War and the Law of Nations in the Twentieth Century

Extract

Gentlemen: The address that I am to make, in response to the gracious invitation of our eminent President, on this too burning and too present subject, will be a very simple and a very modest endeavor. Do not expect a doctrinal study, an exposition, or a critical appreciation of the conduct of the belligerents in the struggle that is being so desperately waged on both sides. The time has not yet come to pass reasoned judgment upon the acts which have been committed by certain belligerents and which are of such a nature as to humiliate us as men and to distress us as Frenchmen. I am speaking here in the name of the Institute as a whole. In addition, the Academy of Moral and Political Sciences, which is particularly well qualified in such matters by reason of the nature of its studies, has expressly commissioned me, as one of its members, to lay before you its protest against these abominable acts. Can it be possible that mankind, whom we have considered civilized through the efforts of many centuries, has come to such a pass? I do not wish to say anything of a polemical nature, which is not in keeping in this place and at this time. I wish to confine myself to statements of a purely legal character. The brevity of the exposition may incline you to excuse its dryness.