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.^Nations. CHAP. IV. Of Conventions entered into n-ilh the Enemy 

 "~ Y ~ during the War. 



O 



Conven- 1. The belligerent powers often enter into conven- 



tions of war. tions either at the beginning or in the course of the 

 war. By these conventions they promise not to make 

 use of such or such arms, or such or such moans of in- 

 juring each other; settle the conditions and the man- 

 ner to be observed in the exchange or redemption of 

 prisoners of war ; make arrangements relative to pass- 

 ports, safe conducts, &c adjust the terms of a truce, 

 &c. 



Hostages. 2. As a security for the tulfilment of conventions made 

 in the course of the war, it is still customary to place 

 hostages in the hands of the party who would suffer by 

 a non-fulfilment. If the other party breaks his engage- 

 ments, it is allowable to treat his hostages with severity, 

 but not to take their lives, unless for some crime that 

 they have committed, or by way of retaliation. 



Of the right 

 of one pow- 

 ti to assist 

 another. 



Alliances. 



Subsidies.' 



Rights of 

 ne bellige 

 rent power 

 in relation 

 to allies of 

 the other. 



CHAP. V. Of Allies, Subsidies, and Auxiliaries. 



1. A sovereign may be obliged to join his forces to 

 those of another power, sometimes in fulfilment of his 

 treaties of alliance, and sometimes in consequence of a 

 particular connection existing between him and such 

 power ; or he may do it from his own choice. In none 

 of these cases does he act against the law of nations, if 

 the cause he espouses be not unjust. To a sovereign 

 so situated there result two sorts of rights and obliga- 

 tions ; first, Relative to the power whom he assists ; 

 second, Relative to the enemies of that power. 



2. Alliances are simply defensive, or they are offen- 

 sive at the same time. An alliance is simply defensive 

 when the allies promise to assist each other in case either 

 should be attacked first, or be in danger of an attack 

 by some other power; it is offensive and defensive, 

 when they promise to assist each other, not only in case 

 of a first attack, but even should either of them make 

 the first attack on some other power. 



Both sorts of alliances are either general or particu- 

 lar. They are general when they extend to all wars in 

 which either of the allies may be engaged ; and parti- 

 cular when directed against a particular power, or con- 

 fined to a particular war. 



Alliances are formed sometimes before, and sometimes 

 after, the beginning of a war. As to their duration, it is 

 sometimes for a definite, and sometimes for an indefinite 

 space of time, and sometimes for ever. The allies either 

 promise a specific number of troops, or vessels, or of 

 both ; or they promise a certain aid in money; or to 

 assist each other with all their forces; or finally to make 

 common cause. 



3. Simple treaties of subsidy must be distinguished 

 from alliances. A treaty of subsidy is a convention by 

 which one power engages, in consideration of a cer- 

 tain sum of money, to bring into the field a specific 

 number of troops, &c. to be in the pay and service 

 of another power. The time for which such troops 

 are to remain in service is sometimes determinate and 

 sometimes not. 



A power often receives a subsidy in consideration 

 of engaging to keep a certain number of troops, &c. in 

 readiness for service, and sometimes of engaging only 

 " to augment its own forces. 



4. Strictly speaking a belligerent power has a right 

 to treat as his enemies all the powers who lend assist- 

 ance to the enemy, from whatever motive, or in con- 



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sequence of whatever treaty. Policy however, has in- Law 

 duced the powers of Europe to depart fram this rigor- ofNationi. 

 ous principle. They now admit, first, That a sove- s "V^* 1 

 reign who furnishes troops in virtue of a'treaty of 

 subsidy, does not thereby become the enemy of the 

 power against which those troops act ; second, That as 

 long as a sovereign sends to the assistance of his ally 

 no more than the number of troops, &c. stipulated 

 in the treaty of alliance, and does not authorise them 

 to serve upon any other footing than that specified 

 in the treaty, such sovereign ought to be looked upon 

 as an auxiliary, and not as the enemy of the power 

 against which his troops make war ; and, of course, 

 that such sovereign ought to be permitted to enjoy his 

 rights of neutrality. This is more especially the case 

 when the aid of an auxiliary is the consequence of a 

 treaty of general defensive alliance, concluded before the 

 beginning of' the mar. 



We have seen some powers claiming the rights of 

 neutrality even while they were furnishing the great- 

 est part of their troops, and contributing principally 

 to the resisting of the enemy and the continuation of 

 the war ; but imperious circumstances and motives of 

 policy only can induce the enemy to treat such powers 

 as neuter. 



When two powers become allies in form, by carry, 

 ing on the war in common, and with all their forces, 

 without doubt they may and ought to be treated as 

 enemies by the adverse party. 



CHAP. VI. Of Neutrality. 



1. To observe a perfect neutrality a state must, Obligations 

 first, Abstain from all participation in warlike expedi- implied by 



tions. Second, It must grant or refuse nothing to one neutrality. 

 of the belligerent powers, which may be useful or ne- 

 cessary to such power in prosecuting the war, without 

 granting or refusing it to the adverse party; or, at 

 least, it must not establish an inequality in order to 

 favour one of the parties more than the other. 



The moment a neutral power deviates from these 

 rules, its neutrality is no longer perfect but limited: 

 and, indeed, though neutral states sometimes promise 

 more, and enter into a sort. of conventional neutrality, 

 a limited neutrality is all that the laws of neutrality 

 impose. 



2. It is now generally acknowledged that a neutral Modern law 

 power ought not to transport to either of the bellige- of nations 

 rent powers merchandises unequivocally intended for > tn rcs pe<* 

 warlike purposes. The list of these merchandises, * neutra 

 commonly called contraband, has been differently com- cc 

 posed in different treaties of commerce. Sometimes 



this list has been swelled out with merchandises 

 which are not evidently and unequivocally intended 

 for the purposes of war, though they may be useful to 

 the enemy ; and at other times such merchandises 

 have been expressly declared not contraband. 'This 

 last ought to be presumed also between powers that 

 have no treaty with each other. 



Besides this, the maritime powers have begun, es- 

 pecially since the latter end of the 17th century, to 

 issue declarations at the beginning of a war, adver- 

 tising neutral powers that they shall look upon such 

 and such merchandises as contraband, and forewarning 

 them of the penalties they intend to inflict on those 

 who shall be found conveying them to the enemy. 

 These declarations are rather advertisements than 

 laws ; nor can their effects be by any means extended 

 to those neutral powers with which the powers that 



