CHAPTER IX.. The Limits of Military Duties.

THE LIMITS OF MILITARY DUTIES.

The old feeling of the moral stain of bloodshed 250

Military purificatory customs 250

Modern change of feeling about warfare 252

Descartes on the profession of arms 254

The old-world sentiment in favour of piracy 255

The central question of military ethics 257

May a soldier be indifferent to the cause of war? 257

The right to serve made conditional on a good cause 258

By St. Augustine, Bullinger, Grotius, and Sir James Turner 258

Old Greek feeling about mercenary service 260

Origin of our mercenary as opposed to gratuitous service 260

Armies raised by military contractors 261

The value of the distinction between foreign and native mercenaries 262

Original limitation of military duty 264

To the actual defence of the realm 264

Extension of the notion of allegiance 265

The connection of the military oath with the first Mutiny Act 265

Recognised limits to the claims on a soldier’s obedience 266

The falsity of the common doctrine of duty 266

Illustrated by the devastation of the Palatinate by the French 267

And by the bombardment of Copenhagen by the English 268

The example of Admiral Keppel 270

Justice between nations 271

Its observation in ancient India and Rome 271

St. Augustine and Bayard on justice in war 273

Grotius on good grounds of war 273

The military claim to exemption from moral responsibility 276

The soldier’s first duty to his conscience 279

The admission of this principle involves the end of war 280

MILITARY MANNERS AND CUSTOMS.