• A LEAGUE OF PEACE 405 



Much has man accomplished in his upward march from savagery. 

 Much that was evil and disgraceful has been banished from life ; but the 

 indelible mark of war still remains to stain the earth and discredit our 

 claim to civilization. After all our progress, human slaughter is still 

 with us; but I ask your attention for a few minutes to many bright 

 rays, piercing the dark cloud, which encourage us. Consider for a 

 moment what war was in days past. It knew no laws, had no restric- 

 tions. Poison and assassination of opposing rulers and generals ar- 

 ranged by private bargain, and deceptive agreements, were legitimate 

 weapons. Prisoners were massacred or enslaved. No quarter was 

 given. Enemies were tortured and mutilated. Women, children and 

 non-combatants were not spared. Wells were poisoned. Private prop- 

 erty was not respected. Pillage was the rule. Privateering and 

 private war were allowed. Neutral rights at sea were almost unknown. 



Permit me briefly to trace the history of the reforms in war which 

 have been achieved, from which we draw encouragement to labor for 

 its abolition, strong in the faith that the days of man-slaying are 

 numbered. 



The first action against the savage custom of war is found in the 

 rules of the Amphictyonic Council of the Greeks, some three hundred 

 years before Christ. Hellenes were ' to quarrel as those who intend 

 some day to be reconciled.' They were to " use friendly correction, and 

 not to devastate Hellas or burn houses, or think that the whole popula- 

 tion of a city, men, women and children, were equally their enemies 

 and therefore to be destroyed." 



We owe chiefly to Grotius the modern movement to subject hitherto 

 lawless war on land and sea to the humane restraints of law. His 

 first book, ' Mare Liberum,' appeared in 1609. It soon attracted such 

 attention that Britain had to employ her greatest legal authority, Lord 

 Selden, to make reply. Up to this time Spain, Portugal and Britain 

 had maintained that the surrounding seas were closed to all countries 

 except those upon their shores, a doctrine not formally abandoned by 

 Britain until 1803. 



Grotius's second and epoch-making work, ' The Eights of War 

 and Peace,' appeared in 1625, and immediately arrested the attention 

 of Gustavus Adolphus, the greatest warrior of his time. A copy was 

 found in his tent when he died on the field of Liitzen. He stood con- 

 stantly for mercy, even in those barbarous days. Three years after 

 its appearance, Cardinal Richelieu, to the amazement of Europe, spared 

 the Huguenot garrison, and protected the city of Rochelle, when he 

 was expected to follow the usual practise of massacring the defenders 

 and giving the town and inhabitants over to massacre and pillage. It 

 was then holy work to slay heretics, sparing not one. He was de- 

 nounced for this merciful act by his own party and hailed as ( Cardinal 



