There is no security for any sovereign, for any nation, or for any
general, if officers are permitted to capitulate in the open field,
and to lay down their arms in virtue of conditions favorable to the
contracting party, but contrary to the interests of the army at large.
To withdraw from danger, and thereby to involve their comrades in
greater peril, is the height of cowardice. Such conduct should be
proscribed, declared infamous, and made punishable with death. All
generals, officers and soldiers, who capitulate in battle to save their
own lives, should be decimated.
He who gives the order, and those who obey, are alike traitors, and
deserve capital punishment.