290 AMERICAN DIPLOMATIC QUESTIONS 



law has not distinctly provided for acts committed tinder 

 the plea of self-preservation, it is constrained to tolerate 

 them. 



The propriety of all defensive acts must be judged by the 

 peculiar circumstances surrounding them, for it is obviously 

 impossible to frame definite and specific rules to govern all 

 cases, as it is impossible to measure, with accuracy, the amount 

 of danger that, at any given time, may threaten a state from 

 without. 



It may be said, therefore, that the duty of states to respect 

 the sovereignty of their neighbors is subordinated to their 

 ral right of self-preservation, all social laws being in 

 abeyance when existence is in question. History furnishes 

 a long list of infringements upon the sovereignty of states 

 by 'others which, appearing to have been committed in a 

 spirit of self-protection, have been allowed to pass as excus- 

 able. Such extreme cases as the actual invasion of foreign 

 territory, in order to protect persons or property, to suppress 

 insurrection, or to put down race rebellions, are upon record, 

 and often they have been regarded as entirely proper. Thus, 

 under certain circumstances, one state may actually assert 

 its sovereignty to the extent of using violence to accomplish 

 ends within the territory of another, and still not run coun- 

 ter to the dictates of law. The doctrine of self-protection 

 may take such extremes, but it is unfortunate that some 

 international arbiter has not yet been constituted to deter- 

 mine the good faith of the nation or nations so intervening. 

 In Europe the greater nations exercise a watchfulness over 

 each other by a quasi agreement, expressed or implied^ 

 known as the " Balance of Power," whereby all are pledged 

 to prevent any one power from encroaching too greatly upon 

 another, and thereby unduly acquiring a strength and influ- 

 ence that might prove dangerous to the welfare of the others. 

 To this general policy may be attributed the present integrity 

 of the Ottoman Empire. In the same manner was Belgium 

 established, and now upheld and maintained as an inviolable 

 state ; for such reasons have the Balkan states been shifted 

 to and fro at the will of the greater powers. 



