teenth century, warrants this conviction; whole seas have gradually been delivered from age-long restrictions; the extent of the marginal sea has been restricted; the states situated on the same navigable waterway have recognized the benefit to be derived from mutual participation; and based on this enlightened conception international law has sanctioned the principle that wherever three or more states are accessible from the sea, the communicating waterway shall be dedicated to the commercial navigation of all the world. The application and practice of this principle during the nineteenth century has dispelled doubts, originally entertained, so that nations now evince a desire to permit the participation of foreign vessels in the coasting trade of international waterways; and in the navigation of waters like the Karun in Asia, the San Francisco and Tocantins in South America, and the waterways of China and Honduras - exclusively within the national domain. The freedom of the seas; expressed in principle by Grotius in the seventeenth century, and vindicated in practice at the commencement of the nineteenth; engendered the principle which received initial acceptance among nations barely a century ago and which, during the nineteenth century, received repeated confirmation by the Treaty of Paris (1856); the Brazilian Decree of 1867; the Congress of Berlin (1878); and the Treaty of London (1883); until, with the advent of the twentieth century, all waterways susceptible of internationalization are freely dedicated to commercial navigation by every nation. The implicit observance of international law assures each maritime state equality of opportunity for participation in the lucrative enterprises of the sea and for engaging in commercial navigation upon the affluent inland waterways of the world. This beneficent principle; first proclaimed at the termination of the destructive Napoleonic Wars, at a time when nations were disposed to espouse genuinely constructive measures; may be interpretated as an appreciation of the necessity of international co-operation, particularly in all commercial and maritime interests, and as an expression of a profound belief in the enduring value, to all maritime states, of the absolute freedom of all waterways, whether maritime or inland. It represents an enlightened interpretation of political, economic, and social relations by affording enhanced facilities for commercial and intellectual intercourse among all nations; a significant contrast to the universal conception of the world and of the mutual obligations incumbent on every state, entertained until the disastrous Napoleonic conflict compelled the renovation of international relations. The necessities, and in some instances the continued prosperity and development, of states under the existing conditions of modern civilization demand the implicit observance of the principles of international law governing the freedom of the seas and of inland waterways which constitute, for some inland states, the only independent highway of communication with the open sea, assuring the uninterrupted intercourse of the nations of the world. Speaking before the United States' Senate, President Wilson demonstrated the necessity of co-operation and the strictest observance of the law among nations: "So far as practicable, moreover, every great people now struggling toward a full development of its resources and of its powers should be assured a direct outlet to the great highways of the sea. Where this cannot be done by the cession of territory, it can no doubt be done by the neutralization of direct rights of way under the general guarantee which will assure the peace itself. With a right comity of arrangement no nation need be shut away from free access to the open paths of the world's commerce. And the paths of the sea must alike in law and in fact be free. The freedom of the seas is the sine qua non of peace, equality and co-operation. No doubt a somewhat radical reconsideration of many of the rules of international practice hitherto thought to be established may be necessary in order to make the seas indeed free and common in practically all commerce for the use of mankind, but the motive of such changes is convincing and compelling. There can be no trust or intimacy between the peoples of the world without them. The free, constant, unthreatened intercourse of nations is an essential part of the process of peace and development. It need not be difficult either to define or to secure the freedom of the seas if the governments of the world sincerely desire to come to an agreement concerning it. It is a problem closely connected with the limitation of naval armaments and the co-operation of the navies of the world in keeping the seas at once free and safe. . . . The question of armaments, whether on land or sea, is the most determined and intensely practicable question connected with the future fortunes of nations and of mankind." (President Wilson, Address to the United States Senate, January 22, 1917 New York Sun, Jan. 22, 1917.) |