increase the wealth of that district. But the United States are not at war with literature in that part of their territory. The case of the pictures of the Philadelphia Academy of Fine Arts, liberated by a British Colonial Prize Court in the war of 1812, the prior proceedings in France mentioned in the report of that case, and the French and other decisions upon cases of fishing vessels, are precedents for the decree which I am about to pronounce. Without any such precedents, I would have had no difficulty in liberating these books.

"Whereupon it is ordered, adjudged and decreed, that the said two cases of books be liberated from the custody of the marshal, and delivered to the said John Pennington.'

(Philadelphia Reports Containing the Decisions published in the Legal Intelligencer [Philadelphia, 1863], vol. IV, pp. 417-18.)

FRANCE PROTESTS TO NEUTRALS THE DESTRUCTION OF RHEIMS CATHEDRAL (1914)

THE French Foreign Office has forwarded to neutral Governments a protest against the German bombardment of the Cathedral of Rheims, couched in the following terms:

"Without being able to invoke even the appearance of military necessity, and for the mere pleasure of destruction, German troops have subjected the Cathedral of Rheims to a systematic and furious bombardment. At this hour the famous basilica is but a heap of ruins.

"It is the duty of the Government of the republic to denounce to [sic] universal indignation this revolting act of vandalism, which, in giving over to the flames this sanctuary of history, deprives humanity of an incomparable portion of its historic patrimony."

(Textual extract from New York Times, September 22, 1914.)

THE BURNING OF LOUVAIN LIBRARY (1914)

"AT nightfall on the 26th August the German troops, repulsed by our soldiers, entered Louvain panic-struck. Several witnesses affirm that the German garrison which occupied Louvain was erroneously informed that the enemy were entering the town. Men of the garrison immediately marched to the station, shooting haphazard the while, and there met the German troops who had been repulsed by the Belgians, the latter having just ceased the pursuit. Everything tends to prove that the German regiments fired on one another. At once the Germans began bombarding the town, pretending1 that civilians had fired on the troops, a suggestion which is contradicted by all the witnesses, and could scarcely have been possible, because the inhabitants of Louvain had had to give up their arms to the Municipal Authorities several days before. The bombardment lasted till about 10 o'clock at night. The Germans then set fire to the town. Wherever the fire had not spread the German soldiers entered the houses and threw fire-grenades, with which some of them seem to be provided. The greater part of the town of Louvain was thus a prey to the flames, particularly the quarters of the upper town, comprising the modern buildings, the ancient Cathedral of St. Pierre, the University Buildings, together with the University Library, its manuscripts and collections, and the Municipal Theatre.

"The Commission considers it its duty to insist, in the midst of all these horrors, on the crime committed against civilization by the deliberate destruction of an academic library which was one of the treasures of Europe."

(Extract from the English translation of the Second Report [August 31, 1914] of the Belgian Commission of Inquiry.)

1 Erroneous translation of the original "prétendant," which really means “claiming."

(c) Restrictions upon barbaric and unscientific warfare

RUSSIANS ACCUSED OF SUBORNING ASSASSINATION

(1914)

Baron von Giesl to Count Berchtold

[Telegram]

AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN ARMY HEADQUARTERS,

Oct. 24th, 1914.

The

ARMY headquarters makes the following announcement: Methods of Russian warfare are once more illustrated. Russians have promised a reward of 80,000 roubles for capture or assassination of one of our army leaders. This explains the murderous attempt upon the life of one particular general, which fortunately failed.

(From the Collection of Evidence [concluded January 31, 1915] published by the Austro-Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs [English edition], p. 59.)

RUSSIAN TROOPS DON CHINESE COSTUMES (1904)

In an official statement of October 19, 1904, the Japanese Government made the following complaint of the use of Chinese costumes by Russian troops and asked the Unites States to transmit their protest:

"In a report from the Commander-in-Chief of the Manchurian Armies the fact is mentioned that on the 4th of October, 1904, a body of infantry belonging to the 3d Russian Regiment of Sharpshooters, all wearing Chinese costumes, attacked our forces on the road to Mukden. It is also reported that of late Russian soldiers clad in Chinese costumes have often approached our forces, and even attempted surprises. Moreover, according to different reports recently received, the Russian Army is said to be purchasing, even now, an enormous number of Chinese costumes.1

1 Lieutenant-Colonel Walter S. Schuyler, American Military Attaché with the Russian Army, makes the following remark in his report:

"... Pending the arrival of clothing from Russia, it was necessary to issue to the men cotton coats and quilts of Chinese manufacture. In many cases also soldiers found it necessary to wear Chinese shoes while awaiting the arrival of boots.

