“The Pirates”
Sir,—Would it not be desirable, in discussing the execrable tactics of the German submarines, to abandon the employment of the terms “piracy” and “murder,” unless with a distinct understanding that they are used merely as terms of abuse?
A ship is regarded by international law as “piratical” only if, upon the high seas, she either attacks other vessels, without being commissioned by any State so to do (nullius Principis auctoritate, as Bynkershoek puts it), or wrongfully displaces the authority of her own commander. The essence of the offence is absence of authority, although certain countries, for their own purposes, have, by treaty or legislation, given a wider meaning to the term, e.g., by applying it to the slave-trade. “Murder” is such slaying as is forbidden by the national law of the country which takes cognizance of it.
In ordering the conduct of which we complain, Germany commits an atrocious crime against humanity and public law; but those who, being duly commissioned, carry out her orders, are neither pirates nor murderers. The question of the treatment appropriate to such persons, when they fall into our hands, is a new one, needing careful consideration. In any case, it is not for us to rival the barbarism of their Government by allowing them to drown.
I am, Sir, your obedient servant,
T. E. HOLLAND
Oxford, March 13 (1915)