New-York tribune., 1902-05-06
SAVAGE BY AUTHORITY.

clsm in this country. Attention should not
however, be concentrated on this particular eX-
ample of the ruthless character of war. The
political campaign against our armies in the
Philippines is not to be successfully promoted
by showing that one officer treated the natives
harshly. 1t will be better 10 show that all our
soldiers are savages Note should be taken,
therefore, of some of the other orders under
which Americans have been fighting in the
archipelago One Of these orders which shows
the brutal depth to which Imperialism leads,
provides for the starving of non-cOmbatants,
and reads follows:
War is not carried on by arms alone. 1t is
lawful to starve the hostile belligerents, armed
unarmed so that it leads to the speedier
subjectiOn of the enemy.
Another suggests that in Luzon twentieth
century Americans are preparing TO repeat the
awful scenes of that historic horror of the Mid
die Ages, the siege of Siena, when the useless
mouths" were driven out of the city TO be
forced back from the besegers' lines TO die mis-
erably In the bitches. This fiendish order reads:
When the commander of a besieged place eX-
pels the -combatants, in order TO lessen the
number of those who consume his stock of pro-
visions, IT is lawful. though an extreme meas
ure. TO drive them back so as TO hasten on the
surrender.
General provision is made for going out ana
burning at wholesale Filipino villages and kill
ing Filipinos on the ground that they have dealt
treacherously and murdered our own people
as If they were not savages, who knew no
better and should have an example of civilized
kindness set them. The orders say:
The law of war can more wholly dispense
with retaliation than can the law of nations. of
which ii is a branch.
1t is said that "all prisoners of war are liable
to the infiction of retaliatOry measures" Thus
Of lfTAfT1n
prisoners on the pretence that Filipino bands
have murdered American soldiers falling into
their hands. Also officers are encouraged TO
kill as outlaws the people in the towns they
occupy who do not give up their struggle for
liberty and accept their conquerors, by the
orders:
No belgerent has right TO declare that he
will treat every captured man in arms of a
levy en- masse as a brigand or bandit If, how
ever, the people of a country, or any portion Of
the same, already occupied by an army rise
against Il, they are violators of the laws OF war
and not entitled to their protection. War
rebels are persons within an occupied terri
tory who rise in arms against the occupying
or conquering army. or against the authorities
established by the same. If captured they may
suffer death whether they rise singly in small
or large bands and whether called upon TO do
so by their own but expelled government or not
They are not prisoners of war, they If
discovered and secured before their conspiracy
has matured TO actual rising or 10 armed
violence.
As If this permission TO kill people within our
lines for merely planning TO respond 10 the ap-
peals of their countrymen outside was not bad
enough, the orders authorize that any Filipino
who gives information TO insurgents who may
be separated from him by American troops be
put TO death; that natives be 'impressed'-a
pleasant euphemism for tortured-into acting as
guides and be killed if they knowingly deceive;
ttoff Ian 70 yhnlnG nGnl
slaughter of both fighting enemies and prison
ers with Enthusiastically benevolent" touch
of hypocrisy:
It is against the usage of modern war, in
hatred and revenge, to give no quarter. No body
of troops has the right declare that II viii
not give, and therefore VIII not expect; quart
but a commander is permitted 10 direct ms
troops TO give quarter in great strains, when
his own salvation makes It impossible 10 en-
cumber himself with prisoners.
And the slaughter of surrendered prisoners.
whom. as savages, it is easy for our spreaders
of civilization 10 detect in breaking the rules of
warfare, is provided for by this:
Quarter having been given to an enemy by
American troops. under a misrepresentation Of
his true character he may. nevertheless. be
ordered TO suffer death If, within three days Of
the battle. II be discovered that he belongs to
a corps which gives no quarter.
The Filipinos like most simple people. are
accustomed 10 fight and work alternately They
take the field for time, then go home and pro
vide for their families. This is not according
TO the rules of the game" as played by i'm
perial armies, and so we are going 10 kill them
for being husbandmen as well patriots and
for not being professional "murderers' like our
own soldiers. as is shown by this order:
Men or squads OF men who commit hostilities.
whether by fighting or inroads for destruction
or plumber or by raid of any kind. without COM
mission, without being part and portion Of the
organized hostile army. and rithOW sharing CON
tinuOusg in the irGr, bWt irhO do icith inter
nittiH0 returns to their homes and GU0cGtiOps,
or NTH the occasional assumption Of the SembGnce
of peaceful pursuits, divesting themselves OF the
character or appearance of soldiers-such men
or squads of not public enemies, and
therefore, If captured, are not entitled 10 the
privileges Of prisoners Of war, bu shall he treated
suInmG1ilD as highrdD robbers or pirates.
This bloody code it is clear, gives free rein
to our savage generals. A people situated like
the Filipinos must overstep these bounds at
every turn, and give excuse TO American sol
ders to indulge in wholesale slaughter. In
stead OF finding fault with General Smith or
Major Waller, let us look to the government be-
hind them, which thus prepares for and excuses
beforehand a war of determination. Only, be-
fore we grow too indignant against our ferocious
rulers of this degenerate day, let us remember
that those orders were all drafted by Francis
Lieber. in his time one of the most eminent au-
are part of General Orders of the War Depart
ment. No 100, issued on April "a. 1863. with
the express approval OF Abraham Lincoln,
President of the United States. They have been
part Of our laws of war ever since
OFTEN WTLHFLHTNA