CHAPTER VI. RIGHT OF SELF-PRESERVATION. Absolute and Conditional Rights of Nations-Right of SelfDefence Treaty Limitations of such Right-Right of Self-Aggrandisement-Right of anticipating Attack-Right of Confederation— The Balance of Power. and Con Nations. § 98. EVERY Nation has certain rights with regard Absolute to other Nations, which pertain to its moral being as ditional an Independent Political Body, and the enjoyment of Rights of which is indispensable to its existence as such. These Rights may be termed Primary and Absolute Rights', as they are coordinate with the Being of a Nation, and are not dependent upon particular conditions of International Life. There are other rights to which all Nations are entitled, but not under all circumstances, which arise out of the intercourse of Nations with one another, and which cease with the circumstances which give rise to them. These may be distinguished as Secondary or Conditional Rights, some of them being incident to a state of amity, others being coincident only with a state of war. The Primary or Absolute Rights of Nations rest upon a foundation of Moral Truth, "the proofs of which are to be referred to some such certain notions," to use the language of Grotius, "as none can deny without doing violence to his own judgment." The Secondary or Conditional Rights rest upon a basis of historicalfact. The former are inseparably connected with the free Moral agency of Independent Political Bodies, the 1 Klüber § 36. Wheaton, Elements, pt. II. c. 1. §1. Right of Self-Defence. latter have grown up with the exercise of that free Moral agency, and with the mutual recognition of its consistency with the varying circumstances of International intercourse. §. 99. Of the Primary or Absolute Rights of a Nation the most essential, and as it were the Cardinal Right, upon which all others hinge, is that of SelfPreservation. This Right necessarily involves, as subordinate Rights, all other Rights which are essential as means to secure this principal end. Amongst these, the foremost is the Right of Self-Defence. An Independent Political Society, which is not in a condition to repel aggression against its Territory, or against the Persons or Property of its Members, is unequal to the object of its Institution. "The Nation," writes Vattel3, "ought to put itself in such a state as to be able to repel and humble an unjust enemy. This is an important duty which the care of its own perfection and even its Self-Preservation imposes both on the State and on its Conductor." Hence a Nation is entitled, consistently with the maintenance of peaceful relations towards other Nations, to fortify its Territories, to train up its Population generally in the use of arms, to maintain a portion of its Population under arms, in the form either of a standing army or a permanent war-navy, to equip itself with stores and munitions of war, and to form defensive alliances with other Nations. The presumption of Natural Law is, that all measures of this kind which do not endanger the safety of other Nations, are undertaken bonâ fide for the security of National Independence, and the exercise of the Natural Right of a Nation in these matters is only controlled de jure by the equal and corresponding Rights 3 Droit des Gens, L. I. c. 14. §177. of other Nations. 'A Nation," writes Vattel, "is sufficiently powerful, when it is capable of causing itself to be respected, and of repelling whoever would attack it." Within these limits no Nation is bound to give account of its conduct to any other Nation. But the equal and corresponding Rights of other Nations come at once into play, if a Nation should increase its armaments to an extraordinary extent. Under such circumstances, any other Nation, in pursuance of its own right of Self-Defence, may ask for explanation, if it either sees in the armaments of its Neighbour immediate occasion for alarm, or anticipates possible danger to itself or its Allies. A refusal to furnish explanation, when it has been asked for in a courteous tone, and with an amicable spirit, will justify counter-armaments, and may sometimes even justify immediate measures of hostile repression. mitations § 100. Exceptional cases occur de facto, in which Treaty Lithe limits, within which a Nation may lawfully exer- of Right of cise its Right of Self Defence, have been narrowed Self Deby special conventions freely entered into with other Nations. Thus the exercise of the Right of a Nation to fortify its territory has been sometimes limited by treatyengagements. In such cases the exercise of that Right by the erection of fortifications of a particular kind has been deemed to be inconsistent with the safety of another Nation. Thus by the Treaty of Utrecht, (anno 1713,) confirmed by the subsequent treaties of Aix-la-Chapelle, (anno 1748,) and of Paris, (anno 1763,) France engaged herself to Great Britain not to fortify the town of Dunkirk towards the sea, as such 4 Droit des Gens, L. I. c. 14. Martens, Précis, § 117,118; Whea$ 185. ton's Elements, part II. c. 1. fence. Right of Self Aggrandiseinent. fortifications were deemed by Great Britain to be inconsistent with her just security. By the treaty of Luneville, (anno 1801,) France restored to the Princes of the Germanic Empire all the conquests which her armies had made on the right bank of the Rhine, on the express condition however, that the ceded fortresses should continue permanently in the state, in which they were at the time of their evacuation by the French armies. By the Treaty of Paris, (anno 18157,) France engaged herself to the Allied Powers not to rebuild the Fortifications of Huningen, which had been a source of disquietude to the City of Bâsle, and not to replace them by any other Fortifications at a distance of less than three miles from that city. Again, the exercise of the Right of a Nation to maintain a portion of its population under arms, has been subjected to limitation by treaty-engagements, more particularly with regard to a war navy. Thus the Genoese in their Treaty with France, (anno 1683,) undertook to reduce the number of their vessels of war in commission, and the Ottoman Porte and Russia have respectively engaged themselves to the European Powers who signed in conjunction with them the Treaty of Paris, (anno 1856,) by a joint Convention annexed to and declared to be a part of that Treaty, not to maintain severally more than ten vessels of war of a limited tonnage on the waters of the Black Sea. § 101. A Nation is not entitled to oppose itself to the territorial aggrandisement of another nation, unless that aggrandisement be actually prejudicial to its rights, or visibly threatens to become soo. War is not 6 Martens, Recueil, vii. p. 296. p. 682. p. 786. 9 Grotius de Jure Belli et Pacis, L. II. c. 1. § 17. Wolff, 8 Martens, N. R. Gén. XV. Jus Gentium, § 640. justifiable on any other ground than that of repelling actual assault, or of preventing intended aggression. A Nation, which by any just means enlarges its dominions by the incorporation of new Provinces with the free will of their inhabitants, or by the occupation of vacant territory to which no other Nation can lay claim, is pursuing the legitimate object of its Being, as a Political Society instituted for the promotion of the common welfare of its members 10. "A State," writes Vattel, "that increases her power by all the acts of good government, does no more than what is commendable she fulfils her duty towards herself without violating those which she owes to other Nations 11" The right of every Independent State," writes Mr. Wheaton, "to increase its national dominions, wealth, population, and power, by all innocent and lawful means-such as the pacific acquisition of new territory, the discovery and settlement of new countries, the extension of its navigation and fisheries, the improvement of its revenues, arts, agriculture, and commerce, the increase of its military and naval force-is an incontrovertible right of Sovereignty, generally recognised by the usage and opinion of Nations." All writers on Public Law 12 agree that an increase of Power cannot alone, and of itself, give any Nation a right to take up arms in order to oppose it. The internal development of the resources of a country, although the increase of its population and wealth is the surest means of augmenting its power, has never yet been considered a just cause of alarm to other Nations, for such augmentation is in perfect accordance with the moral end of a Nation's Being, 10 Klüber, § 41. 12 Elements of International § 3. I Droit des Gens, L. III. c. 3. Law, pt. II. c. 1. § 42. |