The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-02-01
AERIAL WARFARE
 BARRED BY LAW Of the Peace Agreement At
 The Hague TO BE MADE PERMANENT I Nations That Are Building Air Fleets Are Doing So in Face of Solemn
 Compact Made at Confer
 ences for World Peace. 
BY JANATHAN WINFIELD.

BY JANATHAN WINFIELD. Washington, January a.-(Special.)- | There will be no war in the air. No gi- | Eentfc human cataclysm in which men 1 will launch destruction from. the clouds ! against man is likely to occur. Zeppelins and Bleriots to the contrary notwith- standing, the day of aerial battle is one of the horrors which the future does not hold In store for us, according to diplo- mats and militarists, who are supposed
 to know whereof they speak.
 The fact is, the Hague conferences forestalled the aeroplanists and the dirig- lble experts. They won concessions from the advocates of more powerful arma-
 ments, before the latter appreciated the
 significance of their act. Of course 1t is
 easy to say that Hague agreement is
 mere tissue paper, when one power can
 seize signal advantage in the great in- ternational game of politics. Austria dem
 onstrated that by lightly breaking the treaty of Berlin in the seizure of Bosnia
 and Herzegovina. But it Is we'll to re- view certain clauses of the present Hague pact now binding the European nations l and the United States.
 When aerial navigation was little more than dream. that is in 1899, Emperor Nicholas of Russia promoted a peace con- ference In which the principal nations of the two hemispheres were represented
 Their representatives were officially plenipotentiaries. They unanimously passed this declaration:
 ''The contracting parties agree to pro- hibit for term of five years the launch ing of projectiles and explosives from bal | IAfara ~fI. nature"
 1 The first test of that clause came in Russo-Japanese war, and although the l war balloon was then not a matter of | practical military exploitation, both bel ligerents were sorely tempted to experi- ment with it. That they did not Is proof of the care with which they observed The Hague agreement. There was no i limitation on the use of the balloon, of course, for purposes of observation. 1 The compact was renewed fin 1907 by ] A nations The following is an extract l from the 1dth convention, signed October IS. 1907, at The Hague:
 "The contracting powers agree to pro- l hibit for period extending to the close of the third peace conference Qs15 the discharge of projectiles and explosives from balloons or by other new methods 1 of a similar nature."
 The convention confined the limitation of warfare to the surface of the earth and the protection of non-combatants
 who would probably be the greatest suf
 ferers from military operations in the sky. The demolition of city, for ex- 1 ample, through the simple process of
 dropping bombs upon its defenceless head, would be a barbarian striking at
 the roots of civilization. This is the
 method of warfare mapped out by the i alarmists, who see the hands of the evil one in the aeroplane and the dirigible 1 Whatever is to be the future of the aerial warship-and there is no reason l to think that Germany is arming her Zeppelins merely through curiosity-one point at least has been gained. A pro- l jectile is not likely to be dropped upon @ non-combatant in war, and should such an incident occur the offending govern ment will be held to strict account by the concert of the powers. There are some interpreters of international law who hold that shots will never be actually fired from balloon or aeropiane. 1 The English war scare,' was given a l tighter twist when Louis Bleriot flew across the channel and alighted on the chalk cliffs of Dover. The nation suf- 1 fered nightmare of future legions headed toward Albion like a cloud of locusts. all on an errand of destruction. Bleriot himself did nothing to calm the British
 
 thrill which his marvellous feat gave his
 hosts. The Hague convention did not
 count for much with the British foreign
 office as against actualities. It firmly
 believed that a squadron of Zeppelins,
 launched by sinister Germany, could threaten her national security.
 When the average jingo is confronted
 with the fact that The Hague confer
 ences have not only limited but have completed eliminated any remaining right l to wage aerial warfare, he asks with a l touch of cynicism: What great central
 force is there to compel a. nation to obey The Hague mandates? What is a. nation l entirely disregards the compact?'
 l The answer is that there is no central l force, except honor among nations and the moral pressure of non-combatant countries. The lurid imagination of army officers can see nothing, as rule ex- cept brute force, and they entirely over look other factors to compel obedience to international law. The people of the
 world support The Hague convention
 Therefore there is no danger that any nation, or indeed any two, will fling it , aside contemptuously. No nation can af- 1 ford to ostracise itself International l law as written at The Hague conven- I ton must be observed and even in a struggle which might split Europe apart from Hamburg to Constantinople it will not go py the pOaru
 1 No international police force, 1t Is be- lieved, will be required to enforce the de- crees of The Hague tribunal. Arbitration,
 backed by military force. would be farci- cal A nation which violated The Hague l compact would not be visited by physical vengeance. She would simply forfeit her rights among nations.
 "The whip of public opinion can cut as deep as the lash of war says one au- thority. Diplomatic representation could be withdrawn all official communication annulled, and commercial ecclesiastical, | political and scientific intercourse could ]! be stopped. When we realize that it is | commerce and communication with others 1 that make nations powerful, we can read l fly see that no greater calamity could | befall a government Solitary confine- | ment is the worst of punishments. ''The nations which will meet in 1915 at The | Hague will make permanent the provis- ions of 1907 conference relative to aerial | warfare, and the matter will be out of the realm of discussion. In law and in 1 fact, no nation is justified in construct ing an airship fleet"
 | Yet aerial fleets are in course of con | struction. Whether they are meant for l transportation purposes remains to be l seen. It Is noticeable that The Hague l convention has not legislated against | Ariuv oF rrntacff1ea at atrahfrs AJrao dv