Foreign enemy

“ Are there in reality any walls too high to be scaled by a valiant enemy? And of what use are ramparts in intestine divisions? They may serve for a defence against sudden incursions from abroad; but it is by courage and prudence chiefly, that the invasions of foreign enemies are repelled ”

“ In fact, if the operation is arranged in a systematic manner, and all the precautions and rules observed as are usual in cases of attacks premeditated against European and civilized establishments, there is no reason to expect any other than a flattering and decisive result, since, in reality, the whole would be directed against an enemy contemptible on account of his barbarism and his comparative ignorance of the art of war. ”

“ According to a group of New England college students, writing in the year 1920, an alien was the following: [Footnote: The New Republic: December 29, 1920, p. 142. ]
"A person hostile to this country."
"A person against the government."
"A person who is on the opposite side."
"A native of an unfriendly country."
"A foreigner at war."
"A foreigner who tries to do harm to the country he is in."
"An enemy from a foreign land."
"A person against a country." etc....
Yet the word alien is an unusually exact legal term, far more exact than words like sovereignty, independence, national honor, rights, defense, aggression, imperialism, capitalism, socialism, about which we so readily take sides "for" ”

“ But with respect to the man who is an alien enemy from what he does under a local or temporary allegiance to a power at war with us—when the allegiance ends, the character of alien enemy ceases to exist. ”

“ Surely sir, if we must be thus rigid in scrutinizing the conduct of an enemy, we ought to be equally careful in not committing ourselves, our honor, and our safety, with an ally who has manifested the same want of respect for the rights of other nations. ”

“ But it will be said they defend the nation from foreign enemies.—Alas, could a foreign conqueror occasion more wretchedness than such defenders?—When he who calls himself my protector has stripped me of my property, and deprived me of my freedom, I cannot return him very cordial thanks, when he tells me, that he will defend me from every other robber. ”

“ Is our country invaded, or even in danger of invasion? Nothing like it. We are spreading all the horrors of war in a foreign country; we are taking the advantage of the weakness and poverty, of the distraction and disorders of a sister republic, to overrun her territory, that we may filch from her a portion of her possessions. ”

“ From the time when International Law made its appearance down to our own no difference has been made by a belligerent in the treatment accorded to subjects of the enemy and subjects of neutral States inhabiting the enemy country. ”

“ The best guarantee against aggression—the best assurance that our diplomacy will be successful and pacific, and that our rights and honor will be respected by other nations, is in their knowledge that we are in a situation to vindicate our reputation and interests. While we may afford to be deficient in the means of defence, we cannot afford to be defenceless. The notoriety of the fact that we have neglected the ordinary precautions of defence invites want of consideration in our diplomacy, injustice, arrogance, and insult at the hands of foreign nations. ”

“ If a neutral tries to send such goods to a state which is at war, they may be seized by the enemy of that state. Nations at war give notice of what kinds of goods they will not allow their enemy to receive. ”

“ In the meantime, you have been all over the world, and it is not too much to say, that you have destroyed, and driven for protection under neutral flags, one half of the enemy’s commerce, which, at the beginning of the war, covered every sea. ”

“ Although we might justly complain of such an unfriendly act in a manner that might injure the friendly relations between the two countries, we do not desire to give any excuse for foreign interference; although we do not hesitate, in case of necessity, to resist it to the uttermost, we have less to fear from a foreign war than any country in the world. ”

“ In war, says Chancellor Kent, every individual of the one nation must acknowledge every individual of the other nation as his own enemy, because the enemy of his country. It reaches to intercourse, transfer or removal of property, to all negotiation and contracts, to all communication, to all locomotive intercourse, to a state of utter occlusion to any intercourse but one of open hostility, and to any meeting but in actual combat. ”

“ Few nations have been able to do as much in so few years, and, that too, in the face of the most violent opposition from a bigoted and intolerant anti-progressive church party, and amidst domestic war, and a merciless and murderous foreign invasion, backed up by the strongest empire, and employing as tools and mercenaries, the scum of all Europe. ”

“ But though that is so, the international forces are real and vital. And it is part of the tragedy of the war that it divides not only nation against nation, but in every man the national against the international mind. ”

“ These foreign lords have told us very fully to what we owe their present kind visit; and they have told us, too, that our country is threatened by ruffianly, contemptible brigands and incendiaries. There is but one thing they have forgotten. I should like to know whether this horde of would-be conquerors have any courage, discipline, or knowledge of war among them. It seems to me important that they should tell us this in their own interests, for it needs no great preparation to scatter a disorderly rabble, but valiant warriors are, of course, another thing. ”

“ When hostilities commence, the first objects that naturally present themselves for detection and seizure are the person and property of the enemy. Even under the International Law of most civilized countries, the legitimacy of appropriating the enemy's property rests on the commencement of the state of war. ”

“ Let us then go forward joyfully to attack the enemy, since it is always the bravest who attack. Break in sunder this alliance of nations which have nothing in common but fear of us. Even before they have met you fear has taught them to seek the higher ground and they are eager for ramparts on these wide plains. ”

“ If a foreign army should land upon our shores, it could not wreak more destruction than this. If such an army should come and any American were found to be giving it aid, he would be called a traitor to his country. Every patriot would rise against such a foe. ”

“ Besides, Madame, they are too far from us to afford immediate relief from the present dangers internally surrounding us. These are the points of fearful import. It is not the threats and menaces of a foreign army which can subdue a nation’s internal factions. ”

