The Washington herald., 1915-05-30

, rule, he repudiatcd the terms his sub
! not. with his small force. hold the pris-
oners. The captives. therefore. were
massacred on the beach. a few who
swan to safety on the Jagged rocks at
the harbor entrance were cnticed back
to the shore by signs of frendliness and
treacherously shot down as they re-
turned
"Civilizcd Warfare"
the Introduction of African and Asiatic
barbarians in war bctween civilized
nations might better plead that the poor
untutored Turcos and Sikhs be spared
an introduction to civilized warfare. For
the heather in his blindness never could
dream of such ingenious horrors as he
has seen on the firing line of Europe
these past few months.
We had laboriously evolved an elab-
crate code and. until it was put to the
test. we fattered ourselves that at last
We HdN SuCCceueu III "dTIdGe
AS well might We propose to create a
system of honest robbery and gentle
murder. For civilization and war are
the opposite poles. The more civilized
we are the more cruel and horrible is
our warfare.
The savage warrior is chargeable with
sporadic and unintelligent cruelties. but
he is incapable of reducing human
slaughter to the systematic and mechan-
ical perfection that his civilized brother
has achieved. The red Indian could not
make an ambush in the clouds and rain
his arrows from the sky. The Barbary
Corsair was not submersible and it car
ried no torpedoes. In his simple days,
Capt. Kidd terrorized the sea without
sinking a crew, and the only life ever
charged against his career Of piracy is
that of mutinous sailor.
As long as men fought hand to hand.
breast to breast, simple rules sufficed
for the simple strife. Since the intro
duction of gunpowder personal contact
has grown less and less, while war has
grown more and more complex and the
rules have multiplied. Thus as civiliza-
ton has advanced warfare has lost much
Of its human element and become in
creasngly mechanical. until the modern
army is ever in danger of being trans
formed into an insensate but terribly ef-
ficient murder machine. 1t Is a diaboli-
cal Frankenstinian monster which
threatens to escape the control of the
civilization that contrived it.
The more humane sentiment of the
world revotcd at first against the en-
vainy appealed to the nations TO agree
not to use it. Even as late as the six
tecnth century. the Chevalier Bayard's
chivalrous soul scorned all firearms. The
knight without fear and without re-
proach insisted that sword and lance and
crossbow were weapons enough for
brave men, and on his deathbed he
thanked God he never had given quarter
in battle to the cowardly musketeers. A
much later warrior of France. Contains. |
forbade his seamen to fire shells.
The Spaniards made the most success
full and merciless use of the new agent
of destruction and with muskets and
guns they conquered two worlds. Out Of
the smoke of the desolatins Spanish |
campaigns in the Netherlands. the great
apostle of international Law. Hugo de
Grotius. emerged to vindicate with his
pen the ancient principles Of humanity |
which had been So sadly riddled with |
shot.
The Apostle of the Law.
Grotius was a neutral and noncom-
Blatant by nature and he found himself
caught between the crossfire Of the war
ring forces. Condemned to life impris-