Some Neglected Aspects of Warome Neglected Aspects of War

n
immtMm
SOME
%*.
NEGLECTED ASPECTS
OF WAR,
By
CAPTAIN
Author
MAHAN,
A. T.
U.
S.
N.
of "The Influence of Sea Power upon History, 1660-1783,"

" The Interest of America in Sea
Power," etc.
Together with
THE POWER THAT MAKES FOR PEACE

By Henry
S.
Pritchett
Formerly President of Massachusetts Institute of Technology
And
THE CAPTURE OF PRIVATE PROPERTY AT SEA

By Julian
S.
Corbett
Lecturer in History to the Naval
War
Course
LONDON
SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON & COMPANY,
ico,
Southwark
St., S.
E.
Ltd.
Mi-
Copyright, i8gg,
By The North American Review Publishing Co.

Copyright, igoj,
By Houghton, Mifflin, and Company.

Copyright, 1907,
A. T. Mahan.
By
All rights reserved
Published November, 1907
COLONIAL PRESS
ElectrotyPed and Printed by C. H. Simonds &* Co.
Boston, U.S.A.
PREFACE
cause of Universal Peace, upon which
so much of the world's attention has been
THE
summer by
Hague Conference, can

progress surely to success only upon the same
conditions by which any other movement for good
fixed this
reaches
its
goal.
the
It will
not be advanced, but
by neglecting diligently and calmly

consider facts, to look them straight in the face
to
retarded,
to
and not merely as one would

them now, or as it is possible that our
see things as they are,
wish to see
descendants
may
be privileged to see in a future
happier age.
Among many
perversions of thought and result-
ant exaggerations of statement,
by the uncon-
ditional advocates of Arbitration,
there
is
one
which underlies
that
War
not
merely
is
an
all others.
evil,
labor to reduce,
which
This
is,
like other evils
and ultimately
we should
to abolish;
but
having reference to the existing state of

things, it is so essentially unreasonable and wicked
that,
ft
9 |13
viii
Preface
that there can be for
From
cation.
it
necessity, nor justifi-
view
this point of
cannot,
purpose that
be otherwise
things,
no
War
serves
no
the existing state of
in
and
accom-
peacefully
merely killing people, a breach of the

plished.
sixth commandment, by those who call themselves
It is
has said,
It is
one very prominent opponent

doubt not many have echoed,
or, as
Christians;
and
impossible to reconcile
War with the
teachings
of Jesus Christ.
This
all
amounts
society to organize
of
evil.
to saying that
and
now
word merely, but
be denied that
exists;
insolent,
unchecked, of
ness.
Nor
all
will
evil in
not evil of thought or
evil of act;
legal as well as extra-legal;

sistent,
wicked for
utilize force for the control
It will scarcely
various forms
it is
of overt violence,
evil aggressive, per-
and ultimately subversive, if

social order and personal happiI imagine, be denied, granted a
it,
careful appreciation of conditions, that such tend-
encies towards violence
arise
from time
to time
throughout huge homogeneous masses of mankind,

nations and races
tendencies resting, indeed, not
upon ordinary criminal impulse, but upon ambitions or necessities incident to their present position, or present
wants.
Nor, again, can there be
ix
Preface
serious
dispute
that
by organized force,
throne, from which
successful
it
evil,
supported
upon a
often in peace
sits
can be deposed only by
force.
|
The
mankind
organizations of
called nations
have established over themselves agencies known

to us as governments; the objects of which are the
maintenance of internal order and prosperity, and

of the external rights
and
interests of the peoples
they represent. Could the people, having made

this disposition of the national functions, become
and passive as reaffairs, as do most of the
thereafter thoroughly neutral
gards the conduct of their

stockholders in a corporation;
tions of administration
and
could considera-
relations with other
peoples be abandoned with indifference to the

governments it may be conceivable that the pro;
prietors of the big estates thus constituted might
agree among themselves to administer in such wise

as to avoid quarrelling.
Although the experience
of history, under absolute rulers, does not bear out
this pleasing supposition, corporations, small organ-
ized bodies, doubtless can reach agreement

easily
more
than do unorganized masses. As a matter

do not possess this
of fact, however, governments
freedom of action, which,
if
held,
we may presume
Preface
they would utilize with pure regard to the welfare
under them; as despotisms and directorates notoriously do.

Behind every government,
even the most absolute, lie the masses of the people,
of those
with
all
the stormy impulses
and pressing needs

man, multiplied
that characterize the individual
by numbers, and intensified by the interaction of

complaint and mutual excitation, in social intercourse and through the press.
ment can
While a govern-
some degree modify and guide the

popular passion and interest thus aroused, its
in
powers in these directions are limited.
Like
all
elemental forces, popular pressure may be influenced, but not withstood, The time comes when
j
Government becomes merely the agency
The
exertion.
ruler.
Is
it
reins fall
permissible, in
for its
from the hands of the

such case, for the nation
or people threatened to supply that restraint which

can no longer be exercised by the native constituted authorities
Is
withstand force?
If
it
right to resort to force to
so,
there
is
War; or
its
equivalent.
do not say that the future may not show happier

I
conditions, for which the present should labor.
I
speak only of the present. Of this present, an

eminent American has been quoted as saying that
xi
Preface
now no more
reason for two nations to go

to war, than for himself and another to settle a
there
is
with clubs.
difficulty
"
nent,
War
Both
stronger."
like
myself,
on
establish
settles
Says another, similarly emionly which nation is the
of these gentlemen
War
had
seen,
four million slaves, and
free
continent a united people; a
this
contribution towards the world's peace and the
welfare of North America, in sparing the expenses

of large standing armies, and the woes of probable
which not a dozen Hague Conferences

" War settles
effect.
only which is the
collisions,
will
"
stronger
The War
of Secession then settled
nothing, except that the

the South.
War,
it
North was stronger than
appears, settled neither the
question of slavery nor that of the Union. In the

conditions which had previously existed,
present
then as our present is now,
in the hardening
opinions and feelings of the South, and the growing

resolve of the North to restrict slavery, it was, it
seems, quite possible to free the slaves and maintain the Union without war.
The War did not
settle
those questions.
water with those

cedent times, or
the
successive
The
assertion will not hold
who can remember those

who now will reflectively
stages
of
the
ante-
study
agitation over
xii
Preface
According to the authority first quoted,

would have been as possible to settle the
slavery.
it
dispute by some
adjustment, as for
equitable
the two supposed combatants to lay

clubs.
And
down
their
this in the face of the
long history
of efforts so to adjust, from the Missouri Compromise of 1820 to the Kansas Nebraska Bill and the
Fugitive Slave
Law
With
generation.
of
1854,
all
the
the lifetime of
advantages
of
united government, of the impassioned eloquence,
ardent patriotism, and love for the Union which

inspired Clay
the calamity
interest
and
and Webster
by
in their efforts to avert
arbitration,
by compromise, the
men behind
feelings of the masses of
them swept away
all
The
barriers.
strife
of a
century reached through four years of war a

Yet the statesolution not otherwise possible.
ments quoted are but moderate among

at Peace Conferences,
their
kind
mind
pre-
curious illustration of a tone of
dominant
tion, as
in the agitation for Universal Arbitra-
now
conducted, has come to
preceding lines were written.
from England the following
me
since the
have received
letter, which, being

has
not
the
claim
to privacy which
anonymous,
a signature carries.
xiii
Preface
"Sir:
"
'
have just read your article in July National

Review on the subject of the Hague Conference
I
and deeply
regret to find that
great talent
God gave you
kind
is
to
'
'
'
you have used the
for the welfare of
uphold and encourage instead
literally Hell upon earth,
mankind,
man-
War which
and the curse
at this exceedingly critical period
of
when
your opinion might have proved a feather weight

in the scale in favour of International Arbitration.
May God
and
forgive you,
and lead you
to
an altered
better mind.
"A Lover
of
My
Fellow Creatures."
To ask thus solemnly that God may forgive

a man is to pronounce his guilt before God. Why ?
Because of the antecedent assumption, that
War
man
is
so certainly
and
all
entirely wicked, that a
cannot without sin present before the audience of his kind such considerations as those
contained
"The
in
the
article,
herein re-published,
That the
Aspect of War."
author thereof may be conscientiously assured
of the Tightness of his contention counts for
Practical
nothing; no opposite side of the case is adThe judge, in virtue of his

mitted, as to War.
xiv
Preface
personal convictions, takes the seat of the Almighty,

and unhesitatingly declares the wickedness of his
Judgment is passed by one neither commissioned nor competent to it; a procedure as

fellow.
unchristian in
And
can be.
spirit,
and
in manifestation, as
less useful;
for, like the
of the extreme total abstainers,
who should work

common object.
those
body
of
my
fanaticism
tends to divide
it
mutual toleration
must forbear extended discussion
transfer the
is,
in
War
for
here, lest I
text to the Preface.
There
however, one fallacy in the line of thought under-
lying the Arbitration
Movement, as
too often engi-
neered, which must be clearly recognized;

fallacies
are
in
their
bacteria
are
in
theirs.
working
as
insidious
for
as
is
quietly assumed,
of
without
a
mistake, that in
suspicion
apparently
the society of
our highly organized society,
European
civilization,
/It
the individual
man
has
surrendered himself, soul and body, to the law;
by analogy, states can do the same, all

needed being to ascertain a means. The
and
that,
that
is
individual
man
has indeed surrendered much;
but there are large reservations, without which

law itself would be a hideous tyranny. The
individual has surrendered certain natural rights
xv
Preface
motives of evident interest;
for varied motives;
motives in
of
many
mere submission
with the criminal class
motives in others of con-
science, of subjection of personal
general
But
weal.
to force, as
advantage to the
of
alongside
always
this,
latent, often expressed, runs the reservation of
To no law
conscience.
of
man
men
shall
concede
make them do what conscience says

The
is wrong.
history of the ages witnesses to
the truth and power of this reservation. My own
time has seen it. Men are yet living who said,
"
You may pass your Fugitive Slave Law we
authority to
will not
Seward's expression,
obey."
law," embodied
law
is
this resolution;
not enacted in
human
respect
human
decisions,
see
maintain the
and
and
the higher
that higher
courts.
will use force, passive or active,

-so to
"
It will
to the last
when
not
day
in its
it
power
right, as conscience gives
it
to
War
of
it.
But some may urge that the story

Secession is by now but an echo
"
Of
old,
And
unhappy,
of the
far-off things,
battles long ago."
They have no
application to our better present.
Better
better that
Is
it
men,
in order to spare
xvi
Preface
their purses
and
their comfort, should arbitrate
question of conscience, rather than stand up for

principle, and give their lives as did the men of
1 86 1,
North and South,
to
maintain what they
believed to be fundamental right?
If,
indeed,
it
be true that our present is thus essentially different,

the raw material of human nature has changed
more
in these forty years
than in twenty centuries
precedent. External conditions of offence, amenable to settlement only by force, have not changed.
Let those who think that they have recall that

within fifteen years Japan has twice found it essengo to war on account of interests in Korea ;
interests by her esteemed so vital to her people and
tial to
their future that she could not with
the decision of
them
Let them study in

periodicals, or in
honor submit
any judgment but her own.

contemporary journals, and
to
more formal
treatises.,
if
such
there be, the transactions of the years immediately
war between Japan and

Russia, the contentions and actions of either party.
There is no law existent applicable to such cases.
preceding
And
the
while the
Japan has
recent
Hague Conference
itself is
sitting,
compelled for the third time to an intervention, which is not War only because there is
no power
felt
to resist.
Forcible intervention
is
in es-
xvii
Preface
persuasion that War, as an

inevitable factor in history, is a thing of the past,
War.
sence
is
\}'
<v
The
a public prepossession
as
men
in
their
will
disappear
study questions of international relations

world-wide bearing; which very few
There are
do.
which
moment pending
before
by most, momentous
differ-
at this
the world, unnoted
ences which cannot be
settled
by
arbitration,
because they involve the oppositions of nations

and races, and cannot be brought under the
head of any of those accepted conventions that

we call law. Such are collisions of elemental
I
forces,
amid which preparation
War
for
will
play a mighty part, may insure peace, and may

determine the decisive solution.
The phrase " honor and vital interests " embodies the conscience of states. Honor, or its
I
cognate, honesty, speaks for itself
neither
man
nor nation should consent to that which is before

God a shame, to do, or to allow. " Vital " interests are those of the
They
community, and of
therefore are interests
"
" in
trust;
posterity.
it
belongs
neither to the government nor to the people of one
generation to abandon the decision
of
them
to
an outside tribunal,
to commit to any legal body
that which law in itself is not competent to decide.
xviii
Preface
We
speak of law with bated breath, as though it

were some self-existent Being; a reverence probably due to the superabundance of lawyers in
representative
the creation of
Law
governments.
in
truth
the state, of the people.
is
It is
functionary, with methods and powers by them

prescribed, as to any other official; and it de-
pends for its efficiency upon the physical force

behind it, of the state, of the organized people.
When
it is
unable to
act, as
was
the law of
the
United States for four years in the seceding states,

as pointed out by General Sherman, quoted in
the following articles,

people, always
the physical force of the
latent support,
its
into active exertion
and when
it
must be
called
fails in particular
through the timidity or weakness of individual citizens,

as apparently in New Orleans
localities,
some twenty years ago, and

instances,
from
whom
it
is
in
permissible for the community,
law derives, to resume into
hands the duties of
its
conditions;
its
delinquent servant.
mandates of law are simply the

decisions reached
known
other
own
The
register of past
by the people upon precedent
and when unprecedented conditions
arise, law, unless
ex post
want of mandate.
A new
jacto,
is
decision
paralyzed, for
must be taken
new
Preface
xix
large proportion of
instruction issued.
the questions
embraced under honor and

are
interests
in
that
vital
inchoate
to-day
precisely
of
and possibly even of
non-decision
condition,
which cannot be brought under the head
dispute,
The
of law.
numerable
question of Slavery was such.
were made to bring
efforts
it
Ininto
harness by law, and to law. They failed, because

they were dealing with men's consciences, their
honor and
vital
interests;
and so
will
fail
at-
tempts thus to adjust other subjects of difference
mentioned
in
the
following
These rep-
text.
resent a play of forces, moral as well as mate-
who
rial;
and
woe
from
their
account the organized force we
will
be to those
dismiss
call
War.
|
There
\
affecting
tional
of
"
is
a third consideration, a further element

as a probable incident of interna-
War
relations,
in
the very changed character
most governments within the last century.

"
have always greatly influenced
people
The
external
feelings
political
because
movement,
must weigh with
rulers
and
popular
also, doubt-
because governors, being usually of the same

flesh and blood as the
governed, share the national
less,
desires
and modes
of thought.
Nevertheless, the
xx
Preface
order of rulers, few in numbers, once ruled in a
now
weightier sense than they
and developed
practice mastered
to
some
tion.
far
more
rather
those
and consequently
than their representatives, have

but as yet they have not been
rulers
enough
pulses of
now become
powerful. The
influence of the people has
direct
become the
so long
their business
useful extent from generation to genera-
The
people,
and by long
do;
to learn their business.
mankind remain
who can and
The
im-
the directive force, of
will spare time to
comprehend
the conditions which affect international relations
The
has diminished.
rightfulness of a national
contention, the expediency of going to war, the

necessity of a state of preparation, will henceforth
be determined with continuously increasing influence by the people themselves. Until this inevitable change has proceeded long
enough to produce
a maturity of education in the people at large, they
may save on the war budget but they will not be
;
equipped
to control impulse
instructed
distributed
reason.
among
by considerations of
Responsibility,
the
many
trated in the few, ceases to restrain.

transition period the
but greater.
Is
it
danger of war
wrong
also,
when
instead of concen-
will
During
this
not be
less,
to provide against such
xxi
Preface
a contingency ? or shall
grounding our arms ?
we meet
it
effectually
by
Believing as I do in the weight of the considera

tions here summarized, and convinced that the
cause of Peace
itself is
and oversights
tions
jeopardized by the exaggera-
of
its
noisier followers, I
have
thought expedient to collect under one cover a few

articles, in
War and
which the rationale and

of
its
justification of
procedure have been considered
under different aspects.

Of these, one, the Moral
Aspect of War, has already been republished in my
book,
"
thought
into
Lessons of the
War
permissible to bring
immediate connection
with Spain." I have

forward here again,
it
with
the others, as
necessary to any complete treatment of the subject,

however elementary; and because the collection
thus made, being homogeneous in object, will be
available as a ground-work for future discussion
for expansion
should
the agitation against
War
develop contrary to, or beyond, fact and reason.

In conclusion, I have to express my great obligation to
Mr. Henry
S. Pritchett,
dent of the Massachusetts

nology,
and
favorably
to
Mr. Julian
known
formerly Presi-
Institute
of
Tech-
S. Corbett, so well
for the series of
and
works on naval
subjects proceeding from his pen, beginning with
xxii
"
Preface
Drake and
the
in acceding to
which
articles
owe
I further
Tudor Navy,"
my
request to republish herein the
will
it
for their kindness
to
be found attributed to them.
them
to say, explicitly, that,
kind permission and the articles thembeyond

selves, they have no responsibility for any expression of fact or opinion that may be found between
this
the two covers of this book.
My
thanks are also due to the several Maga-
which these papers

permission to reproduce them
zines, in
particular
the
title
acknowledgments
appeared, for
in this form.
The
first
will
be found under
of each article.
A. T.
September, 1907.
Mahan.
CONTENTS
PAGE
The Power That Makes for Peace

The
Atlantic Monthly, July, 1907
By Henry
S. Pritchett
The Moral Aspect of War
21
The North American Review, October,
The Practical Aspect of War
1899
.
National Review, June, 1907
War from
A
the Christian Standpoint
...
55
95
Paper read before the Church Congress, Providence, Rhode
November 15, 1900.

Alfred T. Mahan, U. S. N.
Island,
By
The Capture of Private Property at Sea

The Nineteenth Century and
By Julian
<
115
After, June, 1907
S. Corbett
The Hague Conference of
1907, and the Question of Immunity for Belligerent Merchant Shipping
National Review, July, 1907
By
Alfred T. Mahan, U. S.
155
yS
SOME NEGLECTED ASPECTS

OF WAR
By Henry
S.
Pritchett
The Atlantic Monthly, July, 1907
movements
FEW
commended
of the last half century have

themselves more to thoughtful
men than
the present organized effort for the establishment of the principle of international arbi-
and through
tration,
this the securing of
a world
peace.
The
last
movement
decade in the history of the peace

is its
best.
Hague Tribunal,
The
the gift of
establishment of the
Mr. Carnegie
for a
meetings, and, above all, the

focusing of international attention upon the feasi-
fitting
building for
its
and necessity for international arbitration,

have marked real progress in the practical solution
bility of
Some Neglected Aspects
of
War
problem of world peace. Every friend of

humanity must feel encouraged at these steps, and
of the
of the future.
quickened for the work

That that work shall be a real one
that
lead
must have had
it
his faith
shall
not merely to
international
gatherings, but to international agreements;
may make war
it
that
frequent;
that
not only less horrible, but less
may
it
bring about a
common
understanding under which questions of dispute

may be adjudicated by reason, not by force that
;
may
it
create a public opinion that shall prove a
powerful factor in restraining nations from war;

all
these
things
we may reasonably hope
for.
The movement
will
measure as
led wisely, sanely, effectively.
it
is
hasten them in just such
Any such movement, which has

larger relations of
to
do with the
mankind and which touches

tendencies and qualities, is
fundamental
human
likely to pass
through a period of progress followed
by a period of depression. It is likely to receive

strength from unexpected sources and to be weakened by unexpected defections. It is sure to
suffer from the lack of knowledge on the part of
those
suffer
more
who oppose it; and it is equally sure to

from the zeal of its own friends, who expect
of an organized
movement than any
organi-
The Power That Makes

zation can accomplish.
day peace movement
for
Peace
The history of the present-
in
is
some
respects the ana-
logue of the history of the anti-slavery agitation
The movement against slavery

does the movement against mili-
of a century ago.
appealed, as
and
tarism, to the higher moral instincts

tions of
saw
The men
men.
inspira-
of the nineteenth century
clearly the vast evils of slavery, as the
of the twentieth see clearly the evils of
men
war and
In proportion as one appreciates

such burdens to the social order, one is tempted
to be influenced by his emotions and to find himof militarism.
with indignation at a condition of affairs

which he seeks at once to remedy. It is at such
self stirred
times that one
is
led to overestimate the
an organization and
to
assume that
the place of the deeper underlying

tion
it
power of
can take
human
educa-
which alone can deal with such conditions.
It is at
such times that
men
are prone to
become
the partisans rather than the advocates of a cause,
and
and
is
to
of
lose
their
human
likely to
movement
perspective
nature.
of
social
The advocate
forces
of peace
be a real force in the progress of the

world peace the partisan of peace
for
has an attitude of mind likely to injure rather than

to help the cause he supports.
The man who is
Same Neglected Aspects
so eager for world peace that he
War
of
is
ready to fight
has forgotten for the moment the long history

of our race and its rise from savagery to civilizafor
it
tion.
As one profoundly
interested in this
movement,
fundamental
I venture to call attention to certain
human
qualities which must inevitably be reckoned with in any such movement, and to point out
at the same time certain directions in which our
neglect of these considerations
may
lead us to
hinder rather than to further our cause.
When we
so far as
look back over the history of our race,
we know
it,
it
seems clear that
man
is
fundamentally a fighting animal. The fact that

he is a fighting animal is perhaps the most important element in his evolution,
and has had as much
do as any other quality with the slow process

of improvement which has made the world of
to
thousand years ago.

The whole process of civilization has been a
development out of a life of continuous fighting
and toward a life of comparative peace.
to-day out of the world of
Just what this power
out of a
peace
will
is
life
is
fifty
which has brought men
of warfare into a
a question about which
life
of comparative
men
differ.
answer vaguely that the power
is
Some
a combi-
for
Peace
nation of forces which have evolved the

race;
some
call
it
religion;
human
and many have be-
lieved during the last two thousand years that
it
But however our notions may

Christianity.
differ as to what the power may be, there is no
is
We know
difference as to the process.
that the
process by which men have passed from a

of warfare to a
life
nothing other than

the slow and sure process of the education of the
minds and
know
life
of peace
is
of the consciences of
further that this slow
men, and we
and sure process
is
the only one that will ever bring a true world
There are no short cuts by which men

good, or by which men may be made
peace.
may
made
be
peaceful,
men have
sought in all
the world could have been
though good
ages to find such. If

saved by an organization,
it
would have been
saved a thousand years ago by the Christian

church if it could have been saved by legislative
;
enactment,
it
would have been saved centuries
the parliaments of the nations
if it could
ago by
have been saved by administrative process, it
would have been saved by the rulers who have
;
governed it for two thousand years. There

no such royal road to peace. The world, if it
ever to
know
universal peace, will find
it
is
is
only
oj
War
through that same slow process by which we have

attained our present civilization;
important
peace
congresses
and
and however
international
agreements and international tribunals may be,

let us not lose our perspective of their true place
in this process.
They
are not the agencies
which
are to do the real work, but are only the methods
by which public opinion
is
to be influenced
and
quickened.
Nor can one
afford to forget,
when he
seeks to
serve the cause of world peace, the elemental influ-
ences to which our
human
nature responds and
which they give
the fundamental virtues to
rise.
To
bring about peace we cannot make human

nature over; we can hope only to discipline and
to refine it.
That fighting spirit of our race, the
spirit that is in
every man, the spirit that has been
ingrained in us by hundreds of thousands of years
and that has played so great a

our evolution from barbarism to civili-
of our race
part in
zation,
is
life,
not wholly bad.
It
grew on the one side
out of aggressiveness, selfishness, suspicion; but

on the other side its roots went deep into the nobler
qualities of bravery, courage, loyalty, patriotism.
The whole
process of civilization has been an
effort not to eradicate this spirit,
but to discipline

and
for
Peace
to retain the old-time virtues while
refine it;
The man
getting rid of the old-time vices.
of the
highest civilization to-day is no less a fighter than

his savage ancestor of ten thousand years ago
but he holds the

discipline
could not,
political
of
if
life
spirit of the fighter
self-control
we
and
of
under the
the
law.
We
would, banish from our social and
the things which appeal to this fight-
because they pervade our whole civilization, our literature, our language, our religion.
When a band of scholars rises to its feet and
"
breaks into that martial song,
Onward, Christian
ing
spirit,
Soldiers,"
human
it
spirit
is
the appeal to this old-time inbred
which
stirs
them,
as well
as
the
motive of Christian duty and of Christian service.

