We could see the man who carried the flag of truce attempting to hold Silver back.
The gesture was equivalent to a flag of truce in civilized warfare.
When a messenger that he had sent under flag of truce was killed, his troops burnt the Summer Palace to the ground.
Brown was furious that the crowd outside had refused to honor his white flag of truce earlier in the day. He told Sinn that his men could have killed unarmed men and women, but did not do so.
The present rule is that a belligerent may not declare beforehand, even for a specified period-except in case of reprisal for abuses of the flag of truce-that he will not receive parlementaires.