The Freedmen.-The freedmen thus created were made citizens and their rights were defined by Amendment XIV. (See pages 61, 96, 99 and 181.) This amendment, in order to extend the provisions of the "Bill of Rights" to the new citizens, further provided that no State shall

deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law, nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

Amendment XV., made in 1870, was the final step in granting full rights of citizenship to the freedmen. By the Thirteenth Amendment their freedom had been recognized. By the Fourteenth they have been declared citizens and their civil rights have been enumerated. The Fifteenth extended to them political rights under the limitations imposed by the laws of the several States by providing that:

The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

Object of Amendments. The province of the amendments is briefly stated by Judge Cooley, as follows:

The first amendments were for the purpose of keeping the central power within due limits at a time when the tendency to centralization was alarming to many persons; the last were adopted to impose new restraints on State sovereignty at a time when State powers had nearly succeeded in destroying the national sovereignty.

PART FOURTH.

PRINCIPLES OF LAW.

CHAPTER I.

INTERNATIONAL LAW.

Definition. International Law, or the Law of Nations, in its commonly accepted meaning, is the code of rules which civilized nations recognize by consent and usage as that which should govern their mutual intercourse. In a more general sense it comprises those principles of natural right and justice which should regulate international conduct.

1. RULES IN TIME OF PEACE.

Divisions. Rules in time of peace may be divided into four classes those relating to (1) Sovereignty, (2) Territory, (3) Aliens and (4) Intercourse.

1. SOVEREIGNTY.

Recognition of Sovereignty. Every state or nation is independent and sovereign, and the equal in that respect of every other state in the world, without regard to the extent, power or character of its government. In a nation with a federal form of government, this rule ap plies to the central government alone.

Intervention. It is a violation of a nation's sovereignty to interfere with its domestic affairs or to intervene in case of civil war. However, in extreme cases, intervention is considered justifiable upon the ground of humanity, as when a government is conducting a war with great cruelty, or to "maintain the balance of power," as where a nation whose increase of power may become a menace to its neighbors is restrained in its aggression upon a weaker state. This has often happened in Europe. Of somewhat the same character was the Monroe Doctrine, promulgated in 1823, which declared that the United States would "consider any attempt on the part of the allied European powers to extend their system to any portion of our hemisphere as dangerous to our peace and safety."

2. TERRITORY.

Definition. The land over which a state has exclusive political control is its territory, and its rights of government are called territorial rights. Such territory may be acquired either by discovery and occupation, by possession for a long time, by conquest or by gift or purchase. The transfer of territory from one nation to another is termed cession. A state bounded by the ocean, or high seas, possesses territorial rights over a strip of water three marine miles wide extending along its coasts and over the sea between adjacent headlands. Such a strip of sea is termed territorial waters. Rivers flowing between two states belong to both, but rivers passing from one state into another are part of the territory of each state while within its boundaries.

The ships of a nation in the territorial waters of another nation must obey its laws, but on the high seas they are subject only to the laws of their own country.

3. ALIENS.

Definition.-Aliens are persons within a country other than that to which they owe allegiance. They are generally subject to the laws of the state where they are, but this rule does not apply to sovereigns, their diplomatic representatives, or to the ships of war and military forces of other states.

Rights. A domiciled alien-that is, one having a residence or a domicile cannot usually own land or take part in the government, but he may hold other property, make contracts and claim protection of the courts, and is subject to taxation and to the requirements usually imposed upon citizens. Aliens, however, who are travelers only, are exempt from many of these duties and are entitled to special privileges.

Naturalization. An alien may become a citizen of the country of his domicile by taking an oath of allegiance to the government. This is called naturalization, and nearly all nations now recognize that this act severs the relationship of the person with the country to which he formerly owed allegiance. This severance of relationship is called expatriation.

Criminals and Extradition.-Aliens who are fugitives from justice are subject to special rules. If their crimes are of a political nature they will not generally be given up on the demand of another government, but if they