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that the stronger nation conceives prejudicial to it, the stronger nation can attack and inflict its own punishment. This may be true as a statement of fact, the fact being that the stronger nation is a law unto itself, but it is not a statement of anything that may be regarded as fundamental international law.

Again illustrating his idea, Mr. Stowell states that, "In view of the many instances in which bombardment and drastic measures have been employed, it is hard to deny that there is a presumption of legality in their favor." In other words, it would seem from Mr. Stowell's declaration that the more often under circumstances of brutality, stronger nations have taken vengeance into their own hands, the more convincing the proof of their right to be judges in their own cause and to inflict death upon innocent people in no wise connected with the offense. It would seem that the multiplication of ciphers somehow creates a positive quantity. True international law can not be so written.

All we have said is not a discussion as to whether war is or is not proper or justifiable. It is simply to point out that law is one thing and that the organized chaos (paradoxically speaking) called war is another and entirely different thing. Confusion upon this point on the part of international law writers has made their teachings a mockery to the laymen, who will not regard international law seriously till a bill of divorcement has been signed between it and war in all its phases. The two do not belong in the same bed. In the present state of barbarism in international law, or pseudo international law, the usefulness of Mr. Stowell's book and the occasion for its writing may not be denied.

JACKSON H. RALSTON.

La Liga de las Naciones-Trabajos de la Segunda Asamblea. By Cosme de la Torriente. Habana: Imprenta y Papelería de Rambla y Cía., 1922. pp. 260.

The above is a report made to the President of Cuba by Señor Cosme de la Torriente in his capacity of president of the Cuban Delegation to the Second Meeting of the League of Nations. The report is divided into fourteen parts followed by several appendices, eight in number, which complete and illustrate the text. The first twelve parts of the report cover some explanatory and historical antecedents, organization of the Assembly, personnel of the various committees created and the proceedings and resolutions and recommendations adopted.

Part XIII of the report contains some interesting remarks in respect to the League:

The League has already accomplished something, but has not as yet carried out all the program announced in the Covenant either expressly or by implication. For instance, little has been accomplished in the

way of centralization, the true internationalization of all offices, commissions or international unions existing under general conventions. It is, however, impossible at the present time to accomplish anything really complete from an international point of view, unless the world can be assured of the great spiritual and material support of the United States of America; moreover, the absence of this powerful State from the League is solely responsible for the perplexities felt in some quarters in respect thereof, and specially for the present delay in accomplishing two of the most far-reaching reforms which the League is endeavoring to introduce in the relations between nations, namely, the practical reduction of armaments and the establishment of the economic blockade. The Covenant is not, nor can it be, perfect. The necessity of amending its provisions is quite evident; and in the amendments to be introduced, attention should be given to the organization of the Council, reënforcement of the authority of the Assembly, over certain questions, without thereby giving rise to situations which might be inconsistent with the sovereignty and individual interests of the States members of the League. There is urgent need, on the other hand, of special reforms to facilitate, in the future, the admission of the United States to the League; and these reforms should come from, or rather originate with the delegations of the American members. Perhaps the American foreign offices should not further delay the work of drafting a plan of amendments to the Covenant with this end in view.

There is a great Pan-American interest, and a universal interest as well, in facilitating at the same time, by all possible means, the admission of Mexico, Ecuador and San Domingo as members of the League of Nations. When all the American countries come to be thus represented in the League, the influence of this Continent over the work and progress of the Association will be decisive in respect to the preservation of peace and the establishment of justice and equality among nations.

And referring to the personnel of the offices of the League, it is said:

A greater number of non-European nationals must be included in the personnel of the offices of the League, without overlooking the proportion of Latin-Americans. When the occasion arises to fill vacancies in the League calling for a knowledge of the Spanish language, spoken and written, these positions should not be filled by the nationals of only two or three out of the sixteen Spanish-speaking members, but should be distributed proportionally; and when it becomes necessary to appoint experts on Latin-American questions, only citizens of the Latin-American Republics should be eligible for appointment, as the only possible and competent candidates to these positions.

Europe is still in need of the League of Nations more than any other part of the world; but, without intending to make a selfish declaration, it is to be hoped that the interest of the League in strictly non-European problems will continue to grow. For this reason it is desirable that the personnel of the offices of the League be modified as above suggested.

Then follows a number of recommendations intended to "create and promote, through the League, relations of solidarity, appreciation and respect founded upon the strict fulfillment of international obligations and discharge

of the responsibilities which are imposed upon Cuba by her own status as a sovereign state."

The appendices refer to the personnel of the several delegations to the Assembly, order of business and proceedings of the plenary sessions, Covenant of the League of Nations, and list of original members thereof and States invited to join the same, by-laws of the Assembly and of the Permanent Court of International Justice, and a report of the proceedings of the third committee of the Assembly.

PEDRO CAPO RODRIGUEZ.

NOTES

Le droit international public positif. By J. de Louter. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 1920. 2 vols. pp. xi, 576; vi, 509.

In the year 1910 Professor de Louter, the veteran occupant of the chair of public international law at the University of Utrecht, in the Netherlands, published in the Dutch language his Het Stellig Volkenrecht (Positive International Law), a work which was promptly accepted as one of the best treatises on the subject in recent times, by reason of the scrupulous fairness and the scientific method with which all questions were approached and the thoroughness with which they were treated consistent with limitations of space. For an extended review of that work reference is made to an earlier volume of this JOURNAL.1

The French edition which has now appeared is a translation by the hand of the author himself, thus rendering his work accessible to students of international law throughout the world. Some modifications have been made to bring the work forward to the date of the commencement of the World War, in order to present a faithful statement of public international law as it existed in 1914, with the expectation that its status at that date will be the foundation for its further development.

