L A W. 
flifled with the plague, or cany other contagious and mor¬ 
tal difeafe. 2. Private affaffination is alfo againft the rules 
of war; and therefore it is grofs violation thereof to fet 
a price on the head of a commander-in-chief, or other 
enemy of diltinfilion ; unlefs the example has firft been let 
by the enemy. 3. It is alfo againft the laws of maritime 
war, for the commander of a velfel not to hoift the flag 
of his nation before he begins the combat. 4. Among 
the open means, certain arms, the uf'e of which is too 
cruel, and which the objefil of the war does not render ab- 
folutely neceffary, are prohibited ^ thus, for inftance, it is 
contrary to the laws of war to load cannon'with nails, 
pieces of iron, or the like ; to charge a rnufket with two 
balls, or with disfigured or irriguous balls; the firft aug¬ 
menting too much the number of Tufferers, and the lat¬ 
ter wantonly increafing pain. The ufe of red-hot (hot, 
(invented in 1574 at the liege of Dantzic,) of chain and 
bar fhot, of carcafes filled with combuttibles, boiling pitch, 
and. the like, have fometimes been profcribed by particu¬ 
lar conventions between maritime powers; but thole con¬ 
ventions extend no farther than the war for which they 
are made. 
From the moment that war affually begins between one 
ftate and another, all thofe who belong to fitch hoftile 
ftates are enemies, and have a right to aft againft each 
other as fuch; but, their right to wound or kill being 
founded on fel.f-defence, or on the refiftance oppofed to 
them, they cannot with juftice wound or take the life of 
any except thofe who take an afilive part in the war; fo 
that, 1. Children, old men, women, and in general all 
thofe who cannot carry arms, or who ought not to do it, 
are fife under the law of nations, unlefs they have exer- 
cifed afits of violent- againft the enemy. 2. Retainers to 
the army, whole profeflion is not to kill or direflly injure 
the enemy, fuch as chaplains, furgeons, and, to a certain 
degree, drummers, filers, trumpeters, and the like, ought 
not to be wounded or killed deliberately. 3. Soldiers, on 
the contrary, being looked upon as ever ready for defence 
or attack, may at any time be wounded or killed, unlefs 
when it is manifeft that they have not the will, or have 
loft the power, to refill. When that is the cafe; when 
wounded, furrounded, or when they lay down their arms 
and a(k for quarter; in fhort, from the moment they are 
reduced to a ftate in which it is impoffible for them to ex- 
ercife farther violence againft the conqueror, he is obliged, 
by the laws of war, to fpare their lives; except, however, 
1. When fparing their lives would be inconliftent with 
his own fafety, as was the cafe at the battle of Agincourt; 
2. In cafes where he has a right to exercife the talio, or 
to make reprifals for like ails done by the enemy; 3. When 
the crime committed by thofe who fall into his hands juf- 
tifies the taking of their lives. Upon this principle it is 
therefore always jnllifiable to make the vanquifned foldiers 
prifoners of war, and even thole who are not of the military 
profeflion. When the conqueror receives the conquered 
as prifoners of war,"it is conlidered that all hoftilities be¬ 
tween them have ceafed. The conqueror generally keeps 
prifoners of war under a guard, till they are ranfomed, or 
exchanged by cartel, or till the peace. Officers are often 
releafed on their parole^of honour, by which they promile 
not to ferve againft the power which releafes them, for a 
certain time, or during the war; and to appear at an ap¬ 
pointed place as often as they lhall be duly fnmmoned. 
Thofe who, regardlefs of their parole, take up arms, or 
the like, while the convention is obferved on the other 
fide, are looked upon as infamous ; and, if they again fall 
into the hands of the enemy to whom they have given 
their parole, he is not by the laws of war obliged to give 
them quartef. 
Thofe who, unauthorized by their profeffion or the or¬ 
der of their fovereign, exercife hoftilities againft an ene¬ 
my, and fall into the enemy’s hands, have no right to- 
expefil the treatment due to prifoners of war ; the enemy 
is juftifiable in putting them to death as a lawlefs band. 
