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The Grotius Society is intended to be restricted, as regards membership, to British subjects; it is to be a purely British Society. In this respect it will follow the example of the Association of International Law in the United States, which has an established position in that country and has done good work. Our Rules, however, enable us to elect, as occasion offers, foreign international lawyers as honorary and corresponding members, and also to invite non-members to read papers to us and take part in our discussions on proper introduction.

The purpose of the present comment is to explain the nature and purpose of the Society and to congratulate its members upon the action which they have taken in founding a Society, which will, it is hoped, survive the war, contribute to the development of international law, promote its understanding and its study, and popularize its principles, for these appear to be the purposes set forth in Article 2 of the Rules:

The objects of the Society shall be to afford facilities for discussion of the laws of war and peace, and for interchange of opinions regarding their operation, and to make suggestions for their reform, and generally to advance the study of international law.

As pointed out in another comment, the formation of national societies of international law is of good omen, because, if democracy or representative government is to take over foreign affairs or is to exercise a controlling influence in the future, as it has not done in the past, the people of each and every country belonging to the society of nations. must fit itself for the responsibility they thus assume. It was a wise remark attributed to the Right Honorable Robert Lowe upon the passage of the second Reform Bill, that we must now educate our masters, and monarchs and ministers for foreign affairs must learn that the people of their country are not merely masters in domestic affairs, but likewise masters in foreign affairs, and that the reasons which led the people to take domestic affairs into their own hands must inevitably lead them also to take over foreign affairs.

Now, there should be many agencies to show the people of any and every country their duties as well as their rights, for it is a fact frequently pointed out by Mr. Root, that people are better instructed in their rights and are more tenacious in maintaining them than in their duties; yet, if we are one day to have the conduct of nations governed by law, the people must needs understand their duties under law and be as scrupulous in their performance as they are tenacious of their rights. Systematic instruction in the school, the college, and the university is one way of reaching different classes of people. Another and

a broader way, perhaps, is through the creation of societies of international law with popular membership, in order that the principles of international law shall be discussed together and a knowledge of the principles disseminated. But, without attempting to single out one method of reaching a public to the disadvantage of another, we should welcome all, and the founding of the Grotius Society, happy alike in its name and its rules, should be a subject of congratulation to those believing in the importance of national societies.

It is encouraging to note that in Professor Goudy's introduction to the first volume of the Society's proceedings, reference is made to a distinguished German philosopher; that his views are quoted in German; and that these views meet with outspoken approval. The editors of the little volume express the belief that the war problems, with which the papers deal, "are considered in a spirit detached from a narrow national standpoint and in accordance with those principles of international law which rest on the general consent of civilized nations." The quotation from Immanuel Kant would seem to be in line with this belief, and Professor Goudy's statement concerning the violation of international law by all belligerents is a further evidence of the spirit of inquiry animating the members of the Society and their desire to discover truth even although it may condemn their own government.

Without dwelling upon the contents of the proceedings, it is believed that the readers of the JOURNAL would be glad to have some extracts from the introduction written by Professor Goudy freed from comment. The following passages are therefore quoted:

The era of perpetual peace among civilized nations is indeed still a long way offmuch further than pacifists too hastily suppose-but it is none the less the ideal goal of international law. It is not a mere dream of poets and philosophers. It is―

"The vision whereunto

Toils the indomitable world."

In the present frightful conflagration the goal may seem to have been thrown immeasurably back, but international law, despite the manifold and flagrant disregard of its rules, will not be overthrown. It needs no great gift of prophecy to foretell that once peace is obtained there will be an immense change in the attitude of the peoples of Europe towards wars and the causes that lead to wars. For good or evil there will be a powerful trend towards socialism. Immanuel Kant, in his wellknown essay on "Perpetual Peace among States," has said that the only form of government by which such peace can hope to be realized is the republican, i. e.,

one in which the people participate in the making of laws, and that international law must be based on a federation of such free states.1

There is only room for a further quotation, the brief paragraph in which Professor Goudy condemns the violation of international law by "each and all of the belligerents," whether the belligerent be British or foreign, and rejects the excuses which have been pleaded in justification of the violation of rules of international law:

What strikes me as one of its saddest features is the comparative indifference with which well-established rules of international law have been violated by each and all of the belligerents, when they have run counter to their apparent material interests. The loss of moral force and self-respect by the wrong-doing state seems to be regarded as unimportant when set off against its material interests. Thus, the carefully-drafted rules of the Hague Conventions and the Declaration of London have been in large measure, to use a vulgarism, "scrapped"; even the time-sanctioned declarations of the Treaty of Paris have not, in the matter of blockade, escaped violation. Excuses and defences for such violations have, no doubt, been set up, but as a rule they are of a kind that international law ought emphatically to reject.

