_254" id="Footnote_254"></a><a href="#FNanchor_254"><span class="label">[254]</span></a> Cæsar, <i>De Bello Gallico</i>, vi. 14. ‘Druides a bello abesse consuerunt +... militiæ vacationem habent;’ and Origen, <i>In Celsum</i>, viii. +73, for the Romans.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_255" id="Footnote_255"></a><a href="#FNanchor_255"><span class="label">[255]</span></a> Vaughan’s <i>Life of Wycliffe</i>, ii. 212-3.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_256" id="Footnote_256"></a><a href="#FNanchor_256"><span class="label">[256]</span></a> Turner’s <i>England</i>, iv. 458, from Duchesne, <i>Gesta Stephani</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_257" id="Footnote_257"></a><a href="#FNanchor_257"><span class="label">[257]</span></a> ‘Non filius meus est vel ecclesiæ; ad regis autem voluntatem +redimetur, quia potius Martis quam Christi miles judicatur.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_258" id="Footnote_258"></a><a href="#FNanchor_258"><span class="label">[258]</span></a> Turner’s <i>England</i>, v. 92.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_259" id="Footnote_259"></a><a href="#FNanchor_259"><span class="label">[259]</span></a> ‘Sanxit ut nullus in posterum sacerdos in hostem pergeret, nisi +duo vel tres episcopi electione cæterorum propter benedictionem +populique reconciliationem, et cum illis electi sacerdotes qui bene +scirent populis pœnitentias dare, missas celebrare, etc.’ (in <i>Du Cange</i>, +‘Hostis’).</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_260" id="Footnote_260"></a><a href="#FNanchor_260"><span class="label">[260]</span></a> Guicciardini. ‘Prometteva che se i soldati procedevano virilmente, +che non accetterebbe la Mirandola con alcuno patto: ma +lascierebbe in potestà loro il saccheggiarla.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_261" id="Footnote_261"></a><a href="#FNanchor_261"><span class="label">[261]</span></a> Monstrelet, i. 9.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_262" id="Footnote_262"></a><a href="#FNanchor_262"><span class="label">[262]</span></a> Crichton’s <i>Scandinavia</i>, i. 170.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_263" id="Footnote_263"></a><a href="#FNanchor_263"><span class="label">[263]</span></a> <i>Mémoires du Fleurange.</i> Petitot, xvi. 253.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_264" id="Footnote_264"></a><a href="#FNanchor_264"><span class="label">[264]</span></a> See Palmer, <i>Origines Liturgicæ</i>, ii. 362-65, for the form of service.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_265" id="Footnote_265"></a><a href="#FNanchor_265"><span class="label">[265]</span></a> <i>Petitot</i>, xvi. 229.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_266" id="Footnote_266"></a><a href="#FNanchor_266"><span class="label">[266]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> 135.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_267" id="Footnote_267"></a><a href="#FNanchor_267"><span class="label">[267]</span></a> Petitot, viii. 55. ‘Feciono venire per tutto il campo un prete parato +col corpo di Christo, e in luogo di communicarsi ciascuno prese uno +poco di terra, e la si mise in boca.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_268" id="Footnote_268"></a><a href="#FNanchor_268"><span class="label">[268]</span></a> Livy, xxxvi. 2.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_269" id="Footnote_269"></a><a href="#FNanchor_269"><span class="label">[269]</span></a> Robertson, <i>Charles V.</i>, note 21. Ryan, <i>History of Effects of +Religion on Mankind</i>, 124.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_270" id="Footnote_270"></a><a href="#FNanchor_270"><span class="label">[270]</span></a> M. J, Schmidt, <i>Histoire des Allemands traduite, etc.</i>, iv. 232, 3.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_271" id="Footnote_271"></a><a href="#FNanchor_271"><span class="label">[271]</span></a> ‘Christianis licet ex mandato magistratus arma portare et <i>justa</i> +bella administrare.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_272" id="Footnote_272"></a><a href="#FNanchor_272"><span class="label">[272]</span></a> <i>Policy of War a True Defence of Peace</i>, 1543.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_273" id="Footnote_273"></a><a href="#FNanchor_273"><span class="label">[273]</span></a> <i>Pallas Armata</i>, 369, 1683.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_274" id="Footnote_274"></a><a href="#FNanchor_274"><span class="label">[274]</span></a> In his treatise <i>Du droit de la guerre</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_275" id="Footnote_275"></a><a href="#FNanchor_275"><span class="label">[275]</span></a> <i>L’Esprit</i>, i. 562.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_276" id="Footnote_276"></a><a href="#FNanchor_276"><span class="label">[276]</span></a> <i>Strafgesetzbuch</i>, Jan. 20, 1872, 15, 75, 150.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_277" id="Footnote_277"></a><a href="#FNanchor_277"><span class="label">[277]</span></a> Fleming’s <i>Volkommene Teutsche Soldat</i>, 96.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_278" id="Footnote_278"></a><a href="#FNanchor_278"><span class="label">[278]</span></a> Benet’s <i>United States Articles of War</i>, 391.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_279" id="Footnote_279"></a><a href="#FNanchor_279"><span class="label">[279]</span></a> Grose, ii. 199.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_280" id="Footnote_280"></a><a href="#FNanchor_280"><span class="label">[280]</span></a> See Turner’s <i>Pallas Armata</i>, 349, for these and similar military +tortures.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_281" id="Footnote_281"></a><a href="#FNanchor_281"><span class="label">[281]</span></a> Crichton’s <i>Scandinavia</i>, i. 168.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_282" id="Footnote_282"></a><a href="#FNanchor_282"><span class="label">[282]</span></a> Grose, ii. 6.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_283" id="Footnote_283"></a><a href="#FNanchor_283"><span class="label">[283]</span></a> Sir S. Scott’s <i>History of the British Army</i>, ii. 436.