WHITE.FLAG ETIQUETTE

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 81, 31 December 1918, Page 4

WHITE.FLAG ETIQUETTE

HISTORIC ARMISTICE MEETINGS.

A parlcmcntaire to arrange a surrender or an armistice has to follow a certain etiquette which is laid down by the rules of war as'established ot The Hague and by custom. A parlementaire consists of an envoy or envoys from the enemy, properly authorised, carrying the white flag and accompanied by a bugler or trumpeter to call attention. The persons of the parlementaire are inviolable, provided they do not commit treachery, and provided the commander to whom they aro sent is willing to leceivethem. Those who meet them must take all steps to prevent them from obtaining, information, and for that reason it is usual to blindfold them when passing through the lines.

Either the commander-in-chief or n. prominent general of the defeated army eoes in p»r.-on with the iiarlementaive. General Gnblenz. after the defeat of th» Austrian"- at Sndowa in lPf>(s. nrocec'ed to Hie Prussian lines under the (\t\e if truce, and wn c there blindfolded f,,,, t he micht bo conducted to King William. The King, seeinu the bandage about. hi« eyes, sunnosed that he was a wounded enemy officer, and onoke some words of pymnathy to him before discovering the mistake.

At Sedan in 3870, after Optain von Winterfeld and Colonel Bronsart von Scliellendorf had summoned the French Army to surrender, a parlementaire, consisting of General Reille <:ame out under the white liag, and Iteillc handed Napoleon Ill's letter of surrender to the King of Prussia on the heights above Frenois. That same evening the French commander, General Winipfi'en, came in person Jo arrange the surrender. The terms were so severe that iie refused at fii-gt to accept them, and only after the threat of a bombardment did he give way.

After Appomattox, in 1865, General Lee came in person to General Grant, commanding the United States armies, to arrange terms for lh« beaten Confederate Army. Grant had not expected the surrender that day; he was in a iirivate's uniform, villi only his shoulder badges to show his rank as the leader of the largest army which up to that date had ever fought in war. He was not only a great soldier, but also a. great gentleman, and he has (old the world what his feelings were at_ that tremendous moment. "I felt like anrfning rather than reitie.in» at the downfall of a foe who "had fought so long and valiantly and hail suffered so much for a cause, though that cause was, I Relieve. c»» of the worst for which a people ever fought." | And with a characteristic tenderness for the conquered he engaged in conversation on other topics with Lee. ■At Panrdeberg, in IMP. General Cronj'e made his surrender i<i person to Lord ■Roberts, after ]jis stubborn and gallant instance. Tn ho'iour to the defeated V.m>r l»ailer Lord Roberts wore for the fir~t time sinco he one.n o d bis campaign i his ceremonial swnni. "n heavv pvortl with n ie"'olli>fl hill." .iin l receivrd his nmwnent with the w n -d=. "T mil Hid *,■> meet «o brave n man." T.ik« Le<\ Ooajc irii in we-t of fowl, and the Inst ham | n-niV'i fl.» Tlt-Jfifiji cfnff con l '' n'-fli"" was sacrifice' '<» M= hn'imir.—H. )V. Wilson,' in the "Daily Mail/"