The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-08-01
INTERNATIONAL LAW
SCRAPS OF PAPER"
Rules Of War and "Hague Con.
vcntiOnS" Also i'm the
Waste Basket.
MIGHT REPLACES RIGHT

The neutral vi cautious lexicor-
rapher who prior to August I. 1914.
defined International law as Those max
inns or rules which nations observe. or
ought 10 observe. In their conduct to-
ward one another" may have foreseen
the time when a solemn treaty would
become "a scrap Of paper" For tho
clause expressing The duty of nations
appended to the supposition that that
duty actually was performed was pro-
phetic If the day when international
law rules of war. Hague conventions
all Of them-would he heaping waste
paper baskets, That is where they lie
to-day, and SO far as their immediate
potentiality Us concerned their value Is
that of real scraps of paper.
True. they are still nvoked by neutral
nations. hut the more powerful of tho
belligerents. while outwardly solicitous
that justice he done. show determina-
ton to permit no law, rule or conven-
ton to stand between them and success.
International law, IL not the law of
humanity itself. has descended into
Egypt and no Moses has So far led II
forth.
Germany invadcs n country whose
neutrality she was sworn TO uphold.
She torpedocs a passenger steam ship
and thereby sacrifices more than a thou
sand lives. tn Sc of neutrals and nom
cnmhdtants. women and children. on
the battlehelds she employs poisonous
vapors. At night. sometimes with crui-
ser. sometimes with Zeppelin. she at
lacks undefcnded towns and kills nom
cCmbatantS. with shell and torch she
RACES classic Louvain. destroys tho
beauty of the world vcnerated Rheims
Cathedral for all time, wipes out tho
famous cloth Hall of Ypres.
Great Britain. not inconsistently with
- .gt laal.A,a .Attl k,aa.IaaH chin
ping. So interpre's her role Of mistress
~ the seas thai she seizcs neutral ships
and caIgoes without due process Of law.
wight lakes Right.
All these things have been admitted
by the nations concerned. They stand
out clearly a. deliberate violations of
either he spirit OF the letter of inter-
national law ard OF the rules of war;
fare. As such they cNcmplify the prin-
cipl"S that might makes right and that
victory must be Won at any cost-ptn-
ciplos that are suhversivc of all law.
while Germany was pounding her
way through Belgium, devastating rs
she won, she made two pleas for sus-
pension II human judgment First. she
must strike France before France could
strike her. and Belgium was the Toad
over which military necessity COM
peeled her "a advanc" in her own pro-
lection. Thu violiti n VI the treaty. the
w]rorguess Of the invasion. wee frankly
admitted rcctihcation and recomp"nse
We're promised Later. after Brussels
Wa occupied. the plea IF guilty was
Withdrawn and Justification was claimed
on tho ground of newly disc vel"d crl.
GenCe-iu the archives n the Belgian
/ cap.t.l-tha' Belgium instead Of being
q neutral state was really "A secret ally
os Great Britain.
with regard 10 tho torpedninc Of the
Lusitania. Germany made several con-
'curious, al of Wh.,h have been rejected
hv the American Government. Firs'.
that the great vessel was armed and
tho fore liable To- attack as n whrship
second, tina. she carried munitions or
wa thitd. that due warning had been
given by publication prior 20 sailing 4:
fourth. and from tho legal viewpoint
perhaps IN. IN - important, thai by rea-
sou . is construction he German sub
marine could not safely halt N" liner
and IN accordance with the principles
Of las civ" the PASSENGERS ana crew
an opportunity 20 escape before the ves-
sci was destroyed.