stablished principles of international law, which, it is
hardly necessary to remark, is no cut-and-dried system but a body of
rules founded upon, and moving with, the public opinion of nations.

That branch of international law which deals with the relations of
neutrals and belligerents is, of course, a compromise between what
Grotius calls the "belli rigor" and the "commerciorum libertas." The
terms of the compromise, originally suggested partly by equity, partly
by national interest, have been varied and re-defined, from time to
time, with reference to the same considerations. It is perhaps
reasonable that, in settling these terms, preponderant weight should
have been given to the requirements of belligerents, engaged possibly in
a life-and-death struggle. "Ius commerciorum aequum est," says Gentili;
"at hoc aequius, tuendae salutis." There is accordingly no doubt that in
land warfare a belligerent may not only interrupt communications by
road, railway, post, or telegraph without giving any ground of complaint
to neutrals who may be thereby inconvenienced, but may also lay hands on
such neutral property--shipping, railway carriages, or telegraphic
plant--as may be essential to the conduct of his operations, making use
of and even destroying it, subject only to a duty to compensate the
owners. This he does in pursuance of the well-known "droit d'angarie,"
an extreme application of which occurred in 1871, when certain British
colliers were sunk in the Seine by the Prussians in order to prevent the
passage of French gunboats up the river. Count Bismarck undertook that
the owners of the ships should be indemnified, and Lord Granville did
not press for anything further. Such action, if it took place outside of
belligerent territory, would not be tolerated for a moment.

The application of these principles to the case of submarine cables
would appear to be, to a certain point at any rate, perfectly clear.
Telegraphic communication with the outside world may well be as
important to a State engaged in warfare as similar means of
communication between one point and another within its own territory.
Just as an invader would without scruple interrupt messages, and even
destroy telegraphic plant, on land, so may he thus act within the
enemy's territorial waters, or, perhaps, even so far from shore as he
could reasonably place a blockading squadron. It may be objected that a
belligerent has no right to prevent the access of neutra