The Law of Nations, Investigated in a Popular Manner
by William John Duane (9781150497308)

General Books publication date: 2009 Original publication date: 1809 Original Publisher: Printed by William Duane, no. 98, Market street.. Subjects: International law Law / International Notes: This is a black and white OCR reprint of the original. It has no illustrations and there may be typos or missing text. When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free. Excerpt: LETTER IV. " What are the rights of belligerents, and the consequent dii-- ties of neutrals ?" IN my last letter, I explained, to what belligerent ports, and in what goods neutrals might trade; and I shall now endeavor to answer the third question: .... " Shall the persons and property of enemies be free from capture, when on board neutral ships ? As this is a question of the first importance to neutrals, and to Americans in particular, I ask your undivided attention to the inquiry. In the middle, or barbarian ages, the practice of belligerents, was to seize the persons and the property of their enemies, wherever found. There was no distinction made between the property of the state at war, and the property of its inoffensive subjects; there was no discrimination made between the armed and unarmed subjects: the sanctity of churches and of neutral territory, were alike despised; and men and property captured were the reward of the most strong and ferocious, the former becoming the slaves of the conqueror, the latter glutting the rapacity of his soldiers. When the introduction of commerce, and the art of printing, began to shew their influence in Europe, and to dispel the Gothic darkness in which it had been enveloped; men and states saw and felt the necessity of a reformation in warlike proceedings; they wished to abolish in war those traits of cruelty and injustice, above mentioned, which characterised in particular, the 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th centuries. States, however, were ...

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