Deb. xxviii. p. 1,163. If civil war or internal commotion prevails in a State, and menaces the tranquillity or interests of another State, in a substantial, distinct, and immediate manner, that latter State may interfere with amicable negotiations, or even with arms; and when two States are at war, other States may interfere in a similar manner for the purpose of preserving the balance of power, should it in reality be menaced. See Canning's Despatch, March 31, 1823. Ann. Reg. 1823. Pub. Doc., 140. * *Sir SHERSTON BAKER's Edition of Halleck's Intern. Law. Vol. I, note on page 83. 166 CHAPT. XXIV. CHAPTER XXIV. THE LAWS OF PEACE. Settlement of International Differences. Amicable § 155. The accidental or momentary disturb- The phenomena of physical and ances which are often observed in the economical moral varieties system of nature, both in the physical and in the Nature. moral organism, are those phenomena, caused by occasional perturbations in the regular operation of the Laws of Nature, which are called variations. They are observable through all stages of creation (§ 1), from inorganic matter up to the social organism of man, which latter, as noted above (§2), is governed by the Moral Law of Nature. The variations in the dominion of the Moral Law of Nature produce the phenomena which we call the Spirit of Law, as described above in paragraphs 10-15.* The causes of disturbances in the physical laws, or, in other words, of varie * The Moral Law of Nature, being the perfect harmony of Justice and Benevolence, represents a state of perfection which the rules regulating the social relations of men, in the actual development of their Moral-Mental organism, have naturally not yet reached. These rules, which are called Law (jus, droit, Recht), represent the basis on which societies of human beings are founded in their actual state of development, and, having grown out of the influence of the Moral Law of Nature on the Moral Mental organism of man, but moulded by the actual imperfect state of that organism, they can be regarded as a variation of the said law of Nature. It is this variation of the Moral Law of Nature, in which we cannot fail to recognize the Spirit of the Law of Nature, which is described above (§§ 10-15) under the name of Spirit of Law, ties in species, are often hidden to our senses; in fact, of laws of variation the naturalist knows next to nothing; the inadequacy of his physical senses to perform proper observations among the milliards of active factors which cause the deviation of some particularly conspicuous physical law into the channel of another or several other laws combined, will remain a serious impediment to natural science, notwithstanding the most skilful contrivances made to bring to perfection the test of experiments. Under these circumstances our perception of physical causes must necessarily be deficient. This is however not the case, to the same extent, with regard to our conception of moral perturbations, provided we try to discover the causes of the variations of the Moral Law of Nature through our moral senses Conscience and Sympathy (§ 2), which, when combined, represent in our mind this Law of Nature, and form our judgment through genuine common sense, which is Reason and Feeling combined, as described above in paragraphs 2-15. The moralist who accepts the Moral-Mental organism as part of the economical system of Nature, will not fail to obtain, through a well developed moral common sense, a sufficiently clear conception of the causes of the variations of the Moral Law of Nature called Spirit of Law and International Spirit of Law (§§ 11 & 15), for, judging the history of mankind through that genuine common sense, he will easily comprehend the immediate factors which produced these variations. * *La perturbation accidentelle et momentanée de l'harmonie qui doit présider à tout systême régulier, est un fait de l'ordre physique et de l'ordre moral. Ce fait s'observe dans la matière inerte et dans les corps organisés, chez les êtres animés dépourvus de raison, et chez l'homme, être essentiellement raisonable. Dans l'ordre physique, la . XXIV 155 We have noted above, in paragraph 18, how civilized States, in their mutual intercourse in time of war as well of peace, invariably appeal to public opinion for the justification of their acts and how it is proved by history that civilized Nations of all ages have recognized the Moral Law to be binding upon them as the basis of mutual duties, however poorly the state of the Spirit of Law, which governed those mutual duties, might now appear to us by the light of a progressing civilization. This Spirit of Law, emanating from the Moral Law of Nature, of which it is the manifestation in the practical life of Nations as well as individuals, shows itself in different aspects, not unlike the different varieties of species produced in the sphere of the physical laws, which are caused by the manifold influences of social life at every stage on the road to civilization made by the subject whose immanent phenomenon it is (§ 11). the Moral Law Differences, disputes and war between Nations Monstrosities of or States are abnormal variations of the Spirit of of Nature. Law, or in other words of the natural law which governs social relations. They are not natural varieties of the Moral Law of Nature but simply irregular perturbations of that law, which, as all other deformed products of Nature are called monstrosities; the degree of monstrosity being defined by the greater or lesser deviation from the respective Spirit of Law, which latter, as noted above, is a natural variety of the Moral Law of Nature. découverte des lois qui président à cette pertubation est souvent un problème insoluble pour la raison de l'homme; les effets se percoivent, tandis que les causes demeurent cachées. Dans les institutions humaines de l'ordre moral, l'interruption de l'harmonie prend sa source dans le conflit des intérêts individuels, dans l'antagonisme des droits de chacun et des obligations ou devoirs qui repondent à ces droits. ORTOLAN. Diplomatie de la Mer. Edit. 1864. Vol. II. p. 2 Cause et objet de la guerre. The intermediate state between . XXIV In international jurisprudence, as in civil jurisprudence, a distinction must be made between the rights of parties and the legal means they employ to maintain and justify these rights and for the termination of the differences. Justice and Benevolence, which are the two elements of the Moral Law of Nature, are ever influencing the human mind, to bring the latter in harmony with that Law of Nature. The standard by which the rights of parties must be regarded by an unbiassed mind can therefore not be disputed; it is the means of adjudication which constitute the difference between civil and international jurisprudence. But as between independent Nations or States, there is no supreme judge on earth, their differences or disputes, when not capable of being settled by amicable arrangement,-compromise, arbitration or other means of rectification through the Moral Law of Nature, are apt to throw them back into that state of semi-barbarism in which only brute force constitutes an acknowledged verdict, that is, into a state of war.* In the first instance, the rules applied in order to arrive at a solution of the question in a peaceable way are called the laws of peace, while in the other instance, when parties have drifted into a state of mutual violence, this state is yet subjected, as far as possible, to certain rules of restraint acknowledged by International Law, which are called laws of war. There is however an intermediate condition bepeace and war. tween peace and war, a medium state, in which a crisis is formed by the alternative of adopting the one or the other course. In this state arbitrary acts are often committed, by one or both of * G. F. DE MARTENS. Vol. II. p. 19. KLUBER. Précis de Droit des Gens, Edit. Vergé. 1858, |