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_284" id="Footnote_284"></a><a href="#FNanchor_284"><span class="label">[284]</span></a> ii. 16. ‘Omnes autem signarii vel signiferi quamvis pedites +loricas minores accipiebant, et <i>galeas ad terrorem hostium ursinis +pellibus tectas</i>.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_285" id="Footnote_285"></a><a href="#FNanchor_285"><span class="label">[285]</span></a> Scott, ii. 9.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_286" id="Footnote_286"></a><a href="#FNanchor_286"><span class="label">[286]</span></a> Scott, i. 311.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_287" id="Footnote_287"></a><a href="#FNanchor_287"><span class="label">[287]</span></a> Said to have been invented about 400 <span class="small">B.C.</span> by Dionysius, tyrant of +Syracuse.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_288" id="Footnote_288"></a><a href="#FNanchor_288"><span class="label">[288]</span></a> Mitchell’s <i>Biographies of Eminent Soldiers</i>, 208, 287.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_289" id="Footnote_289"></a><a href="#FNanchor_289"><span class="label">[289]</span></a> Compare article 14 of the German <i>Strafgesetzbuch</i> of January 20, +1872.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_290" id="Footnote_290"></a><a href="#FNanchor_290"><span class="label">[290]</span></a> <i>Nineteenth Century</i>, November 1882: ‘The Present State of the +Army.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_291" id="Footnote_291"></a><a href="#FNanchor_291"><span class="label">[291]</span></a> <i>De Re Militari</i>, vi. 5.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_292" id="Footnote_292"></a><a href="#FNanchor_292"><span class="label">[292]</span></a> Bruce’s <i>Military Law</i> (1717), 254.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_293" id="Footnote_293"></a><a href="#FNanchor_293"><span class="label">[293]</span></a> See Fleming’s <i>Teutsche Soldat</i>, ch. 29.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_294" id="Footnote_294"></a><a href="#FNanchor_294"><span class="label">[294]</span></a> See the War Articles for 1673, 1749, 1794.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_295" id="Footnote_295"></a><a href="#FNanchor_295"><span class="label">[295]</span></a> 82.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_296" id="Footnote_296"></a><a href="#FNanchor_296"><span class="label">[296]</span></a> Quintus Curtius, viii. 2.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_297" id="Footnote_297"></a><a href="#FNanchor_297"><span class="label">[297]</span></a> <i>Military Law</i>, 163.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_298" id="Footnote_298"></a><a href="#FNanchor_298"><span class="label">[298]</span></a> 286, 290.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_299" id="Footnote_299"></a><a href="#FNanchor_299"><span class="label">[299]</span></a> <i>Despatches</i>, iii. 302, June 17, 1809.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_300" id="Footnote_300"></a><a href="#FNanchor_300"><span class="label">[300]</span></a> Compare also <i>Despatches</i>, iv. 457; v. 583, 704, 5.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_301" id="Footnote_301"></a><a href="#FNanchor_301"><span class="label">[301]</span></a> <i>China War</i>, 225.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_302" id="Footnote_302"></a><a href="#FNanchor_302"><span class="label">[302]</span></a> Scott’s <i>British Army</i>, ii. 411.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_303" id="Footnote_303"></a><a href="#FNanchor_303"><span class="label">[303]</span></a> <i>Wellington’s Despatches</i>, v. 705.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_304" id="Footnote_304"></a><a href="#FNanchor_304"><span class="label">[304]</span></a> See Windham’s Speech in the House of Commons. April 3, 1806.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_305" id="Footnote_305"></a><a href="#FNanchor_305"><span class="label">[305]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_306" id="Footnote_306"></a><a href="#FNanchor_306"><span class="label">[306]</span></a> P. 122.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_307" id="Footnote_307"></a><a href="#FNanchor_307"><span class="label">[307]</span></a> Fleming, 109.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_308" id="Footnote_308"></a><a href="#FNanchor_308"><span class="label">[308]</span></a> Preface to b. iii. ‘Ergo qui desiderat pacem, præparet bellum.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_309" id="Footnote_309"></a><a href="#FNanchor_309"><span class="label">[309]</span></a> Lord Wolseley’s <i>Soldier’s Pocket Book</i>, 5.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_310" id="Footnote_310"></a><a href="#FNanchor_310"><span class="label">[310]</span></a> Arbousset’s <i>Exploratory Tour</i>, 397-9.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_311" id="Footnote_311"></a><a href="#FNanchor_311"><span class="label">[311]</span></a> Livy, xl. 6.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_312" id="Footnote_312"></a><a href="#FNanchor_312"><span class="label">[312]</span></a> <i>Iliad</i>, vi. 266-8; and comp. <i>Æneid</i>, ii. 717-20.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_313" id="Footnote_313"></a><a href="#FNanchor_313"><span class="label">[313]</span></a> Casalis’s <i>Basutos</i>, 258.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_314" id="Footnote_314"></a><a href="#FNanchor_314"><span class="label">[314]</span></a> Victor Hugo’s <i>L’Ane</i>, 124.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_315" id="Footnote_315"></a><a href="#FNanchor_315"><span class="label">[315]</span></a> Baillat’s <i>Vie de Descartes</i>, i. 41.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_316" id="Footnote_316"></a><a href="#FNanchor_316"><span class="label">[316]</span></a> ii. 25, 9, 1. ‘Tanto carnifice detestabiliores quanto pejus est sine +causâ quam ex causâ occidere.