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receive the bearer of a flag of truce, and may take necessary measures to prevent injury on account of his presence. He may be blindfolded, detained at an outpost, or be put under other restrictions. If the bearer take advantage of his privilege to spy upon the enemy, he is liable to treatment as a spy, though he may report such military information as he may acquire without effort on his own part. If a bearer present himself during active operations, firing need not necessarily cease, and the bearer is liable to such consequences as his act may bring upon himself.

"In operations afloat the senior officer alone is authorized to dispatch or to admit communication by flag of truce; a vessel in position to observe such a flag should communicate the fact promptly. The firing of a gun by the senior officer's vessel is generally understood as a warning not to approach nearer. The flag of truce should be met at a suitable distance by a boat or vessel in charge of a commissioned officer, having a white flag plainly displayed from the time of leaving until her return."1

(b) Cartels are agreements made to regulate intercourse during war. Such conventions may regulate postal and telegraphic communication, the reception of flags of truce, the exchange of prisoners, the care and treatment of the same and of the sick and wounded.

A cartel ship is a vessel sailing under a safe-conduct for the purpose of carrying exchanged prisoners. When thus employed the vessel is not subject to seizure, although this exemption does not extend to a voyage from one port to another in her own state for the sake of taking on prisoners. The immunity is lost if the

1 "International Law," Naval War College, 2d ed., p. 93.

vessel departs from the strict line of service by engaging in ordinary commerce, transportation, or hostile acts.1 Such a vessel may carry one gun for the purpose of salutes.

(c) Passports, safe-conducts, and safeguards are sometimes given in time of war.

A passport is a written permission given by the belligerent government or by its authorized agent to the subject of the enemy state to travel generally in belligerent territory.

A safe-conduct is a pass given to an enemy subject or to an enemy vessel, allowing passage between defined points. Safe-conducts are granted either by the government or by the officer in command of the region within which it is effective.2

A safeguard is a protection granted by a commanding officer either to person or property within his command. "Sometimes they are delivered to the parties whose persons or property are to be protected; at others they are posted upon the property itself, as upon a church, museum, library, public office, or private dwelling."3 When the protection is enforced by a detail of men, this guard must use extreme measures, if necessary to fulfill their trust, and are themselves exempt from attack or capture by the enemy.

(d) A license to trade is a permission given by competent authority to the subject of that authority or to another to carry on trade even though there is a state of war. These licenses may be general or special. A general license grants to all the subjects of the 1 The "Venus," 4 C. Rob., 355. 2 Appendix, p. 352. 82 Halleck (3d ed.), 325.

enemy state or to all its own subjects the right to trade in specified places or in specified articles. A special license grants to a certain person the right to trade in the manner specified in his license. Neutrals may receive a license to trade in lines which otherwise would not be open to them.

A general license is granted by the head of the state. A special license may be granted by a subordinate, valid in the region which he commands so far as his subordinates are concerned. His superior officers are not necessarily bound by his act, however.1

It is held that a license must receive a reasonable construction. In general, fraud vitiates a license; it is not negotiable unless expressly made so; a fair compliance in regard to the terms as to goods is sufficient; a deviation from the prescribed course invalidates the license unless caused by stress of weather or by accident; and a delay in completing a voyage within the specified time invalidates the license unless caused by enemy or the elements.2 When a license becomes void, the vessel is liable to the penalties which would fall upon it if it had committed the act without license.

(e) The cessation of hostilities for a time is sometimes brought about by agreement between the parties to the conflict. When this cessation is for a temporary or military end, and for a short time or within a limited area, it is usually termed a suspension of hostilities. When the cessation is quite general, for a considerable time, or for a political end, it is usually termed a truce or armistice.

1 The "Sea Lion," 5 Wall., 630. 2 Hall, § 196, pp. 575–578.

Acts of hostility done in ignorance of the existence of the cessation of hostilities are not violations of the agreement unless there has been negligence in conveying the information to the subordinates. Prisoners and property captured after the cessation in a given region must be restored. During the period of the truce, the commercial and personal intercourse between the opposing parties is under the same restrictions as during the active hostilities, unless there is provision to the contrary in the agreement. The relative position of the parties is supposed to be the same at the end of the truce as at the beginning.

Hall says, "The effect of truces and like agreements is therefore not only to put a stop to all directly offen sive acts, but to interdict all acts tending to strengthen a belligerent which his enemy, apart from the agreement, would have been in a position to hinder.”1 Acts which the enemy would not have been in a position to hinder, even in the absence of a truce, are not necessarily interrupted by the agreement.2

The provisioning of a besieged place during a truce has been the subject of some difference of opinion. If the conditions of the truce are to be fair to the besieged party, that party must be allowed to bring in a supply of provisions equal to the consumption during the continuance of the truce. At the present time this matter is usually provided for in the terms of the

truce.

A truce or other form of cessation of hostilities, if for a definite time, comes to an end by the expiration of the 1 § 192, p. 565. 2 2 Halleck (3d ed.), 314 et seq. 8 Calvo, "Droit Int.," §§ 2440-2446.

time limit; if for an indefinite time, by notice from one party to the other, or is terminated by the violation of the conditions by either of the parties. A violation of a truce by an individual renders him liable to such punishment as his state may prescribe.1

(f) A capitulation is an agreement defining the conditions of surrender of military forces, places, or districts within the command of an officer. Such agreements are purely military and can have no political force. The capitulation agreed upon between Generals Sherman and Johnston, in 1865, was not sanctioned because it involved political provisions. By the capitulation of Santiago, July, 1898, the American commander agreed to transport the Spanish troops to Spain. The conditions involved in a capitulation may vary greatly, but at the present time it is usually possible to obtain the sanction of the political authority before entering upon an agreement, owing to the improved methods of communication. It is therefore hardly probable that the terms of capitulations will be set aside, as in the celebrated case of El Arisch, in 1800.2 Agreements made by officers not possessing proper authority or made in excess of authority, are called sponsions or sub spe rati, and require ratification or acceptance by the state to render them effective.3

12 Halleck (3d ed.), 310 et seq. 2 Lawrence, p. 453.
3 See 1 Halleck (3d ed.), 277.

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