For this reason it seems to me unwise in the
advocate of world peace to seek to banish such
Such a critipatriotic sentiments and influences.
cism as has been
made
of the
Jamestown Exposinaval
account
of
the
on
tion,
display which is to
be had in connection with it, seems to me, on the
whole, to hinder, not to further the cause of universal peace.
To make
such a criticism and to
urge the banishment from our everyday
life
of all
those things which appeal to the fighting spirit

man is to forget the long story of human devel-
of
io
opment.
,For
It is to
of
War
confuse symptoms with causes.
not soldiers and cannon and ships which

national quarrels, but the injustice, the
it is
make
greed, the selfishness, the ambitions,
the ignorance of
all
man, which
navies to their dreadful work.
morrow destroy every war
sets
If
vessel
and above
armies and
we could
and
to-
dissolve
would not insure universal peace,
every army, it
any more than the destruction of
the liquor
world would bring about universal temper-
in the
ance.
all
We
serve best the cause of peace
recognize frankly the process out of
when we
which we
have come, when we deal clear-eyed with the

universal
human
tendencies,
spirit
and the elemental human
and when we lend ourselves
process which the power that makes
to that
for righteous-
ness has given us, the process of the education

of the great
mass of mankind.
It is
when we
take
step in that slow evolution of education that
we
take a real step toward a true world of peace.

nation helps the cause of peace when it takes
official
it
part in a world's congress for this cause,
works immeasurably more efficiently when

deals justly and fairly with its own citizens and
but
it
with other nations.
send
its
university
does well to
representatives to a peace congress, but
for
Peace
does a real work for peace when it sends into

the world men who deal rightly with their fellowit
men.
best
when
corporation helps the cause of peace

it deals fairly, not only with its own
interests but
with the interests of
its
employees.
labor union aids the cause of peace most effectively when it develops a policy of unselfishness
and
fairness instead of a policy of selfishness
greed.
soldier stands for peace
the military
power
when he
justly, fairly, mercifully,
and
uses
We
bring a world peace nearer when we so educate

the individual man as to bring about a common
understanding between
The
first
men and between
step to individual agreement
confidence
the
first
is
nations.
individual
step to international peace is
international confidence
and respect
for the
com-
mon motives of nations. And the first step in

common confidence and respect is common knowledge and acquaintance. \ Ignorance of the motives,
of the ideals, of the purposes of those with whom
we have
and
do is the author, not only of armies

but
of wars and battles.!
navies,
The
to
old-time savage
Each man held a

neighbor which was
life
was a
suspicion
life
of isolation.
and dread
of his
in proportion to his ignorance
of his neighbor's purposes
and
ideals.
The
first
12
steps of civilization were those
of
War
which led
to asso-
and acquaintance; and these must be the

steps in an international peace which is to be
ciation
first
Intellectual
lasting.
and
social isolation
has bred
more wars than hatred and revenge.
Among
the
many
causes of our Civil War, one
seldom thought of was the intellectual

and political isolation of the Southern States.
which
is
The Southern
leaders sincerely believed in i860
that they could organize a nation
on perpetuating slavery
which could go
in disregard of the public
opinion of the rest of the world. Had these leaders

been men in touch with the world's thoughts and
the world's ideals they
slavery
would have known that
was already dead,
could long maintain

ripe for
its
it,
that
no
civilized nation
that the world
was already
abandonment; and they themselves

war was half over that, even
realized before the
Southern Confederacy were established,

A nation pays a fearful price
slavery was gone.
for intellectual and moral isolation, a price paid
if
the
down
of
in centuries of suffering
unnumbered
and
in the blood
battlefields.
However deeply we may regret war, however

sincerely we may desire peace, there are probably
few
men who do
not sincerely believe that for
Peace
for
common
13
years to
come our
nations,
must maintain an army and navy, whatmay be placed on their develop-
nation, in
with other
ever limitations
ment.
I
So long as an army and a navy are
to
be main-
important that the men who make

up the military service shall be drawn from citizens
tained,
is
it
of the highest character.
the hands of
men
we
are to place in
it is
military power,
essential that they shall be
and
If
men of high
above
all
intelligence
of high ideals.*
Europe, and in America

in recent years, amongst those active in the cause
of international peace, a disposition to discredit
There has grown up
and
in
to belittle the military service
discourage by
acter
from
all
a tendency to
means young men
of high char-
entering the service of the
army and
of the navy.
In the
our history and of our development

also seems to me against the interest of
light of
this effort
the peace
movement, not
in favor of
it.
No citizen
or group of citizens can belittle the service of one's
country in any direction without striking a blow

at the same time at the deeper human qualities
of loyalty
service
and
and patriotism which

of all devotion.
lie
back of
all
14
No man who
of the
army
of
War
will look carefully into the
or the navy can
work
that a
fail to realize
career in either branch of our military service

is
one to which any
fullest
man may give
himself with the
and with the highest
devotion
Americans, as a rule,
work of either of
that when a man
know
ideals.
about the actual
little
these services,
and few
realize
enters the service of the
army
or the navy, whether as officer or as enlisted
man, he enters a great
school, a school in
which
taught not only the discipline of self-restraint,

of cleanliness, of devotion to duty, but also the
is
elements of an education.
yAn
enlisted
man who
enters a regiment of the army, barely able to read

and write, comes out, if he be a man of ambition
and
industry, at the
end of three
sion of the fundamentals of
His
officer
stands to
years, in posses-
an English education.
him not only
in the relation
of military director, but in the relation also of a
teacher and of a friend.

to
There
an American boy, unless
which
it
is
no career open
be that of a teacher,
a larger opportunity to minister to

the service of men than that of the army or navy
offers
officer.
There
are, to
do not take
be sure, in both services
their profession seriously;
men who
there are
men who
the
are lazy
and who are
of
body
great
working, patriotic
for
officers
15
indifferent;
are
There
men.
Peace
earnest,
is
no
life to
but
hard-
which
an American boy can give himself better worth his

metal than that which he can find in either of these
To
services.
this
belittle
value, to seek to place

tion, is
to strike
it
life,
under
to
minimize
social
condemna-
a blow, not for peace but against
that inbred spirit which stands for courage

loyalty
and
the old-time fighting
weakening
human virtues.
Of the truth
the
and
For one cannot destroy
patriotism.
at
its
spirit of
the race without
same time these elemental
of this statement the world has
had an object lesson so striking that he who runs

may read. For more than twenty-five centuries
the Chinese have developed under a philosophy
which led them

dier's life
of
and
to discredit in every
to exalt in
commerce and
way
the sol-
comparison with it the life

In this matter the
of peace.
philosophy of Confucius has been accepted by that

nation with a completeness and sincerity seldom
shown
in the history of
ical evolution.
tially
any
religious or philosoph-
The Chinese have become
a peaceful people.
fear their aggressions.
No
essen-
nation needs to
Amongst them
the pro-
16
fession of the soldier has
the lowest of
The
the
to
be considered
all callings.
result of
is
philosophy
come
War
of
so-called
centuries of education in
China
that
Christian
is
at the
nations;
this
mercy of
but, what
all
is
more serious, the process of eradicating the old

the worse
righting spirit has not only banished
of that spirit, but it has also rooted out
qualities
the old-time
ism.
human
virtues of loyalty
There are those who have read
and
patriot-
in the teach-
"
Blessed
ings of Jesus Christ a similar lesson.
"
has been taken to mean
are the peace-makers
"
As a matter
blessed are the peaceful."
of fact,
one can scarcely find a greater contrast than is

shown in this respect between the philosophy of
Jesus Christ and the philosophy of Confucius.
Christ lived at a time when the burdens and
war were
horrors of
every hamlet and in

military power held the social
mercy. Yet He never sought to array
every home.
order at
its
felt in
The
society against the soldier or the soldier's calling.
On
the other hand, looking beneath the surface
of things,
He
men and
nations selfish
and
which made
and cruel and warlike,
dealt with the causes
to the soldier
He
"
said,
Live your
soldier honestly, justly, mercifully,"
life
knowing
as a
full
who
well that he
lor
Peace
lived the soldier's
life
17
in this
of peace as truly as he
spirit served the cause
who
advocated peace upon the housetops.

age-long racial history
that I cannot make myself believe that the artificial
remedies which have been advocated as an antidote
It is in view, too, of this
for
war have
war can be made

engage in
The idea that

dangerous that men will not
serious significance.
it,
so
or that peace can be arbitrarily
brought in by force, fails alike to take account of

our racial history and of the underlying influences
which move men.
Such remedies have the same
significance in the social order that the Keeley
cure for drunkenness has in medicine.
The
nation which should act on such a theory
might well expect
to share the experience of
doughty Confederate colonel who, after the Civil

War, returned with his war-worn and defeated
veterans to his native village and was twitted on
the fact that four years earlier he
that he
and
"
popguns.
"
stoutly,
his
men
had boasted
could lick the Yankees with
So we could," answered the colonel
but the Yankees wouldn't fight that
way."
The
peace.
truth
is,
there are
Dreadful as war
no such short cuts
is,
there are
to
some things
18
of
War
even worse.
Under certain circumstances a nation
will fight
have
human
if it
left in it
And
virtue.
the
a spark of the elemental

remedy for such condi-
back of any influences which force

or arbitrary restrictions can create.
tions lies far
And
so I venture, in this
day of enthusiasm
for
organization, to recall the fact that the cause of
universal peace which
we advocate
is
really
no new
nothing other than the cause of

universal education; not necessarily the educathing, that
tion of
makes
state
is
it
the
school,
man
but
education
which
man, which makes

and which brings nations
understand
understand
state,
into relations of confidence
nations.
the
Let us by
all
and
means
trust with other
further
by these
formal gatherings the cause of international organization, but let us not lose our perspective with
respect to the organization,
and the
results
which
accomplish. And let us by all means not

in the end to bring
forget that the process which is
about the result is, after all, the same slow process
it
may
which has brought us up from savagery
to the
our day. That process we may

hasten, but it cannot be done by disregarding our
age-long racial history or our inbred human
civilization of
nature.
The beginning
the promotion of
of the peace
common
Peace
19
movement
lies in
jor
confidence and better
understanding, not in the effort to belittle and to
any
which
may hope
it
The
class of citizens.
ostracize
to gain is
largest result
by focusing public
attention, by creating a better understanding, by

replacing ignorance with knowledge, by creating
an international conscience.
The
real
work
will
always remain the work of educating the consciences
and the minds
of the great
mass of man-
kind.
It is through this slow process that we may
venture to hope that the time will come when
international differences shall be in the keeping
of international tribunals
and
it is
by the
further-
ing of this sure* process that the peace advocates

of to-day
which
may hope
shall
have as
to bring
its
about a movement
consummation the
deliver-
ance of the world from the burden and horror

of war.
The
of our race
cause of organized peace
and
of
its
is
worthy
highest representatives.
Let us hope that they may go forward in this

effort, not only with true enthusiasm, but also
with true judgment;
preserve a
fair perspective,
realizing that the causes of war
lie far back ota rm i e sand
navies, in the fundamenthat they
may
20
tal
qualities of
human
nature;
oj
War
and that such
organized effort will have force and value in

proportion as those who direct it preserve a true
vision
and a serene judgment.
n
THE PEACE CONFERENCE AND THE
MORAL ASPECT OF WAR
THE PEACE CONFERENCE AND THE

MORAL ASPECT OF WAR
By Alfred
T.
Mahan
North American Review, October 1899.

%
determine the consequences of an hisx

Peace
torical episode, such as the recent
TO
The Hague,
Conference at
is
not a matter for
prophecy, but for experience, which alone can

decide what positive issues, for good or for ill,
shall hereafter trace their source to this beginning.
The most
of the
that the present can
point so far reached,
tendencies manifested;
right direction;
be
beneficial
course
is
or
is
and
to take note
of apparent
to seek for the latter
to guide,
of general thought,
do
where
it
can, currents
the outcome of which will
injurious,
according
as
their
governed by a just appreciation of funda-
mental truths.
The
calling of the Conference of
1
The references throughout
Hague Conferences in 1899.
The Hague
this article are to the first of the
24
originated in
an avowed
of
War
desire to obtain relief
from immediate economical burdens, by the adoption of some agreement to restrict the preparations
for war,
and the consequent expense involved
national armaments;
but before
hope of disarmament had
its
in
meeting the
fallen into the back-
vacant place being taken by the

project of abating the remoter evils of recurrent
warfare, by giving a further impulse, and a more
the
ground,
clearly
defined application,
the principle of
to
which thenceforth assumed pre-emiThis may

the councils of the Conference.
Arbitration,
nence in
be considered the point at which we have arrived.

The assembled representatives of many nations,
including
all
decided that
for
relief,
the greatest
it
is
upon the
to arbitration
earth,
men must
have
look
rather than to partial disarmament,
or even to an arrest in the progress of preparations for war.
Of
the beneficence of the practice
of arbitration, of the
when
wisdom
of substituting
the misery therefrom resulting, there can be
doubt
but
and
it
will
in
its
be expected that in
its
make
themselves
felt.
If,
no
applica-
attempted development,
tendencies of the day, both good and bad,
tion,
it,
possible, for the appeal to arms, with all
the
will
on the one hand, there
The Moral Aspect

is
solid
of
War
25
for rejoicing, in the
ground
growing inclinaan impartial arbiter, if such
tion to resort first to
can be found, when occasion for
collision arises,
cause for serious

is, on the other hand,
reflection, when this most humane impulse is seen
there
favor methods,
to
which by compulsion shall

and the conse-
vitally impair the moral freedom,
quent moral responsibility, which are the
distin-
guishing glory of the rational man, and of the

sovereign state.
One
of
the
most unfortunate
of our present age
by
legislative
compulsion
is
characteristics
the disposition to impose
enactment
restrictions of
that
is,
by external
a moral character,
which are either fundamentally unjust, or at least

do not carry with them the moral sense of the
community, as a whole.
It is
not religious faith
alone that in the past has sought to propagate

itself
by force
physical
of law,
coercion.
which ultimately
If
the
religious
is
liberty
the individual has been at last won, as

forever,
it
is
force of
of
we hope
sufficiently notorious that the pro-
pensity of majorities to control the freedom of

minorities, in matters of disputed right
still
the will of
and wrong,
and as tyrannical as ever was

Philip II. that there should be no
exists, as certain
26
heretic within his
much
as
dominion.
cannot so
Many
the thought of an English
comprehend
it was better
bishop, that
England
War
of
to see
England
free than
sober.
In matters internal
to
state, the
of a law imposes an obligation
bare existence
upon the individual
whatever his personal conviction of its

rightfulness or its wisdom. Yet is such obligation
citizen,
The primary
not absolute.
by the law and the

presumption
lie
against
it
is
gospel,
duty, attested alike

is
submission.
in favor of the law;
and
if
The
there
on the score
just cause for accusation,
either of justice or of expediency, the interests of
Commonwealth and the precepts of religion

alike demand that opposition shall be conducted
the
according to the methods, and within the limits,
which the law of the land

it
may be
it
has been, and yet again
that the law, however regular in
and
therefore
formal
But
itself prescribes.
its
may
be
enactment,
unquestionable on the
score
of
fundamental
either
outrages
the
moral dictates of the
or
violates
political right,
Of the former may be
individual conscience.
cited
authority,
as an instance the
Stamp
Act,
perfectly
regarded statutory validity, which

kindled the flame of revolution in America. Of
regular
as
The Moral Aspect
memory
illustration.
27
Law, within
the second, the Fugitive Slave

of
War
of
the
a conspicuous
many yet living,
Under such conditions, the moral
is
right of resistance is conceded
nay,
is
affirmed
and emphasized
by the moral consciousness of
the races from which the most part of the American
people have their origin, and to which, almost
wholly,
we owe our
Such
tions.
resistance
meekly the penalty
who
may
and
religious tradi-
be passive, accepting
for disobedience, as the
conscience'
for
political
martyr
sake refused the political
requirement of sacrificing to the image of the

Caesar; or it may be active and violent, as when
our forefathers repelled taxation without representation or when men and women, of a genera;
tion not yet wholly passed away, refused to violate

their consciences
by acquiescing
in the return of a
slave to his bondage, resorting to evasion or to

violence, according to their conditions or tempera-
ments, but in every case deriving the sanction for

their unlawful action from the mandate of their
personal conscience.
And
let it
be carefully kept in mind that
it is
not the absolute right or wrong of the particular

act, as seen in the clearer light of a later day,
that
justified
men, whether
in
the
particular
28
of
War
instances cited, or in other noteworthy incidents

in the long series of steps
by which the English-
speaking races have ascended

political
their
present
not the demonstrable
It is
development.
to
rightfulness of a particular action, as seen in the
dispassionate light of the arbiter, posterity, that
has chiefly constituted the merit of the individual

rebel against the law in which he beheld iniquity
;
the saving
which has preserved the healthbody politic, has been the fidelity
salt,
fulness of the
to Conscience, to the faithful,
of the
moment, whose
if
passionate, arbiter
glorious predominance in
the individual, or in the nation, gives a better assur-
ance of the highest
life
than does the clearest
intel-
lectual perception of the rightfulness, or of the
expediency, of a particular course. One may

now see, or think that he sees, as does the writer,
with Lincoln, that

is
wrong.
It
if
was not so
and while no honor

heroes,
who
slavery
is
is
not wrong, nothing
clear half a century ago
too great for those early
for this sublime conviction withstood
obloquy and persecution, legal and illegal, it

should be never forgotten that the then slave
States, in their resolute determination to
maintain
need be, and against superior force,

by arms,
that which they believed to be their constitutional
if
The Moral Aspect
made no
right,
political
of
War
small contribution
the record of fidelity to conscience
which
Be
it
is
the highest
by action or be
and
by submission, by action
positive or by action negative, whatsoever

of conviction
is sin.
of faith
The
just
to
to duty,
of a nation to honor.
title
it
29
and necessary exaltation
of
not
is
law, as
the guarantee of true liberty, with the consequent
accepted submission of the individual to it, and

the recognized presumption in favor of such submission, have tended to blind us to the fact that
the
individual,
in
our
highest
consciousness,
has never surrendered his moral freedom,
independence
of
conscience.
No human
his
law
overbears that supreme appeal, which carries the
matter from the tribunal of
man
into the presence
God; nor can human law be pleaded at

bar as the excuse for a violation of conscience.
of
this
It
a dangerous doctrine, doubtless, to preach that

"
"
may be a higher law than obedience
to law; but truth is not to be rejected because
is
there
dangerous, and the time is not long past when the

phrase voiced a conviction, the forcible assertion
of
which brought slavery to an end forever.

The resort to arms by a nation, when right
cannot otherwise be enforced,
corresponds,
or
30
of
War
should correspond, precisely to the acts of the

individual man which have been cited; for the
old conception of an appeal to the Almighty,
resembling
in
principle the mediaeval
battle, is at best
trial
by
but a partial view of the truth,
seen from one side only. However the result

afterwards be interpreted as medicative of
an
may
the
a cause,
interpretation always
a state, when it goes to war,
questionable,
justice of
should do so not to
test the rightfulness of its
claims, but because, being convinced in
science of that rightfulness,
overcoming
evil
its
no other means of
remains.
Nations, like men, have a conscience.
men, too, the light of conscience

often clouded, or misguided,
But what
interest.
his
con-
of that ?
Like
in nations
is
by passion or by
Does a man discard
allegiance to conscience because he
knows
harmony with right, its message to

perplexed and obscured by his own infirmNot so. Fidelity to conscience implies
that, itself in
him
is
ities?
not only obedience to
its
dictates,
but earnest
heart-searching, the use of every means, to ascertain
its
true
command;
yet withal, whatever the
mistrust of the message, the supremacy of the conscience
is
not impeached.
When
it is
recognized
The Moral Aspect

that
its final
obedience.
of
War
31
word
is
spoken, nothing remains but
Even
if
mistaken, the moral wrong
works a deeper injury

kind, than can the merely
of acting against conviction

to the
man, and
to his
material disasters that
Even
moral
"
may follow upon
the material evils of
war are
obedience.
less
than the
compliance with wrong.
evil of
me
a foreign
diplomatist to whom I was saying some such
"
but remember that only a few years ago
things,
Yes,
my
friend,"
to
replied
was pressing you
the conscience of your people

into
war with Great Britain

"
"
question.
first
is
Admitting," I replied,
national impulse, the
conscience,
in the
if
you
at least
"
that
movement
was mistaken,
the
of the
which
it remains that
argument,
time for deliberation was taken,
to
open
there was no war
and more than
like,
first
Venezuelan
no conscience,
But, further, had the final
that can be asked of
national or personal.
decision of conscience been that just cause for
war
war brings could equal

the moral declension which a nation inflicts upon
itself, and upon mankind, by deliberate acquiesexisted,
no
evil that
cence in wrong, which
may
right."
the fact that
Nor
war
is
it
recognizes
it
conclusion vitiated by
at times upon mistaken
is this
made
and which
32
of
War
It is not the accuracy of the decision,

but the faithfulness to conviction, that constitutes
conviction.
an
the moral worth of
action, national or indi-
vidual.
The
general
witnessed by a
consciousness
common
of
truth
this
is
phrase, which excludes
from suggested schemes of arbitration all questions

which involve " national honor or vital interests."
No
me more
forcibly during the
The Hague than
the exception taken
one thing struck
Conference at
and expressed, although

"
to the word
honor," in
is
a very few quarters,

this connection.
There
in
good reason; for the word, admirable

and if rightly understood, has lost mate-
for this
in itself
image and superscripby much handling and by some misapplicaHonor does not forbid a nation to acknowl-
rially in the clearness of its
tion,
tion.
edge that
which
it
wrong, or to recede from a step

has taken through wrong motives or
it
is
mistaken reasons;
yet
has at times been so
it
thought, to the grievous injury of the conception

of honor.
not honor, necessarily, but sound

policy, which prescribes that peace with a semiIt is
civilized foe
but,
should not be
however
M honor "
is
justifiable
made
the
after
policy,
a defeat;
the
defaced by thus misapplying
it,
word
The Moral Aspect
of
War
33
The
varying fortunes, the ups and downs of

the idea of arbitration at the Conference of The
Hague, as far as
my intelligence could follow them,
me
two principal conclusions, which

produced
so far confirmed my previous points of view that
in
I think I
may now fairly
claim for them that they
have ripened into opinions, between which word,

and the cruder, looser views received passively
as impressions, I have been ever careful to
distinction.
In
the
first
arbitration stands at present
There
acceptance.
is
mark
place, compulsory
no chance of general
but one
way
as
yet
in
which arbitration can be compulsory; for the

dream of some advanced thinkers, of an International
of
Army, charged with imposing the decrees
an International Tribunal upon a
state,
may
recalcitrant
be dismissed as being outside of practical
international politics, until at least the nations are
ready for the intermediate step of moral compulsion, imposed by a self-assumed obligation
by a
promise. In the general understanding, compulsory
means only the moral compulsion

taken beforehand, and more or less
arbitration as yet
of a pledge,
comprehensive, to submit to arbitration questions
which
rest
still
in the
unknown
future;
the very
terms of which therefore, cannot be foreseen,
A!-
34
of
War
though there is a certain active current of agitation

in favor of such stipulations, there is no general disposition of governments to accede, except under
very narrow and precise limitations, and in questions of less than secondary importance. 1
Secondly, there appears to be, on the other
hand, a
much
greater disposition than formerly
to entertain favorably the idea of arbitration, as
means
be in
to
all
cases considered,
and where
possible to be adopted, in order to solve peaceably
which threaten peace. In short, the

consciences of the nations are awake to the wicked-
difficulties
ness of unnecessary war, and are disposed, as a
general rule, to seek first, and where admissible,

the counterpoise of an impartial judge, where such
can be found, to correct the bias of national selfwill;
but there
is
instinctive revolt,
an absolute
indisposition,
an
against signing away, beforeby a promise that
hand, the national conscience,
any other
arbiter than itself shall be accepted in
the future, the import of which

Of this feeling the vague
discerned.
be
cannot yet
"
national honor
and somewhat clumsy phrase,
questions
of
The attempt
at the recent
Second Conference of the Hague
of subjects to be of obligatory arbitration, and

the excessively colorless character of the subjects admitted, will
be fresh in the memory of those who have followed the proto frame a
ceedings.
list
The Moral Aspect

and
'
of
War
35
has in the past been the ex-
vital interests/
for its very indeterminateness reserved
pression;
to conscience in every case the decision,
" May
me
bound by
another judge for
my own
here, or
sense of right?
must
I be
"
Under these circumstances, and having reached

so momentous a stage in progress as is indicated;
by the very calling together of a world conference
for the better assuring of peace,
well for us to pause a
the
left ?
too
on the
Noble and beneficent
may
share,
not be
it
moment and take full account
of the idea, Arbitration,
it
may
may
liability of the loftiest
even
right
hand and on
in its true outlines,
now
be sharing, the
conceptions to degenerate
"
into catchwords, or into cant.
what
Liberty,
"
and
crimes have been wrought in thy name
does not religion share the same reproach, and
!
conscience also?
any of the
The
of the
Yet
will
we
not
away with
three.
conviction of a nation
mass
is
the conviction
of the individuals thereof,
and each
individual has therefore a personal responsibility
he holds on a question of great

moment. Let us look,
and especially each of us who fears
for the opinion
national, or international,
each of us,
God,
into his
own
inner heart, and ask himself
36
how
far,
in his personal
accept arbitration.
must
"
be,
Is
it
War
of
he is prepared to
not so that the reply
life,
In doubtful questions of moment,
wherever I possibly can, knowing
my
necessary,
inevitable proneness to one-sided views, I will seek
an impartial
rected
but
adviser, that
when
my
bias
may
that has been done,
sought what aid I can,
if
conscience
be cor-
when
still
have
commands,
From that duty, burdensome

though it may be, no man can relieve me. Conscience, diligently consulted, is to the man the
voice of God between God and the man no other
arbiter comes.'
And if this be so, a pledge
I
must obey
it.
'
beforehand
is
impossible.
I cannot bind myself
which I as yet know nothing, to

abide by the decision of any other judge than
my own conscience. Much humor less wit
for a future of
has been expended upon the Emperor of Ger-
many's supposed carefulness

because an infringement of
phrase which
may
well be
to reject arbitration
his divine rights;
no more than a blunt
expression of the sense that no third party can

relieve a man from the obligations of the position
by God, and that for the

duties of that position the man can confidently
to
which he
is
called
expect divine guidance anc) help.
Be
that as
i\
The Moral Aspect
0}
War
may, the divine right of conscience
37
will,
among
Americans, receive rare challenge.
has been urged, however, that a higher

organization of the nations, the provision of a
It
supreme tribunal issuing and enforcing judgments,

settling thereby quarrels and disputed rights,
would produce
for the nations of the earth a
analogous to that of the individual

citizen of the state, who no longer defends his own
condition
cause, nor
own
him.
bound
is
sense of right,
The
in conscience to maintain his
when
conception
the law decides against
is
modern; something much

centuries ago
functions.
It
not
novel,
like
it
not even
was put
forth
by the Papacy concerning its own

contains two fallacies. First, the
submission of the individual citizen
is
to force,
which he personally contribindividual and general assent.
to the constitution of
utes
little,
save his
To an
unjust law he submits under protest,

doubtless often silent; but he submits, not because
he consents to the wrong, whether to himself

personally or to others, but because he cannot
This
perhaps be denied, with the

assertion that willing, intelligent submission to
help
it.
law, even
when
general good,
will
unjust,
One
is
yielded
by most
for the
has, however, only to consider
38
0}
War
man to
how far
the disposition of the average
evade pay-
ment
force daily
of taxes, to recognize
enters into the maintenance
and execution
of law.
Nations, on the contrary, since no force exists,

or without their volition can exist, to compel them
to accept the institution of
to their
own
conscience, yield a willing acquies-
cence to wrong,
to
an authority superior
when they
so yield in obedience
an external authority imposed by themselves.
The matter
promise
not helped by the fact of a previous

such decisions.
The wrong-
is
to accept
doing of an individual, in consequence of an antecedent promise, does not relieve the conscience
thus rashly fettered. The ancient warning still
"
Suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh
stands,
For the individual or the nation, arbito sin."
where the decision
tration is not possible

violate conscience;
only
when
it
is
it
known
that interest merely, not"
duty, will be affected by the judgment,
knowledge cannot
is
and such
exist antecedent to the difficulty
arising.
There
may
therefore can be accepted
further
second
fallacy
in
the supposed analogy between the submission of
individuals to law,
and the advocated submission
of states to a central tribunal.
The law
of the
The Moral Aspect

overwhelming as
state,
power relatively to
can neither bind nor
matters pertaining to
in
39
its
is
that of the individual citizen,

loose
War
of
the
conscience.
can any tribunal, however solemnly

constituted, liberate a state from its obligation
Still
to
less
do
retains,
the
still
right;
power
to
maintain what
it
in great part lost,
believes to be right.
may make
considerations
Many
I say, because the state
less,
what the individual has
it
more
right
for a man or for a

do not say more expedient
submit
or
to
to
nation,
to,
acquiesce in, wrong than
I
to resist;
but in such cases
that decides
it
is
conscience
where the balance of
distinctly to the side of
universally admitted,
wrong.
that
It
still
justice turns
is,
occasions
I presume,
may
arise
where conscience not only justifies, but compels,

resistance to law; whether it be the Christian
citizen refusing to sacrifice, or the free citizen to
subject himself to unconstitutional taxation, or

to
become the instrument of returning the
to his master.
So also for the Christian
slave
state.
Existing wrong may have to be allowed, lest a