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_317" id="Footnote_317"></a><a href="#FNanchor_317"><span class="label">[317]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i> 2. ‘Nullum vitæ genus est improbius quam eorum qui sine +causæ respectu mercede conducti militant, et quibus ibi fas ubi plurima +merces.’ Both the sentiment and the expression are borrowed from +Lucan’s <i>Pharsalia</i>, x. 408: ‘Nulla fides pietasque viris qui castra sequuntur +Venalesque manus; ibi fas ubi plurima merces.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_318" id="Footnote_318"></a><a href="#FNanchor_318"><span class="label">[318]</span></a> 364.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_319" id="Footnote_319"></a><a href="#FNanchor_319"><span class="label">[319]</span></a> Potter’s <i>Greek Antiquities</i>, ii. 9.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_320" id="Footnote_320"></a><a href="#FNanchor_320"><span class="label">[320]</span></a> Henry’s <i>Britain</i>, iii. 5, 1; Grose i. 56.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_321" id="Footnote_321"></a><a href="#FNanchor_321"><span class="label">[321]</span></a> Grose, i. 58.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_322" id="Footnote_322"></a><a href="#FNanchor_322"><span class="label">[322]</span></a> <i>Ibid.</i>, i. 67.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_323" id="Footnote_323"></a><a href="#FNanchor_323"><span class="label">[323]</span></a> <i>Parliamentary Debates</i>, May 24, 1756.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_324" id="Footnote_324"></a><a href="#FNanchor_324"><span class="label">[324]</span></a> Sir S. Scott’s <i>British Army</i>, ii. 333.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_325" id="Footnote_325"></a><a href="#FNanchor_325"><span class="label">[325]</span></a> N. Bacon’s Notes to <i>Selden’s Laws</i>, ii. 60.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_326" id="Footnote_326"></a><a href="#FNanchor_326"><span class="label">[326]</span></a> <i>Candide</i>, c. xx.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_327" id="Footnote_327"></a><a href="#FNanchor_327"><span class="label">[327]</span></a> Alison’s <i>Europe</i>, vi. 491.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_328" id="Footnote_328"></a><a href="#FNanchor_328"><span class="label">[328]</span></a> <i>Life of Sir C. Napier</i>, i. 77.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_329" id="Footnote_329"></a><a href="#FNanchor_329"><span class="label">[329]</span></a> <i>Military Law</i>, 17.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_330" id="Footnote_330"></a><a href="#FNanchor_330"><span class="label">[330]</span></a> <i>Keppel’s Life</i>, by T. Keppel, ii. 1.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_331" id="Footnote_331"></a><a href="#FNanchor_331"><span class="label">[331]</span></a> <i>Indian Expedition</i>, ix.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_332" id="Footnote_332"></a><a href="#FNanchor_332"><span class="label">[332]</span></a> Livy, 39, 3; 42, 21; 43, 5.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_333" id="Footnote_333"></a><a href="#FNanchor_333"><span class="label">[333]</span></a> Livy, xlv. 22. ‘Certe quidem vos estis Romani, qui ideo felicia +bella vestra esse, quia justa sint, præ vobis fertis, nec tam exitu +eorum, quod vincatis, quam principiis quod non sine causâ suscipiatis, +gloriamini.’</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_334" id="Footnote_334"></a><a href="#FNanchor_334"><span class="label">[334]</span></a> <i>De Civitate Dei</i>, iv. 4 and 6.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_335" id="Footnote_335"></a><a href="#FNanchor_335"><span class="label">[335]</span></a> <i>Arbre des Batailles</i>, quoted in Kennedy’s <i>Influence of Christianity +on International Law</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_336" id="Footnote_336"></a><a href="#FNanchor_336"><span class="label">[336]</span></a> Petitot, xvi. 137.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"> + +<p><a name="Footnote_337" id="Footnote_337"></a><a href="#FNanchor_337"><span class="label">[337]</span></a> III. 65. ‘Cavendo ne metuant, homines metuendos ultro se +efficiunt, et injuriam ab nobis repulsam, tamquam aut facere aut pati +necesse sit, injungimus aliis.’</p></div></div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[Pg 281]</a></span></p> + +<h2><a name="INDEX" id="INDEX">INDEX.</a></h2> + +<ul class="index"><li class="ifrst">Achæan, curious mode of warfare, <a href="#Page_131">131</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Alexander II. of Russia, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>, <a href="#Page_10">10</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Armed neutrality, the, <a href="#Page_86">86</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Armour, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_224">224</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ashantee battle song, <a href="#Page_86">86</a></li> + +<li class="ifrst">Balloonists in war, <a href="#Page_148">148</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Battles, allusions to:</li> +<li class="isub1">Agincourt, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>, <a href="#Page_262">262</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Bouvines, <a href="#Page_194">194</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Camperdown, <a href="#Page_80">80</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Crecy, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>, <a href="#Page_54">54</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Dover, <a href="#Page_84">84</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Musselborough, <a href="#Page_56">56</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Navarette, <a href="#Page_59">59</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Neerwinden, <a href="#Page_6">6</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Nicopoli, <a href="#Page_56">56</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Nile, <a href="#Page_81">81</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Otterbourne, <a