487]] IN INTERNATIONAL AND CONSTITUTIONAL LAW 1 89 



case of cession," Funck-Brentano, Sorel, Rouard de Card, 

 and Rotteck." 



In opposition to the opinion of Seward, Sherman, and 

 the Duke of Argyll, we have the views of Gladstone, Wilson, 

 Lloyd George, Pichon, Orlando, and von Hertling. While 

 not agreeing in the details of practical application, they all 

 seem to be in harmony as far at least as the principle itself 

 is concerned. Lloyd George goes even so far as to demand 

 self-determination for the German colonies. In his address 

 of January 5, 1918, before the Trade Union Conference, he 

 said: 



The natives live in their various tribal organizations under chiefs 

 and councils who are competent to consult and speak for their tribes 

 and members and thus to represent their v^'ishes and interests in 

 regard to their disposal. The general principle of national self- 

 determination is, therefore, as applicable in their case as in those of 

 the occupied European territories. ^^ 



In the chapter on " Treaties with uncivilized tribes," 

 Westlake reminds us that European powers, when they set 

 out to acquire territory of uncivilized peoples, first proceed 

 "to conclude treaties with such chiefs or other authorities 

 as they can discover," and he thinks that they do so " very 

 properly, for no men are so savage as to be incapable of 

 coming to some understanding with other men, and when- 

 ever contact has been established between men, some un- 

 derstanding, however incomplete it may be, is a better basis 

 for their mutual relations than force." Granting that 

 " natives in the rudimentary condition supposed take no 

 rights under international law," and that " no document in 

 which such natives are made to cede their sovereignty can 

 be exhibited as an international title," he adds that " an 

 arrangement with them, giving evidence that they have been 

 treated with humanity and consideration, may be valuable 

 as obviating possible objections to what would otherwise be 

 a good international title to sovereignty.""** 



"- Hershey, p. 183; see also above, p. 171, note I. 

 "•'* New York Times Current History, vol. vii, pt. 2, p. 270. 

 »■» J. Westlake, Collected Papers ... on Public International I.aw, 

 Cambridge, 1914, p. 146. 



