Rome as " Open City " ?
The simple announcement by the Italian Government last Satur- day evening that it had declared Rome an " open city " obviously imposed no obligation whatever upon the Allies.. The Italians themselves recognised this by explaining to their people that the declaration could have effect only in agreement with the enemy. Even if the declaration were followed up by action designed to deprive Rome of everything that contributes to the waging of war. Italy would have no substantial claims against the Allies, since the Axis by their own ruthless procedure have invalidated any rules that can be derived from the Hague Convention of i9o7 or from the unratified Article of 1923. But though the Allies are not legally or morally bound they might none the less decide to give immunity to Rome if the city could effectually be deprived of all its military uses. It is military necessity and military necessity alone which has led them to attack certain vital objectives there, while making every effort, and with considerable success, to avoid damaging historic monuments. Moreover, President Roosevelt him- self disclosed on July 23rd that the Allies had been working for a year to have Rome declared an open city. But what must obviously be required as an essential condition would be the removal of all the paraphernalia of government and the elimination of Germans, the cessation of all military traffic through this nodal point of railways and roads. the shutting down of war-factories, the abandonment of neighbouring aerodromes, and much besides that helps Italy or Germany in the war. If we had convincing guarantees that all this had been done we could well afford to grant the Italian request, and all the more willingly since the effect would be to deprive southern Italy of what may be compared to a power-station, con- trolling the whole current of war in that region. There is no reason why an agreement to this end should not be declared to be an ad hoe arrangement, having no validity as a precedent in other fields of war.