href="#Page_196">196</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Pavia, <a href="#Page_141">141</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Poitiers, <a href="#Page_207">207</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Tel-el-Kebir, <a href="#Page_253">253</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Bearskin hats, <a href="#Page_223">223</a>, <a href="#Page_224">224</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Becon, Thomas, on military service in the sixteenth century, <a href="#Page_208">208</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Bishops in war, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>, <a href="#Page_52">52-3</a>, <a href="#Page_193">193-8</a>, <a href="#Page_261">261</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Blinding of prisoners, <a href="#Page_42">42-3</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Blockade, effective, <a href="#Page_92">92</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Bloodhounds used in war, <a href="#Page_171">171-2</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Bombardment, theory and practice of, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_116">116</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Bounties for scalps, <a href="#Page_156">156</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Brigand, meaning of, <a href="#Page_57">57</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Britons, love for military life, <a href="#Page_156">156</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Brussels Conference on laws of war, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141-6</a>-<a href="#Page_7">7-8</a>, <a href="#Page_158">158</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Bullinger, limits to right of military service, <a href="#Page_208">208</a>, <a href="#Page_263">263</a></li> + +<li class="ifrst">Cannons, <a href="#Page_5">5</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Cannon-shot oath, <a href="#Page_130">130</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Capitulations, <a href="#Page_100">100-1</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Chain-shot, <a href="#Page_6">6</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Chivalry, age of, <a href="#Page_32">32</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Church, influence of, on war, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>, <a href="#Page_185">185-193</a>, <a href="#Page_204">204-16</a>, <a href="#Page_252">252</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Churches, destruction of, <a href="#Page_48">48</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Church parade, <a href="#Page_219">219</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Cities, fate of, in war:</li> +<li class="isub1">Amiens, surprise of, <a href="#Page_148">148</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Badajoz, storming of, <a href="#Page_27">27</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Barcelona, siege of, <a href="#Page_138">138</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Brescia, storming of, <a href="#Page_103">103</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Calais, siege of, <a href="#Page_44">44</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Constantine, storming of, <a href="#Page_27">27</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Copenhagen, bombardment of, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>, <a href="#Page_268">268</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Dinant, storming of, <a href="#Page_102">102</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Gaza, storming of, <a href="#Page_107">107</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Grammont, massacre at, <a href="#Page_35">35</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Gravelines, massacre at, <a href="#Page_36">36</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Haarlem, siege of, <a href="#Page_97">97</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Liège, storming of, <a href="#Page_102">102</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Limoges, massacre at, <a href="#Page_37">37</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Londonderry, siege of, <a href="#Page_197">197-8</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Magdeburg, massacre at, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Malta, siege of, <a href="#Page_97">97</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Meaux, surrender of, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>, <a href="#Page_101">101</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Mirandola, siege of, <a href="#Page_197">197</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Oudenarde, siege of, <a href="#Page_47">47</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Pekin, English at, <a href="#Page_237">237</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Persepolis, burning of, <a href="#Page_108">108</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Poitiers, massacre at, <a href="#Page_34">34</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Rome, sack of, <a href="#Page_103">103</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Rouen, surrender of, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>, <a href="#Page_101">101</a></li> +<li class="isub1">San Sebastian, storming of, <a href="#Page_28">28</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Strasburg, bombardment of <a href="#Page_15">15</a>, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, 106<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[Pg 282]</a></span></li> +<li class="isub1">Terouanne, destruction of, <a href="#Page_137">137</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Thebes, sack of, <a href="#Page_103">103</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Toledo, siege of, <a href="#Page_42">42</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Tyre, siege of, <a href="#Page_108">108</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Ulm, surprise of, <a