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The Literature of International Relations

about 1800 to 1856; pp. 330–3, on the rule of 1756 (Sir William Scott's judgement in the 'Immanuel' case, with a very clear note on the rule); and pp. 330–40, on the doctrine of continuous voyages (cases of 1806 and 1863).

The connexion between international law, diplomacy, and the government of the society of nations has been thus expounded in the course of a concise and highly useful essay on 'The Modern Law of Nations and the Prevention of War':^[1] 'Official, judicial, and other learned persons who cannot conceive authority divested of official sanction have gravely pointed out that Grotius and his successors, not being legislators, could not make law. More than twenty years ago, Sir Henry Maine gave the right answer: "What we have to notice," he said, "is that the founders of International Law, though they did not create a sanction, created a law-abiding sentiment. They diffused, among sovereigns, and the literate classes in communities, a strong repugnance to the neglect or breach

There is a section on the Prussian diplomatic service at the opening of the fifteenth chapter ('Reconciliation of George II and Frederick the Great. Negotiations through the Duke of Brunswick, and then through Michell').

↑ By Sir Frederick Pollock in The Cambridge Modern History, vol. xii (1910), ch. xxii, pp. 711–12. The chapter treats of the Law of Nature and the Law of Nations, of the influence of chivalry and the Church, of Gentili, of Hooker, of the achievement of Grotius, of (1) the authority of writers, (2) treaties and conventions, and (3) the embodiment of general opinion in the usage of nations, of arbitration, the Hague Conferences, the Concert of Europe, and 'the ideal European system'. 'It would seem that the formation of any such system can be looked for only when the political institutions and ideas prevailing in the chief nations of the world have become much more nearly uniform than they are; and it is far from clear that the present tendency is to approximate, for the fashion—a passing one, let us hope—is rather to exaggerate national and racial differences' (p. 720).

[2] By Sir Frederick Pollock in The Cambridge Modern History, vol. xii (1910), ch. xxii, pp. 711–12. The chapter treats of the Law of Nature and the Law of Nations, of the influence of chivalry and the Church, of Gentili, of Hooker, of the achievement of Grotius, of (1) the authority of writers, (2) treaties and conventions, and (3) the embodiment of general opinion in the usage of nations, of arbitration, the Hague Conferences, the Concert of Europe, and 'the ideal European system'. 'It would seem that the formation of any such system can be looked for only when the political institutions and ideas prevailing in the chief nations of the world have become much more nearly uniform than they are; and it is far from clear that the present tendency is to approximate, for the fashion—a passing one, let us hope—is rather to exaggerate national and racial differences' (p. 720).

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