guerre et de la paix: le
mal est que ce droit des gens n'est pas fonde sur les vrais principes."
_De l'Esprit des Loix_, liv. i. c. 3.

VI. As an important supplement to the practical system of our modern law
of nations, or rather as a necessary part of it, I shall conclude with a
survey of the _diplomatic and conventional law of Europe_; of the
treaties which have materially affected the distribution of power and
territory among the European states; the circumstances which gave rise
to them, the changes which they effected, and the principles which they
introduced into the public code of the Christian commonwealth. In
ancient times the knowledge of this conventional law was thought one of
the greatest praises that could be bestowed on a name loaded with all
the honours that eminence in the arts of peace and of war can confer:

"Equidem existimo, judices, cum in omni genere ac varietate artium,
etiam illarum, quae sine summo otio non facile discuntur, Cn. Pompeius
excellat, singularem quandam laudem ejus et praestabilem esse scientiam,
_in faederibus, pactionibus, conditionibus, populorum, regum, exterarum
nationum_: in universo denique bellijure ac pacis."--_Cic. Orat. pro L.
Corn. Balbo_, c. 6.

Information on this subject is scattered over an immense variety of
voluminous compilations; not accessible to every one, and of which the
perusal can be agreeable only to very few. Yet so much of these treaties
has been embodied into the general law of Europe, that no man can be
master of it who is not acquainted with them. The knowledge of them is
necessary to negotiators and statesmen; it may sometimes be important
to private men in various situations in which they may be placed; it is
useful to all men who wish either to be acquainted with modern history,
or to form a sound judgment on political measures. I shall endeavour to
give such an abstract of it as may be sufficient for some, and a
convenient guide for others in the farther progress of their studies.
The treaties, which I shall more particularly consider, will be those of
Westphalia, of Oliva, of the Pyrenees, of Breda, of Nimeguen, of
Ryswick, of Utrecht, of Aix-la-Chapelle, of Paris (1763), and of
Versailles (1783). I shall shortly explain the other treaties, of which
the stipulations are either alluded to, confirmed, or abrogated in those
which I consider at length. I shall subjoin an account of the diplomatic
intercourse of the European powers with the Otto