href="#Page_149">149</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Washington, English in, <a href="#Page_16">16</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Conference stratagem, <a href="#Page_136">136</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Conscription, the, <a href="#Page_242">242-8</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Consecration of banners, <a href="#Page_201">201</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Contraband, <a href="#Page_88">88</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Contributions, military, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_118">118</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Costume, military, <a href="#Page_222">222-3</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Crossbow, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Cruelty and courage, <a href="#Page_110">110</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Custom of war, character of, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>, <a href="#Page_210">210</a></li> + +<li class="ifrst">Decimation, story of, <a href="#Page_222">222</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Declaration of Paris, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86-9</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Declaration of St. Petersburg, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Declaration of war, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_198">198</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Desertion, <a href="#Page_230">230-1</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Discipline, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>, <a href="#Page_234">234</a>, <a href="#Page_236">236</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Dress, philosophy of military, <a href="#Page_229">229</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Duty, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>, <a href="#Page_264">264</a></li> + +<li class="ifrst">Embargoes, <a href="#Page_89">89</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Explosive bullets, <a href="#Page_1">1-2</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a></li> + +<li class="ifrst">False flag, stratagem of the, <a href="#Page_128">128-130</a></li> + +<li class="indx">False information in war, <a href="#Page_152">152</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Fecials, Roman, <a href="#Page_271">271</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Firearms, feeling against, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>, <a href="#Page_226">226</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Fireships, <a href="#Page_84">84-5</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Flogging, <a href="#Page_234">234-5</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Forged despatches, <a href="#Page_151">151</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Free Companies, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, <a href="#Page_260">260</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Free ships, free goods, <a href="#Page_87">87</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Fruit-trees, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>, <a href="#Page_161">161</a></li> + +<li class="ifrst">Germans, the, in war, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_115">115-9</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Greek fire, <a href="#Page_83">83-4</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Grenadiers, <a href="#Page_223">223</a></li> + +<li class="ifrst">Hanging in war, <a href="#Page_44">44-7</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Honour, variable notions of, <a href="#Page_155">155-6</a>, <a href="#Page_267">267</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Hostages, taking of, revived, <a href="#Page_117">117</a></li> + +<li class="ifrst">Innocent III., <a href="#Page_206">206</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Invention of the bayonet, <a href="#Page_6">6</a></li> + +<li class="ifrst">Jomini, Baron, President of Brussels Conference, <a href="#Page_95">95</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Julius II., story of, <a href="#Page_196">196</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Jus Angariæ, <a href="#Page_90">90</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Justice in war, <a href="#Page_208">208</a>, <a href="#Page_258">258-9</a>, <a href="#Page_271">271</a>, <a href="#Page_273">273-80</a></li> + +<li class="ifrst">Khonds, theory of war, <a href="#Page_203">203</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Kidnapping soldiers in Germany, <a href="#Page_241">241</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Kissing the earth, custom of, <a href="#Page_201">201</a></li> + +<li class="ifrst">Lateran Council, Third, <a href="#Page_4">4</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Laws of war among savages, <a href="#Page_159">159</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Lent, observation of, in war, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>, <a href="#Page_205">205</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Leo the Great, <a href="#Page_204">204</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Letters of marque, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_78">78</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Letters, military contempt for, <a href="#Page_156">156</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Limoges, Council of, <a href="#Page_203">203</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Loha Pennu, an Indian war-god, <a href="#Page_203">203</a></li> + +<li class="ifrst">Macedonian warfare, <a href="#Page_133">133</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Magic, use of, in war, <a href="#Page_199">199</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Malingering, <a href="#Page_231">231-4</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Marriage, restrictions on, <a href="#Page_218">218-9</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Mercenary service, <a