Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1916-11-22
PRISONERS OF war.
In Former Times They Were Held
as Virtual Slaves.
HAD TO EARN THEIR LIBERTY.
Thsn the System Of Ransom Arose
and With Il Cruel Abuses and a Law
less Trafie In captivss-Rulss That
Govern Civilized Nations Today.

6ovSrn CirHtxeo Nati0us tOoAy'
/ The prisoner of war in our day is the
subject Of an elaborate code OF rules
drawn up at meetings of The Hague
peace conference. No property must
be taken from him except arms and
military equipment He must not be
kept In close confinement IL that can
be avoided, and II possible his parole
| must be accepted. He may be set to
| any work for which he is reasonably
| to workout he must be allowed a
| similar standard OF life and credited
with . similar scale Of pay to that
which obtains among the soldier-artif-
icers Of the eonquering nation.
When set free the cost Of his mainte
| nance will be deducted and he win re-
| ceiye the balance In cash. He may be
shot when trying to escape. but II
/ caught alive be must not be punished
except by curtailment of his liberty.
j These are few Of the many rules by
| which all civilized nations are now
! bound in regard TO their prisoners Of
/ war.
Among savage men the destiny of q
/ prisoner was to be eaten. massacred In
I cold blood or tortured for sport, until 1t
dawned one day upon some primitive
/ political economist that live captive
/ had labor value, and so arose the insti-
| tuition OF slavery. Among free peoples
like the Teutons, war prisoners were
the only slaves allowed. and they
| might In time earn their freedom.
/ This idea of communication became the
! custom Of medieval Europe. applied
as prize money" to ships and ran
som" to individuals. All officers
| could claim the right to offer a reason
able ransom, which went into the
pocket Of the captor. Sometimes on
GERS would ransom . whole troop Of
1 their men.
Kings OF great captains were ran
somed by their nations. Richard the
Lion Heart had a woeful time Of It
until England ransomed him from the
Emperor Henry. King John Of France.
taken at Poitiers by the Black Prince,
was held by England to ransom until
i the Duke Of Anjou came as hostage
while John went to raise the neces-
sary cash. King David Of Scotland.
| captured by Queen Eleanor, never per
suaded the thrifty Scots to pay the
whole Of his ransom and became q de
pendent as 4 consequence
| In Froissart's engaging chronicles
you may read how bands Of mercenary
troops quarreled with gallant and i'm
| petuous commander, whose only OBJ
ject was the destruction Of the enemy.
The mercenaries were out to take pris-
oners and trade In the ransoms. This
trafic gave rise to infinite abuses, In
| Guiding torture and all manner Of dis
honesty. Sir John Falsta6-Shake-
| speare's Falstaff-was notorious for
an extensive and INSCRIPTIONS trafhc
| In ransoms. Yet 1t was not until dur
ing the eighteenth century war; that
| an agreement to end the custom was
come to between the European COM
| manders. Even then 1t fingered on in
/. practice until the eve Of the Napoleouic
wars. when 1t was swept away for the
newer idea Of exchange Of prisoners.
rank for rank
One great change brought about by
the new system was that the prisoners
| became a state care and responsibility.
| Whether this change made for greater
| humaneness Of treatment depended in
part upon the conquering nation. but
even more upon the individual COVER
| nor or jailer. This may be seen In the
| varying accounts we have Of the con-
ditions of prisoners Of war in England
during the long struggle with Napoleon.
Lincolnshire's fens make good GEN.
tiers for a military compound. George
Borrow. in "Lsvengro," has given a
| terrible picture Of the conditions at
| Norn,ar,o Cr<,cs v,rtuo, L., tho fan dis