The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1881-02-05 00:00:00

COUNT VON MOLTKE ON THE LAWS
OF WARFARE.
The Times has published the following:—

Sir,—You may perhaps think that the accompanying
letter, recently addressed by Count von Moltke to Professor
Bluntschli, is of sufficient general interest to be inserted in
The Times. It was written with reference to the manual qt
the laws of war which was adopted by the Institut de Droft
International at its recent session at Oxford. The German
text of the letter will appear in a few days at Berlin. My
translation is made from the proof-sheets of the February
number of the Revue de Droit International, which will
contain also Professor Bluntschli's reply.—Your obedient
servant, T. E. HOLLAND.
Oxford, Jan, 29.

"Berlin, Dec. 11, 1880._

"You have been so good as to forward to me the
manual published by the Institut de Droit Interna-
tional, and you hope for my approval of it. In the
first place I fully appreciate the philanthropic effort
to soften the evils which result from war. Perpetual
peace is a dream, and it is not even a beautiful
dream. War is an element in the order of the world
ordained by God. In it the noblest virtues of man-
kind are developed; courage and the abnegation of
self, faithfulness to duty, and the spirit of sacrifice;
the soldier gives his life. Without war the world
would stagnate, and lose itself in materialism.

"I agree entirely with the proposition contained in
the introduction that a gradual softening of manners
ought to be reflected also in the mode of making war.
But I go further, and think the softening of manners
can alone bring about this result, which cannot" be at-
tained by a codification of the law of war. Every law
presupposes an authority to superintend and direct its
execution, and international conventions are sup-
ported by no such authority. What neutral States
would ever take up arms for the sole reason that, two
Powers being at war, the 'laws of war' had been vio-
lated by one or both of the belligerents? For offences
of that sort there is no earthly judge. Success can
come only from the religious moral education of in-
dividuals, and from the feeling of honour and sense of
justice of commanders who enforce the law and con-
form to it so far as the exceptional circumstances of
war permit.
"This being so it is necessary to reeognize also that
increased humanity in the mode of making war has in
reality followed upon the gradual softening of
manners. Only :compare the horrors of the Thirty
Years' War with the struggles of modern times.
"A great step has been made in our own day by
the establishment of compulsory military service,
which introduced the educated classes into armies.
The brutal and violent element is, of course, still there
but it is no longer alone, as once it was. Again,
Governments have two powerful means of preventing
the worst kind of excesses—strict discipline maintained
in time of peace, so that the soldier has become
habituated to it, and care on the part of the depart-
ment which provides for the subsistence of troops in
the Mill If that care fails discipline can only be
imperfectly maintained. It is impossible for the
soldier, wiio endures sufferings, hardships, fatigues,
who meets danger, to take only in proportion to the
resources of the country.' He must take whatever is
needful for his existence. We cannot ask him for
what is surperhuman.
"The greatest kindness in war is to bring it to a
speedy conclusion. 14 should be allowable with that
view to employ all methods save those which are
absolutely objectionable ('dazu mUssen elle nicht
geradezu verwerfliche Mittel freistehen '). I can
by no means profess agreement with the Declaration
of St. Petersburg when it asserts that 'the weakening
of themilitary forces of the enemy' is the only lawful
procedure in war. No, you must attack all the
resources of the enemy's Government, its finances, its
railways, its stores, and even its prestige. Thus
energetically, and yet with a moderation previously
unknown, was the late war against France con-
ducted. The issue of the campaign was decided in
two months, and the fighting did not become embit-
tered till a revolutionary Government, unfortunately
for the country, prolonged the war for four more
months.

"I am glad to see that the manual, in clear and pre-
cise articles, pays more attention to the necessities of
war than has been paid by previous attempts. But
for Governments to recognise these rules will not be
enough to insure that they shall be observed. It has
long been a universally recognised custom of warfare
that a flag of truce must not be fired on, and yet we
have seen that rule violated on several occasions
during the late war.

"Never will an article learnt by rote persuade
soldiers to see a regular enemy (sections 2-4) in the
unorganized population which takes up arms, ' spon-
taneously ' (so of its own motion) and puts them in
danger of their life at every moment of day and night.
Certain requirements of the manual might be impos-
sible of realization; for instance, the identification of
the sla n after a great battle. Other requirements.
would be open to criticism did not the intercalation of
such words as 'if circumstances permit," if possible,'
'if it can be done,' if necessary,' give them an elasti-
city but for which the bonds they impose must be
broken by inexorable reality.
"I am of opinion that in war, where everything
must be individual, the only articles which will prove
efficacious are those which are addressed specifically
to commanders Such are the rules of the manual
relating to the wounded, the sick, the surgeons, and
medical appliances. The general recognition of these
principles, and of those also which relate to prisoners,
would mark a distinct step of progress towards the
goal pursued with so honourable a persistency by the
Institut de Droit International.
"COUNT VON MOLTKE, Field-Marshal-General."