Conscience only can
greater wrong be done.
decide
be kept
and
for that very reason conscience
free, that it
sense of right,
when
may
must
decide according to
the case
is
presented.
its
40
There
of
War
therefore, the very serious considera-
is,
upon what
tion attendant
"
is
com-
loosely styled
arbitration stipulated, that

pulsory" arbitration,
in
of
a
advance
is,
question originating, or of its
conditions being appreciated,
thereby do that which a
does
state
not
do;
that a state
may
namely,
voluntarily
assume a moral obligation to do, or

wrong. And it must be remembered,
many
of the difficulties
which
arise
now
allow,
to
that
.also,
states
and higher
exists
Permanent Tribunal,
the advocated
to
among
involve considerations distinctly beyond
than law as international law
may
towards the
citizen as
whereat
which the
ultra-organizers look, to take cognizance of

cases,
must perforce be governed by law as
all
it
be supposed that
nations will submit themselves to a tribunal, the
exists.
It
is
not,
in fact,
to
general principles of which have not been crystallized into
a code of some
sort.
always more
comprehensible and instructive than a general
Let us therefore take the incidents
discussion.
concrete instance, however,
is
and conditions which preceded our recent war

with Spain.
The
apprehend, be
facts,
as seen by us, may, I
fairly stated
as follows:
island of Cuba, a powerful military force,
In the
gov-
The Moral Aspect

ernment
of
War
scarcely could be called,
it
41
foreign to
was holding a small portion of it in

enforced subjection, and was endeavoring, unsucthe island,
cessfully, to
of
this
measures were
adopted that
immense misery and death upon great
attempt,
inflicted
In pursuance
reduce the remainder.
numbers
of the population.
Such suffering is
it may be stated
attendant
but
indeed
upon war;
as a fundamental principle of civilized warfare
that useless suffering
is
condemned, and
it
had
become apparent to military eyes that Spain could

not subdue the island, nor restore orderly conditions.
The
suffering
was
and was un-
terrible,
availing.
Under such circumstances, does any moral

obligation
lie
upon a powerful neighboring
state?
Or, more exactly, if there is borne in upon the

moral consciousness of a mighty people that such
an
afflicted
doors
is
like
community as
Cuba
that of
at their
Lazarus at the gate of the rich man,
and that the duty of stopping the evil rests upon

them, what is to be done with such a case of
conscience?
Could the decision
of
another,
whether nation or court, excuse our nation from

the ultimate responsibility of
But, granting that
it
its
own
decision?
might have proved expedient
42
to call in other judges,
of the circumstances,
of
when we had
War
full
knowledge
what would have been our
commanding one course,

we had found ourselves antecedently bound to
dilemma
conscience
if,
For
abide by the conclusions of another arbiter?

let us not deceive ourselves.
Absolutely
justi-
nay, imperative, as most Americans believe

action
to have been, when tried at the bar of
our
fiable,
conscience, no arbitral court, acceptable to the two

nations,
would have decided as our own conscience
European diplomatist of distinguished
did.
reputation, of a small nation likeliest to be unbiassed, so said to
that
more than one
me
personally,
of our
own
and
it is
known
ablest international
lawyers held that we were acting in defiance of

international law as it now exists just as the men
;
who
resisted
the Fugitive Slave
Law
defiance of the statute law of the land.
must
on the
have gone against us, so these
acted in
Decision
men
think,
legal merits of the case. Of the moral

question the arbiter could take no account it is
:
not there, indeed, the moral questions must find

their solution, but in the court of conscience.
Referred
flag
to
would
There
arbitration,
still fly
is
doubtless the Spanish
over Cuba.
unquestionably a higher
law than
The Moral Aspect

Law, concerning obedience
than the
to
Him
man
43
which no other
to
himself, or the state, can give account
The freedom
that shall judge.
conscience
War
of
may
him who owes
of the
be fettered or signed away by
to
it
its
supremacy,
though thus disavowed, cannot be overthrown.
The Conference at The Hague has facilitated
allegiance
yet
by providing means
through which, a case arising, a court is more
easily constituted, and rules governing its procefuture recourse to arbitration,
dure are ready to hand
but
any engagements binding
states to
to the tribunal thus created.
of the state to
its
own
The
have recourse
responsibility
conscience remains unim-
The
peached and independent.
made and
has refrained from
it
thus limited
is
to
progress
thus
a halting place, at
which, whether well chosen or not, the nations
must perforce stop

to
employ
for
a time; and
it
will
be wise
that time in considering the bearings,
which has been done, and of that

which has been left undone.
alike of that
Our own country has a

fully
to
consider the
special
"
possible
need thus care-
consequences of
arbitration, understood in the sense of
cedent pledge to resort to

tions
it
very carefully hedged.
an ante-
unless under limita-
There
is
an un-
44
0}
War
doubted popular tendency in direction of such

"
"
in
arbitration, which would be
compulsory
the highest moral sense,
the compulsion of a
promise. The world at large, and we especially,

stand at the opening of a new era, concerning
whose problems
can be foreseen.
little
the peoples, there
is
Among
manifested intense interest
maturing of our national convictions, as

being, through Asia, new-comers into active
international life, concerning whose course it is
in the
impossible
to
predict;
and
in
many
quarters,
Great Britain, the attitude

watchful rather than sympathetic.
in all except
probably
toward us
is
The
experience of Crete and of Armenia does not

suggest beneficent results from the arbitration of
many
the
counsellors;
especially
more favorable
acting on her own
issue
if
when
contrasted with
Russia, in 1877,
single initiative, forced
by the
conscience of her people, herself alone struck the

fetters from Bulgaria; or when we ourselves last
year, rejecting intermediation, loosed the
from Cuba, and
lifted the
bonds
yoke from the neck of
the oppressed.
It
was
inevitable that thoughts like these should
recur frequently to one of the writer's habit of

thought, when in constant touch with the atmos-
The Moral Aspect
of
War
45
phere that hung around the Conference, although

the latter was by it but little affected. The poet's
"
The Parliament of man, the federation
words,
of the world," were
past summer.
of the ideal,
sition, in
much
There
men's mouths
this
no denying the beauty

but there was apparent also a dispois
contemplating
processes of evolution
attains her ends,
vention, the
in
and
it,
to
contemn the slow
by which Nature commonly

to
impose at once, by con-
methods that commended themselves

Fruit
is not best ripened by

nor
can
the goal be reached
premature plucking,
by such short cuts. Step by step, in the past,
to the sanguine.
man
his
has ascended by means of the sword, and
more recent
show
tions,
kick
down
him.
gains, as well as present condi-
that the time has not yet
the ladder
which has so
come
to
far served
Three hundred years ago, the people of

was assembled
the land in which the Conference
wrenched with the sword
civil
and
religious peace,
and national independence, from the tyranny

Spain.
Then began
the
disintegration
of
of
her
empire, and the deliverance of peoples from her

oppression but this was completed only last year,
and then again by the sword
of the United
;
States.
Some Neglected
46
War
Aspects of
In the centuries which have since intervened,

what has not " justice, with valor armed," when
confronted by evil in high places, found
compelled to
it
was due
among
effect
resort to the
sword?
To
the birth of the United States, not least
the benefits of which
ence that has
made Great
was the
Britain
stern experi-
no longer the
but the mother, of her dependencies.
mistress,
The
by
itself
good from evil, of the devastating

French Revolution, and of Napoleon,
control, to
of the
fire
was due
The long line of illustrious

those who bore it not in vain,
to the sword.
names and
deeds, of
nearly reached
has in our times culminated
if
indeed the end
even yet
in the new birth of
the United States by the extirpation of human
slavery, and in the downfall, but yesterday, of
is
a colonial empire identified with tyranny.
and
the sword,
the stern
it
demands
What
supremely, tempered only by

of justice
and
of conscience,
and the loving voice of charity, has done for India

and for Egypt, is a tale at once too long and too
well
known
for repetition here.
Peace, indeed,
not adequate to all progress

there are resistances that can be overcome only by explosion.
is
What means
half-year
less
violent than
war would
in
have solved the Caribbean problem,
The Moral Aspect
of
War
47
shattered national ideas deep rooted in the prepossessions of a century, and planted the United
States in Asia, face to face with the great world
problem of the immediate future ? What but the

War of 1898 rent the veil which prevented the English-speaking communities from seeing eye to eye,
and revealed
each the face of a brother ?
Little
a war which, with comparatively

bloodshed, brought such consequences, was
wonder
little
to
that
followed by the call for a Peace Conference
a faculty of national
Power, force,
life; one
of the talents committed to nations by God.
Like
every other endowment of a complex organization,
is
it
must be held under control of the enlightened

and of the upright heart; but no more
intellect
than any other can it be carelessly or lightly

abjured, without incurring the responsibility of
one who buries in the earth that which was

trusted to
maintain
him
right,
And
for use.
by
force
if
need be, while
to all states, rests peculiarly
proportion to their
those to
means.
whom much
ability speedily to
is
upon the
Much
given.
in-
this obligation to
common
greater, in
required of
So viewed, the
is
put forth the nation's power,
by
adequate organization and other necessary preparation, according to the reasonable
demands
of
48
the nation's intrinsic strength

in the world,
is
and
War
of
its
position
one of the clear duties involved
in the Christian
word " watchfulness,"
ness for the call that
Until
edly or not.
of
may
it
is
readi-
come, whether expectdemonstrable that no
which cannot
evil exists, or threatens the world,
be obviated without recourse to force, the obligation to readiness
mighty and
that is, war
is
must remain; and, where
evil
defiant, the obligation to use force
Nor
it
possible, ante-
cedently, to bring these conditions
and obligations
arises.
under the letter of precise
is
and
be administered by a tribunal.
of national
decision
spirit
of
as real as those
"
attributed to
militarism," and not
commonly
more elevated. The
mine good and evil,
life,
of
questions
The
marked by blemishes
is
legalism
codified law, to
considerations which deterright
and wrong,
crises
or of the world's history,
equity
upon mere
often
rules, or
too
Bulgaria, of Armenia,
and
complicated
are
for
even upon principles,
of law, international or other.
and
in
of
The
instances
of
Cuba, are entirely
most probable that the contentions about the future of China will afford further
in point;
illustration.
of nations
is
it is
Even
in matters
where the
interest
concerned, the moral element enters
The Moral Aspect

because each generation in
of those
which
shall follow
War
49
day is the guardian

Like all guardians,
has the power to act according

best judgment, it has no right, for the mere
therefore, while
to its
its
it.
0}
it
sake of peace, to permit

to its wards.
known
injustice to
be
done
The
present strong feeling in favor of arbitration, throughout the nations of the world, is in
I
a subject for congratulation almost unalIt carries indeed a promise, to the cerloyed.
tainty of which no paper covenants can pretend;
itself
for
it
tion,
influences the conscience
not
by
external
fetter.
by inward convicBut it must be
remembered that such sentiments, from their

very universality and evident laudableness, need
correctives, for they bear in themselves a great
danger of excess or of precipitancy.
Excess
is
seen in the disposition, far too prevalent, to look

upon war not only as an evil, but as an evil un-
mixed, unnecessary, and therefore always unjustifiable; while precipitancy, to reach results considered desirable,
is
evidenced by the wish to
impose arbitration, to prevent recourse to war,

by a general pledge previously made. Both
frames of mind receive expression in the words of
speakers,
among whom a
leading characteristic
50
is
Thus
lack of measuredness and of proportion.
an eminent
"
War
of
There
is
is
reported
no more occasion
war than
to
citizen
with clubs.'
for
two men
for
to
have said:
two nations
to
go
to settle their difficulties
'
this
Singularly enough,
point of
view assumes to represent peculiarly Christian

teaching. In so doing, it wilfully ignores the truth
that Christianity, while
science by other than

"
"
it
will not force the con-
spiritual
arguments, as
arbitration might, distinctly reccompulsory

ognizes the sword as the resister and remedier of
evil in the
"
sphere
of this world."
Arbitration's great opportunity has
advancing moral standards of
states,
come
in the
whereby the
disposition to deliberate wrong-doing has dimin-
ished; consequently, the occasions for redressing
wrong by
In view
force are less frequent to arise.
of recent events however,
and very
especially of
notorious, high-handed oppression, initiated since

1
the calling of the Peace Conference,
continued during
its
and
resolutely
sessions in defiance of the
public opinion of the world at large,
it
is
pre-
Lest this be misunderstood to be an allusion to the recent

measures of Japan in Korea, I renew here the caution that in
this article all references to the Peace Conference are to that of
1
1899.
The Moral Aspect

mature
to
War
of
assume that such
51
occasions belong
wholly to the past. Much less can it be assumed

that there will be no further instances of a com-
munity believing, conscientiously and entirely, that

honor and duty require of it a certain course,
which another community with equal
may
integrity
hold to be inconsistent with the rights and
obligations of
its
own members.
It
stance, quite possible, especially to
for in-
is,
one who has
recently visited Holland, to conceive that Great
Britain
and the Boers are
alike satisfied of the
substantial justice of their respective claims.

is
It
permissible most earnestly to hope that,
disputes between sovereign states, arbitration

find a
in
may
way
peace with fidelity to conbut if the conviction
science, in the case of both
to reconcile
of conscience remains unshaken,
disobedience,
nized wrong.
war
is
better than
better than acquiescence in recog-
The
great danger of undiscriminating advocacy of arbitration, which threatens

even the cause it seeks to maintain, is that it may
lead
men
to
tamper with equity,
to
compromise
with unrighteousness, soothing their conscience

with the belief that War is so entirely wrong that
beside
it
no other tolerated
Armenia,
and witness
evil is
Crete.
wrong.
War
Witness
has
been
52
War
but what of the national consciences
avoided;
that
of
beheld
such
iniquity
and
withheld the
hand?
Note.
This paper was the means of bringing into the
author's hands a letter by the late General Sherman, which
forcibly illustrates
how
easily, in quiet
what they have owed, and
moments, men forget
owe, to the sword. From

the coincidence of its thought with that of the article itself,
permission to print it here has been asked and received.
still
New
Dear General Meigs,
February
York,
I attended the
5th, 1890.
Centennial
Ceremonies in honor of the Supreme Court yesterday, four

full hours in the morning at the Metropolitan Opera House,
same measure
Grand Banquet
Lenox Lyceum.
The whole was superb in all its proportions, but it was no
place for a soldier. I was bidden to the feast solely and
exclusively because in 1858 for a few short months I was an
and about
of 850
the
of time at the
lawyers in the evening at the
attorney at Leavenworth, Kansas.

The Bar Association of the United States has manifestly
cast aside the Sword of Liberty.
Justice and Law have
ignored the significance of the Great Seal of the United

States, with its emblematic olive branch and thirteen arrows,
" all
proper," and now claim that, without force, Law and
moral suasion have carried us through one hundred years
of history.
Of
course, in your study
you
will
read at leisure
these speeches, and if in them you discover any sense of

obligation to the Soldier element, you will be luckier than
I,
listener.
From
186 1 to 1865 the Supreme Court was absolutely
The Moral Aspect
of
War
53
paralyzed: their decrees and writs were treated with contempt south of the Potomac and Ohio ; they could not sum-
mon
a witness or send a Deputy Marshal.
armed Power
of the Nation, alone
War, and the

removed the barrier and
restored to the U. S. courts their lawful jurisdiction. Yet,

from these honied words of flattery, a stranger would have
America had discovered

Government without force,
inferred that at last the lawyers of
the sovereign panacea of a

either visible or in reserve.
I
was
illusion,
hopes the Civil War had dispelled this dangerous

but it seems not.
in
You and I can
fold our
hands and
truly say
we have done
a man's share, and leave the consequences to younger men

who must buffet with the next storms; but a Government
which ignores the great truths illuminated in heraldic language over its very Capitol is not yet at the end of its woes.
With profound
respect,
W. T. Sherman.
Ill
THE HAGUE CONFERENCE AND THE

PRACTICAL ASPECT OF
WAR
THE HAGUE CONFERENCE AND THE

PRACTICAL ASPECT OF
WAR
By Alfred T. Mahan
National Review June 1907.
y
',
after the
adjournment of the
IMMEDIATELY
first Hague Conference, to which I had the
honor of being a delegate, I was asked to write a
paper upon some general bearings of the questions
This I did under
there entertained for discussion.
Moral Aspect
on what grounds, and how
the
for
to
title
of the
of
War
far,
it
x
;
considering
was
justifiable
a nation at the present stage of civilization

sign away beforehand its power of moral
in
action,
undefined and unforeseen instances,
under the plea, to me specious and misleading,

of submitting to an impartial third party a question,
not of interests, nor of facts, but of right and
wrong, and therefore of conscience. I held that
in
such decisions a nation
as a
man
might
seek counsel, but could not abdicate responsibility.

1
North American Review," October, 1899.
58
Therefore
it
of
War
could not rightfully commit
itself
such a course, in advance, except for such cases

as admitted of clear definition; reserving to its
to
own
determination matters of moral obligation.

To give again my arguments in detail is not here
but in one particular I may properly

repeat, because it leads directly to my present
theme, thus linking this article to its predecessor.
pertinent;
not to be supposed that nations

will antecedently submit themselves to a tribunal,
the general principles of which have not been
I urged that
it is
crystallized into
a code of some
sort.
Court of
Arbitration, however constituted, should have laid

down for its guidance and governance certain
established rules, or
body
of precedents,
which
by common agreement have reached the authority

and so may justly be styled law inter-
of law,
a code, to which appeal may be made,

and upon which decision shall rest unchallengeable.
Under present circumstances, when a case shall
national;
have arisen, and be pending, its characteristic

features apparent, the nations concerned will know
how
far they
can
trust themselves, as
a substitute
for such a code, to the existing state of international

law, undigested for final formal acceptance; but
there
is
not the same assurance for an
unknown
The
incident
the
of
War
Practical Aspect of
future.
59
Where an antecedent
body of accepted law is wanting, arbitration becomes a matter of personal beliefs or opinions on
the part of the arbitrators ; just as
so-called
many
on international law express the views

of the writers, frequently discordant, as to what
law ought to be, rather than a definition of what
treatises
it is.
Such a
definition in fact
is
impossible, be-
not a law.
Law, strictly so called,

presupposes a law-maker; and for international
law the law-maker has not yet come into existence.
cause there
is
Particular nations have
made
treaties
innumerable,
which are laws unto the contracting parties, for

they have power to frame and impose them; but
not laws to other states over
whom
they have not
power.
The Hague Tribunal has
already, in
its
brief
existence, furnished a striking illustration of the
dangers which
may
be apprehended from sub-
questions of right, as distinct from

questions of fact, until by an agreement certain
mitting to
it
principles have been established,
and
their bearings
some measure defined by applying them to

analogy
specific possible cases, thus making laws
from which might support action of the court if
an unforeseen case arise. The instance is none
in
60
of
War
the less striking because the nations referring
did so with
knowledge of the matter and

and of the existing condition of
full
ests at stake,
national law.
It
merely makes
the argument that
it
is
all
it
interinter-
the stronger
unsafe to bind oneself
beforehand to submit cases that are not yet foreIn the case of a delinquent state, com-
seen.
pelled
by armed force
creditors, the
the
Hague Tribunal has decided
that in
payments the citizens of the

which thus resorted to arms to get back
subsequent
states
their
to settle the claims of its
money were
entitled to be the first paid
and
great has been the indignation of those whose
moral sense repudiates
That
all
recourse to force for such
purposes.
judgment rested technically
upon the ground that the delinquent state had
offered special guarantees only to the blockading
this
nations, illustrates aptly the surprises that
await those
who go
may
to arbitration before details
In a pamphlet
put forth under the auspices of a prominent Peace
as well as principles are settled.
Association I find the following

decision has been
much
comment
criticized, as
The
appearing to
encourage force in debt collecting but,

a strictly legal solution, the arbitrators
;
"
:
in seeking
may have
been forced to ignore the ethical question
in-
The
War
Practical Aspect oj
61
This supposed opposition between presumed ethical right and strict law had better be
volved."
adjusted,
before a question involving ethics
is
submitted to a tribunal liable to fluctuations of

opinion,
it
It
vary.
like
members composing
as the individual
can scarcely be alleged that anything
an international consensus now obtains as
to
the ethical propriety of forcing a nation to

its
creditors.
do not pretend
to
pay
say which
right from the moral standpoint; but,

as international law till now has tolerated the
course
is
forcible collection of
that the peoples
such debts, I
who by
ods obtained redress for

for their trouble
all parties
and expense
upon the security pledged.

On
so, and there you are.
sent
is
own
to thinking
resort to authorized
to
were entitled
have the
first lien
Others do not think

either side of the dis-
a highly respectable body of opinion
that of the judges goes.
meth-
There
is
but
neither settled
principle nor adverse precedent, and the result

a grudging acquiescence by the last served.
is
In these cases, whatever be thought of the

methods, the sufferers had little claim to sympathy,
though novel and important, can hardly be said to touch vital interests
or national honor but how far does the experience
and the principle
at stake,
62
of
War
encourage nations, antecedently to knowledge of

the questions that may arise, and with a body of
formulated law as yet meagre, to intrust to such a
tribunal matters which may involve vital interests,
such as the United States conceives to be embodied
Monroe Doctrine?
in the
which many
or of moral propriety,
Americans thought violated in the
particular decision?
When
a case has
arisen, a
it
government may know
commits itself in accepting arbitration; but for
the unforeseen future what standards are there
the extent to which
whereby
will
to
not?
measure what the tribunal
limits of its action,
which by the hypothesis we
have bound ourselves antecedently

Is
it
will do, or
what the maximum and minimum

to
accept?
practical to consign vital interests or national
honor
an
by failing to reserve
them ? Indeed, would not the more prudent course
be to state explicitly what character of cases would
to so uncertain
issue,
be submitted, and to reserve all others? This

question much resembles that so much discussed
of the powers of the General
of
the
several
States
in
the
Government and
American Union.
If the nations are to confederate,

first
be a Constitution?
constitutions grow, even
should there not
It is true that
when
healthy
so rigidly guarded
The
Practical Aspect of
War
63
as that of the United States ; but through centuries

of diplomacy the practice of nations has been
slowly growing into a noteworthy bulk of precedents, material available for codification, after discussion.
Whether such
codification
is
as yet practicable
be doubted, in view of the extensive argumentation still conducted by diplomacy over the
may
bearing of so-called principles on current questions

but could it be effected in any degree, and defi-
nitely accepted
by
all
the great nations,
it
would
carry so far a certain assurance of justice, and

thus to a great extent would limit the decisions of
an
arbitral
body
to
a finding on the
facts, to
principles or rules already established,
which
and known
beforehand, would be applied. So far as a man

or a nation knows the tests that will be used, he
can afford to mortgage his conscience in

advance because adequately assured that right
or
it
to
which
although
principles
interests,
apply
will
not
which depend upon the
suffer,
facts,
But, really to be known, the principles must

not be merely general in statement, but specific
may.
in their application to the range of international
relations
under consideration.
may fail of completeness,
Such application
but should be attempted.
64
is
Nothing
final,
An
proper aim.
but none the
0}
War
less finality is
instance of such a compilation
the series of rules to govern the practices of

war by land and sea in certain defined matters,
is
drawn up by the first Hague Conference, and by

it recommended for
adoption to the governments
represented.
Now, such formulation

as far as
it
may
go,
substitute for war;
cepted will to
its
of principles
and
rules,
a tangible and practical
is
and where approved and
extent avert war.
ac-
Meanwhile,
for the adjustment of unforeseen differences that
continually arise,
and
we now have
will arise,
the
established methods of diplomatic correspondence,
and negotiations
the last resort
is
methods
lished
war
in their various orders, to
war.
of
War
is
which
one of the estab-
settlement.
The
practical
a means,
possibly crude and partial in operation, but for
which as yet no satisfactory alternative has been
aspect of
therefore
is
that
it
is
devised,
whereby a nation enforces a claim
what
considers essential interest or national
it
honor.
The
recent collection of debts from one
more South American States was an

war was war, though there was no formal
or
mation,
little
to
act of
procla-
bloodshed, and no treaty of peace.
The
What
Practical Aspect of
was
substitute
practical
War
there
65
for
such
?
As far as I understand, none, except the
view formulated, but not yet accepted generally
by creditor nations, that a delinquent state should
action
not be compelled to pay. I believe there was no

question that the debts were due. The facts were
admitted, but the question of principle was raised
whether a government owed to its own citizens

to collect such debt; or whether, as in blockade
running, they must accept the consequences of
their risks, in this case of lending on doubtful
security.
Evidently, if states are to arbitrate,
this question of principle should be determined
beforehand. As it is, all we have gained from the
particular example
to
is
an evidence that
arbitration,
be generally satisfactory, should proceed on
principles
formally
recognized,
and
sufficiently
be a check upon a
international method can
developed in application to
court's decisions.
endure
unless
No
generally
general dissatisfaction
establish
an
war
satisfactory.
which now seeks
merely alluring.
to
is
dis-
must present
be workable, and not
but to be successful
alternative that shall
It
it
I strongly suspect that as yet
tempting prospect is taken for a solid reality.

