did appeal to it, and the prize tribunals, in
administering the law, stated distinctly that they would be guided by
and would apply the principles of that law, even if the orders issued by
the administrative Government of their own country were at variance with
it. The decision of the Privy Council in the case of the _Zamora_
establishes the principle that the law which prize courts will follow is
International Law, and that they will do so though some Order in Council
may conflict with it.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 4: How strong this belief was among many of those who had
often been in opposition to the British Government was shown at a
meeting in Bombay early in the War. The enthusiastic speech of the
chairman, the late Sir Pherozeshah Mehta, one of the ablest and most
persistent critics of British rule in India for very many years, is one
to be remembered.]
CHAPTER VI
CONCLUSIONS REACHED
We may now state in order certain definite conclusions which appear to
follow from the arguments urged above:--
1.--It is to be expected that during the next thirty years, a period
less than that which has elapsed since the Franco-German War, the
scientific knowledge of the means of carrying on offensive warfare will
have made such advances and become so generally applied, that, if
another world war breaks out, not only will material damage be caused
which can never be repaired, but the best part of the human race will
either be destroyed or suffer deterioration as disastrous as complete
destruction, and that this result will be accompanied by appalling
misery.
2.--Unless there is a real assurance of peace, even if actual war does
not break out, the maintenance of armaments and the preparation for war
would place a burden which would be absolutely intolerable on the
leading nations of mankind.
3.--Owing to the close connection through modern means of communication
between one nation and another and the way in which their interests are
interlocked, a war between two States is liable to develop into a world
war. If one nation endeavours to promote its interests by imposing its
will by force on another, the other nations must either stand by while
the injury is done, in which case it is almost certain that the injury
will be repeated by subsequent attacks on some of them, or the nations
must league themselves together to prevent aggression and the assertion
of the claim to ascendancy.
4.--The complete defeat o
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