DESERTERS AND RENEGADES
[Sidenote: The Deserter is faithless and the Renegade false.]
The difference between these two is this--the first class are untrue
to the colors, their intention being to withdraw altogether from the
conflict, to leave the seat of war, and, it may be, to escape into a
country outside it; but the second class go over to the enemy in order
to fight in his ranks against their former comrades. According to the
general usages of war, deserters and renegades, if they are caught, are
to be subjected to martial law and may be punished with death.
Although some exponents of the laws of war claim that deserters and
renegades should be handed back to one’s opponent, and on the other
hand exactly the opposite is insisted on by others, namely, the
obligation to accept them--all we can say is that a soldier cannot
admit any such obligation.
[Sidenote: But both may be useful.]
Deserters and renegades weaken the power of the enemy, and therefore to
hand them over is not in the interest of the opposite party, and as for
the right to accept them or reject them, that is a matter for one’s own
decision.