26 TOWER— RIGHTS AND DUTIES [April 23, 



But, assuming that she committed no breach of neutrahty, — 

 what rights has Belgium or Switzerland or any other neutralized 

 territory? It has the right to defend itself, as Belgium has done. 

 She is not obliged to defend herself, but may choose whether she 

 will do so or not. For, if she yield to superior force, that can not 

 be looked upon as an un-neutral act ; though it may place her dur- 

 ing the war upon the side of one of the belligerents, as is the case 

 of Belgium today in consequence of her defence. Still, Belgium 

 had undoubtedly the right to defend her soil. The law is on her 

 side in that regard. 



But, on the other hand, what protection has she? Evidently 

 nothing but the agreement under which she lives, — and that depends 

 either upon the " interests "of the powers who made the agreement, 

 as Sir Edward Grey said, or upon the convenience of respecting it, 

 as the advance of the German army has proved. 



In the heat of a savage conflict, the reasons for the agreement 

 are destroyed and the agreement itself is torn to shreds ; for there 

 is no one to enforce it. The only force that exists is being ex- 

 hausted in the war. The neutralized territory has rights that are 

 not only recognized but also defined by international law. It has 

 its guarantees as well, — equally recognized and defined, though, as 

 in the present case, the authority of the law is gone, and how shall 

 a method be found by which to guarantee the guarantees? 



Philadelphia, 

 April, 1915. 



