The modern prisoner of war is much more fortunate than his proto type of early times. Historical records show that prisoners of war were at one time barbarously treated and then executed. In the Boman era they were made to pass under the yoke and were then sold es slaves or retained as such by their captors. At a later date a system of ransom was instituted and exchanges were also made. Officers of various ranks were equivalent to stipulated numbers of the rank and file; for instance convention, concluded between England and France in 1780, set out that a Marechal of France and an Admiral of England were equivalent to sixty common soldiers or sailors, who, in turn, were valued at one pound sterling each, so that a Marechal or an Admiral could be exchanged for a ransom of More recently the practice o* ransom fel] into disuse and exchanges took place. Still later a practice grew up of releasing officers, and sometimes men as well, on parole,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.