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'silent' in the midst of arms, but the laws made to replace ordinary laws are of a primitive and barbarous type. In principle they might not unfairly be summed up as follows: 1. For every offence punish some one: the guilty if possible, but some one. 2. Better a hundred innocent men should suffer than that one guilty man should escape. 3. When in doubt shoot the prisoner."

It would require another Chatham to denounce in language sufficiently powerful practices so repugnant to 66 every sentiment of religion and every feeling of humanity." The project proposed by Russia was of a mild and temperate character, and it would have greatly tended to mitigate in practice severities such as had been resorted It was simply as follows:

to.

Sect. 69. "Reprisals are admissible in extreme cases only, due regard being paid, as far as shall be possible, to the laws of humanity, when it shall have been unquestionably shown that the laws and customs of war have been violated by the enemy, and that they have had recourse to measures condemned by the Law of Nations."

Sect. 70." The selection of the means and extent of reprisals should be proportionate to the degree of the infraction of the law committed by the enemy. Reprisals that are disproportionably severe are contrary to the rules of International Law."

Sect. 71. "Reprisals shall be allowed only on the authority of the commander-in-chief, who shall likewise determine the degree of their severity and their duration."

But even these moderate proposals could not be carried at the Brussels Conference. It was felt that from the

recollection of recent occurrences a discussion might imperil the harmony that had hitherto prevailed among the delegates, and lead to results to be deprecated in every point of view. And the Baron Jomini, in agreeing to the suppression of the chapter, could only remark: "I regret that the uncertainty of silence is to prevail with respect to one of the most bitter necessities of war. If the practice could be suppressed by this reticence I could but approve of this course. But if it is still to exist, this reticence may, it is to be feared, remove any limits to its exercise. Nevertheless, I believe that the mere mention in the protocol that the Committee, after having endeavoured to regulate, to soften, and to restrain reprisals, has shrunk from the task before the general repugnance felt with regard to the subject, will have a most serious moral bearing. It will, perhaps, be the best limitation we have been able to affix to the practice, and especially to the use which may be made of it in future."

It is fervently to be hoped that an agreement may at some future time be arrived at that may mitigate practices which are nothing less than a disgrace to humanity.

It has been thought desirable to discuss, at a length which is regretted, the proceedings of the Conference at Brussels, because this Congress is the most important opportunity that has ever occurred for the ascertainment and the amelioration of international usages in time of war. It seemed to offer a fresh point of departure for considerations respecting some most important parts of the Law of Nations. The eminence of the delegates,—some as soldiers, some as statesmen, some as jurists, gave to the discussions which took place, and the decisions arrived at, an authority never possessed by any similar assembly.

It is understood that the Conferences proposed to be renewed at St. Petersburgh are now indefinitely postponed ; but whenever a future occasion shall present itself for the expediency or the necessity of such discussions, the Brussels Conference will be the event reverted to for precedent and imitation. It may perhaps be remembered, with a regret that its purposes were not achieved, by many now living, who may have to witness, or to endure, sufferings which its proposals would have mitigated or averted. And the Emperor, who has already earned the perpetual gratitude of his own country by the enfranchisement of the Russian serf, will be recorded as further entitled to the gratitude of all humanity for his benevolent promotion of the Brussels Conference.

As an Englishman I cannot but regret that our country, which has always hitherto stood in the front of all movements of humanity and progress, should have taken a position that has gone far to neutralize, or to frustrate, proposals which were intended to lessen the miseries inseparable from warfare. It appears to have been chiefly a jealousy respecting maritime rights which has occasioned the coldness shewn by England towards the promotion of the Conference. But, even if all intention of discussing these had not been expressly disclaimed, it would appear that, even with respect to maritime regulations, any definite agreement must be to the advantage of Great Britain. The great principles on which our maritime supremacy is supposed to depend are already settled by definite treaty. The Declaration of Paris has permanently arranged such controversies. Neutral nations who have joined in the Declaration will now have few more restrictions on their commerce than they would have if maritime capture were altogether given up. And the desire which is shewn in some quarters for the latter concession only proves how

necessary it is to uphold the present law, from the important deterrent effect which this law would have when considering recourse to hostilities. There only remain for ascertainment certain minor points, which might produce dissatisfaction and ill-feeling in time of war, and which could easily be arranged by friendly discussion in time of peace. For instance, the search of vessels sailing under convoy would be a permanent source of irritation. And the question is still unsettled regarding the stoppage of vessels carrying despatches for an enemy. It is easy to conceive what exasperation would arise if some of our ocean steamers were carried into port and subjected to the jurisdiction of a prize court. Nothing was settled by the case of the "Trent," which will be subsequently mentioned. Nor could the arrangement as to the immunity of mail-bags, entered into between Mr. Seward and Lord Russell in 1862, have any binding force upon other governments. And with regard to Contraband of War, though it may appear to most jurists of all nations that no doubt whatever can exist on the subject, yet it must be remembered that the strict right to sell contraband articles, even in the vendor's own country, is disputed, as will be subsequently shewn, by Sir Robert Phillimore, not only a high authority in himself, but of still greater weight on such subjects as the Judge of the Court of Admiralty, under whose jurisdiction, therefore, such questions would in time of war be presented. Surely it is desirable that all doubtful questions should be determined by friendly discussions during peace, and that the imputation alleged, however unjustly, against the Great Military Powers, of supporting rules favourable to themselves to the disadvantage of weaker States, should not be applicable to the greatest Maritime Power. No stipulation contrary to the Law of Nations could possibly be carried by the members of a Conference; indeed, it was expressly declared that

such an assembly was wholly deliberative. And the Declaration of Paris well points out how the uncertainty of the law gives occasion for difficulties, and makes it advantageous to establish an uniform doctrine.

It is perhaps to the exemption from the miseries of modern warfare which attaches to our insular position that we owe an imperfect sympathy in a movement for the mitigation of such sufferings. Yet so long ago as 1856, many years, therefore, before the Brussels Conference was thought of, Mr. Mountague Bernard had pointed out that, "It is of consequence that there should be a solid and established body of usages and traditions to resist gusts of popular passion, as well as to curb the licence of armies in the field, and that the true principles on which alone war can be lawfully carried on should be diffused and understood. Especially ought this to be so in a country which is proud of its benevolence and refinement, and has itself suffered so little from calamities of this kind. We have no scenes of rapine, blood and shame to revenge or to forget. No one, I think, can have travelled over the bare, undulating plains of central Germany, studded at intervals with small old towns, each huddled within its square wall, and gray mouldering towers, like the background of an old picture, without a sense that he was indeed traversing the battle-field of Europe. No one but must have observed, as his eye strayed over some familiar English landscape, the careless freedom with which population has scattered itself over hill and dale, in every sheltered nook, and along every winding lane, and felt how the wreath of blue smoke floating upwards from the trees added, by suggesting faint images of peaceful life, a more than picturesque charm to the scene."

Oxford Essays for 1856, p. 135.

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