href="#Page_260">260-3</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Military cant, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105-6</a>, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>, <a href="#Page_163">163</a></li> + +<li class="indx">— vandalism, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>, <a href="#Page_237">237</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Missionaries, <a href="#Page_176">176-182</a></li> + +<li class="indx">— failure of, <a href="#Page_177">177</a></li> + +<li class="indx">— legal control of, 181<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[Pg 283]</a></span></li> + +<li class="indx">Missionaries, Norwegian, in Zululand, <a href="#Page_179">179</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Mission stations destroyed, <a href="#Page_180">180</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Mozley, Canon, on war, <a href="#Page_212">212</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Musket, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Mutiny Act, first, <a href="#Page_265">265</a></li> + +<li class="ifrst">Names of weapons, <a href="#Page_200">200</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Neutral ships and property, <a href="#Page_86">86</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Night attacks, <a href="#Page_133">133</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Numbers slain in war, <a href="#Page_8">8-10</a></li> + +<li class="ifrst">Oath, military, <a href="#Page_264">264-5</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Oath by cannon-shot, <a href="#Page_130">130</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Ophthalmia, artificial, <a href="#Page_233">233</a></li> + +<li class="ifrst">Palatinate, devastation of the, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_267">267</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Pay, soldiers’, <a href="#Page_239">239</a>, <a href="#Page_261">261</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Perfidy, cases of, <a href="#Page_135">135</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Perjury, cases of, <a href="#Page_139">139</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Perpetual peace, Von Moltke on, <a href="#Page_119">119</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Piracy, <a href="#Page_67">67-70</a>, <a href="#Page_255">255</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Plunder of property at sea, <a href="#Page_67">67-70</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Plunder of property on land, <a href="#Page_61">61-3</a>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_118">118</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Poison, use of, in war, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_172">172-3</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Poisoning the air, <a href="#Page_49">49</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Poisoning water, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_29">29</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Press, influence of, in war, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>, <a href="#Page_253">253</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Prisoners, treatment of, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>, <a href="#Page_113">113</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Prisoners, beheaded, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a></li> + +<li class="indx">— blinded, <a href="#Page_43">43</a></li> + +<li class="indx">— burnt, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, <a href="#Page_111">111</a></li> + +<li class="indx">— drowned, <a href="#Page_101">101-2</a>-<a href="#Page_6">6</a></li> + +<li class="indx">— hung, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>, <a href="#Page_101">101-3</a></li> + +<li class="indx">— maimed, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_103">103</a></li> + +<li class="indx">— massacred, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, <a href="#Page_111">111</a></li> + +<li class="indx">— tortured, <a href="#Page_194">194</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Privateering, <a href="#Page_70">70-9</a></li> + +<li class="indx">— Lord Nelson on, <a href="#Page_77">77</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Prizes and prize-money, <a href="#Page_70">70</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Prize Court, <a href="#Page_76">76</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Punishments, military, <a href="#Page_221">221-6</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Purificatory battle rites, <a href="#Page_250">250</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Pursers on privateers, <a href="#Page_76">76</a></li> + +<li class="ifrst">Recruiting, difficulty of, <a href="#Page_240">240</a></li> + +<li class="indx">— former system of, in France and Germany, <a href="#Page_241">241</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Red, the military colour, <a href="#Page_223">223</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Red-hot shot, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Reprisals, <a href="#Page_93">93-118</a></li> + +<li class="indx">— savage German, <a href="#Page_117">117-8</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Right of search, <a href="#Page_88">88</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Right of wreck, <a href="#Page_89">89</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Roman warfare, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>, <a href="#Page_271">271-2</a></li> + +<li class="ifrst">Sacred buildings in war, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_48">48-9</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Sea battles, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Scalping enemies, <a href="#Page_170">170</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Sentry-go, <a href="#Page_229">229</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Slavery, influence of its cessation on war, <a href="#Page_112">112</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Socialism, chief cause of, <a