"It is generally admitted that combatants who are not attired in proper uniform can be punished as offenders of the rules of war, and should they take part in the actual fighting without wearing their proper uniform, not only is their action a violation of international usages, as well as an unlawful act contrary to the meaning of Art. XXIII of the Convention concerning the Laws and Customs of War on Land, but it will prove a source of great calamity to the innocent Chinese, who will thus be exposed to danger, owing to the impossibility of distinguishing from a distance between Russian soldiers and the real Chinese.

"Consequently the Imperial Government has deemed it necessary to call the attention of the Russian Government to such unlawful action on the part of the Russian Army, and has instructed H. I. J. M. Minister at Washington to take, through the United States Ambassador at St. Petersburg, the necessary steps to that effect."

In a note of October 18, 1904, Mr. Hay, Secretary of State, informed the Japanese representative that a copy of his note had been transmitted to the American Chargé d'Affaires at St. Petersburg with appropriate instructions.

(See Takahashi: International Law applied to the Russo-Japanese War [New York, 1908], pp. 174-75.)

GERMAN MEMORIAL REGARDING THE EMPLOYMENT OF COLORED TROOPS (1915)

"BERLIN, July 30th, 1915.

"In the present war England and France have not relied solely upon the strength of their own people, but are employing large numbers of colored troops from Africa and Asia in the European This was the clothing complained of by the Japanese in dispatches published from time to time in the press, but there never was, as far as I could observe, any attempt at disguising Russian soldiers nor any possibility of mistaking them for Chinese. The coats issued were of gray color, and not of the blue ordinarily worn by the Chinese. It would be a dull eye that would mistake a Russian soldier for a Chinese at any distance, even in these garments. The supplies of winter clothing arrived during the months of October and November in large quantities from Russia, and their issue was speedily made."

(Extract from Reports of Military Observers attached to the Armies in Manchuria during the Russo-Japanese War [Washington, 1906], part 1, p. 144.)

arena of war against Germany's popular army. Gurkhas, Sikhs and Panthans, Sepoys, Turcos, Goums, Moroccans, and Senegalese fill the English and French lines from the North Sea to the Swiss frontier. These people, who grew up in countries where war is still conducted in its most savage forms, have brought to Europe the customs of their countries; and under the eyes of the highest commanders of England and France they have committed atrocities which set at defiance not only the recognized usages of warfare, but of all civilization and humanity.

"The documents contained in the appendix are only a selection from the comprehensive material at hand illustrating the barbarous behavior of the mercenary colored troops of England and France. They contain exclusively the sworn testimony of approved witnesses, and also extracts from diaries and letters of citizens of hostile countries.

"From the documents it is evident that the colored Allies employed by England and France upon the European arena of war have the barbarous practice of carrying with them as war-trophies the severed heads and fingers of German soldiers, and wearing as ornaments about their necks ears which they have cut off (Appendix 1 to 7). On the battlefields they creep up stealthily and treacherously upon the German wounded, gouge their eyes out, mutilate their faces with knives, and cut their throats. Indian troops commit these atrocities with a sharp dagger which is fastened in the sheath of their side-arms. Turcos, even when wounded themselves, creep around on the battlefield and like wild beasts murder the defenceless wounded (Appendix 7 to 14).

"It is incomprehensible that commanders of French troops, who are aware of this savagery and cruelty of the colored Senegalese, should allow German wounded prisoners to be escorted by these people and in this way give the Senegalese an opportunity to murder German soldiers (Appendix 7, 15). But every civilized man must feel the deepest indignation that the French military authorities have not scrupled to set these savages to guard innocent women who had the misfortune to be staying in France at the outbreak of the war, and to expose them to their animal passions (Appendix 16).

"The laws of nations do not, indeed, expressly prohibit the