BoletiÌn mercantil de Puerto Rico. (San Juan, P.R.) 18??-1918, 1902-06-21

and clear set OF rules IOT lne govern
ment of armies. The task was huge
one, for it meant painstaking search
though everything in the law and liter
ature of the civilized world bearing on
the subject, and not only the consistent
grouping of all the principles thence
evolved, but the linking of these together
by devising rules to fill any gaps that
might be found between them.
DIR Lieber was not only lawyer OF
fine attain1nents and a liberal scholar,
but man of some military experience
and philosopher AS lad Of fifteen
he had foug ght against Napoleon, and
was almost killed on the field of
Waterloo and he was one of the Prus-
sian refugees of IS48. His associations
with the conduct of armies and their
operations were therefore with those of
the French and Germans, and largely
during a period when the Napoleonic
treaties with states in Continental Eu-
rope, like the treaty of Jena with Prus-
Sia, were either still active or a very
vigorous tradition. Certainly in, those
times there were none of the devilish
contrivances for adding to the horrors
of warfare such as we now posSess-no
dum-dum bullets, no ordnance thro wing
shells of dynamite and gun cotton, and
the hke-so that his phrases must be
interpreted by reference to all these
conditions.
t1onal resIfIctioh OF the modes adopted
to injure the enemy" in short, means
no more than that the modern modes
of warfare are not narrowed down by
treaty lines once observed and the
teonteXt, "but the law of war imposes
many limitations and restrictions on
principles of justice, faith, and honor" "
amply bears Out this theory. If, as is
expected, some OF the officers charged
with the violation Of all rules of civiliz-
ed warfare fall back upon their limited
understanding of the twentieth para
graph of General Order 100, they will
find themselves without sympathy from
their superiors here, and will have to
answer for not obeying the order iu-
telligently and in its real meaning.
Need Of Passports For Colonists.
The Department of State will be
very much obliged to Congress if that
body will present it with joint res
olution authorizing the issue of pas
sports to citizens of the Philippine ar
chipelago, Porto Rico and Guam, on
such proof of eligibility as the Presi-
dent may by executive order prescribe.
The present law restricts actual pas
sports to citizens of the United States,
which, as the Department authorities
read the judicial decision, rules out the
island colonists. Fortunately, there are
very few countries now where pas
sport is essential to the safety or COM
fort of a traveller. In all others, the |
Department is under instructions from |
the President to extend to our purchas-
ed and ceded colonists as much protec-
tien as is afforded American citizens,
regardless of the passport question. and
many of them carry letters of identif-
cation which make them charge upon
the good offices of Our diplomatic and
consular service Into a country like
Russia they are simply advised not to
go for the present So far, no serious
inconvenience appears to have arisen
from the restriction, but there is no
foreseeing how soon something unplea-
SAINT may turn up. Our Consul at Bar
celona has been kept pretty busy for
the last year or so, looking after the in
terests of our Spanish-speaking colonists
who visit Spain; he will be glad when I
the proposed passport amendment is
enacted into Law, and the visitors are
able to attend to a good deal of bust
ness themselves which now devolves up 4
on the Consul lT