It has been the custom, among European nations, to treat prisoners of war
liberally, and the expenses of maintaining them are paid by both sides at
the close of the war.
The British Parliament voted, in 1780, to pay forty thousand pounds
sterling to disinfect and improve the prison where the Spanish prisoners
were confined, and where a fatal fever had declared itself. And there are
many instances where European powers have acted kindly and humanely
towards those who had fallen into their power from hazard of battle. War
was declared against states, and not against the individual subjects of
those states.
At all times, kindness to the unfortunate, and hospitality to strangers,
has always been considered as a virtue of the first rank among people
whose manners are simple, and who, uncontaminated by vices of a false and
frivolous civilization, exhibit the natural qualities of the human race.
Even among the darkness of the middle ages kindness was compulsory, and
hospitality enforced by statute, and whoever denied succor to misery was
liable to punishment. "Quicunque hospiti venienti lectum aut focum
negaverit trium solidorum in latione mulctetur." (Leg. Burgund., tit. 38,
Sec. I.)
The laws of the Slavi ordained that the movables of an inhospitable person
should be confiscated, and his house burned.