MORE WAR BOOKS.* THE Manual of Emergency Legislation,' which comprises
all the Acts of Parliament, Proclamations, and Orders passed and made in consequence of the war up to the end of September, and issued by the Stationery Office, is a com- pilation which will prove of great value to officials, magis- trates, naval and military officers, and many private persons affected by the new regime. Mr. Pulling, who is the editor of the Statutory Rules and Orders of the " Statutes Revised" and of the " Chronological Table and Index to the Statutes," is responsible for the work in question. A first supplement has been issued, and further supplements will be published, we are told, from time to time as the new "Emergency Legislation" requires.
A book which we unfortunately have not space to deal with in detail is Law and Usage of War, by Sir Thomas Barclay.' This is described as " A Practical Handbook of the Law and Usage of Land and Naval Warfare and Prize." It is arranged alphabetically, and is thus specially easy to consult. As an example of the work we may quote from the heading "Military Necessity, or Necessity of War." After noting that the violation of Belgian neutrality was alleged to be justified by necessity of war, the following interesting excerpt is given :—
" ' A war conducted with energy,' says the German Kriegsbranch im Landkriege,' 1902, 'cannot be confined to attacking the com- batants of the enemy and its fortifications. It must at the same time be directed to the destruction of the whole of his intellectual and material resources. Humane considerations—i.e., the sparing of human life and property—can only come into play in so far as the nature and object of the war permit. Although necessity of war (Kriegrraison) permits every warring State to employ all methods which promote the attainment of its object, practice has, nevertheless, taught that in his own interest restraint in the employment of certain methods of war and renunciation of others is desirable."
• (1) Manual of Rmsrsency Legislation. Edited by Alexander Pulling, C.B. London: Wyman and Sons. [Ss. 6d., with Supplement.)—l2) Lae and Usage si war. By Sir Thomas Barclay. London : A. Constable and Co. [5s. net.] ----(8) The Effect of the War on Commercial Engagements. By P. Gore-B:owue, LC. London: Jordan and Sons. [2a. od. net.,j---14) One Amer. can's Opinion IheEttWar.Br.v.wig f.NewTorE.;.Tutt
Dutton and Co.
LOeitt7re)5)TIe... cu tttel;esen Var, London:
ounianand Co. net.1
That is, of course, the German view, but it is not the British.
Though we, like all combatants, are obliged to recognize necessity, we have always held in theory and practice that
justice and fair play must be extended to our enemies, and especially to the non-militant portion—the old men, the women and children, and other non-combatants. We carried out this principle in the Boer War, and of course shall carry it out in the present war. The notion of our indulging in reprisals is literally unthinkable. We shall never apply the rule of hell that it is right to kill A, B, and C in order to revenge oneself for the misdeeds or supposed misdeeds of D, E, and F.—Another small law book is The Effect of tics War on Commercial Engagements, by the well-known KC., Mr. Gore-Browne? It includes Acts of Parliament passed and Treasury Orders made in connexion with the war. This, again, is not a book which it is easy to review in a lay paper like the Spectator, but the high reputation of Mr. Gore-
Browne as a commercial lawyer is quite sufficient guaran- tee that it is worth being consulted by those who have to deal with points of commercial law arising out of the war.
A very striking little war book by a lawyer is One American's Opinion of the European War : an Answer to Ges-manes Appeals.' The "answer" is written by Mr. Frederick W. Whitridge, an American barrister of great ability and great experience in commercial cans. Mr. Whitridge, though he writes, as a good American citizen should, from the American
rather than the English point of view, makes no concealment of his sympathies. They are with his own flesh and blood.
On the other hand, they are not in the least anti-German in the true sense, but only opposed to the modern spirit of Germany. Very striking is Mr. Whitridge's chapter on German culture. In this chapter be quotes from the Figaro of September 24th a Proclamation which was affixed to the walls of Reims Cathedral by the Germans. Here is a portion of the Proclamation :— "'In order to secure the safety of the troops and in order to assure calm among the population of Reims, the persons named below have been taken as hostages by the General in command of the German army and will be shot on the least attempt at disorder. In addition the town will he entirely or partially burned and the inhabitants hanged if a single infraction of the preceding instruc- tions occurs.' This is followed by the names of a number of prominent citizens."
Mr. Whitridge deals with the question of outrages very fairly, and suggests that, if the Germans are hurt by the things believed about them in this respect, "what they should do is to get a. few judges from the neutral countries of the highest position and hang everybody those judges find guilty of murder, arson, mayhem, or rape."—In this context we may notice The Case of Belgium, in the Present War,' which is really a Report framed by the Belgian delegates to the United States. A great part of it was published a month or two ago in the British Press. Those who can bear to re-read the horrors of Belgium's agony should study this ghastly record. They must remember, however, that it is by no means the full tale of horror, but only deals with what happened is the first three weeks of the war.
Previous page
