There is another set of ruleson which I propose to say somethingwhichrelate to the treatment of the general population of the enemy's country,and these are among the most modern parts of the International systemTheyconstitute a subject of great interest but of very great difficultyandindeed it was the attempt to construct a sort of code on this subject whichbrought the discussions of the Conference of Brussels to an endand deprivedits resultsas a wholeof the authority which they otherwise might havepossessedHow the questions involved arose I may perhaps best express inthe following wayIn all wars waged by armies of the modern typeand especiallyin the war between France and Germanythere arrives a point at which oneside or the other may legitimately think that the campaign has ended favourablyfor himIn the Franco-German war we may say that this point was reachedas soon as the German armies had invested ParisBut some of you can remember,and others may have readwhat followedLeon Gambettaa principal memberof the so-called Government of National Defenceescaped from Paris in aballoon and established a separate or branch Government at ToursFrom thatpoint a new campaign of a new nature may be said to have begunLarge forceswere brought together by Gambettaconsisting chiefly of fragments of otherarmies which had been stationed in particular localities or had marched westwardsafter defeat from the Germansandbesides theseof a great part of thehitherto unarmed population of the country called to his standard under whatwas called a levee en masseThis part of the war was conducted with somesuccess on the part of the Frenchbut it at once gave rise to a large numberof new questions as to what should be allowed in the conduct of warTheprinciples agreed upon by the Brussels Conference appeared to have been these:
The first duty of a citizen is to defend his countrybut this defence mustbe conducted according to the customs of warThese customs require thatan enemy should be able to distinguish between the armed forces and the generalpopulation of a countryin order that he may spare the latter without exposinghis troops to be attacked by persons whom he might reasonably suppose tobe engaged only in peaceful capacitiesFurtherwar must be conducted bypersons acting under the control of some recognized Government having powerto put an end to hostilitiesin order that the enemy may know the authorityto which he may resort when desirous of making peaceIn ordinary circumstances,thereforepersons committing acts of hostilitywho do not belong to anorganised body authorized by some recognized Governmentand who do not weara military uniform or some conspicuous dress or mark showing them to be partof an organized military bodyincur the risk of being treated as maraudersand punished accordinglySo far the delegates at Brussels may be said tohave been reasonably agreedbut then the qualifications which follow inthe Manuals which the various Governments have now circulated show how veryfar the rules laid down were from being unanimously accepted or agreed tobe universalThey go on to say'No rulehowevercan be laid down whichis not subject to great exceptionsFor examplethe customs of war do notjustify a commander in putting to death or even in punishing the inhabitantsof a townafter an attack has ceasedon the ground that they fought againsthim without uniform or distinguishing marksas all the inhabitants of atown may be considered to be legitimate enemies until the town is taken.
Similarly a population which rises en masse in a country not already occupiedby the enemy are entitled to be treated as prisoners of warand not as marauders,but in such case they must be formed into organized bodiesAgainwhen theregular Government of a country has been overthrown by civil tumulttheabsence of the authority of a recognized Government to make peace would notof itself disentitle organized bodies of menclearly distinguishable asfoes and fighting in conformity with the customs of war against a foreignenemyto be treated on capture as prisoners of warEvery case must be judgedby its own circumstanceshaving regard to the principle that persons otherthan regular troops in uniformwhose dress shows their charactercommittingacts of hostility against an enemymustif they expect when captured tobe treated as prisoners of warbe organised in such a manner or fight undersuch circumstances as to give their opponents due notice that they are openenemies from whom resistance is to be expected.
