The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1874-10-31 00:00:00

Ely c*tourbriZtge Otisertnr.

SATURDAY, OCTOBER, 31, 1874.

MODERN WARFARE.

The officiol report of the proceedings at the
Brussels Conference on the Usages of War has
been published in the Laiiden etie, and al-
though peace now prevails through the civilized
world, the chronicle is worth a passing reference.
Modern history tells us, and we have seen it in
our own experience that war very often rushes
upon the!nations with alarming speed. Wo had
an instance of that rather more than four years
ago. On the sth of July, 1870, when Earl Gran-
ville sacceeded the late Earl of Clarendon as
Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, he was
assured by Mr. Hammond, who had been the
Pertoanent Under-Secretary for a quarter of is
century, that he had never known the political
sky upon the continent so clear and cloudless as
it was then. That very night a dispatch ar-
rived at the Foreign Office from Mr. Layard, our
Minister at Madrid bringing the Government
acquainted with the fact that the Prince Leo-
pold of Hohenzollern had been nominated to the
Throne of Spain ; the neat day the French
. . . . _ .

Foreign Minister declared in the Corps Legis-
latif that if this candidature were persisted in,
" France would know how to do her duty with-
out hesitation and without weakness ; " and on
and Ith of the same ireintit tea days
after Mr. Hammonds dream of perpetual peace
--war was declared, and two great military na-
tions were preparing for that life and death
struggle which was destined to change the bat
mace of power in Europe
The papers now given to the world define our
position in regard to future international action
with remarkable clearness. Early last session
Lord Derby announced to Parliament the line
which he intended to take respecting this ques•
lion, and he has kept his word. In the predrill-
nary instructions given by the Foreign Secretary
to our representative at the conference, Major.
General Sir Alfred Horsford, the reservations
under which alone we consented to take part in
the contsrence are emphatically insisted upon.
Again, in the official circular to our Ministers
abroad, the same reservations are equally and
plainly stipulated. Indeed throughout this cor-
respondence there is an assertion of one and the
4,11110 policy of judicious caution. Certainly the
directions given by Lord Derby to Sir Alfred
Hereford were observed with scrupulous fidelity.
Early in the proceedings the gallant General
found it necessary to call the attention of the
President to that part of his instructions which
told him that he was to abstain from taking part
in any discussion upon points which might ap-
pear to extend to general principles of interna-
tional law not already universally recognised and
accepted. A report of the proceedings from
day to day, and a summary of the arguments
urged by the various delegates, was forwarded
by Sir Alfred to the Foreign Office, and the
series of these despatches forms a concise and
clear narrative of the debates. The earlier dis-
cussions were unlikely to lead to difficulties' in-
asmuch as the conclusions arrived at could not
be to the advantage of one power or the disad-
vantage of another. All parties, whether the
strong or the weak, the well-organized, or the
deficient in any military organization whatever,
were, in these arrangements, treated alike. It
was not until the appearance of such subjects as
the military authority of hostile States over
those who are to be regarded as belligerents and
the status to be accorded to combatants and non-
combatants, that causes of diffierence arose.
These ranged the representatives of Belgium,
the Netherlands, France, Portugal, Switzerland,
and others, on one aide, against the delegates of
the great military Powers on the other. On the
24th of August, when the sittings were drawing
to a close, Sir A. Horsford forwarded to Lord
Derby a draft of the Final Protocol, which was
to be submitted to the delegates for signature,
and asked to be informed whether he should sign
it or not. Its contents were a series of very
harmless generalities as to the desirability, in
the interests of civilization, of alleviating the
calamities of war; and wound up by affirming
that the Canference submitted their project to
the various Powers as a conscientious inquiry of
a nature to serve as a basis for an ulterior ex-
change of ideas, and for developing the provi-
sions of the Convention of Geneva of 1884, and
the Declaration of St. Petersburg of 1868. Lord
Derby replied, accepting the explanation as suf-
ficient to establish, beyond the risk of misunder-
standing, the fact that in signing the final Pro-
tocol the delegates did so in their individual
capacities, and not as pledging the government
in any manner. It was on this understanding
that the British representative was authorised
to attach hia name to the document.
_ _

There can be no doubt that the course pur-
sued by the Foreign Office in this matter is a
wise one. It seems impossible for the most
timid of politicians to entertain the fear that we
have committed ourselves in any way with refer-
ence to the proposals originally made by Russia
for altering the laws of war. We have not en-
dorsed the Russian propositions themselves, or
any of the conflicting opinions expressed by the
Conference with regard to them. Our Govern-
ment stands pledged to nothing except to con-
sider the project. As civilization advances, the
nations must be anxious, not merely to lessen
the horrors of war, but to diminish the chances
of its occurring at all. While human nature re-
mains as it is. war is a calamity which must be
considered possible; still it is scarcely conceiv-
able that a number of gentlemen eiated round a
table covered with green baize, can draw up a
number of hard and fast rules, applicable to all
circumstances of modern warfare. What might
suit Russia might be totally out of place as ap-
plied to Switzerland, and Dist which Russia
might endorse would probably be repudiated by
I Portugal. Again, it would have been manifestly
out of place forthe purely military nations, some
of which do not possess a single ship, to lay
down the exact conditions of naval 'warfare to a
Power like Great Britain. We are the best
judges of what ought to be done in that way,
and without distinction of party, and looking at
the matter from a national end patriotic point of
view, there are very few of our countrymen who
will be disposed to blame Lord Derby for declin-
to be bound by any decision to which the con-
ference may have arrived on a question so mo-
mentous to our interests.

ATTEMPTED SUICIDE AT COLLEY
GATE.

Colley Gate, near Cradley, has of late been
attracting to itself an unenviable notoriety for
murders and suicides. It is not long since a
mother murdered her danghter, and scarcely has
the consternation which that caused in the dis-
trict becovie lulled, than the news is rapidly
spread that a man named Thomas Bishop, aged
65, MO male a detenniPed attempt to take bis
life by cutting his throat; but, fortunately for
the wan it ea e not done effectually.