Letters to "The Times" upon War and Neutrality (1881-1920)Holland, Thomas Erskine
History
Letters to "The Times" upon War and Neutrality (1881-1920)
Holland, Thomas Erskine
Neutrality; War (International law)
2. To Mr. Morley's enquiry, "Have we no rules of our own?" the answer
must be in the negative. The traditional policy of our War Office has
been to "trust to the good sense of the British officer." This policy,
though surprisingly justified by results, is so opposed to modern
practice and opinion that, as far back as 1878-80, I endeavoured,
without success, to induce the Office to issue to the Army some
authoritative, though simple, body of instructions such as have been
issued on the Continent of Europe and in America. The War Office was,
however, content to include in its "Manual of Military Law," published
in 1888, a chapter which is avowedly unauthoritative, and expressly
stated to contain only "the opinions of the compiler, as drawn from the
authorities cited."
3. The answer to Sir William Harcourt's unanswered question, "Were there
no rules settled at the Hague?" must be as follows. The Hague Convention
of 1899, upon "the laws and customs of warfare," ratified by this
country on September 4 last, binds the contracting parties to give to
their respective armies instructions in conformity with the _Règlement_
annexed to the Convention. This _Règlement_, which is substantially a
reproduction of the unratified _projet_ of the Brussels Conference of
1874, does deal, in Arts. 1-3, with guerilla warfare. It is no doubt
highly desirable that, as soon as may be, the drafting of rules in
accordance with the _Règlement_ should be seriously taken in hand, our
Government having now abandoned its _non possumus_ attitude in the
matter. It will, however, be found to be the case, as was pointed out by
Mr. Balfour, that the sharp distinction between combatants and
non-combatants contemplated by the ordinary laws of war is inapplicable
(without the exercise of undue severity) to operations such as those now
being carried out in South Africa.
I am, Sir, your obedient servant,
T. E. HOLLAND.
Oxford, December 7 (1900).
"Lieber's Instructions," issued in 1863 and reissued in 1898,
will doubtless be superseded, or modified, in consequence of
the United States having, on April 9, 1902, ratified the
Convention of 1899, and on March 10, 1908, that of 1907, as to
the Laws and Customs of War on Land.
The answer to Mr. Morley's enquiry in 1900 would not now be in
the negative. The present writer's representations resulted in
Mr. Brodrick, when Secretary for War, commissioning him to
prepare a Handbook of the _Laws and Customs of War on Land_,
which was issued to the Army by authority in 1904. On the
instructions issued by other National Governments, see the
author's _Laws of War on Land_, 1908, pp. 71-73.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account