These cases have presented, in miniature, the
66
sequence of cause and
oj
War
which up
effect
to the
serious international dispute issues in war,
most
and
which as yet in many cases can have no other

outcome than war, or the retreat of one of the
Such retreat is usually because not strong
parties.
enough
power.
to act
It
results
it
may
which conceives
not be overt;
itself
not go so far in
retreat.
from inadequate material
its
or
its
that
is,
the
people injured,
state
may
measures as to necessitate
The South American
States were under
moral obligation to pay their debts they refused,

and they retreated. Under pressure of force
;
they discharged, or
made provision for discharging,
a moral duty which they had before declined. In

the case of some States of the American Union,
which at one time refused
to
meet
their indebted-
ness to British subjects, no threat of force was

made, nor measure looking to force undertaken.
It was not expedient
for, whatever the outcome,
war would have cost too much in every way.
;
The
facts in neither case alter the question of
moral obligation, nor

ular action in either.
and value
of war,
affected
But the
by the
partic-
practical bearing
practical aspect,
is
shown
in
In the one, war compelled payin the other, power to fight enabled the
both instances.
ment;
its
is this
The
Practical Aspect of
War
67
debtor to be obstinate in his refusal, to gain, let

us say, time to develop his resources and meet his
obligations.
made to
Each was
In neither was concession
moral aspect of the question.

simply a practical exhibition of the influence of
the
physical force.
Is such
employment
of physical force as here
a practical factor in the affairs of the

world? and is it a necessary factor? The necesillustrated
sity is part of the practicality
there be
for, if
an
adequate and better alternative,
it
practical to cling to the worse.
I think the deter-
mining consideration
Is the
is
this.
human conduct, individual

more by moral
needs of the body

call
by physical pressure ?
and wrong, or by the
food, drink, clothing?
with those not in bodily need.
beyond anything
Napoleon
else the
there
is
If
presume
manifested
consuming necessity
the faculties of an intensely gifted

in
course of
or national, determined
moral motive, these certainly count for
that in the career of
vent
not
ambition, or the love of adventure and
action, a
much
is
influences or
by considerations of right
we
certainly
corresponding action;
man
and
in
for
to find
degree
smaller men, or nations through their rulers, feel

and yield to the same impulse. And there are
68
War
of
nobler motives, love of country or of race, liberty,

religion, all prompting to extend influence or to
Hampden's refusal to pay shipmoney, that of the American colonists to submit

to the stamp and tea duties, rest on the principle
resist
wrong.
no
of
The
taxation except through representation.

smallness of the exactions involved places the
on the
level
but, after
all,
resistances
principle;
of
the principle
the need of the individuals of a
upon
to preserve to themselves,
antee,
In
last analysis,
is it
and
community
under adequate guar-
in
by
of
or,
worse, bodily
move men and nations?
chiefly
life.
far the greater part,
not so that bodily necessities,
desires,
itself rests
and conveniences
the necessaries
moral
vindicating
What
precipitated the outside barbarians, the migration
upon the Roman Empire ?

pressure from behind and
of the peoples,
impulses;
civilization in front.
movement ?
What
for long
precipitating the outside world
ican
continents
families
their
men
to-day
the
Amer-
upon
homes and kindred,
From
What
forsaking their families,
associations of centuries,
betterment?
alluring
checked the
Resistant bodily organization of phys-
ical force, the prevision of Caesar.

is
Bodily
in
the east
the
sacred
search of material
and from the
west,
The
Practical Aspect 0}
War
69
from Europe and from Asia, the flood impends;

in that v from Europe regulated by force, the force
of national tradition organized in power, controlling
and absorbing the foreign elements;
Asiatic instance excluding, also
which
is
invoked by those
increasing
who
in the
by force;
force
fear the effect of
numbers and cheaper labor upon
their
own material welfare. Is there in any of these

movements a moral motive upon which dependence
can be placed for restraint, and to which appeal
may
be addressed?
Or
is
the successful control
so far exercised simply that of organized physical

force, retarding
consequences in order that adjust-
ment may take place, as did Caesar? If so, what

more practical? and what is organized physical
control but war in posse ?
nay, rather, it is war
in esse.
Again, look, which are to-day the most aggressive

nations, in the sense of seeking external expansion
"
"
in no invidious
I here use the word
aggressive
or condemnatory sense, but in that neutral moral
signification
which inheres
motion towards an end
in
its
derivation,
of
be attained, or a somea phase of the world-wide struggle

thing needed
between the haves and the have-nots. Are they
to
not Germany, Japan, Russia?
And why?
Am-
70
bition?
I scarcely think so, except as perception
of national necessities
to provide for them,
War
oj
by a government, and
may
desire
The motive
be so called.
which impels them may be touched and influenced

by moral considerations, good or bad; but the
prime characteristic
material.
is
Food,
drink,
clothing, are the simplest expression of the bodily
demands; but
to these the refinements of civili-
zation have given a development beyond
exigency to reasonable comfort.

these
and
of
requires
it
Provision for
space proportioned to numbers,
requires also opportunity.
Germany and Japan
for a
mere
The numbers
press for larger room,
and
wide extension of commercial opportunity;
both which are wanted to feed their millions, to

give them meat with their bread.
They are
have-nots;
the former aggressive careers of the
Great Britain and France, the

as yet superabundant territory of the United States,
maritime
place
states,
them
in the class of the haves.
Russia,
cramped for mere territory, needs sea room.

Doubled back again upon herself, as in 1856 and
less
1878, she
now
lies
convulsed, in labor of the free-
dom which
happier conditions of inter-communiwith

cation
other states might have brought to her
as
it
has to them.
The
children are
come
to the
The
birth,
and there
Hemmed
War
Practical Aspect of
is
71
not strength to bring forth.
in so far successfully
on the Black Sea
and towards the Indian Ocean, she has seen

herself baffled again in the third and last remaining
a
problem involving the material

well-being of her population. At a critical moment of national expansion Russia has been foiled,
of
solution
"
because in face of an inevitable
irrepressible
"
she had neglected to prepare for war.

I do not defend her recent conduct I merely note
conflict
As
her need.
far as
my
not too profound knowlit has been

impos-
edge of the circumstances goes,
my
sympathy to Japan in the precedent events which constituted the occasion for
sible to refuse
the war.
But, as distinct from
its
occasion, the
cause lay deep in the material pressures resting

upon either nation. Will you meet such a conflict
on the one
side or the other, or
on both, by an
a moral argument of such doubtful

appeal
vindication as the wrongfulness of war, with the
to
moral alternative of submission
to
court of unsympathetic strangers?

legal decision
upon a legal
an extraneous
There can be
point, where a
law exists
but can there be true ethical fairness without

sympathetic intuition of national difficulties, and
sympathy hold an even balance? Why
can
72
of
War
should I trust the crying needs of my children to

the decisions of another than myself? Is it,
indeed, moral to do so?
after
all,
Is not material force,
the one practical arbiter between two
opposing material impulses, because as things

have been, and are, it alone gives rest? Such
opposition of material forces
effect of
may. To
It
exert the
fittest in this
remains
may merely
may not bring war yet again it

this Japan and Russia both appealed the
war.
respect
fittest
won
out
and so long as she
the result promises permanency.
In putting forward these truths of material

pressure with a bareness perhaps somewhat brutal,
I
must not be understood
to justify, far less to
advocate, the predominance of material considI simply look existing facts
erations over moral.

in the face,
which
is
posed point of view

the place of
now
is,
War in
and the
in strict accord with
my
the Practical Aspect of
the
economy
of the world
pro-
War
which
possibility of shortly replacing
it
with some alternative equally efficacious and less detrimental, the world remaining the same.
I believe,
personal conviction, that

moral motives come to weigh heavier with
with
full intensity of
when
man-
kind than do material desires there will be no war,
and coincidentally therewith
better provision of
The
Practical Aspect of
War
73
bodily necessities to all men. But

the truth still remains as stated by Jesus Christ
reasonable
twenty centuries ago, that between material and

moral motives men and nations must commit themselves to a definite choice
one or the other
not
Ye cannot serve God and Mammon. By

His own definition Mammon applies as clearly to
both.
the simplest bodily necessities, to the
and
The
mere food
clothing, as to the grossest insolence of luxury.
not of the degree of the devotion,

but of the service chosen, of the Master. This
will
question
is
be either the moral motives
phrase
Kingdom
far as the
of
summed up
God, or the material.
advocacy of peace
rests
motives of economy and prosperity,

of
Mammon
drop out
better.
in the
and the bottom
So
upon material
it is
the service
of the platform will
when Mammon thinks that war will pay

The common sense of mankind recog-
nizes the truth of this affirmation.
mixed motives; but we know
We
speak of
be
that,
they two
or many, one alone receives true allegiance and
The others may modify or hamper

one alone belongs the title " master; " and we
have common proverbs and common experience
will prevail.
to
that the service of the moral assures in the

sufficiency of the material.
end
74
of
War
of this truth will
coming when conviction

take place in practice, and that
indications of
distant arrival can be seen;
I believe that the time
meantime, I
its
now
is
but
also see in profoundest peace
an
ignoble struggle, not for enough, but for wanton

motives strictly material asserting
profusion;
themselves unblushingly in mutual conflict for

mastery nay, peace and arbitration advocated on
;
the most purely material grounds. I distrust the

spirit of a civilization that would have stopped,
if it
could, the intervention of the United States
between Spain and Cuba.
It
was a fresh
assertion
of the superiority of material considerations in a
decision
That
moral.
essentially
the
question
had an
was
interesting demonstraIt happened that I was in Rome at the time
tion.
war was declared, and dined in company with
"
Oh yes," said
several of the diplomatic body.
to talk of
"it
is
all
well
to
of
them
one
me,
very
thus regarded I
sympathy with the Cubans and Spanish misgovernment. The truth

wants Cuba." I inferred
standpoint.
to
speak
Now,
impartially
am
as
is
particularly
to
we had
better take
my
if
States
be the general
this to
for I myself thought
attitude
United
the
qualified
countrymen's
we went
to
war
Cuba, the military importance
The
Practical Aspect o]
War
our position has been evident ever

I was out of sympathy
since we became a nation.
of
which
with
to
the
which
in
self-denying
resolution
advance pledged us
of
Congress,
to non-acquisition;
but I entirely believe that it represented the predominant feeling in America. In other words,
the motive of the war, whether mistaken or not,
was moral
and
to
it
therefore material
should not be addressed.

expression which has a
argument
an
It is non-pertinent
less
courteous equiva-
lent.
If
it
be
true, as I
have expressed
my own
con-
moral motives are gaining in force

the world over, we can have hope of the time when
viction, that
they shall prevail but it is evident that they must

prevail over all nations equally, or with some
approach to equality, or else discussion between
;
two disputants will not rest on the same plane.

In the difference between the United States and
suppose the argument of the United
States, the moral justification to itself of its proposed action, would be that misgovernment of
Spain,
Cuba, and needless Cuban suffering, had continued so long as to show that Spain was not capable
good government to her distant dependThere was no occasion to question her
of giving
ency.
76
desire to give
tions or
it,
the honesty either of her asser-
measures to that end;
apparent that
it
was not
but
it
was
quite
in her to give effect to her
Now, presuming Spain
efforts.
War
of
take
to
that
conceivable (to the imagination) that

"
her rulers might say,
Yes, it is true, we have
view,
it
is
The Cubans have a moral

right to good government, and as we have not been
able to give it them, it is right that we should step
failed continuously.
assuming Spain unequal to such

sublime moral conviction and self-abnegation,
out."
But,
what was the United
What
matter?
she used the
she did was perfectly practical;

argument of nations as inter-
last
had gone to
upon what grounds would the Court
national law stands

arbitration,
What
proceed?
its
decision,
evacuate
States to do, as a practical
the solid pre-arranged basis of
should
Cuba?
but, suppose she
that
be that
Spain must
Is there anything in the present
Law, that
more
would give such power? And,
pertinent
to an
to
concede
now
are
states
still,
prepared
accord of
arbitral
territory
states, styled
International
Court the power to order them out of

which in its opinion they misgovern,
or which in
its
after conquest?
opinion they should not retain

e. g., Schleswig Holstein, Alsace
The
Practical Aspect of
War
77
and Lorraine, the Transvaal, Porto Rico and the

Philippine Islands?
Or, take another impending and very momentous instance, one fraught with immeasurable
issues.
is,
If I rightly appreciate conditions, there
among
the English-speaking communities bor-
a deep instinctive popular

one
of
those before which rulers
determination,
have to bow, to exclude, from employment in the
dering the
Pacific,
by them, the
concentrated crowded mass of mankind found in
sparsely settled territories occupied
Japan and China. More than anything else this

sums up the question of the Pacific. Two seas
of humanity,
on very
and economical
different levels as to
numbers
conditions, stand separated only
dyke of legislation, barring the

one from rushing upon and flooding the other. I
by
this artificial
do not
criticize
an attitude with which, whether
approve or not, I can sympathize but as I look

at the legislation, and contrast the material condi;
tions, I
wonder
at the improvidence of Australasia
in trusting that laws, though breathing the utmost popular conviction and purpose, can protect
"
their lands from that which threatens.
Go
home," said Franklin
to
a fellow colonist in the

"
days of unrest in America,
and
tell
them
to get
78
That
children.
Fill
will
settle
our
all
up your land with men
War
0}
difficulties."
of your
own kind,
The Pacific
you wish to keep it for yourselves.

States of North America are filling up, and, more
important, they back solidly upon, and are polit-
if
ically
the
one with, other great communities into which
human
labor
may
if
defeat,
tide is
inflict
for
pouring apace yet in them, too,

upon its own aims revolutionary
;
supposed local advantage
rasses the immigration of
very different for those

like
by
sea,
cannot
own
kind.
It
is
are severed from their
and therefore must stand on
All the naval
bottom.
who
its
embar-
it
power of the
suffice ultimately to
their
British
own
Empire
save a remote com-
munity which neither breeds men
in plenty nor
freely imports them.
We
speak of these questions
now
as racial, and
compact, and
represents truly one aspect of such situations,
which, however, are essentially economical and
In long-settled countries race and
territorial.
the expression
is
convenient.
territory tend to identity of
scarce a
moment's
meaning, but we need
recollection to
does not bind as do border
do economical
It is
facts.
lines,
know
that race
nor even they as
Economical
facts
largely
brought about the separation of America from
The
Great Britain;
the
War
Practical Aspect oj
79
economical facts brought about

to bind it.
The
American Union and continue
closer union of the territories
the British
Empire must be found
adjustments;
sufficient
are of the
which now constitute
the
thereto.
fact
of
in economical
common
race
Now, economical
is
not
influences
most purely material order
the order
form
at least
of personal self-interest;
in that
they appeal to the great majority, for the instructed
economists form but a small proportion

counof any community.
Race, yes territory
political
try
the heart
yes;
thrills,
the eyes
fill,
self-
seems natural, the moral motive for the

moment prevails; but in the long run the hard
sacrifice
pressure of economical truth comes

these with the tyranny of the despot.
indeed, noble leaders not a few,
who
down upon
There
are,
see in this
crushing burden upon their fellow millions an

enemy to be confronted and vanquished, not by
direct opposition, but by circumvention, relieving
sway by bettering environment, and so giving

But that these
play to the loftier sentiments.
his
men may
so
dependent,
work they need to be, as we say, inof daily

released from the grip
bread; and their very mission, alike in

cess
and
its
failures,
testifies
its
suc-
to the preponder-
80
War
of
ant weight of economical conditions in the social

world.
Nor
in the social world only.
We
movement
see aright the political
at large, the course of history past

until
we
discern underlying
all,
shall not
of the world
and
present,
consciously or
blindly, these primitive physical necessities, direct-
and through them

governments. Rightly do we
ing the desires of the peoples,

the course of their
call
them economical
home
to the
many
household
firesides
for they
whence
come
their stern
exactions have exiled politics and sentiment; and

herein, in the weight of struggling numbers, lies
Race and country

organizing and fortifying
the immensity of their strength.
but furnish a means for

their action, bringing to
it
tion of the loftier motives
crated words.
the sanction
embodied
and
inspira-
in these conse-
But these holy names, while
facili-
by the same
from
means separate nation
nation, setting up
tating
and
intensifying local action,
hearthstone against hearthstone. Hence implicit

war is perennial; antagonism lurks beneath the
most smiling surface and the most honest interchanges of national sympathies. We have but
to note the
wave
of emotion
United States at the
first
which passed over the
hint of possible hostilities
The
Practical Aspect oj
War
81
with Japan, and the suggestion that the AngloJapanese alliance might bring about collision with
the two peoples.
As
indications that the
American Press was becoming
appeared from all

observable signs, the great majority of Americans
had sympathized most cordially with Japan in the
recent struggle; and I have thought to note clear
far as
more and more deeply convinced of the common

interests which should bring into unpledged
accord
the
Britain
and the United
general
external
policies
States.
It
needed only
the reading of the treaty to see that
its
obligation would not
war
arise, unless
Great
of
particular
led
the
United States to seek to deprive Japan of terria most impossible contingency; but not
tory
one
has copies of treaties immediately

nor
takes the pains to consult them.
accessible,
National sentiment, like family feeling, is a permanent force, the influence of which, thus startled,
every
deflects national
sympathy and policy as a magnet
does a compass.
Little more than a generation ago, who so dear
to Americans as Russia? then perhaps the only
European government which, whatever the spring
of
its
motives, cordially sympathized with that of
the United States in the
War
of Secession;
how
82
of
War
few her friends in her recent struggle with Japan.

It will be said with justice, as well as appositeness,
that just such transient indications of the instability of national
sympathies, here to-day, there
to-morrow, prove the need of arbitration to avert

war. Certainly, if no other means can be found.
To
go to war on questions of mere feeling, or on

is far from practical.
As a
occasional offence,
matter
of
fact,
threaten
rarely
such occasions
however,
war.
Time
to
now
them
solve
is
usually obtained by the ordinary means of diplomacy, and the premature intrusion of a third
rather an irritation than a help.
is
party
Not
every case of conscience calls for a confessor, nor

every dispute for an arbitrator. But where feeling
is rooted in permanent conditions, arises from them,
and grows with

crease,
Such
you have a radically
is
lines back.
and
acts
sarily
It rests
upon material motives,

the material
implements of organized
whether directed against persons or
goods, are essentially

it
different proposition.
by
and thus acting it is practical (not necesBut these
right) in aim and in methods.
methods,
as
or their in-
the legislation of exclusion considered a
few
force;
their continuance,
may
war
defensive or offensive,
please either race to regard
it
and the
The
War
Practical Aspect of
popular feeling which underlies
most dangerous form,
is
liable at
implicit
S3
war
in
a breath to bring
people to the very verge of hostilities, and that

with an impetus very likely to carry them over. It
is
necessary to recognize that measures of external
policy
which find
their origin in
such popular
sentiment, or political conviction, present to the
government concerned internal problems, as really

such as those more commonly so called; and,
because internal, they from their very nature cannot
be committed to external decision, except that of
force.
Force, the issue of war, carries with it to
populace a practical weight of conviction,
with which no other arbiter can vie. The Monroe
the
Doctrine, indeterminate in scope because

steadily grown,
and of which therefore
it
has
finality
cannot be affirmed, is a matter of external policy;

but the national conviction, internal compulsion,
would not permit a government,

immediate question, to submit it
in face of
an
to arbitration.
absence of any present issue, it were proposed to submit the Monroe Doctrine for definition
If, in the
and
limitation to
to determine
some high Court
whether
acceptance, and
how
it
of Arbitration,
should have international
far, I
am
not qualified to
say whether the people of the United States would
84
of
War
acquiesce in their government entertaining the

proposal; but sure I am that if any European
state
should attempt
American
territory,
now
the
to
annex some part of
suggestion
to
arbitrate
would be rejected overwhelmingly. Further, such

prior determination by a Court would be a precise
instance of
what
hope not too
have styled codification
loosely.
perhaps too anxious a forecast, but one
It is
naturally inquires
how
far this process of inter-
national control over quasi-external matters of

policy
may
go;
whereunto
it
representations might have been
may grow?
made
to
If
Great
Britain in 1899 concerning her relations to the

and warlike action
Transvaal, taking
political
within a territory of recent acquisition and conditioned sovereignty, shall it go on to suggesting

insurrecarbitration should there again be Irish
tion ?
an untempered
But, barring such flights of
arbitration
to
qualified
imagination, (how far
control
the
foundations
political
adjust on solid
are
forces
of regions where strong economical
the Pacific ?
struggling to assert themselves, notably
Take the conspicuous instance of the Hawaiian
is
Islands.
Their area and resources, to be sure, do
not bulk very largely in an estimate of force
The
Practical Aspect of
War
85
simply economical; but their geographical situa-
them great military importance, and
tion gives
so
contributes
control
political
determination
the
which
movement
commercial
tions.
to
The
islands
artificially
and
a
are
question of the Pacific.
of
regulates
economical
big
Now, by
that
factor in
rela-
the
the census of
1900, in a population of 154,000, there were 61,000
Japanese and 26,000 Chinese, between whom

there may be assumed a solidarity of interest, for
conceivable that Japan under some
circumstances might feel induced to stand sponsor.
which
it
is
Whatever the reasons then may have been, it is

understood that some ten years ago she testified
uneasiness at the prospect of American annexation,
which since then has taken place. The white
population
is
28,000.
On
the other hand, the
group is much farther from Japan than from the

United States, which cannot but see in them a
potential military danger
foreign
Power.
This
is
if
in the
quite
hands of a
as reasonable a
cause for uneasiness as the fortunes of what, after
a very small fraction, and that an expatriated

Let us suppose
fraction, of the Japanese people.
all, is
by a surprise, like that of the Russian fleet

by Admiral Togo, the islands should pass into the
that
86
War
and that the world should then
possession of Japan,
throw
"
of
between the opponent nations, crying

"
Arbitrate
upon what principles would the
itself
Court
would
proceed?
To what
either nation be
of
sort
committing
bargain
What-
itself?
ever the good-will and integrity of the Court, it

would be a leap in the dark; and, for my part,
unless the world can absolutely guarantee that
there shall never again be war, I
do not
see
how
the United States can run the risk of an adverse

decision.
such considerations as those
It is in ignoring
I
cited in this
Pacific, the
paper
the general question of the
need of Russia for the
sea, the require-
ments of expansion by Germany and Japan, the

case of Cuba, .the Monroe Doctrine
that rests
much
of the fallacy of the unconditional advocates
of arbitration.
world as
future
it
may
now
fulfil
are not looking upon the

but
is,
upon an ideal, which the
but the present has not reached.
They
At a recent gathering an eminent American has

said that war decides only which nation is the
that
war
was meant, as probably was,

not a moral arbiter, does not settle an
If
stronger.
is
by
ethical question,
this
it
is
incontestable.
We
should
have long outlived the idea underlying the ordeal
The
Practical Aspect of
War
87
war is an appeal to the God of Hosts

a
We retain the expression,
judge
quarrel.
perhaps; but it is an archaic poeticism, better
of battle, that
to
abandoned because misleading.
War now
is,
and
waged on a basis
and what it does help
historically long has been,
of
asserted right or need;
to
determine
is
that
which
resultant of forces, of
is
known
which
in physics as the
itself is
one the others

;
being the economical and political necessities or

of the contending parties.
The other
desires
forces exist,
trolled
aggressive,
persistent;
by the particular force we
call
unless con-
war, in posse
or in esse, they reach a solution which

really
one of
and more
for war,
exist.
so,
is
just as
and may be as unrighteous,

than any war. For instance, except
force,
Southern slavery probably would still

is actually the state of the world at
This
moment; and while a better balancewheel than war may be conceived, it is at present
doing its work fairly well. The proper temper in
the present
not by picturing an
imaginary political society of nations and races, but
the actual one now existing in this tough old world.
which to approach arbitration
The
globe on which
we
is
dwell bears witness to
undergoes recurrent
processes of adjustment, between conditions unus
intermittently
that
it
SS
oj
War
evenly distributed and forces in opposition to one

another.
Doubtless, some time before we settle
down
to the state of the
give us a period of
moon, adjustment will

stagnation and permanence;
but so long as the imprisoned forces are struggling

for room, and a balance is not reached, either by
some or equal opportunity for

have to expect and acquiesce in occa-
the subjection of
all,
we
will
To
sional explosions.
third party,
man,
and
arbitrates at times, establishing
which rather guides than

