TRICKS NOT ALLOWED IN WAR.

Otago Witness, Issue 2325, 22 September 1898, Page 55

TRICKS NOT ALLOWED IN WAR.

Because They Are not Considered* Fair. " All's fair in love and war " is one of iLose proverbs which is as lively to-day as it was a hundred years ago, yet everyone knows that there is only a very small nucleus of trutu irv it. In war there are scores of things which combatants would find it to their advantage to do, but which they never really do, for the simple reason that they are not considered' fair. The line between fair and unfair, at the same time, is curiously drawn, for it allows the performance of many things that are undoubtedly tricky, and such as no two single combatants could do without dishonour. All sorts of ambushes, disguises of uniform, disguises of flag, and such things are allowed. A Spanish torpedo-boat Tnay sail right up to an American battleship, for instarce, under a British flag, and then send her to the bottom, without doing anything discreditable according to the rules of war. Or an American force may try to enter Havana disguised as rebel.? who wish to surrender, and then turn its guns on the defending party. But, in the former case, the attacking ship must run up her true colours before she actually fires a shot or

discharges a torpedo, and, in the latter case, probably very few nations would deem it honourable to shoot before giving evidence of their nationality. Stopping the food supply, and even cutting off the water supply, are well recognised measures of disabling the enemy. But no i civilised combatants would dream of poisoning the wells or rivers, although the result would not very greatly differ. Burning towns and devastating agricultural districts are measures which no army that has respect for itself adopts nowadays. In Cuba, both of these have been done, and we ourselves practise them against savage enemies. But both cases are exceptional. Then, although the great end of war is slaughter, there are certain classes which civilised combatants invariably spare. Women and children, unarmed men, soldiers who ask for quarter, the wounded, and those engaged in the care of the wounded, are never killed. But, though soldiers are spared when they surrender, there is no mercy for the ordinary citizen who takes up arms and fires at the enemy. The reason of this is obvious. If the non-comba-tant inhabitants of a country are not to be attacked by the enemy they must not themselves do anything of a hostile nature, otherwise the enemy would never know exactly where he was. As is well known, explosive bullets are not now used, and poisoned weapons are also forbidden. So, too, is the use of savage auxiliaries when fighting a civilised foe. A century ago,_ in America, the French made use of the merciless Indian against ourpelves, and it must be confessed we did the same when fighting the revolted Americans ; but things are different now. Pits, mines, and masked batteries are allowed. But it is doubtful if the Americans could, for instance, surround a Spanish force that might land, say, in Pennsylvania, with a ditch of petroleum and bum them like rats. Probably the use of petroleum bombs would also be condemned, as wore the Americans' use against us, in 1814, of such missiles as nails, buttons, knife blades, and other things that inflicted frightful wounds and caused our soldiers terrible pain. It would be an infamous act for an officer or soldier to offer to betray his own side in order to draw the enemy into an ambuscade. But the International Jurists say that if the enemy tried to bribe a man to betray his friends, it would be perfectly proper, and even laudable, to pretend to accept the bribe and then to lead the enemy into a death-trap. A favourite artifice, and one that is quite allowable, is to draw up false accounts of strength, false plans, and the like, and to plfi.ee them where the enemy will be likely to find them. The enemy, however, can generally read- between the' lines. The function of the spy is a singularly curious one. Most people of the side that owns him regard him as a hero. To the enemy, nothing is more vile and contemptible. And authorities on international law, while they recognise in him as normal a piece of offence and defence as rifle or field gun, seem to think that he is not a citizen to be proud of. Spying cannot be carried out without such an amount of deliberate deception and falsehood as a strictly honourable man could not sloop to, even for his country's sake. However, he gets, very well rewarded by his employers, but hanging is too good for him when caught by the enemy. So strongly did the Germans feel on this matter in 1870-71 that they pro.posed to hang all French balloonists that passed their outposts. Destruction of museums, picture galleries, churches, and other ptiblic buildings is no logger recognised as lawful in war, though often a church, being useful as a conning tower, is singled out and made over to the best; marksman in the attacking artillery. Although women and children are not slarghtered, there are cases in which they hav^ to suffer all the rigours of war. When a town is besieged the object of the besiegers is to bring about the earliest possible surren-dt-r by every means in their power. For that reason they will allow no woman or children to leave the town, as there would theo be fewer mouths to feed and less chance of victory through starvation. According to the American rules it is re-con:mended-that. even if children and women rii'ii out of the town, they must be forced to return. And when we were outside Sebastopo 1 and the admiral was asked not to fire xipor a certain quarter of the city because it was said to be inhabited by women and children, he refused the request, although he generously offered to give them safe conduct beyond ths lines. Long ago great efforts were usually made in war to assassinate the enemy's king or cor mander. We don't hear of this sort of thing nowadays, except in Africa and savage lands. But, theoretically, while it would be lawful for a bod^ of men to penetrate the enemy's lines under cover of nie;ht, or in disguise, and carry through the killing of the king or any other important man. it would n )t be at all lawful for an individual to sneak in and commit an assassination. The king is supposed to be prudent enough to guard himself from surprise from a body of men, but no prudence could always save him from th 3 stealthy assassin.