Page:The invasion of the Crimea vol. 1.djvu/64

22 ORIGIN OF THE WAR OF 1853 CHAPTER II. CHAP. The supreme Law or Usage which forms the safe- IE '. — guard of Europe is not in a state so perfect and whlchfomds symmetrical that the elucidation of it will bring thc'weak any ease or comfort to a mind accustomed to strong. crave for well-defined rules of conduct. It is a rough and wild-grown system, and its observance can only be enforced by opinion, and by the be- lief that it truly coincides with t lie interests of every Power which is called upon to obey it; but practically, it has been made to achieve a fair portion of that security which sanguine men might hope to see resulting from the adoption of an international code. Perhaps under a system ideally formed for the safety of nations and for the peace of the world, a wrong done to one State would be instantly treated as a wrong done to all. But in the actual state of the world there is no such bond between nations. It is true that the law of nations does not stint the right of execut- ing justice, and that any power may either remon- strate against a wrong done to another State great or small, or may endeavour, if so it chooses, to prevent or redress the wrong by force of arms ;