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was absolutely impossible for her to supply the needs of her vassals beyond sea, and yet she claimed the right to impose upon them a purely passive attitude, to forbid them all business with the foreigner whom she made, with regret and very inadequately, the selfish and grasping medium, by way of Cadiz. If the dogma of colonial exclusivism had been worked out with a strict method, and if, not satisfied with prohibiting Americans from all manufacturing production, they had still succeeded in oppressing them completely in their trade and their exchanges, all liberality of life, all comforts, all riches would have been refused to them for the sole benefit of the corporation of merchants of Andalusia. There is no doubt, therefore, that the secession of the Spanish-American colonies would have been brought about long before the nineteenth century.

The Assiento was the safety valve; through it America could share, thanks it is true to great pecuniary sacrifices, in the progress of Europe, receive it products, develop in part its aptitudes. The Assiento, by weakening the Colonial Compact, by preventing it from developing its extreme results, permitted it to live, and guarded it from sinking in the midst of some violent crisis as quickly as it would otherwise have done.

G. SCELLE.

BOARD OF EDITORS OF THE AMERICAN JOURNAL

OF INTERNATIONAL LAW

CHANDLER P. ANDERSON, New York City.

CHARLES NOBLE GREGORY, State University of Iowa.
AMOS S. HERSHEY, Indiana University.

CHARLES CHENEY HYDE, Chicago, Ill.

GEORGE W. KIRCHWEY, Columbia University.

ROBERT LANSING, Watertown, N. Y.

JOHN BASSETT MOORE, Columbia University.
GEORGE G. WILSON, Brown University.
THEODORE S. WOOLSEY, Yale University.

Editor in Chief

JAMES BROWN SCOTT, George Washington University.

Business Manager

GEORGE A. FINCH, P. O. Box 226, Washington, D. C.

EDITORIAL COMMENT

EDWARD VII.

In international law, forms of government are indifferent and the possession of sovereignty is the requisite of statehood; independence and equality its corollary. An empire becomes a republic or a republic is converted into an empire without affecting the international personality of the state; the president changes, the emperor passes away, but the state whereof he is the organ undergoes no perceptible change in international law. International relations as distinct from the legal nature of the state are profoundly affected by the change of rulers and the accession of one monarch or the death of another is often an international event of the utmost significance.

The death of Edward VII has plunged the vast British Empire into mourning and the expressions of grief, sympathy and regret are not con

fined to the English speaking peoples, for the late king had not only used his constitutional power with wisdom, moderation and tact in domestic affairs, but had so conducted himself in delicate matters of foreign policy as profoundly to influence international relations.

His long novitiate as Prince of Wales, where he represented the crown on all important occasions, fitted him to perform with ease and dignity the duties of his nine years of kingship from 1901 to 1910; his wide personal acquaintance with all classes of his fellow countrymen; his knowledge of the strength and weakness of English character; his sympathy as generous as it was profound and outspoken, with all movements tending to improve conditions, assured him the confidence of his subjects. from the moment of his accession to the throne and inclined them to judge kindly, if not wholly to overlook, the misdeeds of one peculiarly exposed to temptation. An average Englishman himself, he understood the average Englishman and he truly represented on the throne the Englishmen throughout the kingdom and the empire. It is thus easy to understand how he succeeded in pleasing the average Briton.

But King Edward was equally successful in the domain of foreign affairs and for like reasons. The foreigner he knew and appreciated as the Englishman; he spoke the foreign languages; he travelled widely and mingled freely with all classes of society, so that the ambitious hopes. and prejudices of the foreigner were well-nigh as familiar to him as the peculiar traits of his fellow countrymen. Familiarity engendered clear understanding, not contempt, and a sympathy for the neighbors and associates of the British people, a respect for their good qualities, and a desire to administer to their prosperity, disarmed opposition abroad just as it created an affectionate regard for him at home.

It is well known that Edward was opposed to extreme measures against the Boers of South Africa; that he facilitated the settlement of the South African question upon terms acceptable to the victor and the conquered, that he was unwilling to be crowned while the Empire was at war; that he favored the grant of self-government to the Transvaal and the Orange River Colony, and it is a pity that his days were not prolonged to see the fruition of a liberal policy in the appointment of General Botha, formerly commander-in-chief of the Transvaal forces, who took his oath as prime. minister of the South African Confederation on June 1, 1910.

