cherib (705-680 B.C.). First Babylonia was ruled by a brother, then a native Chaldaean was placed on the throne, finally the crown prince was given the kingship. Revolt followed revolt and at length the crown prince was treacherously made captive and carried off to Elam. After superhuman effort, Babylon was captured. The patience of Sennacherib was exhausted. Conciliation and firm rule alike had been futile. Nearly the whole of the reign and much treasure which could ill be spared from an empire already bled to the limit of safety had been wasted in the vain attempt to conciliate the fanatical patriotism of its citizens. The city was utterly destroyed. We need not deny the cruelty with which Babylon was wiped out, neither should we forget that she suffered the same punishment she had so often inflicted upon others. She had been treated with an indulgence without parallel in the history of the ancient orient. She had returned these favors with the worst ingratitude. Even Assyrians who worshipped Babylonian culture must at last conclude that all good Babylonians were long since dead. Those who are acquainted with the classical history will recognize a prototype of the relations between Greece and Rome. To the majority of the Greeks, the liberation proclaimed by Flamininus meant simply the opportunity to irritate Rome with a series of pinpricks. Rome, too, was patient, for she respected Greek culture. Like Assyria, she finally lost her patience and destroyed a great city, Corinth. Here the parallel ends. With all her inconsistencies in foreign policy, Rome knew too much to restore Corinth. Greece realized that she had a master under whose more or less kindly rule she might slowly decay with an honorable old age. Sennacherib had a sentimental son who undid his father's work and rebuilt Babylon. It was only human nature that the Babylonians forgot Esarhaddon but not Sennacherib. To this colossal blunder, Esarhaddon added another when at his death he divided his empire, giving Assyria to Ashur bani apal and Babylonia to Shamash shum ukin. Neither was of more than mediocre ability, and Shamash shum ukin soon came under the control of the Babylonian patriots. Revolt was followed by another siege and capture of the city. Again fortune gave opportunity to Assyria, but Babylon was not destroyed. Had Assyria been more mercilessly consistent, the fall of the Assyrian empire and the rise of the Chaldaean under Nabopolassar and his still more famous son Nebuchadnezzar might have been indefinitely postponed. The Assyrians had developed a splendid imperial organization, the best the world had yet seen. But they had not, save in Sennacherib alone, rulers who had the moral courage to force Babylon to come within the system. Babylon remained an open sore and from this infection of the body politic came destruction so complete that while Babylon is today a household word few indeed realize that at the beginning of the modern provincial system stands the Assyrian government of dependencies. LEGISLATIVE NOTES AND REVIEWS EDITED BY JOHN A. LAPP War Legislation. During the years 1916 and 1917, the congress of the United States and the legislatures of the several states have naturally been very active in the passage of laws designed to place the country in a condition of preparedness to meet the exigencies growing out of the declaration of war against the Imperial German government. The volume of legislation has been extraordinary and covers a wide range of subjects. This article gives a brief review of the military legislation enacted in forty states, including nine sessions of 1916 and thirty-six sessions of 1917. Leaving out of consideration the absent voters acts, designed to apply primarily to soldiers and sailors absent from their states on service, and certain other laws of minor importance, two hundred and twelve separate and distinct laws have been enacted by the forty states reviewed to place the several states on an efficient and adequate war footing. These laws provide for the creation of state councils of defense; the amendment and codification of the general militia laws; the registration of aliens; the repair and construction of armories and barracks; the taking of a census of the military resources of the states; the definition of the crimes of sedition, treason, syndicalism and sabotage; prohibition of the desecration and misuse of the national flag and the national anthem; the introduction of military training in schools and colleges; the conservation, augmentation and distribution of food, fuel and other necessaries of life; requiring the display of flags on school houses and other public buildings; the acceptance by the state of aeroplanes given or donated for the public defense; calling retired officers of the national guard back into active service; the creation, maintenance and equipment of cadet companies; the establishment of home guards; authorizing political