The steam which moves his navies
a control of
represses.
a certain limited extent a
intellect
his railroads
is
that
which mutilates Mar-
tinique or blows off the top of Vesuvius.
much
the
which
forces.
same with the
testify
It is
series of political events
movement of economical
more masterful now than two
the
to
These are
because the popular will which

prompts them has emancipated itself from the
centuries ago,
personal arbiters, the popes, kings, and aristocWe are, so to say,

racies, of the earlier dates.
more
directly in contact with the primitive impulses
mankind, and on a grander scale. We can see

more deeply what it all means, or may mean;
of
not the whole, nor yet to the bottom, but
than formerly.
The
still
more
forces are blind, perhaps;
The
none
testify to this
some
of those
controlling
War
Practical Aspect of
89
with greater conviction than
who hope most from the thought of

them by arbitration who by excluding
;
war from the
of
resorts
mankind would expect
an adjustment more permanent than that which

these
but not unmodified,
unrepressed,
can reach for themselves.
forces,
Is the idea practical ?
Is
it
more
practical than
has proved ? The latter is accompanied by

an immense waste of energy and of substance.
War
So
is
now
steam; yet just
the world.
it is
the great motor of

to the utmost,
Economize, doubtless,
by bettering your processes. Reduce the frequency of actual war by such measures as may be
but simultaneously and correlatively
practicable;
make
it
of time
more
and
and therefore
efficient,
less wasteful
At present this is being

probably more immediately
of energy.
done generally, and
is
practical to the repression of
war than any methods
of arbitration can soon be made.
Do
not lose
sight of the fact that all organized force
is
in
degree war, and that upon organized force the
world so far has progressed and

force
still
the
progresses.
extended
Upon
organized
shield,
under which the movements of peace ad-
vance in quietness;
and
depends
of organized force
war
90
is
simply the
last
of
War
To law and
expression.
to
beneficence organized force supplies the instrument, which the body gives to the spirit. Europe
has well nigh reached a condition of internal

stability, but she has reached it by war and she
maintains
of
it
for war.
by preparation
mankind have been
The wants
the steam of progress;
they have not merely turned the wheels of the

engine, they have burst the bonds of opposition
and enabled the
fitter
still exist,
it
there
upon the unimWhere such bonds
to enter
proved heritage of the unfit.
must be a
conflict of forces,
and
passes the power of mere intellect with legal
and injustice, of prescriptive

the
contest within bounds, unless
keep
theories of justice
rights, to
it
can bring
The one
to its support physical aid.
practical thing to hold
it
in abeyance
is
that the
several forces, including military power, should
show what
is
in
them by the adequacy
of their
development.
If with wealth, numbers and opportunity, a
as
people still cannot so organize their strength
to hold their
those to
but
own,
not practical to expect that
whom wealth and opportunity are lacking,

organizing faculty and willingness
under the pressure of need enter
not
will
who have
to fight,
it is
The
Practical Aspect of
upon an inheritance which need

themselves
be asked,
ethically their due.
is
is
likely to
War
will
91
persuade
What,
it
be the reasoning of an
may
intelli-
gent Chinese or Japanese workman, realizing the

relative
crowded country
Australia and California, and rinding
of
opportunities
and those
of
his
himself excluded by force? What ethical, what

moral, value will he find in the contention that his
people should not resort to force to claim a share

in the better conditions from which force bars
him?
How
did the white races respect the policy
of isolation in
Japan and China, though it only

I do not in the
affected commercial advantages ?
pronounce upon the ethical propriety of
least
exclusion by those in possession
the right of
I merely draw
property, now largely challenged.
attention to the apparent balance of ethical argu-
ment, with the fact of antagonistic economical

conditions; and I say that for such a situation
the only practical arbiter
which war
is
merely
is
the
the physical force, of
occasional
political
expression.
In the broad outlook, which embraces not merely

armed collision, but the condition of preparation
and
attitude of
forth,
mind
on demand, the
that enable a people to put

full
measure of
their physical
92
strength,
numerical,
financial
of
and
War
military,
to
repel a threatened injury or maintain a national
War
right,
is
and adjuster of those

the peoples, which in their ten-
the regulator
movements of
dencies and outcome
These
constitute history.
are natural forces, which from their origin and
power are self-existent and independent in relation

to man.
His provision against them is War;
the artificial organization of other forces, intrinsic-
powerful materially, but with the advantage which intelligent combination and direction confer.
By this he can measurably control,
ally less
or otherwise
guide,
delay,
results
which threaten
extent,
War
is
tendency,
to
beneficially
modify,
be disastrous in their
or suddenness.
So regarded
remedial or preventive.
apprehend that these two adjectives, drawn

from the vocabulary of the healer, embody both
I
the practical
and moral
justification of war.
An
ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. It

will be well that we invoke moral power to help
heal the evils of the world, as the physician brings
it to bear on the ills of the body; but few are pre-
pared to rely upon

aid as well.
it
alone.
The dykes
of
We
need material
Holland withstand by
North
direct opposition the natural mission of the
The
Sea
Practical Aspect of
War
The
swallow up the land they protect.
to
levees of the Mississippi
betterment
which but
course
the
for
of
restrain
the
and guide
artificial
to
mighty current,
them would waste
its
devastate the shores on either hand.
strength to
These two
devices represent a vast expenditure of
money, and energy; of unproductive labor
time,
but they are cheaper than a flood.
so-called;
The
93
police of our great cities prevent the outburst
of crime, the fearful possibilities of
which manifest
themselves on the happily rare occasions when

material prevention has from any cause lapsed.
The
but they
Let us not
police bodies are a great expense;
cost less than a
few days of anarchy.
by fancying that the strong

material impulses which drive those masses of
deceive
ourselves
men whom we
or races, are to
style nations,
be
checked or guided, unless to the argument of a

reasonable contention there be given the strong
support
of
organized
come
organized
disappear,
into surer
material
the
power.
If
the
unorganized will but
and more dreadful
collision.
IV
WAR FROM THE CHRISTIAN

STANDPOINT
WAR FROM THE CHRISTIAN
STAND-
POINT
By Alfred T. Mahan, U.
Paper Read
before the
Island,
considering
F[Christian
test to
is
my
1900
15,
War from
assume
subject,
point of view,
resort to
N.
Church Congress, Providence, Rhode
November
which the idea of War
by which
S.
it is
is
to
the
that the
be brought, and
to be justified or condemned,
and teaching of the

Christianity, our Lord Jesus
to be sought in the acts
Divine Founder of
Christ,
and
in the writings of those
His immediate
and Apostles that are accepted by the

Christian Church as part of the revelation divinely
followers
inspired,
sion
and
to her
committed.
For
this discus-
no other standard, however

Such other
exalted and humane.
recognize
apparently
standard may to some seem higher than that of
Christianity, but it is not the Christian standpoint.
any inferences of my own,

drawn from the standards I accept, however con-
I admit, of course, that
98
elusive they
of
War
be to myself, are, like
may
reasonings, subject to dispute
by others
all
;
human
and that
even the general consensus of Christian opinion

through long ages, though powerful in cumulative
effect, is
not to be considered
am
final, for I
not
aware of any authoritative utterance of the Church

in the matter.
In approaching the consideration of War from

the Christian standpoint, one is immediately confronted with the fact, to which he must address himthat there exists at the present
self,
of
the
that
ing
Christian
many
feeling
of the painful incidents attend-
cannot in any way or in any degree be recon-
and
ciled with the profession
This
practice of Chris-
me
say in passing, is, in

opinion, not of Christian origin, but has rather
tianity.
my
in
community an uneasy
War, because
it,
day
feeling, let
been imported into and imposed upon Christianity
by those
alien to its beliefs, or defective in
their tenure of them.
as an evil;
it
Christianity deplores
War
does not, as exemplified by
highest exponents,
reject
it
as necessarily
its
evil.
The most
conspicuous apostles of the extreme

position in condemning War are not now Christian
In illustration of this remark I would
believers.
cite
on the one hand Herbert Spencer, Frederic
War
from the Christian Standpoint
99
on the other the
Harrison, and John Morley;

1
present Bishop of Durham, whose position in

deprecation of War appears to me as advanced
as
consistent with conservative recognition of
is
Christian authorities.
This
War
feeling, that
Christianity,
plicitly the
if it
proposition that
a remedy for greater
evils,
War
human
is
rejects im-
remedial;
true, viz., that
evils,
War,
is justified.
as an element of
War
is
with
irreconcilable
becomes conviction,
so far as this proposition

is
is
especially
for,
War
moral
in short, is justified
progress, necessitated
by
a condition of mankind obviously far removed

from Christian perfection, and, because of this
imperfection, susceptible of remedy.
This, in brief,
commit me
to
is
the
my
proposition.
It
War
position that
does not
is
in all
circumstances justified as a means of redressing

wrong, nor to the defense of wars of any particular
Dynastic wars, wars of conquest, wars

clearly unrighteous, with these I have nothing
character.
I affirm merely the general proposition:
to do.
that
in
wicked
x
The
the
present
state of
late
was read.
imperfect
mankind,
and frequently
may, and often
evil easily
Bishop Westcott, who has died since
this
paper
ioo
where
does, reach a point
it
of
War
must be
controlled,
perhaps even destroyed, by physical force and if

the evil-doer has the means to resist, and does
;
resist,
by
and the
force, the obligation to destroy the evil,
evil-doer,
result then is
if
need be,
still
exists.
The
War.
do not appear before you,
therefore, as
an
in the modern colloquial sense

"
of the word
apology." I do not feel myself
hampered by any uneasy distrust of the soundness
apologist for
my cause.
of
that
War,
I affirm that
may and do
War, under conditions
arise, is righteous
under such conditions
that
it
is
and, further,
distinctly
an
unrighteous deed to refrain from forcibly redressing

evil, when it is in the power of thine hand to do
so.
On
the other hand, to clear the ground of boot-
admit willingly that War is

but an evil; a very different thing.
less discussion, I
not
evil
Amputation is an evil, but it is not evil. I admit

that, were the universal world living a life of
Christian perfection,
and wrong
and,
War would
finally, as
be unnecessary
the world
is
doubtless
of miniprogressing, I gladly concede the duty
mizing the frequency of War.
At the same time,
I grievously suspect
some
of
War
the
modern suggested substitutes

of War, and notably that of
ment
a court of arbitration.
to
101
for the arbitra-
obligatory resort
on
I conceive that,
the one hand, the sense of nationality is still too

strong; and on the other, that the interests and
sympathies of peoples are too intertwined, by the

present closeness of communication, to admit
Where would have been found
of impartiality.
an impartial arbitrator in the late war in South

Africa? The whole world seethed with bias on
What do most
the one side or the other.
think of
the impartiality of the arbitration tribunal
such
it
was
which decided
for
the election to the
Presidency of the United States between Hayes
and Tilden,
in
1877?
I have affirmed that
under some conditions
it is
unrighteous not to use force to the extent of War.

It will be asked, What conditions
from the
Christian
standpoint?
Paul's words:
conviction
In
I apply
not of faith
reply,
"Whatsoever
is
St.
of
For the nation, as for the

individual, conscience must be the judge; nor,
in
is
sin."
'
my
fied
judgment, is the national conscience justiin turning a case over to arbitration until it is
satisfied that the
matter
1
is
Romans,
such that the decision
xiv, 23.
102
either
of
War
will not violate its conscientious con-
way
Iviction of right.
It is not needless to
remark how grave a burden
of obligation this lays
upon
to Christian obligation,
privileges
citizens
who
are alive
to exhaust the spiritual
and of power with God,
of prayer,
He
has given to them. It is not needless to

say this; for, while I have seen much utterance
which
of national interest, often
upon recent questions
fierce denunciation, clerical
and
lay, of
one thing
have been privileged to see little; and that is

the calm reminder, clear of all political expression,
I
that the prayer of Christians can certainly obtain
from on high the guidance of the national conNo check on an unrighteous war can
science.
equal
this.
be objected to me
and accurately
that so far I have only given the standard by which
It will
war
the justice of a
is,
in
my opinion,
to be decided,
have quietly
from a Christian standpoint;
assumed and affirmed,
that War
not proved,
is ever justifiable from a Christian standpoint.
This
is
true
that I
proceed to this argument.
There are certain contentions with which
sume an audience
deal.
For
like this will not expect
instance, that
War
is
I pre-
me
to
forbidden by the
War
}rom the Christian Standpoint

"
commandment,
Thou
shalt
not
kill,"
103
taken
arbitrarily out of an extensive code which elsewhere
commands
Or
offenses.
is to
the killing of
men
for several specified
again, that the imagery of the Bible
be pressed into service that our Lord Jesus

"
is the
Prince of Peace " z oblivious of the
:
Christ
"
He doth
image
a
Again, there are argujudge and make War."
ments for the permissibility of War, to professing
that
other
for example, the failure to
Christians;
it,
either
In righteousness
or
explicitly,
to require
abandonment
converted
soldiers,
nelius.3
These,
condemn
by
clear
inference,
or
of
their profession
by
such as the centurion Cor-
being
familiar,
shall
not
repeat.
Nor do
adopt for
virtues developed
ance, etc.
to
my own
by War:
the argument of the

self-sacrifice,
Like the sufferings of War, these are
my mind incidental, not of the essence.
do I accept the view of some respectable

that
of
War
God.
my own
endur-
is
final
the
to
appeal
On
Neither
authorities,
judgment
the contrary, this directly traverses

which is, that, a case
position,
1
*
3
Isaiah,
ix, 6.
Revelations, xix,
Acts,
x.
1 1
104
of possible
war
conscience,
with
for
faculties
God
arising,
War
has given us a
and necessary
therefore, should no
revealed
decision;
oj
data,
I,
more expect enlightenment as to His judgment

upon the case, by recourse to War, than I should
by tossing a penny. The one method no more
than the other has the sanction of His Word;
indeed the casting of the lot has the greater,
though
insufficient,
this
God's
preceded
will,
The
sanction.
of resort to
means,
'
in
the
last instance
order to ascertain
giving of
the
Holy
Ghost.
War
ment
is
the
an
of
employment
injury.
If the object
wrong;
here
object be right
by
to
of force for the attain-
object, or for the prevention of an
is
be wrong, the action
is
also
no question. But how if the

Does our Lord, do His Apostles,
by word, teach or imply that it is wrong

use force to attain a righteous end? By their
act or
teaching,
evil that
is
such use of force always the doing
good may come ?
I think not;
personally, I
resistance to evil
am
sure not.
one of the leading
is
Non-
traits of
our
Lord's character; the fact emphasizes the significance of His use of force, not on His own behalf,
1
Acts
i,
24 - 26.
War
front the Christian Standpoint
to expel the sacrilegious
the
is
Lamb dumb
log
from the Temple. 1
He
who
also
before the shearer,
accusations; yet from His lips

"
Go ye and tell that fox; " 2 and,
issue the words,
"
Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers " 3
forbids
railing
The one
positive act of the expulsion of the
money-changers, for which I am not aware that

the warrant of official authority, indorses
He had
upon due occasion, notwithstanding His numerous utterances in favor of generally

But these latter also, in my
opposite conduct.
the use of force
judgment, have been
much
twisted from their true
by neglecting to take
"
those other words of His own,
It is
significance
account
into
the spirit that
quickeneth, the flesh profiteth nothing;"
Paul has
St.
giveth
it,
5
life."
"The
Stripped
"
letter killeth,
of
such
or, as
the spirit
qualification,
the commands,
Give to him that asketh thee," 6
"
Resist not evil," > would, even in individual con1
S.
John,
2
3
6
7
15.
S.
Luke,
S.
Matthew,
4 S.
xxi, 12
Matthew,
ii,
John,
32.
xiii,
vi,
xxiii, 33.
63.
2.
Corinthians,
iii,
S.
Matthew,
v,
42.
S.
Matthew,
v, 39.
6.
S.
Mark,
xi,
15
S.
Luke,
xix,
45
S.
106
of
War
duct, in the present imperfect conditions of the
world, result in transferring

idle
and
all
all
property to the
control to the vicious.
Our Lord's
utterances against the use of force
would, I apprehend, be found to
fall
under two
principal divisions, the exemplars of which would

"
Resist not evil, him that will take thy
be: (i)
"
coat forbid not to take thy cloak also;
and, (2)
"
Put up thy sword within

is
its
not of this world."
kingdom
As regards non-resistance
me
certain that these
sheath,"
"My
to evil,
commands,
it
seems to
at most, are to
the individual Christian, as concerning his
individual
is
in
rights
and
them no warrant
another,
rights.
rulers,
still
less
if
vindication.
their
own
There
to surrender the rights of
he
the trustee of those
is
This applies with double emphasis to
and
to nations;
for these, in this matter,
have no personal rights. They are guardians,

trustees, and as such are bound to do their best,
even to the use of force,
interest of their wards.
if
need be, for the rightful
Personally I go farther, and maintain that the

1
2
3
S.
Matthew,
v.
39-41.
S. John, xviii,
1 1
S. John, xviii,
36
War
possession of power
for
which account
a talent committed in
is
will
107
be exacted
some circumstances, an
x
;
trust,
and that, under
obligation to repress evil
its borders rests

upon a nation, as
as
for
the
slums rests upon the
surely
responsibility
external to
rich quarters of a city.
witness
Armenia,
In
this respect I call to
and Cuba;
Crete,
without,
myself to judge the conthe nations who witnessed withouf
however, presuming
sciences of
intervention the sufferings of the
On
the point before us
first
two.
As regards
force in municipal regulation, St. Paul
"
The
ruler beareth not the
the use of
is explicit
sword in vain,
for
a minister of God, an avenger to execute

But if the
wrath upon him that doeth evil." 2
he
is
evil-doer,
through numbers or otherwise,
to
enough
oppose
and
affirms that
it is
War,
ruling
in
the
practice
war
city.
aggressor, or the
civil
If,
S.
if
only
conscience
Here you have
war perhaps, or a mob
now,
the
evil-doer
the
be not within your

oppressor
borders, but without, in
Assuredly not, in
best for the state.
internal
strong
effective resistance, is the ruler
then to sheathe his sword?

principle;
is
what
is
the variation of
Matthew, xxv, 14-29.
Romans,
xiii, 4.
108
War
of
The sword again must defend the

and you have external War.
principle?
right,
Suffering follows
economical
distress,
wounds, death, bereavement,

anxieties multifold.
Con-
cerning these things, they are a large part of the

account; but awful as they are, and to be taken
into
they are not the essence of the

Shall the nation do right, and suffer?
account,
matter.
or do wrong, and be at ease?

the answer of
What would
Him who commanded
be
not to fear
compared with that

militarism really more deadening
the destruction of the body, as

of the soul?
Is
to the spirit than
As regards
commercialism ? or than legalism ?

Lord which
the utterances of our
"
Put up
apparently discourage resort to force
"
My kingdom is not of this
thy sword," and
world, for if it were then would my servants fight,"
:
they have doubtless had upon the minds of
an
effect that is in direction just;
tioned,
and disregardful
men
but dispropor-
also of qualifying
words
on earth
intro-
and circumstances.
The
close of our Lord's career
duced into the energizing of the Christian dispensation changes of a momentous character, to which
He
"
frequently alludes.
/ was not
Thus, before His passion,
sent, but unto the
lost
sheep of the
War

1
house of Israel;"
after
His resurrection, "
109
Go
and make
Again,
Unless I depart, the Comforter will not come
"
unto you; 3 this, with all the far-reaching consedisciples of all the nations."
ye,
"
quences of the coming of the Holy Ghost, is familWe are less apt to remark, but it
iar to us all.
bears strongly on the subject of
War from
the
Christian standpoint, the strictly analogous utter"

ance
Now, he that hath no sword, let him sell
:
his cloak and buy one
Me have
an end."
the things concerning
for,
The spiritual things
concern-
Him
ended not then, nor since; but, unless

the sword was to be bought for ornament, not for
ing
use, the use of
it
is
dispensation
approaching stage of His
in the
recognized,
nay,
Those who have read Mozley's

Early Ages,"
may
"
recall the just
authorized.
Ruling Ideas in
emphasis laid by
him upon the necessity, not merely of permitting,

but of enjoining practices which the present times
of
require, yet which after times under the guidance
God may outgrow
explicitly the personal obliga-
Avenger of Blood. Our

Lord, contemplating His death, did not merely
tion of the individual
a
3
S.
S.
Matthew, xv, 24
Matthew, xxviii,
Romans,
19.
S. John, xvi, 7.
* S.
Luke,
xxii,
36, 37.
xv, 8.
no
commanded
but
countenance,
the sword,
and with
the use of
it.
War
of
the
provision of
by legitimate implication,
it,
by misunderstanding of
our Lord's purpose and necessary death, and
because the end was not yet
prematurely
St. Peter,
used the sword wrongfully, and was rebuked

but the general command was not rescinded.
Further, the
mand
full force of this
will scarcely
made
remarkable com-
we view it
which He Him-
be realized, unless
in connection with the reference

self
"
to its antecedents.
When
I sent
you
without purse, and scrip, and shoes, lacked ye
anything? And they said, nothing. Then said

He unto them, But now, he that hath a purse let
him take
it,
and
hath no sword,
likewise his scrip
let
him
sell
for the things concerning
On
the
first
and he
and buy one

have an end." 3
his cloak
Me
mission of the Twelve, under the
dispensation of His presence in the flesh, our
had
that
specially directed
them
Lord
go without the
to
preparations which men ought normally to make

as a matter of mere prudent provision
they were
then to rely, under the dispensation of the moment,
;
2
3
S. John, xviii, 10,
S.
Luke,
x,
S. Luke, xxii,
S.
n;
S.
Matthew,
Matthew,
35-37.
x, 9,
xxvi,
10.
52-54.
War
in
upon a Providential care beyond the common
On this
supernatural.
them
second occasion
He
directs
no ordinary precaution, but,
to neglect
the probable emergencies of
life,
to rely
for
upon
human provisions. Among these, by express

command of the sword, He clearly recognizes the
usual
need
and sanctions the
of,
by arms
and
that in the fullest sense consistent
with righteousness.
that
He
Nor
is it
without significance
places the need of the sword before that of
garment;
again,
resort to, self-defense
it
is
useful,
not
if
not without
And
indispensable.
significance
that
the
authority of the sword and the gift of the
Ghost coincide in date
for with the
Holy
Ghost
Holy
comes the illumination of the Christian conscience,

to which the power of the sword can securely be
committed.
As regards
this world,"
true
now
as
"
the words,
they are,
ever.
if
St.
departure reaffirmed,
fare are not carnal. ,,
"
My
kingdom
is
not of
rightly understood, as
Paul after the Lord's
The weapons
of our war-
In physical coercion of
material evil the sword acts within its sphere it
;
has no power over intellect, or moral assent, nor

should it dare to assume such power. Attention,
1
2 Corinthians, x, 3, 4.
ii2
however,
observe that our Lord's con-
to
fails
secutive expression accepts
of
without
rebuke the probable course
state,
in
confined,
"
weapons.
then would
War
of
redressing
of
evil,
My kingdom were
My servants fight,
If
of
implication
an earthly
to
this
that I
earthly
world
should
not be delivered unto the Jews." *

Every inIts
dependent state is a kingdom of this world.
subjects, or citizens,
if
confronted by the prospect
of innocent blood being shed, or of their Ruler
being slain (their
government
justified in resisting
things,
and could
2
angels,
at will
are
Material evil-doing
by force.
would be met by physical

intimates no condemnation.
destroyed),
force,
and our Lord
He who knew all

summon twelve legions of
understood what the case demanded, and
from what after all, had

have been the use of
would
them,
could properly refrain
He summoned
force supernatural; just as
temptation from
He
abstained in His
supplying His wants by His
3
He willed at His betrayal
supernatural power.
for He and
to allow violent evil to work its will
;
He
alone, then knew that in the counsels of

1
S. John,
S.
S.
xviii, 36.
Matthew, xxvi, 53.

Matthew, iv, 3-7.
God it
War
was determined
that that
Powers of Darkness.
was the hour
of the
Such knowledge we do not

our natural faculties;
God's
113
will in the Bible
possess.
We
have
we have the revelation of

and we have the promise
Holy Ghost for guidance. We have, further,

the sword committed to us for a present distress,
of the
which
of China,
it is
These are our leading data upon

action, conscience must reach its
passed away.
which, as to
decision,
If I
Armenia, of Cuba, and

not too much to affirm has not yet
in the recent light of
and
am
issue its mandates.
asked what are we to think when two
and
consciences, both presumably equally honest
to
as
right
Christian, reach opposed conclusions
and wrong,
definitions.
am
not concerned, in reply, to give
It is sufficient in
such cases simply
upon which turns all St.

" To him who
Romans xiv.
to recognize the fact,
Paul's argument in
is
accounteth anything to be unclean, to him it
must
unclean." Such a one, individual or nation,
dilemma of conobey his conscience. To this

science as to War, Peace presents a close analogy
of
its
own.
In the Providence of God, or through
the weakness of
man, the most

1
successful govern-
S. Luke, xxii, 53.
ii4
ment
is
men,
of
that carried
which
it is
of
War
on by communities
of free
a commonplace that a healthy
opposition, the clash of parties, conscientiously

differing, is
an inevitable
feature.
The why
of
be an interesting philosophical speculation; but for practical purposes we need only to

this
may
recognize the fact.
The
case
is
precisely analogous
two nations warring for a principle of

which our own history furnishes an illustration in
to that of
the
war between
the
North and the South.
The
marriages most successful in the development of

a complete union are doubtless those where the
virtues
other;
one complement the defects of the

but in such cases there is necessarily
of
counter-action as well as accord.

is
its
Honest
evidently a law of progress, however
collision
we
explain
origin whether that be in the ordinance of God,

;
or in the imperfection of man.
THE CAPTURE OF PRIVATE PROPERTY

AT SEA
THE CAPTURE OF PRIVATE PROPERTY

AT SEA
By Julian
S.
Corbett
The Nineteenth Century and After\ June, 1907
"AS
**
things stand at present," writes Professor

Perels in the last edition of his Interna"
we cannot count on the exemp-
tionale Seerecht,
tion of private property at sea
the near future.

British
The main
Government
from capture
factor
is
in
that the
since the Declaration of Paris
has maintained an attitude of persistent and

determined resistance to all movements for reforming the laws of maritime warfare."
Publicists of
including our own, have been

expressing themselves in similar terms, and we
are warned by some of our best international
almost
all countries,
growing up abroad a mass of

hostile opinion on the subject which it is unsafe
for us to ignore.
Professor Perels' words conlawyers that there
is
veniently focus for us that alleged
mass of opinion,
n8
and
is

since he
War
was formerly Admiralitatsrath and
now Departements
Amt and
of
Direktor in Reichs-Marine
Professor in the Berlin University,
we
may take his formula as something like our official

arraignment at the bar of Europe. But before
examining the charge with a view to preparing
a defence it is wise at once to enter a claim to vary
We
the indictment.
and determined
submit
that
resistance
forming
"
do not deny the
resistance.'
our
the laws
merely beg to
and determined
persistent
"
of
persistent
We
'
"
has been
"
to all
movements
for
re-
maritime warfare in the
interests of the great military States."

It is true that
thorities
some
of our
most respected au-
would persuade us that the exemption
of private property at sea from capture

larly to
our
largest,
and
own
interests, because
we
is
particu-
possess the
therefore, as they assume, the
vulnerable mercantile marine,
most
and because we
more than any other nation

on seaborne supplies. But this is a military
question, on which our publicists are not safe
rely for our sustenance
guides.
It
involves
strategical
considerations,
which
clearly they have not taken into account,

and their view is not shared by the Navy. It
is
a view, however, which
is
seriously urged
by
Capture of Private Property

serious people,
present
it is
and we must return
enough
movement
facie case that exemption
nally
119
For the
it.
is
create a
prima
for the benefit of
and powerful armies. Started origiby a French abbe, the idea was first embodied
fleets
in a treaty
had
to
Sea
to claim that the

leading facts
in the history of the
weak
at
by Frederick the Great, a man who had
practical experience of
ability of
commerce
it
may affect the progress

When he was in alliance
did not occur to
him
to
make
was the newborn Republic of

proposed it to him; and he wisely
the suggestion.
America that
vulner-
at sea
of a Continental war.
with Great Britain
how gravely the
It
made it impossible
make war on him at
agreed, since the arrangement

for the United States ever to
all.
Similarly, the United States
was wise
to get
the sanction of so great a figure to the principle
budding commerce was

always at the mercy of her one enemy so long as
capture was permitted. With material advantages
of immunity, since her
so great
and obvious
in
hand
it
can convince no-
body to talk of lofty and disinterested ideals.