href="#Page_245">245-8</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Soldiers of mark:</li> +<li class="isub1">Alaric, <a href="#Page_204">204</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Alexander the Great, <a href="#Page_107">107-10</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Barbarossa, <a href="#Page_100">100</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Bayard, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>, <a href="#Page_273">273</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Bertrand du Guesclin, <a href="#Page_40">40-1</a>, <a href="#Page_44">44</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Black Prince, the, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>, <a href="#Page_59">59</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Blücher, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_17">17</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Cæsar, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>, <a href="#Page_272">272</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Catinat, <a href="#Page_145">145</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Chandos, Sir John, <a href="#Page_55">55</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Charles of Anjou, <a href="#Page_100">100</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Charles the Bold, <a href="#Page_111">111</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Charles XII. of Sweden, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>, <a href="#Page_226">226</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Crillon, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>, <a href="#Page_243">243</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Custine, <a href="#Page_145">145</a></li> +<li class="isub1">David, king of the Jews, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>, <a href="#Page_251">251</a></li> +<li class="isub1">David I. of Scotland, <a href="#Page_111">111</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Des Adretz, <a href="#Page_111">111</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Edward I., <a href="#Page_106">106</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Edward III., 44<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[Pg 284]</a></span></li> +<li class="isub1">Eugene, Prince, <a href="#Page_149">149</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Feuquières, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>, <a href="#Page_149">149</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Francis I., <a href="#Page_140">140</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Francis de Vere, <a href="#Page_104">104</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Frederick the Great, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_142">142</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Genseric, <a href="#Page_205">205</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Godfrey de Bouillon, <a href="#Page_100">100</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Gustavus Adolphus, <a href="#Page_19">19-20</a>, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_221">221</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Henri Quatre, <a href="#Page_30">30</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Henry V., <a href="#Page_101">101</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Keppel, Admiral, <a href="#Page_270">270</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Manny, Sir Walter, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>, <a href="#Page_57">57</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Maurice, Prince, <a href="#Page_150">150</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Montluc, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>, <a href="#Page_156">156</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Moltke, <a href="#Page_119">119</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Orange, Prince of, <a href="#Page_152">152</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Parma, Prince of, <a href="#Page_146">146</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Pélissier, <a href="#Page_165">165</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Peterborough, Lord, <a href="#Page_138">138</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Pyrrhus, <a href="#Page_157">157</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Richard I., <a href="#Page_111">111</a>, <a href="#Page_195">195</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Saxe, Marshal, <a href="#Page_226">226</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Scipio, <a href="#Page_146">146</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Sertorius, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>, <a href="#Page_145">145</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Sully, <a href="#Page_30">30</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Suwarrow, <a href="#Page_238">238</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Wellington, Duke of, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_236">236</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Wolseley, Lord, <a href="#Page_143">143-4</a>, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_244">244</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Xerxes, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>, <a href="#Page_146">146</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Spaniards in war, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>, <a href="#Page_167">167-9</a>, <a href="#Page_200">200</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Spies, <a href="#Page_141">141-8</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Vattel on, <a href="#Page_141">141</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Frederick the Great on, <a href="#Page_142">142</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Lord Wolseley on, <a href="#Page_143">143-4</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Storming cities, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_238">238</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Surprises, <a