The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-01-24
DECL ARATION OF RIGHTS
FOR AMERICAN COUNTRIES
READY FOR RATIFICATION
and DR.. James Brown Scott Is Founded Declaration
of independence Approved BY International Law
Authorities.

matters not in what form. such ag
erosion and encroachment come,
whether from the foreign nation act
! ing in it's NATIONAL character or from
vast hordes of it's people crowding
| in upon us. The government, possess
! ing the powers which are to be exer-
| cised for protection and security, is
| clothed with authority to determine
| the occasion on which the powers
shall be called forth; and its determ-
| ination, so far the subjects af-
fected are concerned, are necessarily
| conclusive upon all it's departments
and officers"
eThe right of a state to exist and to.
protect and to conserve it's existence
is to be understood in the sense in
which the right of individual to his
| life was defined. interpreted and ap-
piled in terms applicable alike to ma
1 tons and individuals in the we'll
well known English case of Regina
1 VS.. Dudley (reported in 5 Cox's Grim
ipal Cases, p. 624; IA Queens Bench
/ Division, p. 273), decided by the
/ Queens Bench Division of the High
Court of Justice in 1884, to the effect
that it was unlawful for shipwrecked
! sailors to take the life of one of their
number in order to preserve their own
! lives, because it was unlawful ac-
cording to the common law of Eng
/ land for an English subject to take
human life unless to defend himself
against an unlawful attack of the as
| sailant threatening the life Of the
party unlawfnl1y attacked
The third article, asserting the
iAequality Of nations, is followed by the
/ following citations:
"The right to equality is to be un-.
! derstood in the sense in which it was
| defined in the following passage
quoted from the decision of, the great
English admiralty judge, Sir William
Scott. later Lord Stowell, in the case
of The Louis reported in 2 Dodson's
Reports, PIP. 21O, s243-44), decided in
1917:
go Two principles of public law are
I generally recognized as fundamental.
One is the perfect equality and entire
Independence of all distinct states.
Relative ma gnitude creates no distinc-
ton Of right; relative imbeci1ity,
whether permanent or casual, gives
no, additional. right to the more. pow
erfu1 neighbor; and any advantage
seized upon that ground is mere usur-
patton. This is the great foundation
lsof public law, which it mainly con-
Germs the peace Of mankind, both in
| their polite and private capacities, to
preserve inviofate. The second is.
| that all nations being equal all have,
an equal right to the uninterrup pied
use of the unappropriated parts of the
ocean for their navigation In places
| 5Where no. local authOr1uy exists, Where
| the subjects of all states meet upon
! a. footing of entire equality and indie
pendenee, no one state, or any of dts
subjects, has right to assume or
exercise authority over the subjects
of another
''The right of equality is also to
be understood in the sense in which
it was stated and illustrated by John
Marshall, Chief Justice of the Su-
prerne Court of the United States
who said, in deciding the case Of The
Antelope, in 1925 (reportedt in ID
Wheaton's Reports PIP. Sc, 1925
In this commerce thus sanction
ed by universal assent, every nation
had an equal right 70 engage. How
| is this right to be list Each may
renounce it for its own people; but
lean this remuneration affect 9TH
ers?
No principle of general law, is
more universally acknowledged, than
the perfect equality of nations Rus
STA and Geneva have equal rights. 1t
results from this equality, that no
one can rightfuIly impose a rule on
another Each legislates for itself,
but its legislation can operate on it
self alone. A right. then, which is
vested in all, by the consent of all,
can be Invested only by consent; and
this 4(sIave) trade, in which all have
partie ipated, must remain lawful to
those who cannot be induced totrelin-
quish it. AS no nation can prescribe
a rule for others, none can make a
law of nations; and this traffic re-
mains lawful to those whose. govern
h1ents have not forbidden IT,
| THE right of equality is further to
| be understood in the sense in which
it was expressed and illustrated by
Mr.. E1ihu Root, in the following pass
age from the address which is deliv-
| cred in his capacity of Secretary of
States of the United States in the pres
ense of the official delegates of the
/ FL American Republics accredited to
the Third Pan-American Conference
held at Rio de Janeiro on July 3D.
1906:
| g we wish for no victories but those
| of peace; for no territory except our
own; for no sovereignty except the
sovereignty over ourselves We deem
| the independence and equal rights of
| the smallest and weakest member of
the family of nations entitled to as
/ much respect as those of the greatest
iempire, and we deem the observance
of that respect the chief guaranty of
the weak against the oppression of the
Istrong. We neither claim nor desire
any rights, or privileges or powers
| thatzwe do not freely concede to every
] American Republic. We wish to in
/ crease our prosperity, to expand our
/ trade, to grow in wealth, in wisdom,
and in spirit, but own conception of
the true way to accomplish this is not
to pun down others and profit by their
ruin, but to help all friends to a COM
mon prosperity and a common growth
that we may all become greater and
/ stronger together I"
The right of nation to exercise
| exclusive Jurisdiction over its terri
tory and all persons therein cited in
the fourth article. is supported by
thesec itations:
This right is to be understood in
the sense in which it was stated by
Chief Justice Marshall in the follow
ing passage of his Judgment in the
case of the schooner Exchange Gre
ported in Cranch's Reports, PIP. 116,
136-7), decided by the Supreme Court
of the United States in the year 1912: