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straint on the lust of power, done much to check lawlessness and barbarism, even in war. We may now say that the obligation of Treaties is better recognized; that the relations of States have become closer and more friendly; and that if war is still admitted as inevitable, under certain circumstances, it is certainly entered into with more hesitation, whilst every care is taken to circumscribe its limits as much as possible. We have, moreover, some security against a thoughtless recourse to war, in the fact that the leading States are bent upon promoting the economic welfare of their people, and the people themselves are better able to appreciate the great stake they have in the preservation of peace. What we grievously lament is the implicit trust placed on physical force, as a safeguard for the upholding of national rights. The maintenance of large military and naval forces is a disturbing element, which at any moment may place the reign of Law in great jeopardy.

Much has yet to be done before a sound system of public law, both internal and external, can be effectively established. No empire which exists by force can be said to have its public law founded on a solid basis. A low state of political education hinders the extension of a wise and beneficent constitutional system. If the public Law of Europe is ever to deserve the title of model and exemplar for all civilized nations, it must seek to unite the various branches of the family of States by bonds more solid and

lasting than those of conquest; it must provide some other method than war for the settlement of international disputes; it must seek to harmonize the policy of States more with the maxims of philosophers and moralists, and with the precepts of religion and morals, than with the promptings of interest and expediency; it must seek to reverse the old maxim of "Nothing which is useful can be unjust" for the better one of "Nothing can be permanently useful which is unjust."

Jeremy Bentham indicated, as modes of preventing war, the homologation of unwritten laws, which are considered as established by custom, the conclusion of new conventions, and the settlement of new international laws, upon points which remain unascertained, and on which the interests of States are capable of collision. The materials offered in this work will, it is hoped, advance an object so desirable. Remove any uncertainty as to requirements of International Law, and reduce its principles in the form of a Code, if possible authoritatively recognized by all civilized states in the same manner as the "Declaration of Maritime Law" agreed to at the Congress of Paris of 1856, and the Geneva Convention for the amelioration of the condition of the wounded in armies in the field, in 1865; let the principles of International Law be made as accessible and intelligible as possible; let us have, in short, a clear, concise, and systematic Code of the Law of Nations, and we shall not only have taken an

important step towards securing obedience to its dictates, but shall have greatly facilitated the labours of any Tribunal of Arbitration which may hereafter be organized for the settlement of international disputes.

LITERATURE OF INTERNATIONAL LAW.

The following are the principal works on International Law or the Law of Nations :

:

1509-1566. Vasquez, “Controversiæ Illustres."
1588. Gentili, "De Jure Belli."

1619. Suarez, "De Legibus et Deo Legislatore."
1625. Grotius, "De Jure Belli et Pacis."
1650. Dr. Zouch, "Juris et Judicii Fecialis."
1672. Puffendorf, "De Jure Naturæ et Gentium."
1676. Rachel, "De Jure Naturæ et Gentium."

1688. Thomasius, "Institutiones Jurisprudentiæ Divinæ.”
1693. Leibnitz, "Codex Juris Gentium Diplomaticus."
1737. Van Bynkershoek, "Quæstiones Juris Publici."
1748. Vattel, "Droit des Gens."

1749. Wolff, "Jus Gentium."

1754. Dr. Rutherforth, “Institutes of Natural Law."

1757. Hubner, "Essai sur l'Histoire du Droit Naturel."

1763. Burlamaqui, “Droit Naturel et Politique."

1778. Lampredi, "Juris Naturæ et Gentium."

1780. Moser, "Versuch des Neuesten Europaischen Volkerrechts."

1785. Martens, Geo. F., "Primæ Lineæ Juris Gentium Europæorum Pratici."

1795. Azuni, “Sistema Universale de Principii del Diritto Marittimo dell' Europa."

1795. Ward, "History of the Law of Nations."

1803. De Rayneval, "Institutions du Droit de la Nature et

des Gens."

1819. Klüber, "Droit des Gens Moderne de l'Europe."
1836. Wheaton, "Elements of International Law."

1839. Manning, "Commentaries on the Law of Nations."

1844. Heffter, “Das Europäische Völkerrecht der Gegenwart." 1845. Gardner, "Institutes of International Law."

1847. Phillimore, "Commentaries on International Law." 1849. Wildman, "History of International Law."

1851. Reddie, "Inquiries in International Law."

1860. Pierantoni, "Progresso del Diritto Publico delle Genti."

1861. Halleck, "International Law."

1861. Twiss, "Law of ions."

1869. Fiore, "Le Nouveau Droit International Public."

1869. Bluntschli, "Droit International codifié."

1870. Calvo, "Le Droit International."

1872. Field, Dudley, "Outline of an International Code." 1880. Hall, W. E., "International Law."

1882. Lorimer, "Institutes of the Law of Nations."

Martens, "Recueil des Principaux Traités d'Alliance, de Paix, de Trève, de Neutralité, de Commerce, de Limites, d'Échange, etc., conclus par les Puissances de l'Europe tant entre elles, qu'avec les Puissances et États dans d'autres Parties du Monde," 1761 to the present time, continued by Saalfeld, Murhard, Samwell, Hopf, and Stoerk Goettingue. The following treatises on special subjects may also be consulted :—

Neutrality-Gessner, "Le Droit des Neutres sur Mer." 1865.

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Hall, W. E., " Rights and Duties of Neutrals." 1874.
Hautefeuille, "Des Droits et des Devoirs des Nations
Neutres." 1848-9.

Private International Law-Westlake, "A Treatise on Private International Law." 1880.

Extradition "Recueil renfermant in extenso tous les Traités conclus jusqu'à 1 Janviers, 1883, entre les Nations Civilisées," by Kirchner. 1883.

Foreign Judgments-Piggott's "The Law and Practice of the Courts of the United Kingdom relating to Foreign Judgments." 1884.

"Geneva Arbitration Case and Countercase between the United Kingdom and United States of America relating to the Alabama Claims," 1872.

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CHAPTER II.

PROGRESS OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS.

§ 1. FROM ANCIENT TIMES TO THE PEACE OF WESTPHALIA, 1648.

SCARCELY any comparison can be instituted between the present international relations and those which existed among the nations of antiquity, for in olden times States seldom came in contact with one another, except for hostile purposes. International Law, such as is now recognized, is the creation of comparatively recent years; the result of the combined influence of philosophy and ethics, religion and civilization, commerce and political economy, to say nothing of the action of accelerated means of communication, such as railways, steam packets, and electric telegraphs.

In Greece, the few writers on the duties of States towards one another were not jurists or statesmen, but philosophers and moralists, and their doctrines were laid down in too abstract a manner to influence

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