His accession found the rivalry between Great Britain and France as pronounced as in past generations; his death found the two countries. friends and allies in a common progress by an entente cordiale that had

withstood more than one assault. Mutual distrust reigned at London and St. Petersburg, but as in the case with France, Russia and Great Britain buried their differences and harmony exists where formerly discord blocked the path of progress. The Island Empire of Japan has felt the need of English support and the relations between the two countries have become close and intimate. With Germany alone the future is troubled.

It is not without reason that he has been termed the Peacemaker, for he was neither the cause of dissension at home nor abroad, and his influence was thrown for the cause of peace where war prevailed, and for the maintenance of peace where peace existed. The average man with wide knowledge, generous sympathies, infinite tact and moderation has left a deep impress on the world at large.

From another standpoint, the reign of Edward was remarkable, for he has shown that the king as such is a force at home and the visible bond of union between the United Kingdom and the colonies. George IV brought the crown into contempt; the fourth William did little to raise its prestige, and the retirement of Queen Victoria seemed to suggest that the crown had lost its usefulness in the constitutional system of England. The conduct of Edward as king without overstepping constitutional restraints showed that the crown has not spent its force at home, and that loyalty to a self-respecting and therefore respected king is the bond which binds the self-governing colonies to Great Britain and the empire.

May the son tread in the footsteps of the father, and may his reign. make for international righteousness and peace.

FOURTH ANNUAL MEETING OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF INTERNATIONAL

LAW

The American Society of International Law held its Fourth Annual Meeting at Washington, in the New Willard Hotel, April 28-30, 1910. The programme already furnished the members and printed in the January number of the JOURNAL, pages 188-190, was adhered to and, with two exceptions, the papers as announced in the programme were presented and discussed. The Honorable Charles Nagel was prevented by official business from attending the opening session and the Honorable. Thomas C. Dawson was unfortunately too ill to be present.

It is not for the JOURNAL as the organ of the Society to pass judgment upon the papers, but it certainly is permissible to state that they were

all interesting as well as scientific and that they are valuable contributions to the various phases of the general question: The Basis of Protection to Citizens Residing Abroad.

The Programme Committee limited the meeting to a single subject, divided into appropriate headings, in order to give unity and consistence to the Proceedings, in the hope that the papers as a whole would be of value as well as of interest to students of the general and special topic. The volume of Proceedings, which will shortly appear, will show that the expectation was more than justified.

The Society expressed the desire at the Third Annual Meeting that something be done in the way of codifying the laws of peace and the special committee appointed by President Root presented two preliminary reports on the subject of the scope and plan of codification and the history of codification. The two reports will be further considered by the committee during the coming year and a final report will be made at the Fifth Annual Meeting in order to see how far and along what lines the codification of the laws of peace should be undertaken by the Society.

Two incidents of the meeting stand out in bold relief and deserve special mention: the annual address of President Root, and the remarks of the President of the United States to the members of the Society at the White House reception. Senator Root considered carefully and in detail the principles underlying the protection to be accorded to Americans abroad, and insisted that what we demand from others we should cheerfully accord. His address is printed in full in the present number of the JOURNAL, p. 517.

President Taft, who is honorary president of the Society, dealt briefly with the same theme, accentuating the necessity of investing the Federal Government with the powers needed to fulfill the international obligations of the United States.

His remarks follow in full:

I am very much honored by your coming here; very glad to welcome you here; glad to know that you have an opportunity to devote this time to an avocation instead of a vocation. The remarks of Mr. Root last night were exceedingly interesting to those of us, chiefly Mr. Knox, who are attempting to bring about something practical in the way of a tribunal which shall invite submission by arbitration. To have an instrument at hand is sometimes a means of inducing its use.

I am personally a little bit more interested in another kind of an instrument that I call to your attention as international lawyers, looking at it from the standpoint of American international lawyers, and that is that Congress should put in the hands of the Executive the means by which we can perform our national

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