Sir,—When Mr. Balfour last night quoted certain articles of the "Instructions for the Government of Armies of the United States in the Field" with reference to guerilla warfare, some observations were made, and questions put, upon which you will perhaps allow me to say a word or two.
1. Mr. Healy seemed to think that something turned [074]upon the date (May, 1898) at which these articles were promulgated. In point of fact they were a mere reissue of articles drawn by the well-known jurist Francis Lieber, and, after revision by a military board, issued in April, 1868 by President Lincoln.
2. To Mr. Morley's enquiry, "Have we no rules of our own?" the answer must be in the negative. The traditional policy of our War Office has been to "trust to the good sense of the British officer." This policy, though surprisingly justified by results, is so opposed to modern practice and opinion that, as far back as 1878-80, I endeavoured, without success, to induce the Office to issue to the Army some authoritative, though simple, body of instructions such as have been issued on the Continent of Europe and in America. The War Office was, however, content to include in its "Manual of Military Law," published in 1888, a chapter which is avowedly unauthoritative, and expressly stated to contain only "the opinions of the compiler, as drawn from the authorities cited."
3. The answer to Sir William Harcourt's unanswered question, "Were there no rules settled at the Hague?" must be as follows. The Hague Convention of 1899, upon "the laws and customs of warfare," ratified by this country on September 4 last, binds the contracting parties to give to their respective armies instructions in conformity with the Règlement annexed to the Convention. This Règlement, which is substantially a reproduction of the unratified projet of the Brussels Conference of 1874, does deal, in Arts. 1-3, with guerilla warfare. It is no doubt highly desirable that, as soon as may be, the drafting of rules in accordance with the Règlement should be seriously taken in hand, our Government having now abandoned its non possumus attitude in the matter. It will, however, be found to be the case, as was pointed out by Mr. Balfour, that the sharp distinction between combatants and non-combatants contemplated by the ordinary laws of war is inapplicable[075] (without the exercise of undue severity) to operations such as those now being carried out in South Africa.
I am, Sir, your obedient servant,
T. E. HOLLAND
Oxford, December 7 (1900).
"Lieber's Instructions," issued in 1863 and reissued in 1898, will doubtless be superseded, or modified, in consequence of the United States having, on April 9, 1902, ratified the Convention of 1899, and on March 10, 1908, that of 1907, as to the Laws and Customs of War on Land.
The answer to Mr. Morley's enquiry in 1900 would not now be in the negative. The present writer's representations resulted in Mr. Brodrick, when Secretary for War, commissioning him to prepare a Handbook of the Laws and Customs of War on Land, which was issued to the Army by authority in 1904. On the instructions issued by other National Governments, see the author's Laws of War on Land, 1908, pp. 71-73.
The answer, given in the letter, to Sir William Harcourt's question must now be supplemented by a reference to the Handbook above mentioned as having contained rules founded upon the Règlement annexed to the Convention of 1899, and by a statement that that Convention, with its Règlement, is now superseded by Conventions No. iv. (with its Règlement) and No. v. of 1907, of which account has been taken in a new Handbook upon Land Warfare, issued by the War Office in 1913.