§ XXIX
The Sacred Bond of Good Faith in War
The king must keep his word to enemies, for the law of nations is a sacred bond that requires complete good faith and humanity even in war.
Have you kept your word to your enemies when it comes to terms of surrender, prisoner-exchange agreements, and the like?1 ? There are laws of war that must be upheld just as scrupulously as the laws of peace. Even in wartime, there remains a law of nations that is the very foundation of humanity itself.2 It is a sacred, inviolable bond among peoples that no war can break; otherwise war would be nothing but inhuman brigandage, a perpetual succession of treasons, assassinations, abominations, and barbarities.3 You must do to your enemies only what you believe they have a right to do to you. There are acts of violence and wartime ruses that are mutual and that each side expects. For everything else, complete good faith and full humanity are required.
No Repaying Fraud with Fraud
It is not permitted to break one's word or repay fraud with fraud, even when the enemy has done so.
It is not permitted to repay fraud with fraud. It is not permitted, for example, to give your word intending to break it, just because others gave you their word and then broke it.
Equal Submission to the Laws of War
The most powerful prince must submit equally to the common laws of war, just as a player observes the rules of a game, and should take pride in being the most faithful in following them for the protection of his people.
Besides, during a war between two nations independent of each other, the noblest or most powerful crown must not exempt itself from submitting equally to all the common laws of war.4 A prince who plays a game with a townsman must observe all the rules of the game just as carefully as the townsman does; as soon as he plays with him, he becomes his equal—for the game alone.5 The highest and most powerful prince should take pride in being the most faithful in following every rule—for the contributions that shield his peoples from captures, massacres, and fires; for cartels; for capitulations; and so on.67
Read the original French
Avez-vous été fidèle à tenir parole à vos ennemis pour les capitulations, pour les cartels, etc. ? Il y a les lois de la guerre qu'il ne faut pas garder moins religieusement que celles de la paix. Lors même qu'on est en guerre, il reste un certain droit des gens qui est le fonds de l'humanité même. C'est un lien sacré et inviolable entre les peuples, que nulle guerre né peut rompre; autrement la guerre ne seroit plus qu'un brigandage inhumain, qu'une suite perpétuelle de trahisons, d'assassinats, d'abominations et de barbaries. Vous ne devez faire à vos ennemis que ce que vous croyez qu'ils ont droit de vous faire. Il y a les violences et les ruses de guerre qui sont réciproques, et auxquelles chacun s'attend. Pour tout le reste, il faut une bonne-foi et une humanité entière.
Il n'est point permis de rendre fraude pour fraude. Il n'est point permis, par exemple, de donner des paroles en vue d'en manquer, parce qu'on vous en a donné auxquelles on a manqué ensuite.
D'ailleurs, pendant la guerre entre deux nations indépendantes Tune de l'autre, la couronne la plus noble ou la plus puissante ne doit point se dispenser de subir avec égalité toutes les lois communes de la guerre. Un prince qui joue avec un bourgeois ne doit pas moins observer que lui toutes les lois du jeu; dès qu'il joue avec lui, il devient son égal, pour le jeu seulement. Le prince le plus élevé et le plus puissant doit se piquer d'être le plus fidèle à suivre toutes les règles pour les contributions qui mettent ses peuples à couvert des captures, des massacres et des incendies; pour les cartels, pour les capitulations, etc.
Notes
- 1 ↩French cartels here means wartime agreements between belligerents, especially for the exchange of prisoners—not modern commercial cartels. Capitulations means articles or terms of surrender.
- 2 ↩droit des gens is the traditional law of nations (ius gentium), the shared moral-legal bond among peoples, not mere positive statute.
- 3 ↩Normalized reading treats né as a typesetting error for ne in nulle guerre ne peut rompre; seroit is older orthography for serait.
- 4 ↩Source reads "Tune de l'autre"; translated as the standard French "l'une de l'autre" ("of each other" / "one of the other"), treating "Tune" as a likely OCR/print corruption of "l'une".
- 5 ↩"bourgeois" rendered as "townsman" (period sense: a non-noble townsman/burgher), not modern class-political "bourgeois".
- 6 ↩"se piquer d'être" rendered as "take pride in being" (make a point of / pride oneself on), preserving the honorable self-regard Fénelon urges rather than mere boastfulness.
- 7 ↩"contributions" kept as the period military term for regulated war levies that protect a population; "cartels" = formal agreements (especially for prisoner exchange); "capitulations" = surrender terms.
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