The Morality of War

Abstract

HE Treaty of Paris and the President's Naval program have focused the Nation's thought on peace, or, perhaps to be more precise, on the avoidance of war. Yet, because of the diametrically opposed methods of approach used in them, and because of the exaggerated claims which are sure to be set forth by the proponents and antagonists of these measures, the exact status of war, from a moral viewpoint, may be greatly clouded. Hence in this paper we purpose to examine the question of war and to determine the conditions justifying or condemning this instrument of nations. "War is a contention carried on by force of arms between sovereign states, or communities having in this regard the right of states." That war is not instrinsically wrong is evident both from the Divine Positive Law and from the Natural Law. For John the Baptist, in his instruction to the soldiers, says nothing about laying down their arms; which certainly he would have said if war were never justifiable before God. Furthermore, the Natural Law confers on nations the moral powers necessary to the purpose of the nation; viz., to obtain its corporate rights and the rights of its citizens. To forbid it the use of coercion in maintaining intact and inviolable these rights would be to label the end and duties of the nation meaningless, since each nation, being supreme in its temporal affairs, is without a superior to which it can appeal. "The right of self-defense is part of the law of our nature·, and it is the indispensable duty of civil society to protect its members in the enjoyment of their rights, both of person and property."8 Nations may surrender a part of this right by pacts and treaties, but it is only with the consent of the individual nations that international courts may exercise this right, as in the nation alone does the Natural Law implant this right. But of more practical importance than the fact that war is.