navigation on the Danube from the Iron Gates to its mouth in the Black Sea is proclaimed.

In 1897 Crete revolted against Turkey, war broke out between Greece and Turkey, the Powers interfered, and peace was concluded at Constantinople. Crete becomes an autonomous half-Sovereign State under Turkish suzerainty and under Prince George of Greece as governor.

In the Far East war breaks out in 1895 between China and Japan, in which China is defeated and out of which Japan rises as a Great Power. That she must now be considered a full member of the Family of Nations becomes apparent from the treaties concluded by her with other Powers for the purpose of abolishing their consular jurisdiction within the boundaries of Japan.

In America the United States intervene in 1898 in the revolt of Cuba against the motherland, whereby war breaks out between Spain and the United States. The defeat of Spain secures the independence of Cuba through the Peace of Paris of 1898.

An event of great importance during this period is the Congo Conference of Berlin, which took place in 1884-1885, and at which were represented England, Germany, Austria-Hungary, Belgium, Denmark, Spain, the United States of America, France, Italy, Holland, Portugal, Russia, Sweden-Norway, Turkey. This conference stipulated freedom of commerce, interdiction of slave-trade, and neutralisation of the territories in the Congo district, and secured freedom of navigation on the rivers Congo and Niger. The so-called Congo Free State was recognised as a member of the Family of Nations.

A second fact of great importance is the establishment of numerous international unions with special

international offices for various non-political purposes. A Universal Telegraphic Union was established in 1875, a Universal Postal Union in 1878, a Union for the Protection of Industrial Property in 1883, a Union for the Protection of Works of Literature and Art in 1886, a Union for the Publication of Custom Tariffs in 1890.

A third fact of great importance is that in this period a tendency has arisen to settle international conflicts more frequently than in former times by arbitration. Numerous arbitrations have actually taken place, and several treaties have been concluded between different States stipulating the settlement by arbitration of all conflicts which would arise in future between the contracting parties.

The last fact of great importance which is epochmaking for this period is the Peace Conference of the Hague of 1899. This Conference produced, apart from three Declarations of minor importance, a Convention for the Pacific Settlement of International Conflicts, a Convention regarding the Laws and Customs of War on Land, and a Convention for the Adaptation to Maritime Warfare of the Principles of the Geneva Convention. It also formulated, among others, the three wishes (1) that a conference should in the near future regulate the rights and duties of neutrals, (2) that a future conference should contemplate the declaration of the inviolability of private property in naval warfare, (3) that a future conference should settle the question of the bombardment of ports, towns, and villages by naval forces.

§ 50. Soon after the Hague Peace Conference, in October 1899, war breaks out in South Africa between Great Britain and the two Boer Republics, which leads to the latter's annexation at the end of

1901. The assassination of the German Ambassador and the general attack on the European legations in Peking in 1900 lead to a united action of the Powers against China for the purpose of vindicating this violation of the fundamental rules of the Law of Nations. In December 1902 Great Britain, Germany, and Italy institute a blockade against the coast of Venezuela for the purpose of making her comply with their demands for indemnification of their subjects wronged during civil wars in Venezuela, and the latter consents to pay indemnities to be settled by a mixed commission of diplomatists. But as other Powers than those who had instituted the blockade likewise claim indemnities, the matter is referred to the permanent Court of Arbitration at the Hague, which, in 1904, gives its verdict in favour of the blockading Powers. In February of 1904 war breaks out in the Far East between Russia and Japan on account of Manchuria and Korea. In November of 1904 the United States of America make preparations for the convoking of another Peace Conference at the Hague.

sons of the

§ 51. It is the task of history, not only to show Five Leshow things have grown in the past, but also to History of extract a moral for the future out of the events of the the Law past. Five morals can be said to be deduced from the history of the development of the Law of Nations:

(1) The first and principal moral is that a Law of Nations can exist only if there is an equilibrium, a balance of power, between the members of the Family of Nations. If the Powers cannot keep one another in check, no rules of law will have any force, since an over-powerful State will naturally try to act according to discretion and disobey the law. As there is not and never can be a

of Nations.

central political authority above the Sovereign States that could enforce the rules of the Law of Nations, a balance of power must prevent any member of the Family of Nations from becoming omnipotent. The history of the times of Louis XIV. and Napoleon I. shows clearly the soundness of this principle.

(2) The second moral is that International Law can develop progressively only when international politics, especially intervention, are made on the basis of real State interests. Dynastic wars belong to the past, as do interventions in favour of legitimacy. It is neither to be feared, nor to be hoped, that they should occur again in the future. But if they did, they would hamper the development of the Law of Nations in the future as they have done in the past.

(3) The third moral is that the principle of nationality is of such force that it is fruitless to try to stop its victory. Wherever a community of many millions of individuals, who are bound together by the same blood, language, and interests, become so powerful that they think it necessary to have a State of their own, in which they can live according to their own ideals and can build up a national civilisation, they will certainly get that State sooner or later. What international politics can do and should do is to enforce the rule that minorities of individuals of another race shall not be outside the law, but shall be treated on equal terms with the majority. States embracing a population of different nationalities can exist and will always exist, as many examples show.

(4) The fourth moral is that every progress in the development of International Law wants due time to ripen. In Utopia the projects of an eternal

peace and of an undisturbed fraternity of States and nations may be realised, but the rude reality of practical international life in our times does not provide any possibility of the realisation of such fanciful ideas. The presupposition of an eternal peace would at least be that the whole surface of the earth would be shared between nations of the same standard of civilisation, of the same interests, aims, and of the same strength, a fact which will never be realised so far as we can see. Eternal peace is an ideal, and in the very term "ideal" the conviction is involved of the impossibility of its realisation, although it is a duty to aim constantly at such realisation. The permanent Court of Arbitration at the Hague, now established by the Hague Peace Conference of 1899, is an institution that can bring us nearer to such realisation than ever could have been hoped. And codification of parts of the Law of Nations, following the codification of the rules regarding land warfare, will in due time arrive and so make the legal basis of international intercourse firmer, broader, and more prominent than before.

(5) The fifth, and last, moral is that the progressive development of International Law depends chiefly upon the standard of public morality on the one hand, and, on the other, upon economic interests. The higher the standard of public morality rises, the more will International Law progress. And the more important international economic interests grow, the more International Law will grow. For, looked upon from a certain standpoint, International Law is, just like Municipal Law, a product of moral and of economic factors, and at the same time the basis for a favourable development of moral and economic interests. This being an indisputable fact,