Next it was Napoleon who put forward the new
doctrine,
and sought
to establish
lutionary violence of his
"
it
by the revo-
Continental System."
In 1866, Austria, cooped up in the head of the
i2o
Adriatic by the
declared for
menace
it.
oj
War
of a superior Italian
fleet,
similarly threatened by
Italy,
France, had already done so. Again, in 1870

Prussia magnanimously intimated that, true to
the sublime principles of Frederick the
it
was her
as sacred
When
intention,
all
Great,
whatever France did, to treat
innocent private property at sea.
the buffalo found the lion in his path,
"
For my
he exclaimed, with a superb gesture,
part, I mean to remain true to my vegetarian
principles."
Now
examine the charge more seriously and

with what temper we can. For it must be underto
stood that our friends abroad

tion opprobriously.
We
make
their accusa-
are represented as stand-
way of human progress, of obstructing

own selfish ends the march of civilization, of
ing in the
for our
seeking to perpetuate the methods of barbarism,

of thwarting the disinterested aspirations of nobler
nations to mitigate the severity of
ize its practice.
we
And
all this
refuse to complete the
of Paris
by consenting
war and human-
because, as they say,
work
of the Declaration
to give to private property
at sea that complete sanctity
which
ingly alleged to enjoy in warfare
it is
unblush-
on land.
shocking does such depravity sound that in
So
many
Capture
0}
cases our serious
which
Private Property at Sea
and high-minded journalism,
so dear to us,
is
121
is
beginning to ask, in
most moving and conscientious
tones,
if
we
its
are
to be the last of all nations to recognize this sacred
duty to humanity.
Were
not that this particular attitude towards
it
the question
to treat
ourselves
was
so ludicrous
with patience.
it
is
it
would be
difficult
Such a charge against
peculiarly hard, seeing that
we have
our credit a record in respect of the mitigation

of war which no nation can pretend to rival. There
to
is
no nation that can point
to the public opinion of the
as
of
we made
"
to
such a concession
world against interest
in consenting, in 1856, to the doctrine
Free ships, free goods."
widely regarded, and
is still
At the time
was
it
so regarded, as de-
priving us of one of the most powerful weapons in
our armory;
and
yet for the sake
of
goodwill
amongst nations, for the sake of softening the
hardships of war to neutrals,

that right.
essential to
we surrendered
For centuries we had clung to

the maintenance of our sea power
it
as
yet
a higher and more farsighted wisdom pressed for

Can
the almost quixotic sacrifice, and it was done.
any nation show a
who can
sacrifice beside it?
cast the first stone at us
now.
Let him
122
To add
of
to the unreasonableness of
War
our accusers,
instead of acknowledging handsomely the lengths

to
which we went on that occasion, they
us because
we
will not
rail at
extend the principle to the
complete immunity of private property at sea. As

though the one principle had anything to do with
"
the other.
You might
as well say,"
Harcourt
William
point in
during
and
1878
surely
said
Sir
on
the
debate
he,
whether as a
Liberal humanitarian or an international lawyer,

"
You might as
should carry weight enough
well say that the extension of the Great Western
Railway would be an extension of the Great Northern.

They do not go in the same direction, they
have not the same object, they are not parallel
'
Nothing can serve better for

clearing the subject of fallacies and exhibiting
in
any
respect.'
the true grounds of the British attitude than to
follow out the line of reasoning which the great

international jurist indicated in opposing the idea
on that occasion.
If
the ideas which determined the status of
private property in
dawn
of
modern
international law,
we
to the
shall find
and Bynkershoek a century later,

axiom the right to confiscate or destroy
Grotius, in 1625,
giving as an
war be traced back
of Private
Capture
Property at Sea
123
property whatsoever belonging to an enemy

wherever found. The axiom was quickly modified
all
by Vattel, who wrote during the Seven Years'

War. While admitting the abstract right, he
maintained that
its
mitted as far as
it is
exercise should only be percalled for
Here we have the
war.
war
true theory of
first
by the purposes
of
application of the
to the question.
We make
war not
for the purpose of doing the enemy all

harm we can, but to bring such pressure to bear
that
upon him as will force him to do our will
is, will convince him that to make peace on our
the
terms
is
better than continuing to fight.
Now,
the indiscriminate plunder of private property
wanton
its
destruction, while causing
and
an immense
amount of individual suffering, do not contribute

in the most forcible way to the kind of pressure
that is needed.
Consequently, it had already
become the
an invading enemy
practice for
to
treat private property with a certain respect, or
rather, perhaps,
set
some
and
restraint
upon
its
to
endeavor
to
indiscriminate plunder
destruction.
It is to this
but
economy, and
wholly
movement
unfounded
is
due the
assertion
oft repeated
that
private
at sea,
property ashore, unlike private property
124
has been
made
War
immune from
generally
It is further asserted that this
to
of
capture.
immunity was due
a growing sense of humanity and a Christian
desire to mitigate the horrors of war.
Now,
this
which makes plain and

practical people impatient with international law
and blinds them to its value and reality. It is
is
the kind of assertion
one of those expressions which

from a mere habit of the pen. Of
jurists let slip
just
this particular
statement, that the restrictions in question were
due
growing sense of humanity, there is no

real evidence whatever.
Humanity may have been
to a
a contributory cause, but,
if
we
turn from the loose
expressions of jurists to the dry light of the orders

actually promulgated
by invading
generals,
we
see at once that the real reason of the restrictions
was
and
strategical
military,
and not moral
at
for instance, the earliest case as typical
Take,
all.
the rule of Gustavus Adolphus against plundering:
"If
enemy
it
is
so please
God
that
we
beat the
either in the field or in his leaguer, then
shall every
man
follow the chase of the enemies;
and no man give himself up

so long as
it
is
to fall
upon the
pillage
possible to follow the enemy,
"
This germ idea that pillage actually lessens

your power to exert the necessary pressure was
etc.
Capture
of Private
further developed
Property at Sea
by the
125
rules of Frederick the
but he took a long step further. For that

great master of war recognized not only that
pillage demoralized and weakened the weapon
Great
with which the pressure had to be exerted, but that

pillage and destruction were not the most profitable
or effective ways of exercising your rights over the
enemy's property. To deprive the enemy's people
of their
power
to
produce was both to destroy the
value of your conquest and
its
power
of maintain-
To protect the goose and enable

ing your troops.
her to continue laying her golden eggs was the
only sound policy.
method
He
therefore insisted
war
of exercising his
contributions
means he
and making
right
by levying
requisitions.
at once maintained the
on the
By
temper of
this
his
weapon and made the pressure of the occupation

more lasting, more powerful, and more directly
coercive to the collective
life
of the enemy.
To
say that he abandoned his right over enemy's

" If an
army is in
property is to play with words.
winter quarters in an enemy's country," he writes
"
the soldiers
in his General Principles 0} War,
receive gratis bread, meat,
furnished by the country."
enemy's country
is
bound
and
beer,
And
which are
again:
"The
to supply horses for the
126
make up any
truth
is
War
munitions of war, and provisions, and
artillery,
to
of
The
money.'
that no restraint of the old rule of Grotius
and Bynkershoek
is
'
deficiencies of
to be
found that does not oper-
ate to the military or strategical benefit of the

belligerent, not
one that does not directly increase
the pressure which the invading force

to exert to achieve its end.
its
The
seeking
reached
principle
clearest expression during the
war, where
was absolutely
it
is
Franco-German
essential to
German
success that they should not goad the French
people into guerilla warfare, as Napoleon had done

in Spain,
by permitting irresponsible
exercise of
By the
belligerent rights over private property.
German orders of 1870 no requisition could be
made
except by general officers or officers in com-
mand of detached corps.

The system worked admirably,
and, on the
whole, as mercifully and with as little individual

The object of an
suffering as is possible in war.
invasion
the
sary pressure
national
life.
means by which
is
to
it
exerts the neces-
produce a stagnation of
This the German invasion did
effect-
and the stagnation grew deeper and more

intolerable the more it was prolonged, till submisBut
sion was recognized to be the lesser evil.
ively,
Capture of Private Property at Sea
127
was not done merely by the victories of

armies.
It was done by the exercise of belligerent
all this
rights over
enemy's property
and consume
of the right to seize
of the right to control roads and

and
inland
waters, so as to prevent its
railways
flow and render commerce impossible except in so
far as
it
suited the belligerent
it
carry military execution against
ance by
tions
its
owners.
and
it
of the right to
in case of resist-
Without the right
and contributions, without the
trol civil
War,
communications,
as
is
it
to requisi-
right to con-
could not be done.
universally admitted,
would become
Nations cannot be brought to their

knees by the mere conflict of armies, any more than
they can by the single combats of kings. It is
impossible.
what follows victory that counts
the choking of
life by process of execution on propthe

erty,
stagnation produced by the stoppage of
the national
communications, whether public or private.

Here is a picture of what the process meant,
civil
drawn by
the able pen of a
man who saw
it
face
to face in 1870:
"
In occupied towns
professional
closed.
men no
officials receive
fees.
The law
no
salaries,
courts are
Holders of house property can get no
128
War
of
Holders of land can neither get rent, nor
rent.
can they cultivate the soil or sell their crops.

The State funds pay no dividends, or, if they do,
all communication between occupied and unoccupied districts being broken off, the dividends cannot be touched. Railway dividends are equally
and perhaps the
intangible,
shareholder has especially counted

of the
on which the
line
in the
is
hands
enemy."
what conquest of
means
the prostration of the national life; and this is
why conquest of territory is the means by which
This
is
territory
land warfare seeks to gain its end.

With this picture in our minds df the
way
in
which private property is dealt with ashore, and

the way in which it is made to contribute to the
and inquire
victor's object, let us turn to the sea,
in
what manner
less
at
human,
all.
To
its
treatment there
or less necessary,
begin with,
we
if
war
is less
is to
moral,
be waged
note that in some
respects private property has never been so badly

treated at sea as
it
modern times and
has been on land

in regular warfare
at least, in
it
has never
been the subject of indiscriminate plunder. The

ruthless scramble for loot, which led to the acutest
at
Sea
129
and cruelty ashore, was no part of sea

Prizes were taken by orderly act of
capture.
war, were regularly condemned, and the proceeds
suffering
divided amongst the captors in cool blood and by

Again, at sea immediate military exeauthority.
cution was never the penalty for resisting interference with private property, as it always was,
and
why
in
some cases
still is,
capture at sea got
privateers,
and who
by
in
The real reason

a bad name was due to
ashore.
whom the greater part of it was done,

some
areas,
and
particularly in the
Mediterranean, were often guilty of unspeakable

The evil was early recognized by Great
horrors.
Britain,
and during the Seven Years' War an Act
was passed forbidding
the granting of commissions
under a certain tonnage, in order to

ensure that the work should be done by respectable
to vessels
merchant captains, and not by mere smugglers
and
pirates.
It is not, of course,
pretended that
law was made from merely philanthropic

reasons, any more than was our concession about
this
"
free
ships, free goods."
honor did enter into
we found
it,
Though a
the chief reason
sense
was
of
that
ourselves unable to control the lawless-
ness of small privateers, and felt that neutrals,

whom we did not wish to exasperate, had a legiti-
130
Now
mate cause of complaint.
of
War
the abuse
is
no
longer possible, since the Declaration of Paris

abolished privateering. Over and above this
great mitigation of the hardships of warfare against
private property at sea, there must also be taken
into consideration the spread of the practice of
marine
now
which
insurance,
initial loss
the
distributes
individuals over the general capital
by
The
that even the
most
convinced advocates of the change, both at
home
of the nation.
result
is
and abroad, admit that the argument from inhumanity is untenable. The Lord Chancellor, himself
our strongest advocate of reform, has plainly

"
declared that
no operation of war
inflicts
less
suffering than the capture of unarmed vessels at
sea."
The
truth
is
that the sea service, in
the retention of
its
no more than what

land service.
war
It
demanding
right to general capture, asks

is
universally granted to the
asks no more than to exercise
rights over property in so far as, in the
of Vattel,
it is
called for
words
by the purposes of war
in so far as the pressure necessary to bring peace
cannot be exerted without
it.
It
asks only to be
allowed to produce that stagnation of the enemy's

life
at sea
which an army
is
permitted to produce
Capture
of Private
Property at Sea
131
ashore by conquest of territory. And how can

such stagnation be produced? Not by conquest,
The sea
for conquest of the sea is impossible.
cannot be the subject of ownership.
You
cannot
do more, however
complete your ascendency,

than deprive your enemy of his use of the sea you
can do no more than deny him that part of his
;
national
which moves and has
its
being on the
what we mean when we speak of

command of the sea," and not " conquest of the
sea.
"
life
This
sea."
The
is
value of the sea internationally
is
as
a means of communication between States and

parts of States,
and the use and enjoyment
these communications
is
the actual
life
of
of a nation
sea can be nothing else, except a

so
fishing-ground, and fishing is comparatively
be
it
that
small a factor in war nowadays
may
at sea.
The
eliminated from the question.
All, then, that
we
can possibly gain from our enemy upon the sea

is to deny him its use and enjoyment as a means
Command of the sea means
of communication.
nothing more nor
less
than control of communica-
and
occupies exactly the same place
in maritime warfare
discharges the same function
that conquest and occupation of territory does in
land warfare. If one is lawful and necessary,
tions.
It
132
0}
War
both are lawful and necessary,

then each connotes the legality and necessity of
so
is
the
tion
the other;
if
means by which alone
the condition of stagna-
can be brought about.
At sea
this condition is
produced by dealing
with private property on exactly the same principle

that is to say, in the most economical
as on land
and
effective
manner.
By
version to the use of the navy

directly to the force
its
capture and conit contribute
we make
and economy
of our weapon,
and by an orderly system of prize regulations we

do it without in any way demoralizing our personnel or goading the enemy's people to irregular
retaliation.
By no other means can we do what
done by contributions and requisitions

that is, by no other means can we make enemy's
property serve to a merciful and speedy end to
ashore
is
hostilities.
By
this
means
also
we
control the
enemy's communications, we paralyze his seaborne commerce, we sever him from his outlying
territory.
and
means can we mercifully

deprive him of all the sea can give
By no
effectively
other
him, and produce the state of stagnation of his

maritime life that conquest of territory does of
his life ashore.
By the victories of fleets alone it
can no more be done than by the victories of armies.
of Private
Capture
If,
then, in this
munity
way we
Property at Sea
133
test the doctrine of
im-
of private property in the cold light of the
theory of war
we keep
if
consists of two phases
the enemy's
armed
in
firstly,
mind
that
war
the destruction of
forces, and, secondly, of pres-
sure on the population to produce stagnation of

national life, we see the answer to our great
When
they ask
us to abandon the right of capture of private
of dealing with it, that is, in the
property at sea
military neighbors
is
complete.
most merciful and

war we
purposes
effective
of
you abandon the
reply,
We
will
right of requisition
do so when
and contribu-
And when
tion.
they ask us, as in effect they do,

the right of controlling sea communica-
to give
tions,
for achieving the
way
up
we reply,
the right to
do so when you give up

control roads, railways, and inland
will
as they fairly may

go further
What about the hardship of detaining
waters.
If they
and
"
ask,
We
merchantmen? " we answer,

"
We will abandon that means of stopping your
commerce also, when you abandon forced labor
the crews of captured
of the civil population ashore.'
ad absurdum.
'
a reductio
Without the exercise of such
both conquest of territory and

sea
It is all
command
become nugatory and war impossible.
rights
of the
134
War
of
But our opponents may reply, We do not ask

you to give up control of communications. We
would leave you commercial blockade. But is
what they mean? It is true that many of
them except commercial blockade from their
claim, but what the Lord Chancellor demands is
this
"
unless
exemption of private property,
really contraband or its place of destination be a
entire
beleaguered fortress." This, of course, amounts

to a complete prohibition of our right to control
communications except for the purpose of destroying the enemy's
armed
forces.
It
prohibits
it
for the purpose of the secondary process of pres-
The Chancellor's meaning is at least perfectly clear.

What
is difficult to believe is that those who
express
themselves less roundly can really mean anything
sure,
else.
men
and
is
entirely inadmissible.
Let us examine what the position of these

leads to.
In effect they say, We admit your
abstract right to capture private property at sea,
general capture on the high seas

necessary for the purposes of war. This point
but deny that

is
of view
is
itself to
its
it has
highly commended
advocates of immunity. Ignor-
so plausible that
our
own
ing the whole theory of maritime warfare, that

is
it
a mere question of controlling communications,
of Private
Capture
they argue as though

eral capture
all
Property at Sea
135
we could
gain from genthe paltry value
on the high seas is

It was just Lord Granville's
of the goods seized.
momentous meeting
attitude at the
Committee
of the Council
Years' War,
on the eve
of the Secret
of the Seven
when, on the question of whether
admirals at sea should be ordered to seize French

"
merchantmen, he declared he was against vexIf we
ing your neighbors for a little muck."
regard the mere value of the property captured,

this is true enough.
It represents no more than
the captor's attempt to subsist his fleet on the sea
he commands, as ashore an army is subsisted on the
But the attempt never leads
territory it conquers.
to
The
much.
conversion of
trifle
we can do at sea by a complete

we can lay hands on is but a
best
all
compared with what
is
gained ashore by
the process of contribution, requisition

labor.
It
is,
indeed, not a
little
and forced
hard
that the
military Powers should scold us for nibbling this
sorry crust
when they
on baskets of
habitually gorge themselves
loaves.
But though intrinsically the capture of property

on the high seas has an almost negligible military
value, as a deterrent
For
it is
an
its
value
is
beyond measure.
essential part of the process of destroy-
136
of
War
ing the enemy's commerce by control of sea communication. Blockade alone

even if blockade
in the old sense
were
still
possible
will not do.
In their best days blockades were never thoroughly

It is the feeling that a ship and her
effective.
cargo are never safe from capture from port to

port that is the real deterrent, which breaks the
heart of merchants
and
kills their enterprise.
But
a point on which all may not agree. It

matters little, for it is not the one that is fatal to
this is
our reformers' claim.
The
that if you admit the

form
of
blockade
that is possible under
only
present conditions, and refuse the right of general
capture, you establish a law so unfairly advanfatal point is this
tageous to Great Britain that no other Power could

possibly be expected to assent to
selves
The
in
and we our-
would certainly not have the effrontery
to
it.
propose
is
it,
current conception of effective blockade
upon between England and Russia

the port blockaded must be watched by
that agreed
1 80 1
ships anchored before
near to
it
or stationed sufficiently
make egress or ingress obviously dangerous.
All countries have adopted this idea.
before the days of torpedoes.
The
But
this
was
idea was, as
Capture
of Private
Property at Sea
actually expressed in certain
Dutch
137
treaties, that
the blockading ships should be as close in as
was
compatible with safety from the enemy's coast

The defence in those days was guns.
defence.
But what now of mobile defence ?

fleet
a blockading
entitled to be so far out as to be beyond
Is
torpedo-boat or destroyer range? If so it must

be completely out of sight, and egress and ingress
cannot be manifestly dangerous, and the blockading squadron must be cruising far from the port
and
far
and
invisible
from
territorial waters.
blockade
is
such distant
not to be recognized as
effective, then effective blockade
and no means
If
is
now impossible,
of controlling sea communications
remains except general capture. It follows, then,

that if the Continental Powers admit our right
to
control communication
must recognize such

and lawful.
capture, they
as effective
and deny us general

distant blockade
Now let us see how the law would work.

case of
war with France (which, being
In the
the most
be taken with least offence), it

would be admissible for us to station a squadron,
unlikely one,
say, off
may
Yarmouth and
from the Lizard
to
stretch a chain of cruisers
Cape Ortegal, and
declare a
blockade of the whole of the French Atlantic
Same Neglected Aspects
138
and Channel
Then,
ports.
after
War
of
due
notice, every
and every Frenchman leaving a French

port or consigned to one that appeared on the
scene would be liable to be captured and sent in
neutral
judgment for attempted breach of blockade.

The same liability, moreover, by the law of ultimate
destination, would attach to such ships in transitu
for
in
any part of the world.
or
Germany a
still
more
hand,
it
similar situation could be set
easily,
would be
these three
up
assuming we had once obtained
command
a working
In the case of Russia
of the
sea.
On
the other
practically impossible for all
Powers combined
situation against us;
to set
up such a
unless, indeed, in the
unim-
of their being relatively

a blockading chain from
maintain
strong enough
Finisterre through the Faroes to the coast of Nor-
aginable
eventuality
to
a pure question of geography.

then, the doctrine of permitting blockade in
way.
sole
It
is
If,
its
possible form and refusing general capture
adopted, we could always paralyze the

ocean-borne commerce of any of the great military
were
Powers, while they, being unable to blockade

effectively, and not being allowed to make prizes
on the high
It is
seas, could not possibly
touch ours.
not to be believed that your well-meaning
at
Sea
139
advocates of justice between nations can really

intend an arrangement so grossly unjust.
Clearly
there
but one alternative
is
leave the law as
either
you must
or adopt the candid proposal

of the Chancellor and abolish capture of
private
it is,
property altogether, saving only contraband and

And what the Chancellor's
military blockade.
proposal would
mean must be kept clearly in mind.
would permit us
It
to deal with private property
for the purpose of overpowering the
of the enemy,
and deny us the
armed
right to use
force
it
for
reaping the fruit of success.
Turning now from the Continental Powers
to
America, we find that the best naval opinion there

is entirely with us.
The contention on which we
rely
is
really
this
merchantmen and
that
the
right
to
capture
their cargoes does not
depend
on the primitive right over enemy's property so
much as on the right and necessity of controlling
our enemy's communications.
is
treated
by
Let us see how
by Captain Mahan, who, above

and learning is entitled
his genius
His declaration
is
the
it
all
men,
to
give
more remarkable
judgment.
because America has always been the most prominent champion of immunity and the most ardently
convinced that in advocating the reform she was
140
of
War
upholding the cause of civilization, humanity, and

This belief with the mass of the people
justice.
has survived her taking rank as a great naval
Power, and must be treated with respect. For all
their
plain
practical
sense
the
Americans are
more so, perhaps, than any other

and
it
therefore
people,
required no little courage
and the deepest conviction for Captain Mahan to
idealists at heart,
stand up and
tell
his
countrymen
their feeling of
magnanimity was false, mistaken, and contrary to

Yet so he does in his
plain sense and justice.
latest
work The War
and without
flinching.
i8i2 calmly, cogently,

In that work he discloses a
of
ripe study of the theory of
others contain in the
war which none
are indebted mainly to the
and here
is
the result of
question before us
"
The
and
same degree
development of that theory, be
full
we
it
of his
for the
remembered,
Germans themselves
its
application to the
claim for private property [he says]

upon words, to the confusion of
.
involves a play
ideas,
which from that time
[that
is,
from Na-
poleon's Continental System] to this has vitiated

the arguments
upon which have been based a

American policy. Private
prominent feature of
141
property at a standstill ... is the unproductive

money in a stocking hid in a closet. Property
belonging to private individuals, but embarked
in
and exchange,
the process of transportation
which we
call
commerce,
like
is
in circula-
money
It is the life-blood of national prosperity,
tion.
on which war depends, and as such is national

in its employment, and only in ownership private.
To
stop
prosperity,
war
as
such
and
depends
truly
circulation
to
for
military
sap
its
as
commerce
is
enemy's army holds a
on
is
is
energy,
national
sap
prosperity,
of
killing
whose arms maintain war

tion of
to
is
which
measure
the
men
in the field.
Prohibi-
enforced at will
when an
If permitted
territory.
inures to the benefit of
conqueror. ...
the
it
It
be doubted that, should a prohibition on

be disregarded, the offending property
will not
shore
The seizure
would be seized as punishment.
of enemy's merchant ships and goods for violating
.
the prohibition against their engaging in commerce is what is commonly called the seizure of
private property.
two centuries
it
Under
the
methods of the
last
has been in administration a
process as regular legally as
is
libelling
an action in damages; nor does
it
differ
a ship for
from
it
in
142
The
principle.
property private ?
the
to
point at issue
'
but
of
purposes
'
Is the
war ?
of
War
is
not
'
Is
the
method conductive
'
Property strictly
but
not
in
ship,
process of cirfor this reason never touched, and to
private on board
culation,
is
do so
considered as disgraceful as a
is
common
theft."
He
then proceeds to justify on these grounds the
consistent
and
to
attitude
of the
British
remind his countrymen
Government,
that,
had
their
ideas prevailed in 1861, there could have been no
blockade of the Southern coast and the Union

could only have been maintained at the cost of
hundreds of thousands more lives, if, indeed, it
could have been maintained at

It is easy, of course, to dismiss
all.
Captain Mahan's
theory of private property at sea being national

in its
employment as mere
not serve.
We
The
truth
it
casuistry, but that will
expresses will remain.
have a moral and indefeasible right at sea as

on land to prohibit and stop, so far as we
well as
can
the
without cruelty
or
unnecessary
flow of enemy's commerce,
resources for
armies and
war depend as
fleets.
hardship,
on which her
truly as they
If private
men
do upon
in the face of

this
at
Sea
admitted right choose to ignore the
war and
still
embark
their eyes
their property quiet at
touched
state of
their property in
commerce,
and
must not
open
the consequences.
Let them keep
they do so with
complain of
143
at least
home and
by the sea
it
will not
be
service.
There
still remains to be dealt with the

argument
which
our
own
idealists
It is
upon
chiefly rely.
an argument to which allusion has been made
but has nothing to do with morality,

