State to levy taxes, to coin money, to make roads, to protect property, to punish offenders, and so forth. But these disquisitions, useless at the present day, may have had their value in the lower state of political knowledge existing when Vattel wrote. Nor must it be imputed as a fault to Vattel that his treatise is not a complete work on the subject of the law of nations, as he expressly confines himself to one branch of that science, namely, the Law of Nature; or, as he calls it, the necessary law of nations deduced from "the nature of things, particularly of man and of political society." Of the voluntary law of nations, depending upon custom, treaties, or tacit agreements, Vattel expressly declines all cognizance. Now, at the present day, this latter is a very important branch of international law, perhaps the majority of cases where politicians are at issue being decided by this "voluntary" law of nations. But the study of the "necessary" law, or the law of nature applied to nations, is nevertheless indispensable; and on this branch I consider Vattel the first authority for reference, and the best guide for the student. Had he lived at the present day he might have seen the incompleteness of his design; as it is we can only regret his self-imposed limitation, and add, that on the branch of the subject to which his treatise applies, his work is the best extant. (1) Pursuing a course directly the reverse of that adopted Moser. by Vattel, Johann Jacob Moser dedicated himself to (1) Editions and translations of Vattel's work have appeared in many countries, and in 1834 an edition was published in London, valuable from the extensive notes of Mr. Chitty, who has done much to remedy the deficiency of Vattel, by quoting the decisions of British tribunals on the various questions in the text. Mr. Chitty does not seem to have gone into Valin. the study of the law of nations, as elucidated by public instruments relating to the intercourse of States. He was a most voluminous writer, and died in 1785, at the advanced age of eighty-four, after having continually issued works from the press during the long literary career of fifty years. I, who have only twenty octavo volumes of his writings, merely possess those which he began to publish when he was seventy-six. His work entitled Versuch des neuesten Europäischen VölkerRechts (1) is the most valuable of his writings, in which, I believe, he condensed the principal parts of his foregoing productions. The first volume was published in 1777, and the tenth in 1780, and he afterwards issued eight volumes of supplement. Moser does not, in this work, inquire into the law of nations as dependent on moral obligation; he devotes his pages to the statepapers by which the practice of nations is illustrated. The assiduity of his research seems to have been incapable of weariness, and his collection of facts extends into every branch of international relations. His work is incomplete as a whole, having no pretensions to a system, but, as far as it goes, it is very valuable. In the mental division of labour, he chose for himself the office of a collector of facts which he left it to others to employ; and he has well accomplished the purpose that he had in view, having, in his works, bequeathed to students a magazine full of valuable materials. In In 1766, Valin published his Commentary on the Ordonnance de la Marine du mois d'Août 1681. this production, taking the articles of the ordonnance as (1) "Versuch des neuesten Europäischen Völker-Rechts in Friedens- und Kriegs-Zeiten, vornehmlich aus denen Staatshandlungen derer Europäischen Mächten, auch anderen Begeben heiten, so sich seit dem Tode Kayser Carls VI. im Jahr 1740 zugetragen haben, entworffen von J. J. Moser, Königlich-Dänischen Staats-Rath." a text, he enlarges, in long notes or dissertations, on the subject before him, in a manner that has made his work of standard authority for reference in maritime cases. The chapters in which he treats of prize law are a necessary part of a course on the law of nations; though it is to the statement of the actual practice of France that he confines himself, rather than to an inquiry into the equity of that practice. (1) Kant has given to the subject of the law of nations Kant. a few pages of his Metaphysische Anfangsgründe der Rechtslehre, published in 1797. His essay is very short, but it is frequently quoted by German writers in support of the necessity of a "positive" law of nations. Kant's positions are, that nations, considered with regard to their external relations, are in a state of lawlessness; that this state is a state of war, even where there are no actual hostilities; and that, to emerge from this state, nations should combine to form a general confederacy. By such a union of individual States, Kant would establish a permanent "Congress of States," to which all neighbouring nations should be permitted to attach themselves, but such association should be voluntary, and the union should at any time be dissoluble. To this "Congress of States" all complaints of international wrongs should be addressed, and disputes should be settled by its decisions. By such a congress Kant says, that justice among States might be promoted, and respect obtained for the law of nations, which had latterly been banished from cabinets, and existed only in books: and although it would be visionary to expect a perpetual peace, yet, by establishing such a tribunal for nations, an approximation might be made to that desirable result. (1) Published at La Rochelle, in 2 vols. quarto. G. F. De Perhaps the most valuable modern writer on the law of nations was George Frederic de Martens, formerly professor of jurisprudence at Göttingen, afterwards counsellor of state of Westphalia during the reign of Jerome Buonaparte, and finally minister of Hanover at the diet of the Germanic confederation. He published, in 1785, his Prima linea juris gentium Europæarum practici, which work formed the basis of his Précis du droit des gens moderne de l'Europe fondé sur les traités et l'usage. This treatise has gone through a great number of editions, that which I possess being dated Paris 1831, with notes by Pinheiro Ferreira, who has proved himself no friendly commentator, his notes being written in a tone of detraction and even abuse, which tells more against the critic than against the object of his criticism. An English translation, which I have not seen, was published by Cobbett, at Philadelphia, in 1795. The Précis of De Martens is the most complete treatise that exists on the law of nations, as recognised by the States of Europe. It embraces every topic of usual discussion on the subject, and embodies a vast store of information, deduced alike from the writings of preceding authors, and from public documents relating to the text. It is perhaps of more frequent reference than any other treatise, and it is valuable to every student; the short account of the subject given in the text offering sufficient information to those who want only a slight view of the question, and the notes affording an index for further research to those who wish to pursue a deeper investigation. The collection of treaties published by De Martens will be considered subsequently, when noticing similar collections. Besides the Précis, De Martens published several works, all tending to illustrate the recognised or "positive" law of nations. His Cours Diplomatique, which was published in 1801, obtained considerable celebrity, but it has long been out of print, and I have not been able to obtain a copy of it, after a good deal of inquiry, both here and in Paris. From the account I have seen of its plan and scope, it must have been an interesting treatise, embracing a view of the various laws and conventions, concerning the relations of States, made by the powers of Europe and by the United States. De Martens also wrote an excellent treatise on Privateers, which has been translated into English by Hartwell Horne, with the addition of some useful notes. He also published a history of remarkable events relating to various differences between the European powers. (1) This formed the basis of the Causes célèbres du Droit des Gens, published in 1827 by his nephew, the Baron Charles de Martens, a very interesting work, which contains an account of some of the most curious discussions that have occurred respecting the privileges of ambassadors, and regarding the rights of neutral commerce. M. Charles de Martens likewise continued the collection of treaties after his uncle's decease; and he also published, in 1832, his Guide Diplomatique, in which he treats of the functions of public ministers, of whose rights and duties his work is a useful summary. In 1831 John Louis Klüber published his Droit des Klüber. Gens Moderne de l'Europe, of which a German edition had appeared some years before. It is a curious specimen of the results of a class of minds, little known in this country, but of which many examples are found in Germany, minds which are stored with an astonishing, (1) "Erzählungen Merkwürdiger Fälle des neueren Europäischen Völker-Rechts, in einer Sammlung von Staatschriften aller Art in teutscher und französischer Sprache, nebst einem Anhang von Gesetzen und Verordnungen, |