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OUR RELATION TO OUR COUNTRY.

[Part II.

nations, and this he does to the exclusion of the principles ofjurists, when the latter do not agree with the former. *

Again ; “ In cases of doubt,” says Chitty, “ arising uponwhat is the Law of Nations, it is now an admitted rule amongstall European nations, that our common religion, Christianity ,pointing out the principles of natural justice, should be equallyappealed to and observed by all as an unfailing rule of construc-tion.” f Finally, in 1815, the emperors of Austria and Russia,and the king of Prussia, “ declared, in the face of the wholeworld, their fixed resolution, both in the administration of theirrespective states, and in their political relations with every othergovernment, to take for their sole guide, the precepts of Chris-tian charity and peace, which, far from being applicable onlyto private concerns, must have an immediate influence on thecouncils of princes, and guide all their undertakings, and asbeing the only means of consolidating human institutions andremedying their imperfections.” | Thus, these high authoritiesdistinctly recognise Christian morals and the Christian religion,as the basis of the reciprocal duties of nations.

Christianity, then, is the ultimate standard, to which, amongChristian nations, international duties are to be referred, and therule by which they are to be measured. Every Christian nationis bound to conduct towards every other, as it wishes that othersshould, in like circumstances, conduct towards itself. They aremorally bound to respect the rights, and, in every reasonable wayand degree, to consult the welfare and interests of one another.But Vattel has well said, “ that it exclusively belongs toeach nation to form its own judgment of what its own conscienceprescribes to it; of what it can or cannot do ; of what isproper, or improper, for it to do.”§ Especially, they areto respect each other’s freedom, independence, sovereignty,and rightful jurisdiction. One nation is to perform, in all goodfaith, the duties of neutrality towards other nations, which, unableto adjust their differences by peaceable means, have submittedthem to the arbitration of the sword. No nation is permitted,

* Works, Vol. II. pp. 289 - 294.4to. London, 1765.

t Note to Vattel on the Law of Nations, Preliminary Principles, § 3.

t Niles’s Register, Vol. X. p. 92. § Preliminary Principles, § 14, 16.