New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1904-01-17

purpose Of declaring war. They often travelled
great distances to demand reparation from nations
who had injured the Roman state, and. IL this
refused to denounce war against them. AT rather
later date verbal proclamation through a herald
was substituted for these ette.s Of defiance. This
continued TO be practised till the sixteenth
fury, and there two instances of it recent
the middle OF the seventeenth In 1885, Louis
XIII sent a herald to Brussels to declare war
against Spain. and twenty-five years afterward
Sweden declared against Denmark by the
mouth of herald sent to Copenhagen. But even
prior to this time influence had been at work which
undermined the old usages After the close Of the
Hundred Years War, the civil I'm England,
the consolidation of the great European states.
ard. above ell. the fierce engendered in the
religious wars. had all contributed discredt the
old forms OF feudal chvalry. Written declarations
We're substituted for proclamation by heralds. and
as early 1888 tho Great Armada attacked Eng
land without any declaration at ALL The great legal
writer's still lent their support to the older usage;
where Grotius declares that the voice of God
and nature alike order men to renounce friendship
before embarking in But in spite of II cir in
huence practice became very loose. On the one
hand. there the two cases already cited. and
England's with the Dutch. in 1871 where there
was solemn proclamation, On the other. there are
the war OF Gustavus Adolphus with the Empire.
and English expedition against the Spanish west
Indies In 1854. carried through without declaration
and the English-Dutch OF 1852 and 16ss; the
between Portugal and the Dutch, in 1645; and
finally the war between France and the Empire in
1sss-n all of which hostilities were in an advanced
state before any declaration issued
In far the greater number of the struggles OF the
eighteenth century declaration was issued until
a state OF had been constituted de facto, and
had in instances existed for many years.
During the latter part of the century the custom
sprang up. and was generally adopted of issuing a
manifesto notice OF the commencement or war,
not necessarily TO the enemy. but to the diplomatic
agents of the other nations. who were required TO
the laws of neutrality. The opinions OF the
great jursts of this and the last century since the
close Of the Napoleonic in 1915. have been
more equally divided the necessity OF declara-
ton Several of the leading Continental authori-
ties still maintain that form of notice to the
enemy is imperative. Others. along with the more
influential British ana American authorities. take
the opposite view. In neither the with Eng
land in 1872 with Mexico in 1916 did the United
States issue either manifesto declaration OF
the smaller wars down to 1870 in which European
power was engaged side or the other Eng
lands unimportant contest with Persia IN 1S2S
affords what be a solitary instance of
declaration. The Opium War of 1870 the Italian
War OF 1878. the Ang,e-Persian War of 1856. as
well as the Danish Struggle about Schleswig-Hol-
stein in 1865. and the between Brazil and Uru-
quay. in the following year. all began By acts Of