vour of the modern view being what I have stated it to
be is, indeed, overwhelming; but I should like to call special attention
to the _Manuel de Droit International a l'Usage des Officiers de l'Armee
de Terre_, issued by the French Government, as going even further than
the Brussels Conference in the restrictions which it imposes upon the
levying of requisitions and contributions. The Duke of Wellington, who
used to be thought an authority in these matters, wrote in 1844, with
reference to a pamphlet in which the Prince de Joinville had advocated
depredations on the English coasts:--

"What but the inordinate desire of popularity could have
induced a man in his station to write and publish an
invitation and provocation to war, to be carried on in a
manner such as has been disclaimed by the civilised portions
of mankind?"

The naval historian, Mr. Younge, in commenting on the burning of Paita,
in Chili, as far back as 1871, for non-compliance with a demand for a
money contribution (ultimately reduced to a requisition of provisions
for the ships), speaks of it as "worthy only of the most lawless pirate
or buccaneer, ... as a singular proof of how completely the principles
of civilised warfare were conceived to be confined to Europe."

Such exceptional acts as the burning of Paita, or the bombardment of
Valparaiso, mentioned by Mr. Herries, will, of course, occur from time
to time. My position is that they are so far stigmatised as barbarous by
public opinion that their perpetration in civilised warfare may be
regarded as improbable; in other words, that they are forbidden by
international law.

It is a further question whether the rules of international law on this
point are to be changed or disregarded in future. Do we expect, and are
we desirous, that future wars shall be conducted in accordance with
buccaneering precedent, or with what has hitherto been the general
practice of the nineteenth century? Your naval correspondents incline to
revert to buccaneering and thus to the introduction into naval coast
operations of a rigour long unknown to the operations of military forces
on land; but they do so with a difference. Lord Charles Beresford
(writing early in the controversy) asserts the permissibility of
ransoming and destroying, without any qualifying expressions; while
Admiral de Horsey would apparently only ask "rich" towns for
contributions, insisting also that a contribution must