It was also the Kaiser who said, addressing his soldiers, “You must only have one will, and it is mine; there is only one law, and it is mine.”
And then again, I repeat, it was a Berlin wireless that flashed the official message:—
“The only means of preventing surprise attacks from the civil population has been to interfere with unrelenting severity and to create examples which by their frightfulness would be a warning to the whole country.”
Need we seek further to fix the responsibility?
War Rights.
What are the rights of nations in a state of war? There are first of all the unwritten laws of nations and humanity which need, or should need, no defining amongst civilized peoples. There are also the definite and specific Acts laid down at The Hague Convention, which it was declared by the signatories would not be legitimate in war between civilized nations. Germany was a signatory to The Hague Convention. At this Convention the Powers limited the rights of belligerents in the means to be adopted of injuring the enemy. Here are some of them:—
By Article XXIII. it was especially forbidden:—
“To kill or wound treacherously individuals belonging to the hostile nation or army.
“To kill or wound an enemy who, having laid down his arms, or having no longer means of defence, has surrendered at discretion.
“To declare that no quarter will be given.