So alfo foldiers who employ means which are contrary to 
1. 
the laws of war, or who act without orders from their 
chief, may be punilhed in confequence by the enemy. 
"1 hole who, under a lalfe name and difguifed character, 
enter the camp of the enemy, in order to ferve as fpies, 
as was the cafe of major Anuie in the American war, or to 
poifon, aflaffinate, or corrupt, are punilhed by an ignomi¬ 
nious death; being befides looked upon as acting without 
the orders of their fovereign. 
Neither the fovereign nor his family can be looked upon 
as Iheltered, by the law of nations, from the violences of 
the enemy. Thofe of them who bear arms may'be refilled 
or attacked, and confequently wounded or killed ; and 
thofe who do not bear arms may be made prifoners of 
war. However, according to modern warfare, 1. It would 
be againft the laws of war to aim deliberately at the per- 
fon of a fovereign, or of a prince of the blood royal. 2. 
The family of a vanquilhed fovereign is not only treated 
with more tendernefs than other prifoners of war, but is 
ufually exempted from captivity. 3. In general fovereigns 
endeavour to foften the rigours of war in every thing that 
has no influence with refpecl to its fuccefs : thus, for in¬ 
ftance, they grant a free paffage to whatever is intended* 
for each other’s tables ; and lometimes even prefents and 
compliments pals between them, upon the principle, that 
it is their ftates, and not they, that are at war. 
The conqueror has, Unfitly fpeaking, a right to make 
prifoners of war of all the lubjefiis of the hoftile ftate 
that may fall into his power, though they have committed 
no violence againft him; and of courfe he has a right to 
remove them to another country. But, in the prefent 
civilized ftate of warfare, the conqueror generally carries 
his rights in this refpefil no farther than to lubmit fuch 
lubjecls to his domination, to make them lwear fealty to 
him, to exercife certain rights of fovereignty over them, 
fuch as railing and quartering troops among them, making 
them pay taxes and obey his laws, and punifhing as re¬ 
bels all thofe who attempt to betray him or lhake off his 
yoke. 
The intention with which a country or province is 
taken polfelfion of, generally determined the conqueror as 
to the alterations to be made in the form of government, 
if any are intended ; and it is clear, that the conqueror is 
not obliged to preferve the conftitution of a conquered 
country or province, nor to leave the fubjefits in pofleffipn 
of the rights and privileges granted them by their former 
fovereign, unlefs he has made them a promife to that ef¬ 
fect previous to their fubmilfion. 
The conqueror has a right to feize on all the property 
of the enenjy that comes within his power: it matters 
not whether it be moveable or immoveable. Tbefe feizures 
may be made, 1. in order to obtain what he demands as 
his due, or an equivalent; 2. to defray the expenfes of 
the war; 3. to force the enemy to an equitable peace; 4. 
to deter him, or by reducing his llrength hinder him, 
from repeating in future the injuries which have been the 
caule of the war. And, with this lall object in view, a 
power at war has a right to deftroy the property and pof- 
feffions of theenemy, for the exprefs purpofeof doing him 
mifchief. The modern rules of war do not .however per¬ 
mit the deftrufilion of any thing except, 1. Such things 
as the enemy cannot be deprived of by any other means 
than thofe of deftrufilion, and which it is at the fame time 
neceffary to deprive him of. 2. Such things as, after be¬ 
ing taken, cannot be kept, and which if not dellroyed 
might ftrengthen the enemy : thus it is lawful to raze for- 
treffes, fink veffels, fink or fpike cannon, or blow up ma¬ 
gazines. 3. Such things as cannot be preferved without 
injury to the military operations: as, for inftance, it is ge¬ 
nerally acknowledged that no depredations ought to he 
committed on gardens, vineyards, or rhfi like, unlefs it 
be .neceflary to fix a camp in them, and then the obvious 
reafons of war authorize their deftrufilion. To all thefe 
may be added, 4. Whatever is dellroyed by way of reta~- 
liation. 
The victorious fovereign claims the dominion over the 
provinces 
