LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
THE LOST RULES OF WAR
[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sin,—The rules of war form a very puzzling subject. In general I find myself in agreement with the Spectator article. The League of Nations has considered projects for prohibiting poisonous gases and the like, but the experts were unanimous
in thinking such prohibition impracticable. A nation fighting for its life will use the most effective weapons it can find. Also it is not strictly the business of the League to draw up rules of war, its business is to prevent war.
I think the question falls into three parts :— 1. Between civilized nations I quite think that war may be abolished.
2. Where a civilized nation, possessing all the resources of modern invention, is putting down a rebellion of ill-armed savages, I think it quite possible that rules might be drawn up, or at least that some sentiment of decent humanity might impose itself on the people responsible.
3. Unfortunately there remains .a third class, to which the war in the Rif belongs, where a great Power, apparently dealing with an ill-armed adversary, is really fighting for its life. If France were beaten in the Rif, I imagine that Moslem risings in North Africa, Syria and elsewhere would immediately follow, and the face of the world would be a good deal changed. It is in this intermediate class that I think war most likely to continue and to be accompanied by great cruelty on both sides. Such cases will usually be outside the dominion of the League, for the League is in its essence only an agreement among civilized nations, and its only real weapon is the con- science of the best people in those nations-.—I am, Sir, &c, Yatscomhe, Boar's Hill, Oxford. GILBERT MURRAY.
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