§ 52. All intercourse between the inhabitants of territories occupied by
belligerent armies, whether by traffic, by letter, by travel, or in any
other way, ceases. This is the general rule, to be observed without
special proclamation.
Exceptions to this rule, whether by safe-conduct, or permission to trade
on a small or large scale, or by exchanging mails, or by travel from one
territory into the other, can take place only according to agreement
approved by the government, or by the highest military authority.
Contraventions of this rule are highly punishable.
§ 53. Ambassadors, and all other diplomatic agents of neutral powers,
accredited to the enemy, ought to receive safe-conducts through the
territories occupied by the belligerents, unless there are military
reasons to the contrary, and unless they may reach the place of their
destination conveniently by another route. It implies no international
affront if the safe-conduct is declined.
§ 54. If a person belonging to the territory of the enemy, occupied by a
hostile army, gives information to the enemy, unauthorized to do so by
the occupying or conquering authority, such person is either a spy or
traitor, and in either case is punished with death.
§ 55. A spy is a person who secretly, in disguise or under false
pretence, seeks information with the intention of communicating it to
the enemy, or who causes others to do so.
The spy is punished with death by hanging by the neck, whether or not he
succeeded in obtaining the information, or in conveying it to the enemy.
§ 56. If a citizen of the United States obtains information in a
legitimate manner, and betrays it to the enemy, be he a military or
civil officer, or a private citizen, he is a traitor, and is condemned
to death.
§ 57. All unauthorized and secret communication with the enemy, is
considered treasonable by the Law of War.
§ 58. A messenger carrying despatches, in whatever form, from one
portion of the army, or from a besieged place, to another portion of the
same army, or its government—if captured while doing so, in the enemy’s
territory, or in the territory occupied by the enemy, is treated by the
capturing enemy as a spy.
The same fate awaits such messenger, although he may not have any
written despatch about him, when it can be proved that he is the carrier
of verbal messages.
This does not apply to armed troops, ready to fight their way through,
although they may carry messages.
§ 59. If it be discovered, and fairly proved, that a flag of truce has
been abused for the surreptitious obtaining of military knowledge, the
bearer of the flag thus abusing his sacred character, is deemed a spy.
So sacred is the character of a flag of truce, and so necessary is its
sacredness, that while its abuse is an especially heinous offence, great
caution is requisite, on the other hand, in convicting the bearer of a
flag of truce of this crime, and in punishing him accordingly.
§ 60. The Law of War, like the Criminal Law regarding other offences,
makes no difference on account of the difference of sexes, concerning
the spy, the traitor, or the war-rebel.
§ 61. Spies, traitors, and war-rebels are not exchanged according to the
common law of war.
The exchange of such persons would require a special cartel, authorized
by the President of the United States, or, at a great distance from the
United States, by the chief commander of the army in the field.