whom there can be neither faith nor compact. This brings him to consider the nicer case of compacts with rebels, which, as might naturally be expected from a Spanish civilian writing in the camp of the Prince of Parma in the Netherlands, he decides to be absolutely void, as well as those made with tyrants; by which term he means usurpers, since he had before enforced the duty of passive obedience to lawful princes however cruel and oppressive their conduct. Promises extorted by tyrants are not binding, since they lack the essential ingredient of free consent. The same may be said of those compacts which a people in rebellion. unjustly extort from their prince. Nor is faith to be kept with public enemies in all cases, that is to say in those cases referred to by Cicero where the circumstances have so changed that the performance of the promise would be injurious to the party to whom it is made; or where it is contrary to the divine law; or where made by an unauthorized individual to the prejudice of the state; or where the enemy himself is guilty of a breach of faith. It is not lawful to avenge perfidy by perfidy; but a convention, whether of alliance, peace, or truce, which is infected by fraud is void ab initio. The seventh chapter relates to treaties and conventions. These were stated by the Roman ambassadors to Antiochuse to be of three kinds. 1. Where the victorious party dictates laws to the conquered people, of which there are so many examples in the Roman history. 2. Treaties of peace and friendship founded on the basis of equal reciprocity, such as that concluded between the Romans and Sabines. 3. Treaties of friendship and alliance between nations who had never been engaged in war with each other. This class may again be divided into treaties of defensive alliance, and those which are both offensive and defensive. To these may also be added treaties of commerce. Our author here explains the difference between a fœdus and a e Liv. Hist. lib. 44. an army sponsio according to the Roman law. The commander of has power to make a temporary truce, but not a perpetual peace without special authority from his sovereign. The eighth chapter treats of stratagems and frauds in war. It is allowable to attack an enemy by force or fraud, and any kind of deceit or stratagem may be practised against him, provided good faith is observed in respect to the performance of promises. The Greeks and Carthagenians boasted of their skill in deceiving the enemy, but the Romans in the earlier days of the republic magnanimously disdained such acts. If they subsequently adopted them, it was not without strong opposition on the part of those senators who appealed to the better example of their ances tors. The ninth chapter concerns the rights of legation. Our author asserts that the character of ambassadors had ever been considered sacred and inviolable among all nations, and quotes several examples where the judgment of the fecial college determined the Romans to deliver up to the enemy those who had violated the jus gentium in this respect. He refers to the conduct of the dictator Posthumius, who carried his scruples so far as to liberate certain Volscians, who had been clothed with the office of legati in order to mask their real character of spies who came to examine the Roman camp. But Ayala doubts whether the immunity of ambassadors extends to a case where they act in a manner so inconsistent with their official character.f The rights of legation belong only to public enemies, not to pirates, robbers, and rebels. Traitors who take refuge in the enemey's country cannot protect themselves by assuming the character of ambassadors. Our author applies this to the famous case of the ambassadors of Francis I, f Quod tamen exemplo non putarem legatos violatos, contra jus gentium omnino jure tutos esse, cum legati nihil extra legationis munus agere possint. (Lib. i. cap. ix. § 2.) native subjects of Charles V, who were assassinated on Conrad Brunus, author of an elaborate treatise De Lega- Conrad Brutionibus, published at Mainz in 1548, is no where mentioned nus. by Grotius. The author was a German civilian and Catholic. The principles he lays down are buried under a load of quotations from the writers on the Roman law, the canonists, the sacred scriptures, the fathers of the church, the ancient poets, philosophers, and historians. But he distinguishes accurately between the full power, the letters of credence, and the instructions of a public minister.h He deduces the modern institution of embassies from the Roman fecial law, which required a solemn declaration of war with certain prescribed formalities to authorize acts of hostility. These formalities, he says, are no longer required in the intercourse of modern states, every thing relating to peace and war