s precedes war; but in reality, in modern times, few
wars are solemnly declared;--they begin most often with general
hostilities; thus the first Dutch War began upon general Letters of
Marque, and the War with Spain, that commenced by the attempted
invasion of the Armada in 1588, was not declared or proclaimed between
the two crowns.[6]

[Sidenote: Contents of Declaration.]

The Manifesto not only announces the commencement Contents of and
existence of hostilities, but also states the reasons of, and attempts
the justification of the war; and it is necessary for the instruction
and direction of the subjects of the belligerent state, with respect
to their intercourse with the foe; it also apprizes neutral nations of
the fact, and enables them to conform their conduct to the rights
belonging to the new state of things.[7]

Without such an official act, it might be difficult to distinguish, in
a Treaty of Peace, those acts which are to be accounted lawful effects
of war, from those which either nation may consider as naked wrongs,
and for which they may, under certain circumstances, claim reparation.

When war is duly declared, it is not merely a war between one
government and another, but between nation and nation, between every
individual of the one state with each and every individual of the
other. The subjects of one country are all, and every one of them, the
foes of every subject of the other, and from this principle flow many
important consequences.[8]

[Sidenote: Property of Subjects of Belligerent States in the Enemy's
Country.]

On the commencement of hostilities a natural expectation will arise
that the Property, (if not the Persons) of the Belligerent State,
found in the Enemy's Territory, will become liable to seizure and
confiscation, especially as no declaration or notice of war is now
necessary to legalize hostilities. According to strict authority, the
Persons and Property of Subjects of the Enemy found in the belligerent
state are liable to detention and confiscation; but even on this point
diversity of opinion has arisen among institutional writers; and
modern usage seems to exempt the Persons and Property of the Enemy
found in either territory at the outbreak of the war, from its
operations.

Without entering on the long arguments that have been produced on this
subject, and which it is not the intention of this treatise to
reproduce, the rule may be stated very nearly as follows.[9]

That th