peace,-it was judicially determined, that the possession of the vessel by an American cruiser was a lawful possession, and that the British recaptor could not, after the peace, lawfully use force to divest this lawful possession. The restoration of peace put an end, from the time limited, to all force; and then the general principle applied, that things acquired in war remain, as to title and possession, precisely as they stood when the peace took place. The uti possidetis is the basis of every treaty of peace, unless the contrary be expressly stipulated. Peace gives a final and perfect title to captures without condemnation, and as it forbids all force, it destroys all hope of recovery, as much as if the captured vessel was carried infra præsidia and judicially condemned (h). Things stipulated to be restored by the treaty, are to be restored in the condition in which they were first taken, unless there be an express provision to the contrary; but this does not refer to alterations which have been the natural effect of time, or of the operations of war. A fortress or town is to be restored as it was when taken, so far as it still remains in that condition when the peace is concluded. There is no obligation to repair, as well as restore, a dismantled fortress or a ravaged territory. The peace extinguishes all claim for damages done in war, or arising from the operations of war. Things are to be restored in the condition in which the peace found them; and to dismantle a fortification or waste a country after the conclusion of peace, and previously to the surrender, would be an act of perfidy. If the conqueror has repaired the fortifications, and reestablished the place in the state it was in before the siege, he is bound to restore it in the same condition. But if he has constructed new works, he may demolish them; and, in general, in order to avoid disputes, it is advisable to stipulate in the treaty precisely in what (h) Valin, Traité des Prises, ch. 4, §§ 4, 5. Emerigon, Traité d'Assurance, ch. 12, § 19. Merlin, Répertoire de Jurisprudence, tom. ix. tit. Prise Mari- $550. Breach of the treaty. condition the places occupied by the enemy are to be restored (i). The violation of any one article of the treaty is a violation of the whole treaty; for all the articles are dependent on each other, and one is to be deemed a condition of the other. A violation of any single article abrogates the whole treaty, if the injured party so elects to consider it. This may, however, be prevented by an express stipulation, that if one article be broken, the others shall nevertheless continue in full force. If the treaty is violated by one of the contracting parties, either by proceedings incompatible with its general spirit, or by a specific breach of any one of its articles, it becomes not absolutely void, but voidable at the election of the injured party. If he prefers not to come to a rupture, the treaty remains valid and obligatory. He may waive or remit the infraction committed, or he may demand a just satisfaction(k). Treaties of peace are to be interpreted by the same rules with other treaties. Disputes respecting their meaning or alleged infraction may be adjusted by amicable negotiation between the contracting parties, by the mediation of friendly powers, or by reference to the arbitration of some one power selected by the parties. This latter office has recently been assumed, in several instances, by the five great powers of Europe, with the view of preventing the disturbance of the general peace, by a partial infraction of the territorial arrangements stipulated by the treaties of Vienna, in consequence of the internal revolutions which have taken place in some of the States constituted by those treaties. Such are the protocols of the conference of London, by which a suspension of hostilities between Holland and Belgium was enforced, and terms of separation between the two countries proposed, which, when accepted by both, became (i) Vattel, Droit des Gens, liv. iv. ch. 3, § 81. (k) Grotius, de Jur. Bel. ac. Pac. lib. ii. cap. 15, § 15; lib. iii. cap. 19, § 14. Vattel, liv. iv. ch. 4, §§ 47, 48, 54. the basis of a permanent peace. The objections to this species of interference, and the difficulty of reconciling it with the independence of the smaller powers, are obvious; but it is clearly distinguishable from that general right of superintendence over the internal affairs of other States, asserted by the powers who were the original parties to the Holy Alliance, for the purpose of preventing changes in the municipal constitutions not proceeding from the voluntary concession of the reigning sovereign, or supposed in their consequences, immediate or remote, to threaten the social order of Europe. The proceedings of the conference treated the revolution, by which the union between Holland and Belgium, established by the Congress of Vienna, had been dissolved, as an irrevocable event; and confirmed the independence, neutrality, and state of territorial possession of Belgium, upon the conditions contained in the Treaty of the 15th November, 1831, between the five powers and that kingdom, subject to such modifications as might ultimately be the result of direct negotiations between Holland and Belgium (7). In the same way the Great Powers, signatories of the Berlin Treaty, intervened to regulate the state of affairs caused by the revolutionary union of Eastern Roumelia with Bulgaria in 1885 (m); and compelled Greece to preserve the peace the year following (n). (1) Wheaton's Hist. Law of Nations, pp. 538-555. (m) [Ante, § 70j.] (n) [Ante, § 70 k. See further ante, Part II. ch. 1; Lawrence, Essay V.] APPENDIX A. ENGLISH AND AMERICAN NATURALIZATION ACTS. I. ENGLISH ACTS.-33 & 34 VICT. c. 14. An Act to amend the Law relating to the legal condition of Aliens and WHEREAS it is expedient to amend the law relating to the legal condition of aliens and British subjects: Be it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows: 1. This Act may be cited for all purposes as Act, 1870." 66 The Naturalization Short title. Status of Aliens in the United Kingdom. 2. Real and personal property of every description may be taken, Capacity of acquired, held, and disposed of by an alien in the same manner in all an alien as to respects as by a natural-born British subject; and a title to real and property. personal property of every description may be derived through, from, or in succession to an alien, in the same manner in all respects as through, from, or in succession to a natural-born British subject: Provided, (1.) That this section shall not confer any right on an alien to hold real property situate out of the United Kingdom, and shall not qualify an alien for any office or for any municipal, parliamentary, or other franchise : (2.) That this section shall not entitle an alien to any right or privilege as a British subject, except such rights and privileges in respect of property as are hereby expressly given to him: (3.) That this section shall not affect any estate or interest in real or personal property to which any person has or may become entitled, either mediately or immediately, in possession or expectancy, in pursuance of any disposition made before the passing of this Act, or in pursuance of any devolution by law on the death of any person dying before the passing of this Act. divest them 3. Where Her Majesty has entered into a convention with any Power of foreign State to the effect that the subjects or citizens of that State who naturalized have been naturalized as British subjects may divest themselves of their aliens to status as such subjects, it shall be lawful for Her Majesty, by Order in selves of their Council, to declare that such convention has been entered into by Her status in Majesty; and from and after the date of such Order in Council, any certain cases. person being originally a subject or citizen of the State referred to in such Order, who has been naturalized as a British subject, may, within |