being negotiated by public ministers representing their respective sovereigns. Just war is that undertaken from the necessity of self defence, and for the public security. War may not lawfully be undertaken for the sake of acquiring fame and extending dominion, although, as Cicero says, military ambition is the infirmity of noble minds whose genius unhappily receives that direction. Even in a just cause, war cannot lawfully be commenced without first demanding satisfaction for the injury received, except in cases where irreparable damage might be sustained by delay. In such cases, force may This work contains 242 pages fol: divided into five books, of which the titles are as follows: 1. De Personis qui Legationes mittunt. 2. De personis eorum qui mittuntur. 3. De Legatorum officiis. 4. De Privilegiis, Immunitatibus, et Salariis Legatorum. 5. De Personis eorum ad quos Legati mittuntur. Lib i cap. xi. Cic de Offic i. 22. Albericus Gentilis. instantly be repelled by force, and the aggressor pursued into his own territory until the property taken is restored. For the right of self defence may be resorted to, not only to repel injuries, but to recover by arms what has been unjustly taken from us. Any war waged by Christians against the enemies of the Christian faith is just, as being undertaken for the defence of religion and the glory of God in order to recover the possession of dominions unjustly held by infidels, and thus highly useful to the entire Christian commonwealth. He refers to a separate treatise De Seditiosis, for his opinion respecting the justice of wars against heretics and schismatics. The war-making power resides in the supreme authority of the state, to whom it exclusively belongs to authorize hostilities against other nations by a solemn declaration.k Brunus asserts that the law of nations in respect to the sacred character of ambassadors had been often violated in his time. Their immunity from civil suits and criminal prosecutions in the local courts of justice, as well as their exemption from taxes and duties, admitted in his opinion of no doubt.l Alberico Gentili, or as his name was latinized after the fashion of the age, Albericus Gentilis, was born in the March of Ancona, about the middle of the sixteenth century, of an ancient and illustrious family. His father, being one of the few Italians who openly embraced the doctrines of the reformation, was compelled to fly with his family into Germany, whence he sent his son Alberico to England, where he found, not only freedom of conscience, but patronage and favor, and was elected to fill the chair of jurisprudence at the university of Oxford. He did not confine his attention to the Roman law, the only system then thought worthy of being taught in a scientific manner, but * Lib. iii. cap. 8. 1 Lib. iv. cap 5. investigated the principles of natural jurisprudence, and of the consuetudinary law governing the intercourse of Christian nations. His attention was especially directed to this last by the circumstance of his being retained as the advocate of Spanish claimants in the English prize courts. The fruits of his professional labors were given to the world in the earliest reports of judicial decisions on maritime law. published in any part of Europe.m His more scholastic and academical studies produced one of the earliest regular treatises upon the laws of war De Jure Belli published in 1589, and dedicated to the Earl of Essex, who had procured for him the professorship of civil law at Oxford. Grotius acknowledges his obligations to Gentili, and Mr. Hallam remarks "that this comparatively obscure writer was of some use to the eminent founder, as he has been deemed, of international jurisprudence, were it only for mapping his subject, will be evident from the titles of his chapters, which run almost parallel to those of the first and third books of Grotius."n His title to be considered as the father of the modern science of public law is asserted by his countryman Lampredi, himself no incompetent judge of this branch of learning. "He first explained the rules of war and peace, which probably suggested to Grotius the idea of writing his own work: worthy to be remembered among other things for having contributed to augment the glory of his native Italy, whence he drew his knowledge of the Roman law, and proved her to be the earliest teacher of natural jurisprudence, as she had been the restorer and patroness of all liberal arts and learning." Gentili also published, in 1583, a treatise on embassies, De Legationibus, which he dedicated to his friend and patron, the gallant and accomplished Sir Philip Sydney. The first book of this work contains an historical deduction De Advocatione Hispanica, Hanov. 1613. n Hallam's Introd. to the Literature of Europe, vol. ii. p. 154. |