The importance of Professor de Louter's treatise is indicated by the fact that it is the third to appear in the Bibliothèque de Droit des Gens of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

International Relations. By James Bryce. New York: The Macmillan Co. 1922. pp. viii, 275. $2.50.

This volume, the last published work of the distinguished author, contains the eight lectures delivered by him before the Institute of Politics at Williamstown, Mass., in the summer of 1921. The preface written by the author on December 22, 1921, exactly one month before his death, states:

Painfully struck by the fact that while the economic relations between nations have been growing closer, and the personal intercourse between their members far more frequent, political friendliness between States

1 Volume 5, page 834.

has not increased, such men have been asking why ill feeling continues still so rife. Why is it that before the clouds of the Great War have vanished from the sky new clouds are rising over the horizon? What can be done to avert the dangers that are threatening the peace of mankind?

This book is intended to supply some materials for answering the questions aforesaid by throwing upon them the light of history. It is History which, recording the events and explaining the influences that have moulded the minds of men, shows us how the world of international politics has come to be what it is. History is the best-indeed the only-guide to a comprehension of the facts as they stand, and to a sound judgment of the various means that have been suggested for replacing suspicions and enmities by the cooperation of States in many things and by their good will in all.

Lecture 1 dealt with "The Earlier Relations of Tribes and States to One Another"; Lecture 2, "The Great War and its Effects in the Old World"; Lecture 3, "Non-Political Influences affecting International Relations"; Lecture 4, "The Causes of War"; Lecture 5, "Diplomacy and International Law"; Lecture 6, "Popular Control of Foreign Policy and the Morality of States"; Lecture 7, "Methods Proposed for settling International Controversies"; Lecture 8, "Other Possible Methods for Averting War".

The History and Nature of International Relations. Edited by Edmund A. Walsh. New York: The Macmillan Co. 1922. pp. 299. $2.25.

This is a collection of special lectures delivered on International Relations before the students of the School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University, Washington, D. C., edited by the regent of the school.

The lecturers and their subjects are as follows: Dr. Stephen P. Duggan, "The Fundamentals in a Scientific Study of International Relations"; Professor Michael I. Rostov tseff, "International Relations in the Ancient World"; Professor Carlton J. H. Hayes, "Medieval Diplomacy"; Hon. James Brown Scott, "Development of Diplomacy in Modern Times"; Professor James Lawrence Laughlin, "Economic Factors in International Relations"; Hon. John Bassett Moore, "Specific Agencies for the Proper Conduct of International Relations"; Hon. Esteban Gil Borges, "The Evolution of International Private Law"; Hon. Leo S. Rowe, "Latin America as a Factor in International Relations"; Hon. Paul S. Reinsch, "The Far East as a Factor in International Developments"; Professor Edwin M. Borchard, "The United States as a Factor in the Development of International Relations".

A brief appendix narrates the influence of Grotius, Suarez and De Victoria upon international law, and calls attention to the republication of their works in "The Classics of International Law" by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

Transactions of The Grotius Society. Vol. VII. London: Sweet and Maxwell. 1922. pp. xlii, 166. 8s. 6d. net.

This volume contains papers read before the Society in the year 1921. The preliminary pages relate to the business affairs of the Society, and contain memorial notices of deceased members, including Prof. Henry Goudy, Sir John Macdonell, and Lord Reay, and an account of the tribute to Grotius made by members of the Society at his tomb in Delft on September 5, 1922.

The principal papers contributed to the volume are: "The Infancy and Youth of Hugo Grotius ", by W. S. M. Knight; "Aerial Warfare and the Laws of War", by Herbert F. Manisty; "The Right of a Belligerent Merchantman to Attack", by Professor Hugh H. L. Bellot; "Justiciable Disputes", by Ernest A. Jelf; "The Law of the Air", by Wm. Latey; “Peace versus The League of Nations", by Sir Graham Bower; "The Washington Conference and Air Law in Disarmament", by Professor de Montmorency; "The Baltic Minorities", by Baron Heyking; "Military Administration of Occupied Territory in Time of War", by Lieut.-Col. de Watteville; “Chemical Warfare; The Possibility of its Control", by Major Victor Lefebure.

The British Year Book of International Law, 1922-23. London: Henry Frowde & Hodder and Stoughton. New York: Oxford University Press, American Branch. pp. vi, 260. 16s. net.

This is the third year issue of the British Year Book of International Law. The present volume contains the following leading contributions:

"Contraband", by the late Sir H. Erle Richards, followed by a memorial notice of the author prepared by Viscount Finlay; "The International Status of the British Self-Governing Dominions", by Malcolm M. Lewis; "The Territoriality of Bays", by Sir Cecil Hurst; "Enemy Ships in Port at the Outbreak of War", by Professor A. Pearce Higgins; "An International Criminal Court and the Resolutions of the Committee of Jurists", by Lord Phillimore; "Blockade in Modern Conditions", by H. W. Malkin; "Angary", by C. Ll. Bullock; "The History of Intervention in International Law", by P. H. Winfield; "Submarines at the Washington Conference", by Roland F. Roxburgh; "Immunity of States in Maritime Law", by W. R. Bisschop; "The Barcelona Conference on Communication and Transit and the Danube Statute", by G. E. Toulmin.

Following the leading articles are a series of notes on the Washington Arms Conference, the Monaco Congress on Aerial Law held in 1921, The Second International Child Welfare Congress, held in Brussels in July, 1921; the Rome session of the Institute of International Law, held in October, 1921, and several other notes, including a note on and the text of the decision of the Vice-Admiralty Prize Court of Hong Kong, in the case of

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