For though it is obvious
justice, or humanity.
between the lines that our advocates of reform
already,
moved
are as sincerely
as the Americans by an
ideal of Christian progress,
not talk about
it.
Briton-like they
With us such things
are
do
felt,
not spoken. We prefer to offer material, selfish

reasons for the faith that is in us, and consequently
our
idealists
argue that the recognition of the

would be a
sanctity of private property at sea

distinct
military
to
ourselves,
and,
also usual in such cases, that
if
not seize the opportunity to recognize
it
moreover, as
we do
now it
advantage
is
will not
occur again.
Lord Chancellor,
referring to
"
I trust," says the
President Roose-
proposal to have the thing settled at the

coming Hague Conference:
velt's
144
"
themselves
[How
familiar
any ground
of
this
the phrase
is
of sentiment or
operation of
war
inflicts
War
Government
I trust that his Majesty's
avail
of
unique
!
urge
will
opportunity.
it
not upon
humanity (indeed, no
less suffering
than the
capture of unarmed vessels at sea), but upon the

ground that on the balance of argument, coolly
weighed, the interests of Great Britain will gain

much from a change long and eagerly desired by
the great majority of other Powers."
So, then,
it is
to consent to
we have
"
for military reasons that
in great
has put our case,

as useful to war."
"
many
Indeed,
and
to
Mahan
the control of the sea, so far
Let
us, then, frankly
examine
which the Lord Chancellor
sets forth for they are

is
generations,
measure," as Captain
these military reasons
it
are
have the teeth pulled upon which
relied for so
abandon
we
not at once convincing.
obvious that the Lord Chancellor
has not brought to bear upon the subject the profound study of war with which his great predeces-
Lord Hardwicke, enlightened our councils

during the Seven Years' War. We might even
sor,
beg seriously that before he gives the weight of his

high reputation and exalted
office
any further
to

the
at
movement he would read and
Sea
145
re-read that
masterly series of letters which the greatest of

the Chancellors addressed to the Duke of Newcastle
and others during the most
successful
war
we ever waged.
The main military or strategical argument that
is urged is that, as we have the
greatest amount of
and
private property afloat,
rely more than anyone
upon commerce for our resources, we stand to
lose
"
"
most by the maintenance of the existing law.
Our merchant marine/
says
the
Chancellor,
vulnerable in proportion to its size and ubiquity." This is a tremendous assumption, natural
enough to one who has made no study of the realiis
war; but we may venture to assert that it

one which our naval staff would certainly hesi-
ties of
is
tate to endorse.
pletely
To
point out
its
fallacy
com-
would require a whole excursus on the

commerce protection, and possibly
British ideas of
which the Admiralty had

But plain sense will suggest
the disclosure of matters

better keep to
itself.
difficulties in
accepting this very
common
view.
Everyone must know that a cruiser's capacity for

destroying commerce is not unlimited. How very
limited
it
is
considered.
the Chancellor clearly has not well
cruiser
can scarcely take more
146
0}
War
than one ship at once, and to overhaul and ascertain

She cannot,
the nationality of a ship takes time.
moreover, be in two places at once, and the sea
To reach a station where she may
is wide.
operations (unless we have
entirely lost command of the sea) she will burn
begin
safely
she
her
back again;
the time, consequently, during which she can
coal
will
want plenty
pursue her depredations
to get
very limited indeed.
is
These
simple matters, so real to naval officers,
are
ignored by civilians. The broad

that if we look at the matter from the point
truth
usually
is
of view of practical warfare,
matics,
we
and not pure mathe-
shall see that there is at least a case for
the opposite of the Chancellor's postulate. The

greater the bulk of commerce, the more difficult
does
it
upon
it.
become
The
to
make any
serious impression
greater the bulk, the larger will be
the percentage that
is
beyond the utmost predatory
capacity of the enemy's fleet. Thus it is at least

arguable that the invulnerability of the mass of
sea-borne commerce increases with
To
its
carry the matter further
bulk and
is
imposhave pointed
out that the Chancellor's postulate cannot be
ubiquity.
sible in this place.
It
must
swallowed whole until
it
suffice to
has been well seethed
In the process
in salt water.
it
147
might entirely
color.
change
"
Take, again, another similar argument.
The
writes
principal necessities of England's Navy,"
"
are to protect her
Professor Sheldon Amos,
commerce, defend her
enemy
of
it is
obvious
if
and overpower the
coasts,
the
Navy
could be relieved
of these functions, so
any one
much
disposable it would be
of the other two."
Here, of course,
for the efficient
more
the
discharge
we
are even
further from salt water than with the Chancellor;
but the passage, teeming as it does with error, has

been seriously quoted abroad. How do the
Professor and those
who complacently
cite
him
imagine that we can defend our coasts without

defending our trade, or do either without over-
powering the enemy ?
It is all
of getting control of the
Unless and until
one
common
we do
that
all
a matter
communications.
we have not
over-
powered the enemy, and we have not gone the best

way about defending our coasts and commerce.
Casual cruising against our commerce we can
ignore,
if
necessary,
control, so small
ity of cruisers
merce.
As
in
the
process of getting
the reach and capac-
nowadays is
and so great the bulk
for serious fleet attacks
of our
upon
com-
it,
we
148
can desire nothing
better.
0}
War
It is all very well to
talk of overpowering the

fleet
enemy's
must
enemy, of seeking out the

and destroying him, but for this he
you get at him.

great difficulty and there
let
That was always our

is no means so
good for
making him expose himself as attacking his commerce with your fleet and tempting him to
attack
yours
were made
ambassador
battle fleets,
with
as
If
his.
sacred
from
our
commerce
capture
as
an
would give little or no relief to our

while, on the other hand, if we were
it
denied the right to attack enemy's commerce we

should lose the one sure and rapid means of forcing
his battle fleet to a decision.
This brings us to the final part of the argument.

It is freely contended that while the immunity
of sea-borne commerce would greatly relieve the
strain
of defence,
it
would scarcely
affect
our
power of attack. The grinding power of offence

which we exercised by attack on commerce in the
old wars is recognized, or not denied. But it is
asserted that since Napoleonic times,
wars came
to
when
an end, the conditions have
these
entirely
place in two
of Paris we
Firstly, by the Declaration
changed.
The change has taken
ways.
are no longer able by general capture to prevent
Capture
0} Private
Property at Sea
commerce being
the enemy's
it is
carried in neutral
contended that the vast
and, secondly,
development of inland communications has
ships
Continental
nations
sea-borne trade
practically
that
is,
149
made
independent of
so far as exerting
in
compel peace is concerned. Here

again we have two of those breezy generalizations
which trip so gaily from the pens of international
pressure
to
as though they were not laden
jurists,
and tangled
with a nexus of practical considerations, complex

and indeterminate to the last degree, and entirely
beyond even approximate measurement. They

seem airily to neglect the fact that the capacity of
neutral shipping
and
of inland communications
not unlimited, and to ignore the well-known

difficulty of forcing trade to flow healthily out of
is
the channels into which

tral ships are
always
it
has settled
itself.
fairly well full of their
Neu-
own
you suddenly throw upon them the

extra work of even one considerable mercantile
business,
and
if
marine, they will either be unequal to the task or

freights must leap up to a seriously disturbing
degree.
tion
is
The
treated with even a less
actually happens in war.
ways
is
and inland navigaappreciation of what
case of railways
The
capacity of raileven less elastic than that of neutral ships.
150
of
War
In peace time their carrying capacity, for plain

reasons of business, is seldom much beyond the
traffic
which accrues
necessities of the nation,
in
the
supplying
and
actual
to calculate that with
the intolerable extra strain that
is
always thrown
upon them by the paramount exigencies of a great

war they would still be able to deal with an equivalent of the
normal sea-borne
ignore universal experience

facts of
commerce.
traffic is
simply to
and the elementary
Even were
it
possible in
any
reasonable time to get land communications to

bear all their ordinary peace traffic as well as the
and that of the paralyzed mercantile

marine, the dislocation of national life and action
must at least produce so great a shock to trade,
war
traffic
industry, and, above
all,
credit as to be a strategical
blow of the highest order.
It is at least
bility of drastic offence that
we,
and must always be so weak
who
in the
a possi-
are so weak,
means open
to
the great military Powers, cannot afford to forego.

I
know it is argued by some of our most respected
and earnest journals that our position and the

peace of the world would gain a real solidity by
the sacrifice,
and a
real motive for the
growth of
armaments would be removed, because we should

thereby demonstrate that our Navy is meant
But
151
a point incapable
of demonstration, simply because it is not true.
Our Navy is under certain circumstances intended
only for defence.
for
is
Such circumstances, happily, are
offence.
remote, but
that
it is
sheer fatuity to think they cannot
possibly arise. Not only is no real and crushing

defence possible without attack, but in cases where
we
are the injured party
and no redress can be had
except by war, then direct offence is necessary.

It is a distasteful subject, above all to the higher
Liberalism, where the desire to
But
it
is
keenest.
has to be faced, and must be faced without
false sentiment, as Sir
William Harcourt faced
the great debate already cited
"
unarm
There
it
in
only one security [he said] for a great

naval Power as far as you can and as soon as you
is
can to sweep the enemy from the seas. Not only

must we preserve our right to fight against the
navy of our enemy, but to capture all the ships

it
possesses and all the means it possesses by which
we may be
this great
attacked.
Empire
our extended Empire.
There
is
no
arm of
arm by which we defend
It is the legitimate
the
security in
go a great deal farther.
war unless we are strong
for offence as well as defence.

It is true.
We
cannot
"
make
ourselves stronger
152
0}
War
for defence or for doing our part in preserving the
peace of the world by casting away our most

trenchant and well-approved weapon. It was
not the custom at King Arthur's Court for his
knights to equip themselves for their holy quests
by discarding
and dagger.
their spears
and
trusting to shield
In conclusion, it is necessary to enter a protest

against one other argument, which is too often
advanced by the advocates of immunity, and particularly
from commercial
centres.
Failing to see
they have involved themselves in a question

which is mainly one of strategy and war-plans, and
unable to grasp the force of the naval objection,

they do not scruple to suggest that the opposition of
naval officers arises from their desire for prizemoney. It is to be hoped they scarcely grasp how
wanton an
able
insult they offer to a great
Service
and honor-
and how deeply the suspicion
is
No
one in touch with the ungrudging

devotion of the modern naval officer could believe
resented.
one moment that he would permit so sordid a

consideration even to color the advice he gave his
country on so high a matter. It is intolerable the
for
slander should be repeated as often as
it
has been.
Prize-money has nothing whatever to do with the
Capture
0} Private Property at
Sea
153
indeed are of opinion that

for the good of the Service alone the system should
be abolished, There might be cases in time of
matter.
Many
officers
war, as there were in days gone by, when prizemoney might warp a man's sense of duty. Therefore,
is
they say,
let it
go
good for the Service
Chambers
to
is
whom you will.
What
good enough for
us.
commerce may find difficulty in

appreciating the depth and reality of the sentiment.
of
Could they but do so they would never permit the

prize-money argument to sully their petitions
The reason why naval officers urge with
again.
heart and soul the retention of the old right of
capture is because they know not how to

war without it, nor can any man tell them.
make
VI
THE HAGUE CONFERENCE: THE QUESTION OF IMMUNITY FOR BELLIGERENT MERCHANT SHIPPING
THE HAGUE CONFERENCE: THE QUESTION OF IMMUNITY FOR BELLIGERENT MERCHANT SHIPPING
By Alfred
T.
Mahan
National Review\ July 1907

%
T the present
day,
when maritime commerce
has taken on unprecedented proportions,

and constitutes a very large factor in the power of
states,
there
should naturally be some surprise
aroused by the proposition to exempt from the

operations of war a financial feature so important
to the war- waging ability of a belligerent, and at the
same time
so easily accessible to
paradox
for such
it
is - is
an enemy.
The
in part the survival
an opinion generated by particular interests at

a period when circumstances, though essentially the
same as now, were in some details different. It is
of
more due
a misapplication of terms, accord"

Give a dog a bad name, and
ing to the proverb,
him."
hang
By ingeniously, though certainly
still
to
honestly, qualifying maritime capture as the seizure
158
of
"
"
private
War
0}
property, a haze of misunderstanding
has been thrown over the whole subject, investing

it with the
The
proverbial fallacy of a half-truth.
property undoubtedly is private in ownership;
but this is only a part, and the smaller part, of the
issue involved.
This misconception has doubtless been furthered

by the fact that maritime capture, as practised
during the last great maritime wars, and still
allowed by international law, is the direct descendant of piracy.
As an argument
existing condition, this circumstance
more
from apes
telling.
If
if
so they be
we could
but
men
is
really
nevertheless,
remember, either
in the state of apes,
could not but affect involuntarily our
looking at
humble.
no
are descended
it is,
distinctly
personally or historically,
it
men
valid than the fact that
against an
men now; we might
way
at least be
of
more
Concerning seizure of property at sea,
the race has kept a continuous traditional knowl-
edge of
its
early methods, with a resultant impres-
sion of
its
principles.
The day when,

was more
peace as in war, a strange

not to be an enemy in intention,
sail
whom
as well in
likely
than
you would
have to fight in order to preserve your good and
your life, was perpetuated nearly to our own times.
Belligerent
Merchant Shipping
159
Piracy at sea is the seizure of property by persons

unauthorized by a national authority, even though
the owner be an enemy and the time one of war.
Before national regulation was instituted, this had

been a universal condition, an era of free fighting,
when every merchantman was prepared to turn

robber if occasion offered. The tendency remained after regulation had become a welldefined system, because evasion of the law
its
ministers
was
of
by the slowness with

of marauders could be trans-
facilitated
which intelligence
mitted, even throughout a limited area
Caribbean Sea
and
and the imperfections
like the
of maritime
a period when national cruisers were preoccupied with strictly belligerent operations, gave
police, at
additional impunity.
Privateers also, though reg-
ulated vessels, under bonds to a national authority,

were nevertheless out simply for what they could
make; and the conditions which favored piracy

weakened the hold of responsibility upon them.
Kidd began as a suppressor of piracy the career
which ended on the gallows. While the majority
of captains and owners in the later days were men
of integrity,
business
no more inclined than the average
man
to
take
there were doubtless
many
dishonest
advantage,
entirely unscrupulous,
160
whose only
o]
War
opportunity was the danger

of detection; and the very habit of appropriating
another man's property by main force, however
test in
lawful and subject to subsequent legal procedure,

doubtless fostered a disposition to irregular acqui-
Although a recognized
sition.
use
necessary
and,
indeed, a
of national resources for a na-
and
tional exigency, privateering inherently

torically
is
had a tendency towards
but another
name
associated
excesses
incidental
piracy,
The
for robbery.
with
accompaniments
his-
and piracy
brutal
word were only
the
the practice,
of
the
essence of which was the taking of property without
due authorization of law.
The payment of prize money, upon which of late

years has fastened much of the odium cast upon
maritime capture, no doubt also derives in some
measure from the days of piracy. To privateering,
however,
it
had another
necessary
private
come
incident,
exertion,
distinct relation.
calculated
unremunerated
to the help of
the state
and
to
It
otherwise,
to
was
stimulate
to
weaken the
In the beginning the pirate took the

goods when and as he pleased but the regulated
enemy.
If an enemy,
privateer sent his prize into port.
there had to be at least formal condemnation and
Merchant Shipping
Belligerent
while
partition;
161
a neutral, arrested for trans-
if
gressing international obligations, the decision of
a prize court was essential to the validity of the

transaction.
In both cases there was not only
seizure of property, but subsequent appropriation
The
to the seizer.
from any other
process differed in nothing
condemnation, except that
legal
the goods for the most part went to the individual,
not to the
state
circumstance not without
an informer; but
attention has fastened somewhat exclusively upon
analogies, such as the share of
the gain of the captor,
and the
violence, actual or
by which he obtained the property of the

captured. In this has been seen the gist of the
transaction; precisely as in war itself, to which
potential,
such capture
is
an
incident, attention has fastened
upon the overt use
of organized force to
accom-
plish a political end, wholly oblivious of the fact
that the whole security of society

all politics
ized,
and
rests
upon
itself
the end of
force so efficiently organ-
so unassailable in power, that
has to appear.
Such
force
is
it
rarely
so quiet in operation
overlooked.
that
its
it is
paid for in the shape of legal machinery, from
very existence
is
All the same,
the single policeman to the last court of appeal;

just as international peace
is
largely secured
and
1 62
War
of
paid for by the military machinery, from the private
up to the sovereign authority of the nation,

which rests the awful power to set the wheels
soldier
in
in motion.
thus became to popular apprehension the exponent, as it were, of maritime

Prize
money
capture in war.
It
practical
aspect,
human.
Prize
summed up
of
the
the ethics,
and the
system from which
it
derived a curious inconsequence, but extremely
money was
robber's
the
gain,
maritime capture the robber's trade, the sufferer
The
property was styled

private," and was regarded in no other aspect
even by men who were, or from their occupation
the robber's victim.
"
and knowledge should have been,
perfectly con-
scious of the economical difference between prop-
erty in rest
and property
men who
exchange;
circulating in commercial
understood the financial
upon the commerce mainand who knew that there is
dependence of a state
tained by
its citizens,
losses
to
which the individual belongs.
course, there
it
individual
no such thing as private
distinguished from the loss of the community
practically
is
such a distinction
seems strange, at
this late
cussion, to hear losses
Logically, of
but practically
day of economic
dis-
by maritime capture spoken
Merchant Shipping
Belligerent
of as individual losses
affect the
which
community
163
will not substantially
Lord Palmer-
the state.
ston
quoted triumphantly as saying that no
powerful country was ever vanquished by losses
is
Yet we are continually being told

an economic commonplace that there is no
to individuals.
that
it is
such thing as one state deriving real advantage

disadvantage
by
entailing
the
community
one member
of
upon
states being
suffers
each of the others.
recoils
To
its
neighbor;
such that what
more or
less
upon
transfer this statement
a community of individuals is reasonable and

The loss of one is the loss of all; and
obvious.
to
with curious inconsistency, will be admitted

at a later stage of the argument, pointing out the
this,
extensive range of individuals interested in, and

the producer,
injured by, maritime capture
the transporter, the handler, the broker, the merno one of whom may be the
chant, the banker
owner
all it
of the particular property seized.
Last of
might be added, were not the argument too
double-edged, and drives too close home to serve

As
the purpose, the national treasury suffers.
between the belligerent nations, the loss of one

may be the loss of both; but it is the proportion
of loss
and the power
to bear loss
which
deter-
Some Negected Aspects
164
War
0}
mine the balance of war and the settlements
of
peace.
All this seems to
I
me
to be obvious,
and
I trust
may be fortunate enough to make it more obvious
in the course of this
paper
for
it
present sufficiently so to those
certainly
who
is
write
not at
on the
"
other side.
To the average mind/' says one,
"
the proposition that private property on sea
should be treated on the same basis as private
'
property on land seems almost self-evident.'

Passing without remark for the present the circumstance that private property on land is by the
momentary conqueror
treated precisely as to
him
seems expedient for the purposes of the war, the

alleged self-evidence is such as can be reached in
any case where
all
circumstances of difference are
overlooked or ignored. No doubt the average

mind is content to accept superficial resemblance,
and to inquire no more but it might be asked of
;
a teacher to go so far beneath the surface as to

recognize the fundamental difference between a
dollar in a stocking
the
dollar
in circulation.
obvious, though not superficial; and

"
embarked on merchant
private property
This also
"
and a
is
vessels is private property

circulation.
money's worth
Transportation
is
in
accumulative circu-
Belligerent
lation;
Merchant Shipping
165
and, from a clear military point of view,
the object
aimed
at,
by the method of
and
seizing
sea,
cargoes
stop the
increase of the enemy's wealth by circulation, by
vessels
at
to
is
stopping the transportation of his goods, of whatever character. This is the essence of the matter
;
the fact of the property being private in ownership

is
a mere incident
of the
argument
and
lies
in
making
it
the forefront
the fallacy which has misled
supporters as to the principles at stake. The

question of expediency is another and different
its
consideration,
which must be otherwise
treated.
History furnishes us abundant illustration of

the divergent status
and
effect of
property at rest
and property in circulation, in peace as well as in
In America now, at each recurrent harvest,
war.
the question of transportation, of circulating the
products of the ground, gives rise to anxious discussion, carried far into the realms of high finance
as bearing
upon the national
prosperity.
Without
crop becomes his

dollar in the stocking; rather worse than better,
inasmuch as for his wants coin is better than barter.
transportation,
Were
the
farmer's
and the enemy hoped to

increase embarrassment by denying transportation,
is it to be supposed that he would not, to the
the country at war,
1 66
of
War
extent of his power, order the railroads to stop

carrying? If disobedience ensued, is it likely that
the offending property would not be confiscated?

Is not property continually liable to confiscation,
partial
or
total,
breach of law?
for
But the
farmer's ploughs, and other agricultural imple-
ments, his household furniture,
all
his property
unavailable for circulation, and therefore essen"

tially
private," would not be touched nor is the
;
corresponding property of individuals at sea liable
now
Not being embarked for circuit is

commerce
truly private, and
to seizure.
lation
for
for long over a century has
been
strictly respected.
In war the career of Napoleon has furnished a

striking evidence of the effects of stopping circuI find, in the
lation.
of
immunity
argument of an advocate
"
for
"
private property
at sea, the
"
Napoleon was not overthrown

by the commercial losses of French merchants,
statement that
but by the battle of Waterloo." Doubtless many

causes contribute to each result, and in the apportionment of weight differences of opinion must
arise;
but I should say that foremost
causes of Napoleon's
products
vineyards,
of
France,
and
fall
so
was
among
the
the fact that to the
wealthy in her
manufactures,
circulation
fields,
was
Belligerent
Merchant Shipping
167
denied by the fleets of Great Britain. The cessation of maritime transportation deranged the entire
financial system of France, largely
dependent upon
She could neither raise revenue

foreign custom.
nor borrow both money and credit were want;
ing.
That these conditions
ically certain, as is also that
government
financial
in
existed
is
histor-
they reacted upon the
This
embarrassment.
Continental System, not

merely for retaliation, but to compel Great Britain
to peace; and the attempt to enforce compliance
in
turn provoked
the
with the Continental System led to the war with

Russia and to the subsequent uprising of Europe
Meanwhile, great as was

need of money
against the Emperor.
Napoleon's passion for war, sheer
had driven him on

cessful issue of
to
to recurrent hostilities, the suc-
which enabled him
in
some degree
recoup his treasury by direct assessment,
war indemnities,
and
indirectly
by quartering
his
armies indefinitely upon the conquered.

