Certain requirements of the manual might be impossible of realisation; for instance, the identification of the slain after a great battle.

Other requirements would be open to criticism did not the intercalation of such words as 'if circumstances permit,' 'if possible,' 'if it can be done,' 'if necessary,' give them an elasticity but for which the bonds they impose must be broken by inexorable reality.
"I am of opinion that in war, where everything must be individual, the only articles which will prove efficacious are those which are addressed specifically to commanders.

Such are the rules of the manual relating to the wounded, the sick, the surgeons, and medical appliances.

The general recognition of these principles, and of those also which relate to prisoners, would mark a distinct step of progress towards the goal pursued with so honourable a persistency by the Institut de Droit International.
"COUNT VON MOLTKE, Field-Marshal-General." PROFESSOR BLUNTSCHLI'S REPLY TO COUNT VON MOLTKE Sir,--In accordance with a wish expressed in several quarters, I send you, on the chance of your being able to make room for it, a translation of Professor Bluntschli's reply to the letter from Count von Moltke which appeared in _The Times_ of the 1st inst.
Your obedient servant, T.E.HOLLAND.
Oxford, February (1881).
"Christmas, 1880.
"I am very grateful for your Excellency's detailed and kind statement of opinion as to the manual of the laws of war.

This statement invites serious reflections.