June 23.
Nobody wants a European War. But there are numbers of confusing and contradictory expedients advocated in order to prevent it. Underlying all is fear—one may almost say terror—of the destructive capacity of modern engines of war. No one now is safe, not even the high governmental authorities' who hitherto have teen able to direct hostilities in safety from a distance, Destruction ana loss of Rife on a large scale are not all that feared. Considerable as these "are. bound to be, judging even by the comparatively small instances in the wars now being waged between ill-equipped forces, the widespread alarm and ghastly panic which must ensue from bombardment by highly equipped alr forces may produce unimaginable. results undermining the whole order of our present civilization. tu fact, the nations—indees humanity itselt—is. contemplating its impending doom. Man's ingenuity has far outrun his moral sense and, terror-stricker.. hho watches the development' of the'work of his own hands; not the so-called act, of God—the earthquake, the flood or for' which he has. ly—but a far more de: vaslating scourge which "he has himself Invented and prepared. All defences must be puny and ineffective, and preparations for till greater violence can only add more fud {fo the flames. Salvation can only be found in a supreme moral endeavour to guide m: mind into another direction. This requ greater effort, mora courage and more delermination than appears to bg conceivable, judi. ing by the acquiescent drift towards the abyss which one and all see staring before them.
These words of Lord Ponsonby's introducing fan article in the "Nineteenth Century and After" on "The Present Outlook" is a suMiciently graphic description of what warfare will amount to in the future, and the devastation it may wreak upon civilization, to add point to the important statement which Mr. Neville Chamberlain made on Tuesday, in the House of Commons on the subject of aerial warfare. Not only docs it add point, but it gives very real reasons while the' world should again attempt bring about some international code governing aerial warfare whereby much of its horror may be mitigated.
Students of military science have witnessed a considerable change of opinion regarding warfare since the Great War. It may be perfectly true that, generally speaking, the introduction of new weapons has not meant the fashioning of new laws, but there has been a decided departure from the old concepts of war, and the formulation of brutal doctrines which are given by their! sponsors all the dignity of military necessity. Thus has arisen the theory that in the future not armies but whole peoples will be at war, that it will no longer be necessary (0 differentiate between the soldier and the civilian, and that, based on such: a proposition, the destruction of civilian life in sufficient quantity to strike dismay and demoralization into the enemy is the best means of securing speedy victory. The arrival of the aeroplane has had much to do with the formation of that doctrine, and unfortunately, if it is to be generally accepted, it must carry with it the corollary that the best defence in such a case would be one of reprisal. The bestial picture is thereby conjured up of the armed forces of the nations seeking to wrest victory out of the sufferings they can inflict upon the defenceless civilian. The world has seen enough of this sot of thing in China and Spain to realize what will happen if well-equipped nations enter into conflict. The desolation which has been spread in Spain and China would be as nothing compared with what would be wrought in such cit cumstances, and the time has come for! mankind to take stock of the situation and seek to discover what can be done to prevent the wholesale suicide of a great civilization, It may prove a bootless mission to explore ways and means of preventing war becoming even more horrible than it is at the present time, but there is clearly a duty laid upon the shoulders of statesmen of today to find methods whereby the rule of tooth and claw shall be prevented from again dominating! the world.
Mr. Chamberlain has rightly pointed out that the principles underlying certain rules! of International Law, established for land and marine warfare are applicable to combat in the air. It is wrong to bomb civilians: the only permissible targets must be military objectives capable of: identification as such, and even then reasonable care must be: taken in attacking them. These are inferences to be drawn from the state of! International Law as it at present stands, and, were they generally accepted, there would be little need or the now code which the British Prime Minister contemplates drafting for submission to the rest of the world. "Whatever he may prepare will receive a mixed reception. The new school of military thought, relying upon terrorism' to secure military objectives will naturally oppose being deprived of the most potent! weapon for the prosecution of their policy. Despite all tke object lessons which have' been given, showing that all the needless slaughter which has been brought about by. indiscriminate bombing produces no speedy. demoralizing effect, it is doubtful whether that type of thought would ever permit the rule of law to be applied to the conduct of such warfare, and that thought is justified by the evidence of trends in the opposite direction. That should not be taken as i dicating that no attempt should be made 10) codify laws controlling aerial warfare. The fact that in the past other rules have been more or less observed, suggests that the new ones might secure something of that treat~ ment, though it is by no means sure, should the world ever again embark upon' hosti ties, that either they or their predecessor would stand up long against what might be conceived to be the military necessities of! a given situation. Nevertheless no oppor unity should be missed of reducing the po3- sible inhumaneness of future wars, and, if the nations of the world can be. persuaded to accept such a code as Mr. Chamberlain contemplates, the time may also be not. far' distant when means will be found for coereing transgressors into better ways. Without! some such provision the new code might) prove as valueless as quite a number other international agreements,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.