On the record
It is perhaps reasonable that, in settling these terms, preponderant weight should have been given to the requirements of belligerents, engaged possibly in a life-and-death struggle.
Said by
Thomas Erskine Holland
Source
gutenberg.orgEditor's note · Context
Holland argues that the needs of belligerents should be prioritized when negotiating terms of peace.
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This being so, it is necessary to recognise also that increased humanity in the mode of making war has in reality followed upon the gradual softening of manners.
I am of opinion that in war, where everything must be individual, the only articles which will prove efficacious are those which are addressed specifically to commanders.
What neutral States would ever take up arms for the sole reason that, two Powers being at war, the 'laws of war' had been violated by one or both of the belligerents?
If in our own day a law recognised by the civilised world forbids, in a general way, the soldier to make booty in warfare on land, we have here a great advance in civilisation, and the jurists have had their share in bringing it about.
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