[75] The want of an adequate authorization led in 1874 to the shooting of the Prussian newspaper correspondent Captain Schmidt by the Carlists, which raised a great outcry. Schmidt was armed with a revolver, with maps of the seat of war, and also with plans and sketches of the Carlists’ positions, as against which he had only an ordinary German passport as a Prussian Captain and was seized within the Carlists’ outpost, and since he could not defend himself, verbally, on account of his ignorance of the Spanish language, he was convicted as a spy by court-martial and shot.
[76] In the Egyptian Campaign in 1882 the English War Office published the following regulations for newspaper correspondents. [The translator does not think it necessary to reproduce these.]
[77] In Turkey, in place of the Red Cross a red half-moon was introduced, and was correspondingly respected by the Russians in the campaign of 1877. Japan, on the contrary, has waived its original objection to the cross.
[78] That in the war of 1870 the Red Cross was frequently abused on the French side is well known, and has been the subject of documentary proof. The escape of Bourbaki from Metz, under cover of the misuse of the Geneva Convention, proves that even in the highest circles people were not clear as to the binding obligation of International Regulations, and disregarded them in the most frivolous manner.
[79] [But the English legislature has, by the Geneva Convention Act, 1911 (1 and 2 Geo. V, c. 20) made it a statutory offense, punishable on summary conviction by a fine not exceeding £10, to use the heraldic emblem of the Red Cross or the words “Red Cross” for any purpose whatsoever, if the person so using it has not the authority of the Army Council for doing so.—J. H. M.]
[80] How different the conditions of capitulation may be the following examples will show:
Sedan: (1) The French army surrender as prisoners of war. (2) In consideration of the brave defense all Generals, Officers, and Officials occupying the rank of Officers, will receive their freedom so soon as they give their word of honor in writing not to take up arms again until the end of the war, and not to behave in a manner prejudicial to the interests of Germany. The officers and officials who accept these conditions are to keep their arms and their own personal effects. (3) All arms and all war material consisting of flags, eagles, cannons, munitions, etc., are to be surrendered and to be handed over by a French military commission to German commissioners. (4) The fortress of Sedan is to be immediately placed at the disposition (of the Germans) exactly as it stands. (5) The officers who have refused the obligation not to take up arms again, as well as the troops, shall be disarmed and organized according to their regiments or corps to go over in military fashion. The medical staff are without exception to remain behind to look after the wounded.
Metz: The capitulation of Metz allowed the disarmed soldiers to keep their knapsacks, effects, and camp equipment, and allowed the officers who preferred to go into captivity, rather than give their word of honor, to take with them their swords, or sabers, and their personal property.
Belfort: The garrison were to receive all the honors of war, to keep their arms, their transport, and their war material. Only the fortress material was to be surrendered.
Bitsch (concluded after the settlement of peace): (1) The garrison retires with all the honors of war, arms, banners, artillery, and field pieces. (2) As to siege material and munitions of war a double inventory is to be prepared. (3) In the same way an inventory is to be taken of administrative material. (4) The material referred to in Articles 2 and 3 is to be handed over to the Commandant of the German forces. (5) The archives of the fortress, with the exception of the Commandant’s own register, are left behind. (6) The customs officers are to be disarmed and discharged to their own homes. (7) The canteen-keepers who wish to depart in the ordinary way receive from the local commandant a pass viséd by the German local authorities. (8) The local Commandant remains after the departure of the troops at the disposal of the German higher authorities till the final settlement; he binds himself on his word of honor not to leave the fortress. (9) The troops are transported with their horses and baggage by the railroad. (10) The baggage left behind in Bitsch by the officers of the 1st and 5th Corps will be sent later to an appointed place in France, two non-commissioned officers remain to guard it and later to send it back under their supervision.