and this through the
instrumentality of a claim to power entirely foreign and extraneous
with reference to himself, to the origin and foundation of his title,
and to the independent authority of his country. A conclusive negative
answer to such an inquiry is at once supplied, by announcing a few
familiar and settled principles and doctrines of public law.

Vattel, in his chapter on the general principles of the laws of
nations, section 15th, tells us, that "nations being free and
independent of each other in the same manner that men are naturally
free and independent, the second general law of their society is, that
each nation should be left in the peaceable enjoyment of that liberty
which she inherits from nature."

"The natural society of nations," says this writer, "cannot subsist
unless the natural rights of each be respected." In section 16th he
says, "as a consequence of that liberty and independence, it
exclusively belongs to each nation to form her own judgment of what
her conscience prescribes for her--of what it is proper or improper
for her to do; and of course it rests solely with her to examine and
determine whether she can perform any office for another nation
without neglecting the duty she owes to herself. In all cases,
therefore, in which a nation has the right of judging what her duty
requires, no other nation can compel her to act in such or such a
particular manner, for any attempt at such compulsion would be an
infringement on the liberty of nations." Again, in section 18th, of
the same chapter, "nations composed of men, and considered as so many
free persons living together in a state of nature, are naturally
equal, and inherit from nature the same obligations and rights. Power
or weakness does not produce any difference. A small republic is no
less a sovereign state than the most powerful kingdom."

So, in section 20: "A nation, then, is mistress of her own actions, so
long as they do not affect the proper and _perfect rights_ of any
other nation--so long as she is only _internally_ bound, and does not
lie under any _external_ and _perfect_ obligation. If she makes an ill
use of her liberty, she is guilty of a breach of duty; but other
nations are bound to acquiesce in her conduct, since they have no
right to dictate to her. Since nations are _free_, _independent_, and
_equal_, and since each possesses the right of judging, according to
the dictates of her conscience, what conduct she is to p