href="#Page_148">148-9</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Surrender at discretion, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>, <a href="#Page_123">123</a></li> + +<li class="ifrst">Ternate, island of, <a href="#Page_131">131</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Torpedoes, first use of, <a href="#Page_5">5</a></li> + +<li class="indx">— introduced into European warfare, <a href="#Page_85">85</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Treatise on Tactics by Leo VI., <a href="#Page_83">83</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Truce of God, <a href="#Page_205">205</a></li> + +<li class="ifrst">War, real character of, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>, <a href="#Page_210">210</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Wars, abolition of private, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>, <a href="#Page_227">227</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Weapons, <a href="#Page_50">50</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Women, imprisoned in war, <a href="#Page_38">38</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Women and children, slaughter of, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>, <a href="#Page_33">33-8</a>, <a href="#Page_117">117</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Women as soldiers, <a href="#Page_242">242</a></li> + +<li class="indx">Writers, &c.:</li> +<li class="isub1">Arrian, <a href="#Page_109">109</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Bluntschli, <a href="#Page_127">127</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Bynkershoeck, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_127">127</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Cicero, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>, <a href="#Page_126">126</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Descartes, <a href="#Page_254">254</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Dobritzhoffer, <a href="#Page_160">160</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Emerigon, <a href="#Page_73">73</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Erasmus, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>, <a href="#Page_244">244</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Froissart, <a href="#Page_23">23</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Frontinus, <a href="#Page_134">134</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Grotius, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>, <a href="#Page_256">256</a>, <a href="#Page_258">258</a>, <a href="#Page_273">273</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Hallam, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a href="#Page_50">50</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Hautefeuille, <a href="#Page_67">67</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Kant, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>, <a href="#Page_30">30</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Las Casas, <a href="#Page_167">167</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Molloy, <a href="#Page_77">77</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Origen, <a href="#Page_190">190</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Palmerston, Lord, <a href="#Page_227">227</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Penn, <a href="#Page_173">173</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Polyænus, <a href="#Page_135">135</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Quintus Curtius, <a href="#Page_109">109</a></li> +<li class="isub1">St. Pierre, Abbé, <a href="#Page_30">30</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Sepulveda, <a href="#Page_167">167</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Tertullian, <a href="#Page_189">189</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Turner, Sir James, <a href="#Page_259">259</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Valin, <a href="#Page_73">73</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Vattel, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>, <a href="#Page_104">104-5</a>, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>, <a href="#Page_266">266</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Vauban, <a href="#Page_15">15</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Victor Hugo, <a href="#Page_252">252</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Voltaire, <a href="#Page_210">210</a>, <a href="#Page_267">267-8</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Whewell, <a href="#Page_67">67</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Wycliffe, <a href="#Page_193">193</a></li> +<li class="isub1">Zwingli, <a href="#Page_263">263</a></li></ul> + +<hr class="chap" /> +<p class="center small"><i>Spottiswoode & Co., Printers, New-street Square, London.</i></p> + +<div class="transnote"> +<p>Transcriber's notes:</p> + +<p>The following is a list of changes made to the original. +The first line is the original line, the second the corrected one.</p> + +<p>Page 11, footnote:</p> +<p> +like England should have been heard an inquiry of which<br /> +like England should have been heard <span class="u">at</span> an inquiry of which</p> + +<p>Page 78:</p> +<p> +which abolished privateering <span class="u">beween</span> the signatory Powers,<br /> +which abolished privateering <span class="u">between</span> the signatory Powers,</p> + +<p>Page 244:</p> +<p> +such an <span class="u">expositon</span> as the following of the relation between<br /> +such an <span class="u">exposition</span> as the following of the relation between</p> +</div> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Military Manners and Customs, by James Anson Farrer + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MILITARY MANNERS AND CUSTOMS *** + +***** This file should be named 44635-h.htm or 44635-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/4/4/6/3/44635/ + +Produced by Paul Clark and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print 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