such States and Persons as should attempt by open war, or by secret conspiracy, or by treason to set aside the Succession so established, is relieved of all ambiguity by its very speciality; for it is not a Treaty of nude and absolute Guaranty, contra quoscunque, but a specific Treaty of Aid and Succour, (ipsi Reginæ opitulaturos ad pugnandum pro jure Successionis ad Coronam,) promised to the Queen herself, and after her death to her lawful heirs, under circumstances specified either of Foreign war, or of Civil tumult.

84

The Treaty concluded in London on the 7th May, 1832, between France, Great Britain, and Russia on one part, and Bavaria on the other part, provides that Greece, under the Sovereignty of Prince Otho, and under the Guaranty of the three Courts, should form a Monarchical and Independent State. It is obvious, that such a Guaranty cannot be construed as a Guaranty to King Otho against a Rebellion of his Subjects, but only as a Guaranty of the Independence of his Throne; which is a matter strictly within the province of an International Guaranty.

Neutrality.

§ 232. Treaties of Neutrality are Treaties under Treaties of which either the absolute Neutrality of a Nation is agreed upon, or particular acts of Neutrality on its part are covenanted for. The Swiss Confederation, and the Kingdom of Belgium are States, of which the absolute Neutrality is made a matter of Treatystipulation between all the Great Powers of Europe. Accordingly, no State is entitled to demand of either of these States under the General Law of Nations, that it should allow a free passage to its troops for belligerent purposes through its Territory. In the case of Nations which have agreed to observe par84 Martens, N. Recueil, X. p. 550.

Conclusion and Rati

ticular acts of Neutrality, such obligations have reference for the most part to Rights under the General Law of Nations, which a Neutral Power has an option to enforce or not, as it shall think fit. Such, for instance, were the provisions of the Treaty of Amity, Commerce, and Navigation, concluded between Great Britain and the United States of America, 19 Nov. 1794, but not ratified by the latter Power until 28th Oct. 1795. By the Twenty-fifth Article of this Treaty it was provided, "that neither of the said Parties shall permit the ships or goods belonging to the subjects or citizens of the other, to be taken within cannon shot of the Coast, nor in any of the Bays, Ports, or Rivers of their Territory by ships of war, or others having commission from any Prince, Republic, or State whatever. But in case it should so happen, the Party, whose Territorial Rights shall thus have been violated, shall use its utmost endeavours to obtain from the offending Party, full and ample satisfaction for the vessel or vessels so taken, whether the same be vessels of war, or merchant vessels."

There have been Treaties of Armed Neutrality between Neutral States, pending war between belligerent Powers, the object of which has been to give mutual aid to each other in maintaining the Rights of Neutrals under the General Law of Nations. These and other matters touching Neutrality will be more fully discussed in their appropriate place in a future Chapter, in connection with the Rights of Nations in time of War.

§ 233. There are certain International Compacts or fication of Conventions which are distinguishable from Treaties Treaties. (Foedera) properly so called; being concluded not in virtue of an express delegation of Full Powers from a

85 Martens, Recueil, V. p. 68.

Nation to that purpose, but in virtue of an implied delegation of Full Powers, as incidental to an Official Station. Thus the Commander of an army has an implied delegation of Full Powers to suspend or limit the operation of hostilities, by means of Truces for the suspension of arms, Cartels for the exchange of prisoners, and Capitulations for the surrender of troops or fortresses. Conventions for such purposes do not require any Ratification on the part of the Supreme Power of the State. It is otherwise, however, with regard to a definitive Treaty of Peace. A definitive Treaty of Peace, according to the usage of Nations, requires Ratification, and although every Treaty is operative from the date of its signature, unless it contains an express provision to the contrary, yet its operation is suspended until the exchange of Ratifications shall have taken place, whereupon the Treaty acquires validity from the date of its signature. There is, however, an exception to the rule of a Treaty taking effect from the date of its signature in regard to treaties stipulating for the Cession of Territory. In the case of such Treaties they only take full effect upon the actual Cession (traditio) of the Territory itself. Thus the National Character of a Territory for commercial purposes continues unaltered, notwithstanding it may have been ceded by Treaty, as long as it continues in the actual possession of the State which has agreed to cede it 88. Upon the actual change of the State of Possession, the National Character of the inhabitants undergoes a corresponding change. It may happen after a Treaty has been signed by the Plenipotentiary of a Nation, that grave circumstances occur, under which the provisions of the Treaty may be likely to have a prejudicial effect

86 The Fama, 5 Robinson, p. 106.

upon the interests of that Nation, which were not known at the time of signature. Under such circumstances the Sovereign Power of a Nation is by Usage justified in declining to ratify the Treaty. Thus the King of the Netherlands refused in 1841 to ratify a Treaty for the incorporation of Luxembourg into the Customs' Union of the Germanic States on the ground of the injurious effects which it was likely to exercise upon the commercial interests of his subjects, which had been brought to his knowledge subsequently to the signature of the Treaty. So the King of the French declined in 1841 to ratify the Quadruple Treaty for the suppression of the Slave Trade on account of the objections raised against it in the French Chambers. So Great Britain declined in 1859 to ratify a Treaty which her Minister Plenipotentiary had concluded with Nicaragua, and Nicaragua in the same year declined to ratify her Convention with Great Britain for the settlement of the Grey Town and Mosquito Question. If, however, there should be an express provision that the preliminary engagements shall take effect immediately without waiting for the exchange of Ratifications, such a Treaty will be an exception to the rule. We have an instance of such a Treaty in the Convention concluded at London79 (15 July, 1840) for the pacification of the Levant between Great Britain, Austria, Prussia, and Russia, on the one part, and the Ottoman Porte on the other, to which there was annexed a Reserved Protocol of the same date, providing that the preliminary measures, mentioned in the Second Article of the Convention, should be put into execution immediately (tout de suite) and without waiting for the exchange of Ratifications.

79 Martens, N. R. Gén. I. p. 156.

tion and

$234. Treaties properly so called, the engagements Termina of which imply a state of Amity between the Con- Renewal. tracting Parties, cease to operate if War supervenes, unless there are express stipulations to the contrary. It is usual on the signature of a Treaty of Peace for Nations to renew expressly their previous Treaties, if they intend that any of them should become once more operative. Great Britain in practice admits of no exception to the rule that all Treaties, as such, are put an end to by a subsequent war between the Contracting Parties. It was accordingly the practice of the European Powers before the French Revolution. of 1789, on the conclusion of every war which supervened upon the Treaty of Utrecht, to renew and confirm that Treaty, under which the distribution of Territory amongst the principal European States had been settled with the view of securing an European Equilibrium.

In the Treaty of Paris (30 March, 1856) there occurs a provision which is equivalent in its effect to the renewal of previous Treaties, under which it has been agreed that until the Treaties or Conventions which existed before the war between the Belligerent Powers shall have been renewed or replaced by new arrangements, the commercial intercourse between the subjects of the various Powers shall be reciprocally maintained on the same footing as before the war, and their subjects in all other matters shall be respectively treated upon the footing of the most favoured Nations. In the Treaty of Zurich, concluded between France, Austria, and Sardinia (10 Nov. 1859), all the Treaties and Con

82

80 Lord Bathurst's Letter of Oct. 30, 1815. Twiss' Oregon Question, p. 188.

PART I.

81 Art. XXXI. Martens, N. R. Gén. XV. p. 780.

82 Ibid. XVI. Part 11. p. 536.

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