AN INTERNATIONAL TRIBUNAL FOR EUROPE. 36 1 



will it be possible to secure a satisfactory and pacific solution of any- 

 one of the burning questions in dispute, that unsettled, are so full 

 of peril to the general peace ; nor even to secure the formation in 

 Europe, and for Europe, of that august Tribunal of Arbitration, 

 which is not only the great want of this age of civilisation, but which 

 has been, and, is still, the cherished ambition of all friends of peace, 

 progress, and prosperity. 



These instances, and others that might be mentioned, in recent 

 years, of the failure on the one hand of Congresses to enforce their 

 decisions by moral power, and which consequently resulted in war ; 

 the war between Russia, Great Britain, and the Allies, called the 

 Crimean War ; the war between Russia and Turkey, in 1876 ; and, 

 on the other hand, the success of Congresses where an executive 

 authority, whether potential or otherwise, was exercised, and which 

 by its exercise, resulted in the prevention of a disastrous war, are 

 sufficient to prove the impracticability, under all the circumstances 

 of the case, of any scheme for the formation and establishment of 

 a Tribunal of Arbitration, based only upon, and having for its 

 executive authority, moral power. 



OPINIONS OF EMINENT JURISTS. 



And further, in support of an executive authority, allied with 

 moral power, we may quote opinions of some of the most eminent 

 writers on International Public Law. 



We exclude in this category the opinions of the early writers on 

 the Law of Nations, such as Grotius, Vattel, and Puffendorf, on the 

 ground, that their writings, interesting and valuable as all their con- 

 tributions were, yet, they must be described rather, as speculative 

 and philosophical treatises on the Public Law of Nations, than as 

 affording any clear indication for a direct and immediate practical 

 application of them. 



EMMANUEL KANT. 

 PHILOSOPHER OF KONIGSBERG, ETC. 



"Nations must renounce, as individuals have renounced, the 

 anarchical freedom of savages, and submit themselves to 

 coercive laws; thus forming a community of nations 

 {civitas gentium) which may ultimately extend, so as to 

 include all th^ people of the earth What we 



