92 THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. 



down in the declaration of St. Petersburg in 1868, and the Dunl 

 Dum bullet now used by British troops, with its softened point, very 

 nearly trespasses upon the forbidden ground. The history of red- 

 hot shot, and even of our familiar bayonet, is too long to be set out 

 here, but the wonder is that torpedoes, et hoc genus omne, has not 

 been met with harsher criticism than they have. Presently we shall 

 hear of a declaration pronouncing illegal the recent alleged invention 

 of Tesla, who proposes to launch a stream of electricity against the 

 enemy's fleet which shall render forever useless the employment of 

 iron-clads. The general rule then of modern warfare is that the 

 mode of carrying on the war shall cause no greater harm to the 

 enemy than the necessity requires for bringing him to time. 



The Geneva convention of 1864 is the farthest as well as the 

 most recent point of advance reached by a convention of nations, 

 unless, indeed, the conference to be held at The Hague results in 

 some definite scheme of arbitration to mitigate the sufferings of war. 

 Space will not permit me to say much about prisoners and the mode 

 in which captured enemies receive quarter, nor can I do more than 

 touch upon spies, though a chapter might be written upon the fine 

 distinction between ordinary spies, double spies, spies of distinction, 

 and spies by compulsion, and the measure of punishment awarded 

 to each. Suffice it to say that it is legitimate to employ spies, but 

 to be a spy is regarded as dishonorable, and if caught he may be 

 punished with the ignominious death of hanging. 



A strong inclination was shown by the Germans during the war 

 of 1870 to treat as spies persons passing over the German lines in 

 balloons, but the essence of secrecy or disguise was not here present, 

 and accordingly we find that their treatment as spies was forbidden 

 in the proposed declaration of Brussels, and that their right to be 

 treated as prisoners of war is affirmed in the French official manual 

 for the use of military officers. War balloons proved such a disas- 

 trous failure at the seige of Santiago that their use will probably be 

 now confined to making observation out of reach of the enemy's fire. 



The mitigation of war also appears in the treatment of the inno- 

 cent inhabitants of belligerent towns. Formerly they were put to 

 death irrespective of sex or age ; nowadays such a course would 

 raise a storm of indignation, and we were accordingly somewhat 

 amused by the terror of the American seaport towns which, though 



