The Washington herald., 1915-05-30

latest phases of the great var. Mr. Morgan com-
psres warfare of the past with that Of the pres
cnt; shows wherein wars have grown better and
grown worse rs Civilization has advanced and
sketches the development u an International code
duello
Another article in this series will lie published
next Sunday.
Neutral nations. exempt from the blind
ing passions of war, looked on only with
helpless dismay as they saw the bellig-
crcnt powers tearing up international
treaties and international law. 1t seemed
after all that those pledges and guar
antces of civilization were mere scraps
of paper.
But a cry of horror ran round the
world when the savage ferocities of the
unbridled strife eliminated in the drown
ing of more than 100 unarmed and I'M
offending men, women and children. For
the bolt that pierced the hull of the
Lusitania shook the foundations Of hu-
mainly itself. and for a black moment
left us despairing of the supremacy Of
the human IN the eternal struggle
against the brute within us.
Happily there are some laws that arc
more than a scrap of paper. They are
cngrosscd in the breasts of men. These
may be violated. but they cannot be re-
pcaIed. And their penalties know no
statute of limitation.
Pompcy haughtily demanded. Am I,
who am in arms. to think of the laws!
And as Marius laid waste Carthage, he
scornfuIIy said that the din of battle
prevented his hearing the laws. But
Rome, the mistress Of both of those con-
querors. lived to face the law and to
cxpiate its infraction.
The True Source.
International law is only the SUPER
structure which civilization has reared
on the laws Of nature. Our representa-
tives assembled at Paris, at Geneva, at
Brussels, at The Hague to ratify and
proclaim those laws. but they are not
the invention or discovery Of our en-
lightened age. They have a far more
ancient sanction in those instincts of
racial preservation which men felt long
before they reduced them to writing in
congresses of the nations.
Nowhere else is man such a battling
composite of DR.. Jckyl and Mr.. Hyde as
when he goes out to stalk and kill his
fellows. In his dual nature. he reacts
in an instant from the beast Of prey.
Fire on the ice. Fire on the ice"
cried Napoleon in his fury as he saw
son,e fleeing Russians escaping him over
frozen pond at Austerlitz. But the
moment the balls of the howitzers on
the slope of Pratzen had cracked the ice
in the pond. the Emperor appla uded the
French who impcriIled their lives to res
cue their drowning foes.
Don't cheer: the poor fellows are dy-
in-" pleaded Capt. Philip of the Texas
when he saw Spanish ship sinking be-
meath the blows of his fleet at Santiago. |
in the present war We have all read the
reports of ships shooting one another to
pieces and the men rushing from smok-
ing guns TO join in the work Of life-sav-
ing These native emotions are the true
source and authority of international law
on the conduct of war.
Our hairy forefathers who went out 20
had their laws of war and all the gem
erations have striven in rIrn to restrain
the war tiger that forever crouches in
the passions of the race. But the more
advanced nations intellectually have not
always been the best examplars of hui
mainly in warfare There were Greek
and Roman laws of war almost as hui
name as any that have been drafted in
our time: but often the barbarous foes
of those great states outshine them in
mercy and chivalry.
The Old Codes.
A Grecian code commanded truces to
be granted for the burial of the dead
and that the right of sanctuary should
be observed, while 1t condemned the en-
ployment of poisoned weapons. When
Odysseus asked for a deadly poison with
which to tip his arrows, Illus told him
the gods forbade 1t. Cities were neu-
tralized and spared the rayages OF war.
and priests and ambassadors were de-
clared inviolable. 1t was forbidden
either TO poison or to cut OF the enemy's
water supply and treacherous strata
gems were scorned.
Yet / have seen at Syracuse that ex-
prison pen which, after
twenty-five centuries. remains a memek-
TO Of the cruelty of classic warfare when
Greek met Greek in a Siciiian harbor.
There in a quarry 100 feet deep the SYRIA