166 ORAL ARGUMENT OF JAMEy C. CARTER, ESQ. 



trust. Of course I do not uieau a trust enforcible in an ordinary 

 judicial tribunal, but a moral trust, and one wliich is, in a manner, 

 enforcible. And we sliall see that tbe law of nature perfectly recog- 

 nizes that trust; for commerce is by the law of nature obligatory. No 

 nation has a right, without sufficient cause, to withdraw itself frpm 

 commercial communication with the rest of the world, and say to the 

 other peoples that it will not afford to them a share of its own bless- 

 ings and benefits. I may read from the authorities collected in a note 

 at page 61 of the printed Argument of the United States. And first a 

 jiassage from a work on the " Rights and Duties of Neutral Nations in 

 Time of War" by M. Hautefeuille (quoting): 



The Sovereign Master of nature did not confine himself to giving a particular dis- 

 position to every man; he also diversified climates and the nature of soils. To each 

 country, to each region, he assigned dift'erent fruits and special productions, all or 

 nearly all of which were suscejitible of being used by man and of satisfying his 

 wants or his pleasures. Almost all regions doubtless produced what was iu(lispeusa- 

 ble for the sustenance of their inhabitants, but not one produced all the fruits that 

 were necessary to meet all real needs, or more particularly all conventional needs. 

 It was, therefore, necessary to have recourse to other nations and to extend com- 

 merce. Man, impelled by that instinct which leads hiui to seek perlection, created 

 new needs for himself as he made new discoveries. He accustomed himself to the 

 use of all the productions of the earth and of its industry. The cotton, sugar, coliee, 

 and tobacco of the New World have become articles of prime necessity for the Euro- 

 pean, and an immense trade is carried on in them. The American, in turn, can not 

 dispense with the varied productions of European manufacture. The development 

 of commerce, that is to say, the satisfaction of man's instincts of sociability and 

 perfectibility, has greatly contributed to connecting all the nations of the universe; 

 it has served as a vehicle, so to speak, for the performance of the duties of human- 

 ity. Commerce is really, therefore, an institution of primitive law; it has its source 

 and its origin in the divine law itself. 



And Vattel on the same subject (p. 62) says: 



Sec. 21. All men ought to find on earth the things they stand in need of. In the 

 primitive state of communion they took them wherever they happened to meet with 

 them if another had not before appropriated them to his own use. The iutroduction 

 of dominion and property could not deprive men of so essential a right, and, conse- 

 quently, it can not take place witliout leaving them, in general, some means of pro- 

 curing what is useful or necessary to theiu. This means commerce; by it every man 

 may still supply his wants. Things being now become property, there is no obtain- 

 ing them without the owner's consent, nor are they usually to be had for nothing, 

 but they may be bouglit or exchanged for other things of equal value. Men are, 

 therefore, nnder an ohJi(jat\on to carry on that commerce with each other if they wish 

 not to deviate from the views of nature, and this obligation extends also to whole 

 nations or states. It is seldom that nature is seen in one place to produce everything 

 necessary for the use of man; one country al)ounds in corn, another iu pastures and 

 cattle, a third in timber and metals, etc. If all those countries trade together, as is 

 agreeable to human nature, no one of them will be without such things as are useful 

 and necessary, and the views of nature, our common mother, will be fnlfilled. Fur- 

 ther, one country is fitter for some kind of jtroducts than for another, as, for 

 instance, fitter for the vine than for tillage. If trade and barter take place, every 

 nation, on the certainty of procuring what it wants, will employ its lands and its 

 industry in the most advantageous manner, and mankind in general prove gainers 

 by it. Such are the foundations of the general obligations incumbent on nations 

 reciprocally to cultivate commerce. 



And I might greatly amplify this. I will read a passage at the bottom 

 of page 62 from Felice on International Commerce (quoting): 



The need of this exchange is based upon the laws of nature and upon the wise 

 arrangement which the Snpreme Being has established in the world, each region and 

 each portion of which furnishes, indeed, a great variety of productions, but also 

 lacks certain things required for the comfort or needs of man; this obliges men to 

 exchange their commodities with each other and to form bonds of friendship, 

 whereas, otherwise, their passions would impel them to hate and destroy each 

 other 



The law of commerce is therefore based upon the obligation under which nations 

 are to assist each other mutually, and to contribute, as far as lies iu tlieir power, to 

 the hai)piness of each other. 



