War should be made a crime, and those who instigate it should be punished as criminals.

Taken at face value, the line argues for a radical shift in international norms: war should not be treated as a legitimate instrument of policy but as an illegal act, with personal accountability for leaders who initiate it. The emphasis on punishing “those who instigate it” anticipates later ideas of individual criminal responsibility for aggressive war (as opposed to merely condemning states). In that sense, the quote aligns with 20th‑century efforts to “outlaw war” and to frame aggression as a prosecutable offense, a concept that would later surface in international criminal law debates. Without a verified occasion or text, however, it is difficult to determine whether Hughes meant this as a concrete legal proposal, a moral exhortation, or a rhetorical statement in a particular political context.