The daily morning journal and courier., 1902-05-10
THE LAW AND USAGE OF WAR
PROVISIONS OF DR. LIEBER'S s
 GENERAL ORDER 100,

Part of It Read Now as If It's Author
 Foresaw In 1863 the Conditions
 That Would Arise In some Districts | of the PhilIiptnes In 19O1--Prisoners | of War, war-Rebels and War-TraAt-
 OTIS.
 There has been much talk recently about General Order 100. some Of 1t wise and much of it foolish, for al
 though this celebrated order has been accepted as sound international law for more than a generation and has been { the acknowledged rule of conduct for the armies of the civilized nations of the world, the conditions under which 1t came to being have so long been mat ters merely of reminiscence in the Unit ed States that most men either never knew or have forgotten about it. The recent military operations Tn some parts of the Philippines have served to bring back to general atten- ton this famous order or perhaps It should be said that the criticisms of re- cent operations and recent disclosures about operations not so recent have re-, called General Orders 100 to the public notice
 The Civil War called into the field on both sides so many men unversed in the science and rules of warfare, especially in the Union armies that there resulted in the first two years of fighting some very curious and contradictory decis- ions and rulings on questions of inter- national law. In 1863 this state of af- fairs having resulted sometimes in great harm, Secretary of War Stanton asked Francis Lieber, then professor of history and political economy in Colum- bia College, to prepare a code of in- structions for the government of armies in the field.
 Prof. Lieber dfew up a set of rules which was submitted to a board of army officers and approved It was then published to the entire army as General Orders 100 by the Adjutant- Generals office, and from that day to this has been the rule of conduct for our army.
 More than that, it has been accepted by the modern authorities as the sub stantial basis of the present works up- on the subject Bluntschli, one of the most celebrated writers upon the usages of war made this order the basis of his elaborate work.
 It would require more than a page of the Sun to give this order in full but it's more salient points, especially those in- voked by our commanders in the Phil ippines, can be reviewed in much less space.
 Martial law says Prof Lieber is the and direct effect and conse- | quehce of occupation or conquest It consists in this suspension of the crim 1 inal and civil law and the substitution 1 of military rule and force for it.
 The presence of a hostile army pro- | claims it's martial law. Its most com plete sway is allowed when face to face | with the enemy. It extends to property | and to persons.
 The law of war dtsclaims all cruelty, all extortions or other acts for individ- ual gain; all acts of private revenge or at such acts Military ne- cessity is the necessity for those meas
 
 ing the ends of the war and which are lawful according to the modern usages of war.
 It admits of all direct destruction of fife or limb of armed enemies and of other persons whose destruction is in- unavoidable in the armed contests of the war; it allows the cap .ure of every armed enemy and of every enemy of importance to the hostile Government or of peculiar danger to he captor; it allows all destruction of and withholding of sustenance IT means of life from the enemy: the appropriation of whatever the country lffords for the subsistence or safety of he army, and permits such deception IS does not involve the breaking of good aith. It does not admit of cruelty or of tor ure to extort confessions, or the wan on devastation of a district It dis aims acts of perfdy. It is lawful to starve the hostile bel l igerent. armed or unarmed. The citi- len or native of hostile country is an nemy and is subject to the hardships { # war.
 The law of war can no more dispense ( with retaliation than can the law of na- r ions. reckless enemy often leaves to ( lis opponent no other means of secur- Z ng himself against the repetition of I 'arbarous outrage r It must never be resorted to as a l I means of mere revenge. but only as a means of protective retribution, and, moreover, cautiously and unavoidably. f 10 conventional restriction of the e nodes adopted to injure the enemy is ny longer admitted. but the law of war i, npsoses many restrictions and limita- . ions on principles of justice, faith and onor There exists no law, or body of rules of action between ostle armies except that branch of the 4 NV of nations which is called the law nd usage of war on land t.aI1 x-l..xlx