subdivisions of the state to extend financial aid to the indigent dependents of enlisted men; the creation of market departments; authorizing the temporary release of men from the national guard and naval militia to work on the farms; modifying the bank acts relative to demand deposits and financial reserves; permitting insurance companies to assume risks involving bombardment and marine losses; creating state police departments; prohibiting the sale of liquor in the vicinity of forts and cantonments; modifying the explosives storage laws; creation of municipal emergency police service; releasing children from school attendance without loss of credit when engaged in farm work; the institution of secret investigations involving the loyalty of persons under suspicion; authorizing the boards of education to close the educational institutions during the continuance of the war; permitting the use of rifle ranges on Sunday for practice shooting; requiring first aid to the injured to be taught in the schools; forbidding the placing or inserting of rock or metallic substances in saw logs; authorizing the governor, as a war measure, to take possession of private property; declaring a moratorium on debts and a stay of proceedings on executions; prohibiting discriminations against persons habited in military uniforms; authorizing the governor to declare successive legal holidays applicable to the whole state or to any part thereof; providing for the leasing of the fishing force to the federal government; prohibiting the hoarding of foodstuffs and the poisoning or contamination of wells or other sources of water supply; the creation of county guards; requiring all able-bodied male persons between certain designated ages, not otherwise employed, to be assigned to public work; exemption of food products from taxation; and the acquiring of plans and specifications of forts, camps and other important military works. State Councils of Defense. California,' Illinois, Maryland,3 Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, Texas,' and West Virginia passed laws creating state councils of defense, consisting of from 7 to 50 members, appointed by the governor, and representing the manufacturing interests, labor, agriculture, stock raising, the Red Cross and relief societies, the physicians, bankers, railroads, engineers, the women and the citizens generally. The board of public works in West Virginia acts as the state council of defense. Appropriations ranging from $50,000 to $750,000 were appropriated to carry on the work. In Indiana a state council of defense was created by executive action after the adjournment of the legislature of 1917 and it is confidently 1 Acts, 1917, p. 24. Acts, 1917, p. 153. 'Acts, Extra Session, 1917, p. 19. 6 Acts, 1917, p. 1184. Acts, Special Session, 1917, p. 59. 7 Acts, Called Session, 1917, p. 9. 4 Acts, 1917, pp. 489 and 606. 8 Acts, Second Extra Session, 1917, p. 34. expected that it will subsequently be placed on a statutory basis and its acts legalized. 9 Militia Laws. Owing to the important changes in the federal military laws of June 3, 1916, it became necessary for the states to make extensive amendments and additions to the laws regulating the organization of the militia. Accordingly new or vitally amended militia laws were enacted in Louisiana, Maryland,10 New Jersey," Nebraska, New York,13 Arizona,14 California,15 Connecticut,16 Florida,1 17 Minnesota, 18 Maryland, 19 Missouri, 20 North Dakota, North Carolina, New Mexico,23 Oklahoma,24 Ohio,25 Oregon,26 Rhode Island," South Carolina, 28 South Dakota,29 Vermont,30 Utah,31 Virginia, 32 Georgia,33 Washington, 34 Wyoming-35 and Indiana.36 Home Guards. The federalization of the national guard left the states without adequate military protection and steps have been taken to create home guards consisting of able bodied male persons not subject to conscription who are required to perform the duties usually discharged by the national guard and whose term of service is for the duration of the war. State defense guards of this kind, possessing a state-wide jurisdiction, have been created in California,37 Illinois, 38 Maine39 and Maryland.40 By a law enacted by the legislature of New York, the board of supervisors of any county may appropriate money for a home defense committee until six months after the close of the war; and any county, city, town or village may provide military equipment and take measures to secure its defense.42 For the purpose 34 Acts, 1917, p. 354. 16 Acts, 1917, p. 2225. 17 Acts, 1917, p. 95. 18 Acts, 1917, p. 318. 19 Acts, Special Session, 1917, p. 66. 20 Acts, 1917, pp. 330 and 418. 21 Acts, 1917, pp. 221 and 225. 22 Acts, 1917, p. 351. 28 Acts, Extra Session, 1917, p. 11. 24 Acts, 1917, p. 358. 25 Acts, 1917, p. 382. 35 Acts, 1917, p. 168. 36 Acts, 1917, p. 41. 39 Acts, 1917, p. 397. 40 Acts, Special Session, 1917, p. 62. 41 Acts, 1917, p. 1551. 42 Acts, 1917, p. 903. |