errant, and more especially the Crusaders, wanted money more than they did slaves, they sold their slaves their freedom; and the practice of releasing prisoners for a ransom was resorted to, and continued to be a law of war until a comparatively modern date, when, with the growth of regular armies, the practice of releasing prisoners on parole became a recognized rule of civilized warfare among Christian nations. It has never, however, been a law of war that the obligation of a prisoner to observe his parole depends upon the assent of his own Government; but, on the contrary, the right of a prisoner to obtain his release from captivity by giving his parole of honor not to serve against his captors until exchanged or otherwise released is derived from the fact that by his captivity he is placed beyond the protection of his Government, and therefore has the right to provide for his own safety by giving the requisite pledge, and all civilized nations recognize the binding force of that pledge or parole.
The rule is laid down by Vattel, pp. 414 and 415, as follows:
"Individuals, whether belonging to the army or not, who happen singly to fall in with the enemy are, by the urgent necessity of the circumstance, left to their own discretion, and may, so far as concerns their own persons, do everything which a commander might do with respect to himself and the troops under his command. If, therefore, in consequence of the situation in which they are involved, they make any promise, such promise (provided it do not extend to matters which can never lie within the sphere of a private individual) is valid and obligatory, as being made with competent powers. For, when a subject can neither receive his sovereign's orders nor enjoy his protection, he resumes his natural rights, and is to provide for his own safety by any just and honorable means in his power. Hence, if that individual has promised a sum for his ransom, the sovereign, so far from having the power to discharge him from his promise, should oblige him to fulfil it.
"The good of the State requires that faith should be kept on such occasions, and that subjects should have this mode of saving their lives or recovering their liberty.
"Thus, a prisoner who is released on his parole is bound to observe it with scrupulous punctuality, nor has the sovereign a right to oppose such observance of his engagement; for had not the prisoner thus given his parole he would not have been released."
The same doctrine is laid down by publicists generally.
The question of exchange of prisoners is a matter for agreement between the opposing powers, but the question of the parole is not. The paroles stipulated for in the cartel of July, 1862, were paroles with a view to subsequent exchange, and the stipulation did not create the right of a prisoner of war to be released from captivity on his parole, that existed prior to and independent of the cartel. It existed by virtue of a "higher law" [if I may be permitted to use a phrase so much in vogue in former times among those who now attach so much importance to unwavering fidelity to the Con-
