ARTICLES 23, 25, 27, and 28 are so interesting that they must be quoted _in extenso_:
ARTICLE 23. In _addition to the prohibitions provided by special conventions, it is especially forbidden_:
(a) _To employ poison or poisoned weapons._
(c) _To kill or wound an enemy who, having laid down his arms, or having no longer means of defense, has surrendered at discretion._
(d) _To declare that no quarter will be given._
(e) _To employ arms, projectiles, or material calculated to cause unnecessary suffering._
(f) _To make improper use of a flag of truce, of the national flag, or of the military insignia and uniform of the enemy, as well as the distinctive badges of the Geneva Convention._
(g) _To destroy or seize the enemy's property, unless such destruction or seizure be imperatively demanded by the necessities of war._
(h) _A belligerent is likewise forbidden to compel the nationals of the hostile party to take part in the operations of war directed against their own country, even if they were in the belligerent's service before the commencement of the war._
ARTICLE 25. _The attack or bombardment, by whatever means, of towns, villages, dwellings, or buildings which are undefended is prohibited._
ARTICLE 27. _In sieges and bombardments all necessary steps must be taken to spare, as far as possible, buildings dedicated to religion, art, science, or charitable purposes, historic monuments, hospitals and places where the sick and wounded are collected, provided they are not being used at the time for military purposes._
ARTICLE 28. _The pillage of a town or place, even when taken by assault, is prohibited._
It seems that the men of The Hague, when they wrote those articles, had a sort of prescience of the future cruelties of war and that they wanted to avoid them. Let us see how far they have succeeded.
It was forbidden to employ poison or poisoned weapons. No later than last spring when the Germans evacuated certain parts of the north of France instructions emanating from the German general headquarters were found in the pocket of many German prisoners or on the dead, and those instructions indicated how the water of the wells was to be poisoned: "Such and such a soldier," ran instructions, "will be in charge of the wells, will throw in each one a sufficient quantity of poison or creosote, or, lacking these, all available filth."