Armies raised by military contractors 261 The value of the distinction between foreign and native mercenaries 262 Original limitation of military duty 264 To the actual defence of the realm 264 Extension of the notion of allegiance 265 The connection of the military oath with the first Mutiny Act 265 Recognised limits to the claims on a soldier’s obedience 266 The falsity of the common doctrine of duty 266 Illustrated by the devastation of the Palatinate by the French 267 And by the bombardment of Copenhagen by the English 268 The example of Admiral Keppel 270 Justice between nations 271 Its observation in ancient India and Rome 271 St. Augustine and Bayard on justice in war 273 Grotius on good grounds of war 273 The military claim to exemption from moral responsibility 276 The soldier’s first duty to his conscience 279 The admission of this principle involves the end of war 280 MILITARY MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. CHAPTER I. THE LAWS OF WAR. _Ce sont des lois de la guerre. Il faut estre bien cruel bien souvent pour venir au bout de son ennemi; Dieu doit estre bien miséricordieux en nostre endroict, qui faisons tant de maux._--MARSHAL MONTLUC. The prohibition of explosive bullets in war--The importance of the Declaration of St. Petersburg of 1868--The ultimate triumph of more destructive methods--Illustrated by history of the cross-bow or the musket; or of cannons, torpedoes, red-hot shot, or the bayonet--Numbers slain in modern and earlier warfare--The laws of war at the Brussels Conference of 1874--Do the laws of war tend to improve?--A negative answer suggested from reference: (1) to the use of poison in war; (2) to the bombardment of towns; (3) to the destruction of public buildings; (4) to the destruction of crops and fruit trees; (5) to the murder of prisoners or the wounded; (6) to the murder of surrendered garrisons; (7) to the destruction of fishing boats; (8) to the disuse of the declaration of war; (9) to the torture and mutilation of combatants and non-combatants; (10) to the custom of contributions--The futile attempts of Grotius and Vattel to humanise warfare--The rights of war in the time of Grotius--The futility of international law with regard to laws of war--The employment of barbarian troops--The taking of towns by assault--The laws of war contrasted with the practice--War easier to abolish than to humanise.