NATIONS. 



141 



for very cogent reasons, as it necessarily involves 

 much personal suffering, and many private as well 

 as public sacrifices. No man can look upon the con- 

 flicts of armies and navies, the pillage of cities, the 

 devastation of provinces, and the destruction of pro- 

 perty and of life, which it unavoidably involves, 

 without feeling that a deep moral responsibility 

 attaches upon the nation which undertakes it. 

 Defensive wars are necessarily justifiable from the 

 fact, that they involve the existence or safety of the 

 nation and its interests. But offensive wars are of a 

 very different character, and can be justified only in 

 cases of aggravated wrongs, or vital injuries. 2. In 

 respect to the mode of declaring war. It may be 

 formal, as by a public declaration, or informal, as by 

 actual hostilities. In modern times, nations are 

 accustomed, generally, to make a public declaration, 

 and to justify themselves before the world, by a 

 manifesto of their reasons. 3. The effects of a 

 declaration of war. The first effect is tot put all the 

 subjects of each of the nations in a state of hostility 

 to each other. All public and all private social inter- 

 course are suspended between them. They are not 

 at liberty to engage in trade, or commerce, or con- 

 tract with each other ; and they retain the character 

 of enemies, in whatever country they may be found. 

 In the next place, all the property belonging to each 

 is deemed hostile. If it be personal property, it 

 may be captured as prize ; if lands, it may be seized, 

 and confiscated, at the pleasure of the sovereign ; if* 

 it be merely in debts or stock, it may, in the extreme 

 exercise of the laws of war, be equally liable to con- 

 fiscation. In general, each nation restrains the right 

 to make captures, and to carry on hostilities, to such 

 persons as are in public employment, or to such as 

 receive a public commission for this purpose. Mere 

 private warfare is not allowed, except under many 

 restrictions. Thus the usual modes of carrying on 

 war are by armies, navies, and privateers, acting 

 under the immediate authority of the government. 

 4. But, although the extreme rights of war are thus 

 rigorous and oppressive, there seems no reason to 

 exclude, even between enemies, the common duties 

 of humanity. While the battle rages, indeed, every 

 thing but slaughter and victory are forgotten. But, 

 as soon as it is over, the conquerors are bound to 

 treat the wounded with kindness, and the prisoners 

 with a decent humanity. And they who knowingly 

 offend, in these cases, are guilty of a gross violation 

 of duty in the eyes of God and man. And there are 

 some things which seem positively prohibited from 

 their cruelty and brutal barbarity ; such are the 

 violation of female captives, the torturing of prison- 

 ers, the poisoning of wells, the use of inhuman instru- 

 ments of war. 5. In time of war, there is occasion- 

 ally an intercourse between the belligerents, which 

 should always be held sacred. Thus the granting of 

 passports, and ransom of prisoners and property ; the 

 interchange of prisoners by cartels ; the temporary 

 suspension of hostilities by truces ; the passage of 

 flags of truce ; the engaging in treaties of capitula- 

 tion, in cases of besieged armies or cities, all these 

 are matters which are held in great reverence, and 

 demand the exercise of the utmost good faith. A 

 fortiori, there should be a total absence of all fraud 

 and stratagem, in cases where preliminary negotia- 

 tions are entered into for the purpose of restoring 

 peace. 6. In respect to captures made in war, they 

 generally inure to the benefit of the sovereign, unless 

 he has made some other positive distribution of them. 

 When any conquest of territory is made, the inhabi- 

 tants immediately pass under the dominion of the 

 conqueror, arid are subject to such laws as he chooses 

 to impose upon them. Generally, it is for the inte- 

 rest, as it certainly is the common policy., of the con- 



queror to respect the rights of private persons and 

 private property. But in strictness, his power over 

 each is unlimited, unless so far as it may be restrained 

 by articles of capitulation, or by moral or religious 

 obligations. In cases of reconquest, the property, 

 unless previously disposed or, returns to the original 

 owner by the jus postliminii, in like manner as 

 the restoration of a prisoner of war to his 

 own country reinstates him in his prior rights. 

 7. There are also certain rights which war confers 

 on the belligerents in respect to neutrals. Thus they 

 have a right to blockade the ports, or besiege the 

 cities, of their enemies, and to interdict all trade by 

 neutrals with them. They have a right, also, to 

 insist that neutrals shall conduct themselves with 

 good faith, and abstain from all interference in the 

 contest by supplying their enemy with things contra- 

 band of war. And if neutrals do so interfere, they 

 have a right to punish them, either personally or by 

 a confiscation of the property taken in delicto. And 

 hence arises the incidental right of search of ships 

 on the high seas, for the detection of contraband 

 goods. 



We next come to the consideration of the rights 

 and duties of neutrals. A neutral nation is bound to 

 observe entire impartiality between the belligerents. 

 It is bound to consider the war just on each side, at 

 least to assume it to be so, so far as regards its own 

 conduct. It should do nothing, therefore, which 

 favours one party at the expense of the other ; 

 although, if it has previously entered into treaties 

 with one of them, by which it is bound to lend a 

 limited aid, by supplying stores or troops, it is 

 obliged to conform to its treaty obligations. This 

 becomes often a duty full of peril and difficulty, 

 and, in many instances, will involve the neutral 

 in all the embarrassments of becoming a party to 

 the war ; for the other side has a right to treat such 

 interferences as acts of hostility, although, if they are 

 of a very limited extent, they are often silently 

 tolerated. Neutral nations are, strictly speaking, 

 bound to compel their subjects to abstain from every 

 interference in the war, as by carrying contraband 

 goods, serving in the hostile army, furnishing sup- 

 plies, &c. In practice, however, in cases of contra- 

 band goods, the belligerents content themselves with 

 exercising the right of confiscation ; and the neutral 

 nation submits to this as a just and tit remedy, with- 

 out any complaint. Subject to the exceptions above 

 referred to, a neutral has a right to insist upon car- 

 rying on its ordinary commerce, with each of the 

 belligerents, in the same manner as it had been 

 accustomed to do in times of peace. Whether it may 

 carry on a trade with either belligerent in war, 

 which is interdicted in peace, is a point which has 

 given rise to very sharp controversy in modern 

 times, and especially between Britain and America, 

 the former contending for the restriction to the 

 accustomed trade, the latter insisting upon also car- 

 rying on the unaccustomed trade. Whether a neu- 

 tral nation is bound to allow a passage to the troops 

 of either belligerent through its own territory, is a 

 point often discussed. Strictly speaking, neither 

 party has a right to insist on such a passage ; and if 

 it is granted to either, and materially affects the for- 

 tune of the war, it is almost always construed as an 

 act of hostility to the other party, and is resented 

 accordingly. A neutral nation lias also a right to 

 insist, that no hostilities shall be committed by the 

 belligerents within Hs territorial limits. The per- 

 sons and the property of enemies, which are within 

 such limits, are deemed inviolable, and entitled to 

 neutral protection. But the property of an enemy, 

 found on board a neutral ship on the high seas, is 

 deemed good prize, and e converse the property of a 



