1. War gives the right to destroy the property of the enemy; it is what is called the right of ravage. But ravage should not be pursued for its own sake, but only to weaken the enemy. Thus we should as much as possible spare public monuments, works of art, etc.
2. It is a right of war to acquire and appropriate things belonging to the enemy until agreement as to the moneys due, including the expenses of the war.
3. It is by virtue of these principles that, in case of naval encounters, it is justifiable to take possession of the enemy’s vessels, and not only of men-of-war, but of merchant-men and the goods they carry.
4. This right upon the enemy’s property is only the sovereign’s; he alone has a right to appropriate, in the name of the State, the property of the invaded territory, by way of restitution or guaranty; but war does not confer upon single individuals the right of taking possession of people’s property and appropriating it: this is simply pillage.
118. Conquest.—We call right of conquest the right which belongs to a State to bring under its sovereignty the whole or part of another State, by virtue of the right of war. Conquest, it will be seen, is but the right of the strongest. It is contrary to the principle of modern political societies, which requires that the State rest on the free contract of citizens, and that a people should only be subject to laws consented to.
It is not easy to have an official authentication of this consent; but it is certain that there are annexations that are voluntary, and others that are not. The latter, it must be hoped, will become less and less frequent as the idea of justice among nations develops.
119. Neutrality.—We call neutrality the situation of States which, in a case of war, side with neither the one nor the other of the belligerents, but remain at peace with the two parties. They are, therefore, obliged to practice toward them the laws of natural right impartially: if, for example, they render to one a service of humanity, they must not refuse the same service to the other. They must not furnish means of hostility to either the one or the other, or they must furnish them to both. They must lend their good offices for a settlement if they have any chance of being listened to.
These rules are very simple; but, practically, the situation of neutrals is a very delicate one, and gives rise to numerous difficulties, for the solution of which, resort must be had to the special treatises on the law of nations.
120. International treaties: their characters: their forms.—We have seen that nations have among each other, the same as individuals, obligations and rights which they derive from the natural law. But there are other obligations and other rights which are no longer based on nature, but on special contracts or usages. The international law which bears on usages is called customary right; that which comes from compacts, is called conventional right. The compacts between States are called treaties.
Treaties are equal or unequal, according as they promise equal or unequal things; personal or real, according as they relate only to certain persons, and during their lives, or as they are independent of persons and last as long as the State itself; pure and simple or conditional; in the first case the stipulations are absolute; in the second they depend on certain conditions.