“ For which reasons we must esteem it of the greatest importance how we shall, as soon as possible, banish the war from hence to the continent, as this is the only advantage we should reap from the dangers in fighting against one another, namely, if it should seem good to us to employ against, the foreign foe the experience which we have derived from them. ”

“ If the people of that portion of an invaded country which is not yet occupied by the enemy, or of the whole country, at the approach of a hostile army, rise, under a duly authorized levy, en masse to resist the invader, they are now treated as public enemies, and, if captured, are prisoners of war. ”

“ We should do well to consider, before we consent to the condemnation of own institutions, what are the dangers which menace states with ruin or decay. Compare our fate with other countries of Europe during the period of the last century and a half. Not one has been exempt from the miseries of foreign invasion, scarcelyone has preserved its independence inviolate. ”

“ Should we have likewise wily foes, murderous, prowling, savage allies with that enemy behind our borders, — apt for all stratagems, haunting the woods, burning our inner settlements, and inflaming rebellion with untold horrors? ”

“ When two governments, foreign to each other, are at war, or when a civil war becomes territorial, all of the people of the respective belligerents become by the law of nations the enemies of each other. ”

“ I have come to you from the West, where we have always seen the backs of our enemies—from an army whose business it has been to seek the adversary, and beat him when found, whose policy has been attack and not defense. ”

“ They are at present strong enough, they suppose, in their domestic resources, and in the difficulties presented to a hostile force by the nature of the country, to bid defiance to invasion, or, at all events, to inflict a very severe chastisement on the invaders, and their excited manner of speech so acts upon their minds that they begin to think they can defy, not merely the United States, but the world. ”

“ For, according to modern militarism, war aims at annihilation of the enemy, and the enemy includes not only the combatants—these are the least offensive element—but the non-combatants, the men who represent the rival commerce, the women who represent the rival culture, and the men and women who represent codes of honour and humanity which are the beacons of the rival civilisation—at one and all of these, is aimed the blow which is delivered through the medium of the proxies in the field. ”

“ But when he has disposed of foreign enemies by conquest or treaty, and there is nothing to fear from them, then he is always stirring up some war or other, in order that the people may require a leader. ”

“ But as between nations, who can redress themselves only by war, such transfer is in itself an aggression. He who renders me insecure; he who hazards my peace, and exposes me to imminent danger, commits an act of hostility against me, and gives me the rights consequent on that act. ”

“ An alien enemy shall not write, print or publish any attack or threat against the Government or Congress of the United States, or either branch thereof, or against the measures or policy of the United States, or against the persons or property of any person in the military, naval or civil service of the United States, or of the States or Territories, or of the District of Columbia, or of the municipal governments therein. ”

“ The civilized world was horrified by the massacre of foreigners,—men, women, and helpless children,—the destruction of foreign-built railways and property, and finally by the news that one foreign minister had been murdered in a street of the capital, and that all the other diplomatic representatives were besieged in their legations and their lives threatened by a bloodthirsty mob which had overawed or was controlling the imperial government. ”

“ It is external enemies that create and intensify patriotism. Can human beings as a whole organise themselves against war as the enemy with the same thoroughness with which Englishmen organised themselves against Germany as the enemy? ”

“ They do not wish to understand one another. It is a part of the archaic system of defense to maintain an attitude of distrust and misunderstanding and even fear. The fear of the enemy is a protection—against invasion from without [50] and disruption within. Nations do not dare to relinquish their fear of one another, and we see something of this voluntary cherishing of fear and enmity in the present hesitation about entering into leagues on the part of many nations. ”

“ If this influence of the political object is once permitted, as it then must be, there is no longer any limit, and we must be prepared to come down to such warfare as consists in a mere threatening of the enemy and in negotiating. ”

“ All persons in the guise of pretended loyal citizens, acting under false names or other false pretenses, within our lines, and giving aid, arms, ammunition or supplies of any kind whatsoever, or furnishing information to, or communicating with, the enemy, are spies, and are to be taken, condemned, and shot as such. ”

“ Besides, no one should forget that the question: "What nations will be enemies?" depends on political relations, which vary according to unexpected circumstances. Today's enemy may be tomorrow's friend.
The tone, in which of late not only the papers to which we have referred above, but also the newspaper press of the warring nations has written about the enemy, threatens to arouse and to perpetuate the bitterest hatred. ”

“ Every concession that I have made to bring an enemy's forces to our shore has been a denial of that enemy's foresight, knowledge and common sense—qualities in which the German people are not deficient. ”

“ And shall we think the common name of a native country cause sufficient why one race of men should hunt down another race of men, even to extermination; should engage them with each other in a bellum ad internecionem; a war, to cut off, on one side or the other, man, woman and child, and leave not a tongue to tell the tale?
The hostile distinction of different nations as natural enemies, because they are separated by place, and diversified by name, is not enough to satisfy some among the blood-thirsty wretches who delight in war. ”

“ The campaign of systematic untruth which was being waged by the enemy need not for one moment divert the Allies from their line. Honesty had never seemed to the Allies to be an inferior policy. In the second place, French propaganda had taken care to put in a strong light the responsibility for the war. The war, on the part of our enemies, was a war of aggression and the service of a policy of conquest and the enslavement of nationalities. ”

“ The nation which sets out to obtain complete information of her enemy must pry into every neglected corner, fish every innocent pool, and collect a mass of matter concerning the industrial, social and military organization of the enemy which when correlated, appraises her strength—and her weakness. ”

“ I have on several occasions shown how the neutral countries have become the refuge of this European spirit, which seems driven from the belligerent countries by the armies of the pen, more savage than the others because they risk nothing. ”