This
was for him only a partial alleviation, it is true, but
it
was something.
It alone, in
some small
part,
could compensate for the paralyzing loss of revenue

caused by the cessation of maritime transportation
;
and the enemy enforced

zure of
this privation
"
"
private property
at sea.
As
by the
for
sei-
Water-
1 68
War
oj
however decisive as a particular battle, it was

but the last blow of a series
the capping stone
loo,
of the misfortunes of 1812-14.
The
downfall of
Napoleon was due to the fact that for a series of

years he had been wasting his armies, the manhood
human
of France, her
tempts
capital, in unsuccessful at-
to restore her finances
and
to
compel Great
Britain to cease from capturing private property

at sea.
Recall Metternich's words to him in 181 3
:
"
have seen your soldiers; they are
Sire, I
chil-
dren."
The
instance
is
extreme, but in extreme illustra-
tions demonstration
is
it
extreme,
most apparent
not unparalleled.
we
and, though
It is not likely,
;
predominant a
naval power as that of Great Britain then. Let
indeed, that
is
shall again see so
however, before quitting this part of the subject,

note that the United States, by the same instruus,
and by the operation of the same

was in 18 14 forced to abandon all the con-
mentality,
causes,
tentions for
had gone to war.

abundance the raw material of
which
She possessed
in
in 181 2 she
wealth, but there was no circulation. The corn,

cotton, and tobacco were harvested, and there they
remained,
piled
up,
but
unavailable.
finances are in a deplorable state," wrote
"
Our
Monroe,
Belligerent
Merchant Shipping
169
"
The means of the country have scarcely been touched, yet we have neither
the Secretary of State.
money
in the Treasury, nor credit."
"
Even
in
[Maryland] the Government shakes to

the foundation." Why? Because the transporthis State
tation of private property
by
sea,
whether coast-
wise or foreign, was successfully prohibited by

the enemy.
Fifty years later the Southern Confederacy suf-
fered in like
Union
to
manner from
it
the naval power of the
as extreme and irresistible as that
of Great Britain
had been
store of wealth locked
The
vast
in its cotton-fields
was
to
up
Napoleon.
unavailable, because denied transportation.
To
analyze and demonstrate the precise character and

amount of the effect thus produced upon the fortunes of the Confederacy would be a work of
minute and protracted examination, the material
for
which probably
to affirm that the
exists
but
it is
scarcely rash
embarrassment caused by the
depreciation of the currency and the emptiness

of the Treasury, permeating all classes of the com-
munity, had a dissolvent effect not only upon

In this connection
society, but upon the armies.
I venture to support
my
argument by the high
authority of Mr. Charles Francis
Adams, himself
170
not a seaman, in the
soldier,
War
of
War
of Secession.
In his appreciative address upon General Lee at

the centennial birthday of that great captain, he
affirms the decisive effect of the blockade
markedly
"
air-pump,"
the
was enforced by
to use his apt simile
seizing the
that sought to violate
"
Thousands
greater
it.
"
"
private property
Lee himself
is
quoted.
of our soldiers are barefooted,
number
partially
shod,
without overcoats, blankets, or
and
which
later, in the
dead of winter,
and nearly
a
all
warm
"
clothing;"
Further depend-
ence upon abroad can result in nothing but increase

of suffering and want."
Better conditions of
transportation
and finance would have protracted

of the North
the war,
and subjected the endurance
to a test
it
might have been unable
to meet.
Let
be recalled that before Vicksburg, two years before Lee's surrender, General Grant was troubled
it
with doubts as to the
effect of further disappoint-
ments upon the Northern people. It is no rash

claim that both Napoleon and the Confederacy
were overthrown mainly by measures which de-
pended
for
their
energy upon
"
11
private property
upon the
the
seas.
seizure
of
This needs
be clearly indicated, for another advocate of

"
"
immunity, on self-evident grounds, has affirmed
to
Merchant Shipping
Belligerent
that
"
in the
American
Civil
War
171
the Confederate
commerce was blockaded at every port, but it was

the victory of the Union army which decided the
The
contest."
destruction of the Confederacy's
intercourse with the outer world, like
some deep-
seated local disease, poisoned the springs of
life,
spreading remorselessly through innumerable hid-
den channels into every part of the political frame,

till the whole was sick unto death.
The
essence of the question involved in the

"
"
at sea is transportaseizure of
private property
three
with
such
and
tion;
conspicuous instances
within a century
demonstrated.
effectiveness is historically
its
The
belligerent state, in the exer-
a right as yet conceded by international law,

"
I forbid your
says in substance to its adversary,
citizens the maritime transportation of their
cise of
commercial property.
Articles of whatever char-
which carry them, violawful order will be seized and con-
acter, including the vessels
lating this
Seizure is made contingent upon moveotherwise the property is merely bidden to
demned.'
ment
stay at
strict
'
home, where
it
will
be
safe.
All this
is
in
conformity with the execution of law under
common
conditions;
and the
practice
is
now
regulated with a precision and system consonant
172
to other legal adjudication, the
of
War
growth of centuries
of jurisprudence directed to this particular

subject.
tendency I have indicated by certain

It is efficient to the ends of
specific instances.
Its general
war, more or
according to circumstances;
distributing the burden over the whole
community affected it tends to peace, as exemption
less,
and by
from capture could not do.
war could be made
If the suffering of
to fall only
on the combatants
actually in the field, the rest of the nation being
protected from
ability
to
harm and
loss
by the assured
pursue their usual avocations undis-
turbed, the selfishness of
men would more
readily
resort to violence to carry their ends.
In support of the widespread
effects of interrup-
tion to transportation, I gladly quote one of the

recent contendents for immunity of " private prop"
from maritime capture. Having on one
erty
page maintained the ineffectiveness of the seizure,

because individual losses never force a nation to
make
peace, he concludes his article by saying
"The
question interests directly and vitally
thousands of people
vital
importance
in ships,
in every country.
to those
who go down
and those who occupy
It is of
to the sea
their business in
Belligerent
Merchant Shipping
173
It appeals not only to every shipto every merchant whose goods

but
also
owner,
are shipped upon the sea, to every farmer whose
great waters.
is
sent
sells
to
grain
who
banker
his
who
abroad,
to
every manufacturer
and
foreign market,
dependent upon
is
to
every
the prosperity of
countrymen."
can do
to
little
by an opponent
enhance
yet
if
this vivid presentation
we add
to his
list
the butch-
ers, the bakers, the tailors, shoemakers, grocers,
whose customers economize; the men who drive

drays to and from shipping, and find their occupation gone;
carriers,
the railroads, as the great
whose
freights fall off;
whose dividends shrink
common
the stockholders
we shall by no means have
exhausted the far-reaching influence of this intermeddling with transportation. It is a belligerent

measure which touches every member of the hostile
community, and, by thus distributing the evils

of war, as insurance distributes the burden of
other losses,
it
brings
them home
to every
man,
each a disposition to peace.

doubtless will not have escaped readers famil-
fostering in
It
with the subject of maritime prize that so far

I have not distinguished between the interruption
iar
174
The
seas.
first, it
may
the second only
yet in question;
My
War
by blockade and that by seizure
of transportation
on the high
of
be said,
is
not
is
challenged.
reason has been that the underlying military
principle
same
and,
in both;
as I claim, justification
and, as
we
effect
produced
is
is
the
are dealing with a
question of war, the military principle

consideration with any other,
if
is
of equal
not superior.
in character the
same
The
in both.
efficacy, they differ, and their comparative

values in this respect are a legitimate subject for
In
In principle and method, however,

they are identical; both aim at the stoppage of
transportation, as a means of destroying the re-
discussion.
sources of the enemy, and both are enforced by

"
the seizure and condemnation of
private prop"
transgressing the orders.
erty
This community of operation

historically, the
is
so evident that,
advocates of exemption of private
property from confiscation in the one case have

demanded, or at the least suggested, that blockade
as a military measure cannot be instituted against
commerce
can be resorted to only as

" invested "
against contraband, or where a port is
by land as well as by sea. This was Napoleon's
that
it
contention in the Berlin Decree
and
it is
worthy
Merchant Shipping
Belligerent
175
under the pressure of

momentary expediency, the United States more
than once, between 1800 and 181 2, advanced the
of grave attention that,
same view.
of
War
the
This
have shown in
181 2.
of
Had
this
prevailed, the grinding blockade
my
history
opinion then
War
of the
of
If we
Secession could not have been applied.
may imagine the United States and the Confed-
erate States parties
to
a Hague Conference,
we
can conceive the impassioned advocacy of restricted blockade by the one, and the stubborn
of
refusal
to
This
test
expediency in retaining
carries
seeming
a
prescriptive right.
yielding
warning
or
the other.
moral
it
There
grave
is
no
my
previous argument is correct;

be moral, and I think it is, to resort
issue,
unless
if
to pecuniary pressure rather than to bloodshed to
enforce a belligerent contention.
As regards
ex-
pediency, however, each nation should carefully

weigh the effects upon itself, upon its rivals, and
the general future of the
upon
community
of
abandoning a principle of farreaching consequence, and in operation often

states,
before
beneficent in restraining or shortening war.

It
has been urged

1
Vol.
i.
that
conditions
pp. 146-148.
have so
176
of
War
changed, through the numerous alternatives to

sea transport now available, that the former
can no longer be predicated. There might

be occasional local suffering, but for communities
efficacy
at large the streams of supply are so
many that
the
particular result of general popular distress will

not be attained to any decisive degree. Has this
been well weighed?
None, of
course, will dispute that certain conditions have
been much modified, and for the better. Steam
argument
really
not only has increased rapidity of land transit for

persons and goods it has induced the multiplica;
tion of roads,
and enforced the maintenance
of
good condition. Thanks to such maintewe

are vastly less at the mercy of the seasons
nance,
than we once were, and communities now have
them
in
several lines of
communication open where formerly
they were dependent upon one. Nevertheless,

for obvious reasons of cheapness and of facility,
water transport sustains
ascendency. It may
carry somewhat less proportionately than in old
times; but, unless we succeed in exploiting the
air,
its
water remains, and always must remain, the
great
medium
of transportation.
The open
sea
is
a road which needs neither building nor repairs.

Compared with its boundless expanse, two lines
Belligerent
of rails afford small
Merchant Shipping
accommodation
177
a circum-
stance which narrowly limits their capacity for

freight.
degree the same advantage inheres in

For construction and
watercourses.
In a
less
natural
maintenance, streams like the Thames, the Rhine,

the Hudson, and even the Mississippi with its
do not approach
levees,
in cost the easiest of land
while for facility of
traffic in large
quanIn
them.
tities no four-track railroad approaches
them Nature has laid the road on the generous
routes;
scale
which she has granted
tains
it
manent
largely
by her own
to water,
action.
and main-
For such
per-
reasons, coasting trade, national or inter-
continues between points which have

unbroken land communication, even in competinational,
tion with highly developed railroad systems.
The
tonnage annually freighted on the Great Lakes

of North America exceeds six millions; yet all
points
on those lakes can communicate with each
other by land.
Waiving, therefore, the cases of

between
which there is no land comcontinents,
munication, as Europe and America, and of islands
like
Great Britain, Japan, Australia,
that water transportation
it
must continue
is
plain
to
fill
very large place in that circulation of merchandise
178
which we
call
of
War
This means that
commerce.
it
must
now
is, a factor in a system, a great

and important wheel in a complicated machinery
remain, as
it
of interchange.
If this is so,
impairment of
must materially derange the whole,

ment of the nation.
We
need not go very far
to seek
illustration of the influence of
The American
portation.
it
to the detri-
contemporary
diminished trans-
difficulty
of
moving
the crops offers a precise analogy to the effect of
stopping ocean
traffic.
embarrassment
is
not merely a question of finance,
of ampler currency.
railroad lines
portation
and
due also
It is
rolling stock
deficiencies.
such deficiency
results
At present that recurrent
is,
as
It
we
to insufficient
that
is,
to trans-
matters not whether
say, original, or that
it
from impairment, such as the depredation of
an enemy. The point is the insufficiency, not the

cause of such insufficiency; in fact, it may profitably be noted that in the immediate instance the
embarrassment
exists in the face of conditions, the
gradual growth of which permitted foresight and

provision to meet them. How manifold more
injurious
and disturbing
if
the cause were a sudden
dislocation of the transportation system by war,
throwing a
new and unexpected burden upon
Belligerent
Merchant Shipping
179
roads presumably no more than adequate to a

The very scale upon
usual maximum of traffic
!
which commerce
is
now
conducted, the
conveniences, luxuries, which
it
facilities,
has introduced
into ordinary households, while swelling
its
vol-
ume, have made greater and more far-reaching the

The stoppage of a
effects of any obstruction.
coasting-trade, the closing of a few principal ports
would so congest the trunk lines of a

national system that the influence would be felt
of entry,
and household, and speedily

the national treasury.
People also are now more
instantly in every shop

in
luxurious, less hardened to bear, impatient over
would hardly
wants " is no
privations which their predecessors

notice.
The phrase
"
artificial
vain expression.
For an example, consider France, a country

exceptionally fortunate in maritime and landwise
She has three
position.
longest
is
coast-lines, of
upon the great ocean
which the
itself.
There
no narrow passage, as the Channel, nor short

seaboard, as in the Mediterranean, embarrasses
her access to the outer world.

several land frontiers
erland,
Italy
by
receive supplies.
She has, besides,
Belgium, Germany,
Switz-
any one of which she may

These relatively numerous points
180
of
of contact with the outside world
War
pre-eminent
among them being Belgium and the Bay of Bismake the situation of France unusually
cay
favorable, when compared with most countries
having Continental boundaries. All cannot be

conceived shut at the same time, and the guaranteed neutrality of Belgium presents an alternative
nearly
absolutely
mere question
secure.
as
Nevertheless,
of transportation,
if
we suppose only
Havre, Nantes, and Bordeaux closed to commerce,

there can be little question that the additional
burden of
local handling,
and subsequent railway
carriage, thrown upon, say, Antwerp and Marseilles,

would sharply test the system of distribution by
railroad
collection of customs at the land
would introduce further impediments.

German ports in addition would involve
frontier
To
and the
utilize
a greater
of that
circuit,
every mile of which
would add
through Belgium
pense of the
consumer by
all
and more meagre supply
as, indeed,
to the ex-
the heavier charge
of a lengthened
and
overweighted land carriage.
Such derangement
of
an established system of
more searching, as
well as
sea transportation
more easy, when the shipping involved has to pass
and still more if the
close by an enemy's shores
is
Belligerent
Merchant Shipping
This
ports of possible arrival are few.
ously the case of
Germany and
is
181
conspicu-
the Baltic States
Great Britain, and would be of Great

Britain were Ireland independent and hostile.
relatively to
The
striking
is
tonnage
development of German mercantile
significant of the
and
influence,
ambitions
exposure, in case of
growing grandeur,
of
the
war with Great
empire.
Its
Britain,
and
only in less degree with France, would account,

were other reasons wanting, for the importunate
demand for naval expansion. Other reasons are
not wanting; but in the development of her merchant shipping Germany, to use a threadbare
phrase, has given a hostage to Fortune.
Except
and here opposed, of

by
exempting from capture merchant vessels of a
the measure advocated,
belligerent, with their cargoes, as being

'
property,'
Germany
is
bound over
to
"
private
keep the
peace, unless occasion of national safety
or
interests
honor
drive
her,
vital
or unless she
equip a navy adequate to so great a task as protecting fully the carrying trade she has laboriously
The exposure of this trade is not merely

a matter of German interest, nor yet of British.
created.
It
is
of
making
international
for peace.
concern,
a circumstance
1 82
The
retort is foreseen
How
oj
War
stands a nation to
which the native mercantile shipping, carrying

trade, is a distinctly minor interest, and therefore
does not largely affect the question of transportation? This being maintained by neutrals, the
accretion of national wealth
go on
by
circulation
The
may
most
impaired by
obvious reply is that such is a distinctly specialized
case in a general problem, and that its occurrence
little
hostilities.
first
and continuance are dependent upon circumstances which frequently vary.

It lacks the elements of permanence, and its present must therefore be regarded with an eye to the past and future.
half-century ago the mercantile marine of the

United States was, and for nearly a century before
had been, a close second to that of Great Britain
;
to-day
it
is
except for
the other hand, during the
practically non-existent,
coasting-trade.
On
period the thriving Hanse towns were

nearly the sole representatives of German shipping,
earlier
which now, issuing from the
same harbors, on
a strip of coast still narrow, is pressing rapidly

forward under the flag of the empire to take the
place vacated by the Americans.
With such a reversal of conditions in two prominent examples, the problem of to-day in any one
Merchant Shipping
Belligerent
183
not that of yesterday, and may very well not

be that of to-morrow. From decade to decade
case
is
experience shifts like a weather-cock; the states-
man mounted upon
becomes a Mr. FacingThe denial of commercial blockade,
Bothways.
it
American national expediency of 1800, suggested by such eminent jurists as John Marshall
the
and James Madison, would have been ruinous

A governmanacles to the nation of 1861-65.
ment weighing
its
policy with reference to the
future, having regard to possible as well as actual
would do well before surrendering

to
the bird in the hand
powers
conditions,
existing
consider rather the geographical position of the

the
country, its relation to maritime routes
strategy, so to say, of the general
tion
and
the military principles
maritime capture
rests.
accurate estimate will be

tical
permanent
In that
made
upon which
light a more
of temporary tac-
circumstances, to-day's conditions
instance, as set forth

cellor of
immunity from capture
In his
for
such, for
of Great Britain, the points
letter,
favoring
"
private property,"
disproportionate stress is laid
The Times
by the present Lord Chan-
Great Britain. 1
situa-
upon the dangers
which make against
of October 14, 1905.
84
a serious
her;
from exposure
tactical
is
error.
of
War
The argument
so highly developed, that the
possible enemies whose co-operation
secure
desired
the
immunity
needed
is
for
to
"
"
private
property might well regard the request to assist

as spreading the net in the sight of the bird; a
vanity which needs not a wise man to detect. On
the other hand, the offensive advantage of capture
Great Britain, owing to her situation,
to
my
is,
in
judgment, inadequately appreciated.

writer has fallen into the mistake which our
The
General Sherman characterized as undue imagination concerning

"
what " the man on the other
side of
might do; a quaint version of the first

"
making a picture
Napoleon's warning against
the
to
hill
yourself."
The
picture
of
Great
Britain's
dangers is overdrawn; that to her enemies

"
the full measure of the mischief we could do to a
"
is underdrawn.
It would
Continental nation
"
the disastrous
seem as if, in his apprehension,
consequences which would flow from even slight
depredations by commerce destroyers on British

"
could find no parallel in the results to
shipping
a Continental trade from British
cruisers.
France
or Germany, for example, shut off from the sea,

x
Indirect,
presume.
A. T. M.
Belligerent
can be supplied by
Rotterdam;
in
that,
but
Merchant Shipping
from, say, Antwerp or

apparently inconceivable
rail
is
it
185
the contingency of a protracted naval
war, the same ports might equally supply Great

Britain by neutral ships. Alternate sea routes
close,
apparently automatically;
land routes stay open.

laid
upon
only alternate
Thus undue weight
is
defensive motives, where the offensive
requires the greater emphasis.
The
larger mer-
chant tonnage of Great Britain involves a greater

defensive element, yes; but are not defensive
favorably modified by her greater
navy, and by her situation, with all her western
conditions
open to the Atlantic, from Glasgow to

And is not
Bristol and round to Southampton?
ports
the station for such defence identical with the

best
for
offence
by
maritime
capture?
The
British vessels there
occupy also a superior position
for coal renewal;
the difficulty of which for an
enemy, threatening the Atlantic approaches to

Great Britain, seems too largely discounted by
imaginations preoccupied with hostile commerce
destroyers.
The concluding
letter
a warning familiar to military

Great Britain will gain much from
contains
"
thought.
sentence of Lord Loreburn's
1 86
of
War
a change long and eagerly desired by the great

The wish of a possible
majority of other Powers.
is
the
which
beacon
enemy
suggests the shoal.
' '
The
truth
riority,
the British
is, if
it is
to the interest of her
immunity from capture

if it falls, it is
The
Navy maintains
for "private property;"
to their interest to
inference
is
supe-
enemies to have
be able to capture.
safe that probable enemies,
if
such there be, and if they entertain the wish asserted, do not expect shortly to destroy the British
Navy.
While unconvinced by the reasoning,
it
is re-
freshing to recognize in this letter a clear practical
enunciation which sweeps
away much sentimental
" I
urge [immunity for private property]
not upon any ground of sentiment or humanity
rhetoric.
(indeed,
no operation of war
inflicts less suffering
than the capturing of unarmed vessels at sea), but

upon the ground that on the balance of argument,
coolly weighed, the interests of Great Britain will
gain
much from
the change."
but
more than doubt
sobriety contrasts pleas"

noble and enlightantly with the exuberances,
the conclusion;
its
"
ened action," crown of glory," and the like, with

which it pleases certain of our American advocates
to
enwreathe
this prosaic utilitarian proposition.
Belligerent
possibility
which
Merchant Shipping
187
affects the general question
much more
is
seriously than others so far considered,

that of neutral carriers taking the place of a
national shipping exposed to capture under present
This
law.
come over
since
is
one phase of a change which has
the general conditions of carrying trade
became a
the United States
nation,
and
since Great Britain, three-quarters of a century
formally repealed her Navigation

Acts.
The discussion preceding this repeal, together with the coincident Free Trade movement,
preceded by but a few years the Treaty of Paris
afterwards,
and gave an impulse which doubtless

facilitated the renouncement in that treaty by
in
1856,
Great Britain of the right to capture enemy's

property under a neutral flag. The concession
was
it
we say
which proves only that

was contagious, not that it was wise. Like
in the air, as
many hasty
steps,
however, once taken
it
probably
is irreversible.
The
among
treaty,
effect of this concession
has been to
legalize,
the several great states signatory to the

the carriage of belligerent property by
neutral ships, in which previously

liable to seizure.
In
its
it
had been
later operation, the con-
demnation of the enemy's property had not
in-
188
of
War
volved the neutral carrier further than by the

delays necessary to take her into port, adjudicate
and remove the propbe belligerent. Such detention,
the question of ownership,

erty,
if
found
to
however, was a strong deterrent, and acted as an

impediment to the circulation of belligerent wealth
by neutral means.
It
tended to embarrass and
impoverish the belligerent; hence the removal of

it is a modification of much
importance. Neutral
thus
is
now
free
to
take a part in hostilishipping
ties,
which formerly
of loss,
more or
it
could only do at the risk
less serious.
property, which under
its
To
own
carry belligerent
flag
to seizure, is to aid the belligerent
would be open
is
to take part
in the war.
In considering such an amelioration,
if it
be so
regarded, it is possible to exaggerate its degree.

If a nation cherishes its carrying-trade, does a
large part of
and
is
its
transportation in
its
own
unable in war to protect them, the benefit
of the innovation will be but partial.
element in the
means
total
to replace
Neutrals have their
Its
own
an important
navigation of the world, and
shipping, driven from the sea,
the
vessels,
it
will not
is
be at once at hand.
own commerce
to maintain,
as well as that of the weaker belligerent.
They
Belligerent
Merchant Shipping
would not undertake the whole of the

could;
and,
if
and
for the
replaced
as
latter, if
they will
they
not at once
Steamships driven
off the sea,
they would,
have the means.
189
moment
lost to navigation,
rapidly
as
the
old
cannot be
sailing-vessels.
Moreover, neutral merchants have to weigh the

being short, and that the
banished shipping of the belligerent may return in
its might to the seas with the dawn of peace, mak-
chances of
ing their
hostilities
own a drug on
In short,
from a change which
the market.
while the belligerent profits

gives him free use of neutral ships, whereas he
formerly had only a limited use, a considerable
embarrassment remains.
in principle
The
effect is identical
and operation with that before
indi-
cated, as resulting from blockading a few chiei
harbors.
certain large fraction of transporta-
is paralyzed, and the work done

by it is
thrown upon ports and roads which have not the
necessary facilities. It is as though a main trunk
tion
line of railroad
system
results,
is
were seized and held.
deranged, prices
and
community.
is
rise,
The general
embarrassment
propagated throughout the business

This affects the nation by the suffer-
ing of thousands of individuals, and by the consequent reduction of revenue.
190
It
would seem,
ern conditions
property
that
of war;
citizens
is
0}
War
therefore, that even
maritime capture
of
under mod-
"private"
a means of importance to the ends

it
acts directly
and upon the
upon the individual
financial
power of the
bel-
the effect being intensified by indirect
ligerent,
upon the fears of the sensitive business

These political and financial consequences
influence
world.
bring the practice into exact line with military

principle for, being directed against the resources
;
of the enemy,
by interrupting his communications

it becomes strictly analogous
with the outer world,
to operations against the
communications of an
army with
its
of the chief objects of
strategy.
Upon
base one
maintenance of commun-
the
an army depends, upon the

maintenance of commerce the vitality of a state.
ications the
Money,
life
of
Lessen
credit, is the life of war.
vigor flags
destroy
it,
and resistance
dies.
it,
and
Accept-
ing these conclusions, each state has to weigh the

probable bearing upon its own fortunes of the
continuance or discontinuance
From
of
the practice.
the military point of view the question
merely, nor chiefly,
by the
"
What
abandonment
method?"
but,
of
is
not
shall
our people escape
this
time-sanctioned
"What power
to
overcome the
Belligerent
enemy
shall
we
Merchant Shipping
thereby surrender?
191
"
j
It
is
question of balance, between offence ana defence.

As Jefferson said, when threatened with a failure
" We shall have to
of negotiations,
begin the
irrational process of trying which can do the
other most harm."
sentence
is
As a summary
caricature;
but
it
of war, the
incidentally
"
The best deembodies Farragut's aphorism,

fence is a rapid fire from our own guns." For the
success of war, offence is better than defence and
;
contemplating
any other military measure, let there be dismissed at once, as preposterous,
this or
in
the hope that war can be carried on without some

one or something being hurt; that the accounts
should show credit only and no debit.
For the community of states a broader view

should be taken, from the standpoint that whatever tends to make war more effective tends to
and
prevent it. Neutrals have

always been inconvenienced by war, but in the
shorten
it
to
network of modern commerce the injury

more widespread. It is more than ever desirable
intricate
is
to prevent
an outbreak
would be sound policy
and should one occur
it
for neutrals coldly to refuse
to aid either party.
In past days, while reading pretty extensively
192
and con as
the arguments pro
duties of neutrals in war,
upon me
stood for
just,
was
it
of
War
to the rights
and
has been impressed
much-abused Rule of 1756

a principle which was not only strictly
that
the
The
gist of the
Rule
that the intervention of a neutral for the
com-
but wisely expedient.
mercial benefit of a belligerent was as inconsistent

with neutrality as it would be to help him with
arms or men. The neutral was not to suffer;
what he did habitually in peace was open to him

in war
except the carriage of contraband and of
cargoes hostile in ownership
but what was closed
to him in peace it was contrary to neutrality to

undertake in war for the belligerent's easement.
If the
states represented at
The Hague would
adopt a code of neutrality forbidding any enlargement of a neutral tonnage, in the carriage for a
belligerent, over that practised in peace;
if
they
should agree concerning blockade-running -that
not only are ship and cargo open to condemnation,
but the crew to imprisonment, as engaged in

they would forbid the extension of loans by neutral capitalists to governbelligerent service;
ments actually
at
if
war;
if,
neutral ship
is
even, they would re-
an enemy's property in a
lawful prize they would do a much
establish the rule that
Belligerent
Merchant Shipping
193
better stroke for the world's peace than
immunity
to the
commerce
of
a,
by granting
belligerent, which
So far from an
the proposition before us.
amelioration, this is an incentive to war by removis
ing one of
its evils,
and
that
an
evil
which
strikes
the whole belligerent community, not merely the
navies and armies in the

fore, is contrary to
sound
field.
policy,
Removal, thereand to an acknowl-
more deadly and exteninstruments of war the less
edged experience that the

sive in operation the
frequent and the shorter the appeal to arms.
The
capture of an enemy's property at sea, when

in process of commercial exchange, is a weapon of
The effects are unusually searching

because
and extensive,
distributed over the whole
offensive war.
community; yet they are also among

the most humane, because they act by loss of
belligerent
property while entailing
little
THE END.
bloodshed.
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Some Neglected Aspects of Warome Neglected Aspects of War

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n

of "The Influence of Sea Power upon History, 1660-1783,"

THE POWER THAT MAKES FOR PEACE

Formerly President of Massachusetts Institute of Technology

THE CAPTURE OF PRIVATE PROPERTY AT SEA

Lecturer in History to the Naval

By The North American Review Publishing Co.

By Houghton, Mifflin, and Company.

All rights reserved

Published November, 1907

Hague Conference, can

not be advanced, but

by neglecting diligently and calmly

and not merely as one would

see things as they are,

be privileged to see in a future

perversions of thought and result-

ant exaggerations of statement,

ditional advocates of Arbitration,

like other evils

having reference to the existing state of

that there can be for

necessity, nor justifi-

the existing state of

merely killing people, a breach of the

one very prominent opponent

War with the

word merely, but

not evil of thought or

legal as well as extra-legal;

utilize force for the control

evil aggressive, per-

and ultimately subversive, if

careful appreciation of conditions, that such tend-

encies towards violence

throughout huge homogeneous masses of mankind,

tendencies resting, indeed, not

Nor, again, can there be

can be deposed only by

have established over themselves agencies known

maintenance of internal order and prosperity, and

interests of the peoples

they represent. Could the people, having made

and passive as reaffairs, as do most of the

thereafter thoroughly neutral

gards the conduct of their

relations with other

peoples be abandoned with indifference to the

prietors of the big estates thus constituted might

agree among themselves to administer in such wise

ized bodies, doubtless can reach agreement

than do unorganized masses. As a matter

of fact, however, governments

freedom of action, which,

they would utilize with pure regard to the welfare

under them; as despotisms and directorates notoriously do.

the stormy impulses

and pressing needs

that characterize the individual

by numbers, and intensified by the interaction of

some degree modify and guide the

powers in these directions are limited.

Government becomes merely the agency

from the hands of the