The Debate on Aeronautics
Sir,—It is not to be wondered at that the Chairman of Committees declined to allow yesterday’s debate on aviation to diverge into an enquiry whether the Powers could be induced to prohibit, or limit, the dropping of high explosives from aerial machines in war time. The question is, however, one of great interest, and it may be desirable, with a view to future discussions, to state precisely, since little seems to be generally known upon the subject, what has already been attempted in this direction.
In the Règlement annexed to The Hague Convention of 1899, as to the “Laws and Customs of War on Land,” Art. 23, which specifically prohibits certain “means of injuring the enemy,” makes no mention of aerial methods; but Art. 25, which prohibits “the bombardment of towns, villages, habitations, or buildings, which are not defended,” was strengthened, when the Règlement was reissued in 1907 as an annexe to the, as yet not generally ratified, Hague Convention No. iv. of that year, by the insertion, after the word “bombardment,” of the words “by any means whatever,” with the expressed intention of including in the prohibition the throwing of projectiles from balloons.
The Hague Convention No. ix. of 1907, also not yet generally ratified, purports to close a long controversy, in accordance with the view which you allowed me to advocate, with reference to the naval manoeuvres of 1888, by prohibiting the “naval bombardment of ports, towns, villages, habitations, or buildings, which are not defended.” The words “by any means whatever” have not been here inserted, one would incline to think by inadvertence, having regard to what passed in Committee, and to the recital of the Convention, which sets out the propriety of extending to naval bombardments the principles of the Règlement (cited, perhaps again by inadvertence, as that of 1899) as to the Laws and Customs of War on Land.
But the topic was first squarely dealt with by the first of the three Hague Declarations of 1899, by which the Powers agreed to prohibit, for five years, “the throwing of projectiles and explosives from balloons, or by other analogous new methods.” The Declaration was signed and ratified by almost all the Powers concerned; not, however, by Great Britain.
At The Hague Conference of 1907, when the Belgian delegates proposed that this Declaration, which had expired by efflux of time, should be renewed, some curious changes of opinion were found to have occurred. Twenty-nine Powers, of which Great Britain was one, voted for renewal, but eight Powers, including Germany, Spain, France, and Russia, were opposed to it, while seven Powers, one of which was Japan, abstained from voting. The Japanese delegation had previously intimated that, “in view of the absence of unanimity on the part of the great military Powers, there seemed to be no great use in binding their country as against certain Powers, while, as against the rest, it would still be necessary to study and bring to perfection this mode of making war.” Although the Declaration, as renewed, was allowed to figure in the “Acte final” of the Conference of 1907, the dissent from it of several Powers of the first importance must render its ratification by the others highly improbable; nor would it seem worth while to renew, for some time to come, a proposal which, only two years ago, was so ill received.
I may perhaps add, with reference to what was said by one of yesterday’s speakers, that any provision on the topic under discussion would be quite out of place in the Geneva Convention, which deals, not with permissible means of inflicting injury, but exclusively with the treatment of those who are suffering from injuries inflicted.
I am, Sir, your obedient servant,
T. E. HOLLAND
Oxford, August 3 (1909).