[Footnote 1: _Vide_ Sir T. Barclay, "Laws of War" (_Encyc. Brit._).
Even rebels, when fighting for a political object, are, according to high authorities like Bluntschli and Fiore, entitled to belligerent rights, and must not be treated as a "crowd of criminals" (eine Masse von Verbrechern).
_Cf._ Bluntschli (Das moderne Völkerrecht VIII. 512).--Wird sie dagegen nur strafrechtlich verfolgt, so wird dadurch der tatsächliche Kampf verwildert und es ist Gefahr dass die beiden streitenden Parteien in die Barbarei versinken und einander mit grausamen Represalien zu überbieten suchen. What a prophetic picture of Ireland in 1921!]
(2) As far as can be gathered from the White Book, the _francs-tireurs_ who fired on Belgian troops were, even when caught _flagrante delicto_, usually accorded a drum-head court-martial or summary trial. But many instances have occurred in Ireland when unarmed men have been shot dead in or near their homes and sometimes in their beds, without even the semblance of a trial.
(3) Military reprisals in Belgium were, at any rate, regular in one respect: they were carried out under orders. According to the "Manual of Military Law," compiled for the use of our own Army, no reprisals are legitimate unless ordered by an officer. It is obvious that in very many cases Irish reprisals have been executed by the rank and file on their own responsibility, in total disregard of military discipline, but with complete immunity from punishment. Certain of these reprisals, _e.g._, the shooting down of men, women and children at Croke Park, far exceed in atrocity anything proved against the Germans in Belgium.
(4) Although houses were frequently destroyed by the Germans the pretext in every case was that from these houses civilians had fired upon the troops. No parallel, as far as I can see, exists for the amazing Order issued in Cork to the effect that houses with their furniture are to be burnt because the occupants "must have known of ambushes" in the neighbourhood and "ought to have informed the authorities." Nor again is any parallel found in the White Book to the reckless destruction in Cork of public and private buildings, including the Free Library, as a reprisal for an ambush outside the city, or for the burning of creameries, factories, farms and haystacks in a general campaign of vengeance. It seems clear that fresh precedents are here established which are certainly not covered by the rules of civilised warfare, and run counter to the ordinary laws of reason and humanity.