Lord Kitchener also announced that it would be necessary for
the Allies in self-defence to employ gases against those who had begun to use them in violation of the rules of war and of their own solemn pledge. Unless our men also need gas they would be at "an enormous and unjustifiable dis- advantage." The British and French Governments were agreed on this subject. As there has been some criticiam in advance of the employment of gas by the Allies, it may be as well to point out that there is no question here of a "reprisal" as generally understood. What we mean by a reprisal—a thing wrong in itself and futile as a policy—is the penalizing of A for the fault of B. The objection to the use of gas in the past was not that it was more inhumane than shells, but that the Powers at the Hague had promised not to use it. The British and American representatives at the Hague thought it a mistake arbitrarily to limit the applications of science to warfare, but Germany approved of this particular restriction. All the Powers therefore signed the gas regula- tion. Now that Germany has broken her promise we are of course released from ours.
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