622 NON-INTERVENTION AMONG NATIONS, THE PRINCIPLE OF. 



BEGINNING OF THE SCIENCE. The latest of 

 Italian writers assumes that the science of in- 

 ternational law really began to exist after the 

 Peace of "Westphalia in 1648, and was one of 

 the fruits produced by the changes made under 

 the religious revolution of the preceding cen- 

 tury.* The emancipation of humanity from 

 Catholic theocracy placed man at the head of 

 secular affairs, and released his free-will from 

 all restraints except those which were approved 

 by his personal reason. This constituted lib- 

 erty as an essential right of human personality. 

 " In fact, a man is not a person if he is not 

 free; and Aristotle called slaves half-men, be- 

 cause they are deprived of personal liberty.! 

 Liberty, however, we do not understand in the 

 cloudy sense given it by many philosophers. 

 In our meaning, liberty is that which was de- 

 fined by the great Revolution of France in the 

 last century ; it consists in doing all that is not 

 injurious to others. And so long as one man 

 does not impair the liberty of another man, so 

 long does he exercise his right ; for right, ac- 

 cording to us, is the assemblage of those condi- 

 tions under which the free-will of every one 

 may co-exist with the free-wills of all the 

 others. Now, because the state, as Plato used 

 to say, is man considered on a grand scale, the 

 same principles, which do for individuals, do 

 for states; and international law is nothing 

 else than a system of principles by the means 

 of which the free-will of one state may co-exist 

 with the free-wills of the other states ; in other 

 words, it is the right of nature applied to the 

 mutual relations of states among themselves. 

 According to our view^ the state is the people 

 organized to unity : Civitas, as Cicero said, est 

 constitute populi ; populus autem est, non 

 omnis coetus quoquo modo congregatm, sed coe- 

 tus multitudinis juris consensu et utilitatis 

 communione sociatus. Hence it is natural that 

 in every state there should be a suprema po- 

 testas which governs the multitude, a sover- 

 eign power which is the expression of the will 

 of the organized multitude. Now, when a state 

 is governed by a supreme power which habit- 

 ually exercises its sovereignty over the people 

 without being subject to any foreign control, 

 then there is autonomy and independence, 

 which consists in a spontaneous, habitual, and 

 complete sovereignty.! Any one, therefore, 

 who will meddle in the internal affairs of a 

 state violates its independence and autonomy; 

 non-intervention, therefore, as a principle, is 

 nothing else than the respect due to the inde- 

 pendence and autonomy of states. And as 

 personal liberty is for the individual, so inde- 

 pendence is for a state the most precious good. 

 Without this there can be neither moral dignity 

 nor power, nor prosperity, nor glory in the 

 state, nor respect for it on the part of others. 

 A state without independence is a carcass a 

 body in which life is wanting. Non-interven- 



* " Eivista Europea," April 1, 18S2. p. 58. 

 t Ibid., March, p. 1003. 



$ On the import of independence, see Austin's " The Prov- 

 ince of Jurisprudence Determined," Lecture vi. 



tion, therefore, as a principle, is just and lawful, 

 because it is the observance of the liberty of 

 states ; wherefore it must be scrupulously re- 

 spected, even when to violate it might be ad- 

 vantageous ; for justice must at all times prevail 

 over utility ; and, besides, history informs us 

 that the violation of justice, although it may 

 have been profitable for a short time, has ulti- 

 mately proved detrimental. For us, therefore, 

 utility has a value only when it is supported 

 by justice. Consequently, every independent 

 state is free to do at home what it pleases; 

 and, even if it violates justice, provided its acts 

 do no injury to others, it is fully sovereign, 

 because there is no power superior to states, 

 and no state has the mission of executing the 

 avengements of justice, outside the limits of its 

 own territory." 



EXPLANATION. A few words in explanation 

 are necessary to set forth the view here pre- 

 sented. The writer says: "Now, because the 

 state, as Plato used to say, is man considered 

 on a grand scale, the same principles which do 

 for individuals, do for states; and interna- 

 tional law is nothing else than a system of 

 principles by the means of which the free-will 

 of one state may co-exist with the free-wills 

 of the other states ; in other words, it is the 

 law or right of nature applied to the mutual 

 relations of states among themselves." 



The prime natural rights of man are life, 

 liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and "for 

 the protection of these rights governments 

 are instituted." * That is, among the highest 

 rights of man, is the right to his life, and to 

 the safety and liberty of his person. This 

 right is often designated as sacred ; as if it 

 were, on the one hand, a possession of the 

 highest value to the individual, and, on the 

 other, beyond the reach of violability by any 

 one. The man has the universally recognized 

 right of peaceable possession and enjoyment, 

 which is attended by the corresponding duty 

 obligatory upon every other man, not to inter- 

 fere with or disturb this possession. But the 

 right of peaceable and secure possession on his 

 part is a right of non-interference and non- 

 intervention as regards all others. For right, 

 says this writer, " is the assemblage of those 

 conditions under which the free-will of every 

 one may co-exist with the free-wills of all the 

 others." Therefore the right of non-inter- 

 ference and non-intermeddling by others is no 

 less a right than that of peaceable and secure 

 enjoyment, if, indeed, the one expression is 

 not the equivalent of the other. 



SOURCE OF THE PRINCIPLES. Now it is from 

 this source that the writer derives the princi- 

 ples of international law ; or, rather, with 

 him, these are the principles of that science. 

 He says : " The same principles which do for 

 individuals, do for states; and international 

 law is nothing else than a system of principles 

 by the means of which the free-will of one 

 state may co-exist with the free-wills of the 

 * American Declaration of Independence, 1776. 