JAMES BROWN SCOTT.

THE CHINESE SOCIAL AND POLITICAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATION

On December 5, 1915, the first meeting of the Chinese Social and Political Science Association was held in Peking, at the residence of His Excellency Lou Tseng-tsiang, Premier and Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Chinese Republic. At the meeting the constitution of the association was adopted, which, by reason of its interest, is printed in full as an appendix to this brief notice; and the officials for the first year were chosen as follows: President, His Excellency Mr. Lou; First Vice President, His Excellency Paul S. Reinsch, American Minister to China; Second Vice President, Mr. Tsao Ju-lin, Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs; Secretary, Mr. C. C. Woo, Counsellor to the Ministry for Foreign Affairs.

Article IV of the constitution states that "each member will then [after payment of entrance fee] be entitled during his membership to a

1 1 [Professor Goudy's footnote: See Kant's Werke (Ed. Hartenstein, 1868), vol. vi, p. 408 et seq., “Die bürgerliche Verfassung in jedem Staate soll republicanisch sein," and "Das Völkerrecht soll auf einen Föderalismus freier Staaten gegründet sein."] In this there is much truth. The peoples, if they are to escape destruction by wars, must have the control of foreign policy and the issues of war and peace entirely in their own hands.

copy of the Chinese Social and Political Science Review published by the Association." Dr. H. L. Yen, Counsellor to the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, was elected Managing Editor of the Review.

The objects of the association, as stated by the constitution, are: "(1) the encouragement of the scientific study of law, politics, sociology, economics and administration; and (2) the promotion of fellowship among men of similar interests."

These objects can be considered from a national and partisan interest, and the danger is always present that they will be so considered. The founders of the association, however, while recognizing the proneness of the individual to partisanship, nevertheless endeavors to exclude it from the association itself by the following statement, that "the Association as such will not assume a partisan position upon any political question nor involve itself in practical politics."

Membership in the Association is divided into three classes, endowment members, life members, and ordinary members. Any person may become a member on the invitation of the Executive Council or on the proposal of one member seconded by another and approved by the Council. (Art. III of the Constitution.)

It will be observed that the Chinese society has an American prototype in the American Political Science Association, and it is officially stated that the founders of the society took as their model the constitution of the American association. It will also be observed that the Chinese association is not a society of international law in express terms, as its scope includes the social and economic sciences; but it is stated that it will emphasize international law and politics, and that one of its main purposes will be to mediate between Chinese thought on these matters and the general scientific thought of the world. An additional purpose, and certainly a very worthy one, is to be the establishment of a library on law, politics, and economics for the use of officials and scientifically educated people, and it is pleasing to be informed that negotiations for the purchase of suitable property have already been begun.

The Review is to be a quarterly magazine, and from the statement of the Managing Editor, it is to deal "mainly with topics on politics, international and general public law [there is to be a special department devoted to international law], administration, economics and sociology." It is to be published in English, in order that it may reach the public beyond its borders, and the first number is to make its appearance in the month of April of the present year. The Chinese public, however,

is not to be overlooked, and it is the intention of the association to issue at a later date a Chinese edition.

From an authoritative communication upon which this brief comment is based, it is stated that His Excellency Dr. Wellington Koo, now Minister at Washington, and Dr. Yen, the Managing Editor of the Review, took a leading part in forming the association; that it was suggested in the first instance by our fellow-countryman and representative Dr. Paul S. Reinsch, and that Professor W. F. Willoughby, of Princeton, and Professor Henry C. Adams, of Michigan University, two American scholars at present in China in an advisory capacity, greatly aided the Chinese scholars in the realization of their project.

The founding of the Chinese Political Science Association, in which international law looms large, can be fairly taken as proof of the fact that students and scholars, as well as men of affairs in the different countries, realize that the world's great need is international law and the application of its principles to the conduct of nations. The trend toward democracy makes it at once apparent that not merely the chosen few who carry on government, but that the many who control in the end must be familiar with international law, and therefore societies are springing up in different countries for the express purpose of specializing in international law. The Institute of International Law, founded in 1873, is an international body and is for the elect. The national societies aim to include the elect, as well as persons interested in international law, although they may not claim to be experts on the subject. There is a very widespread feeling that the cards must be laid on the table, to use a very ordinary expression, and that, although diplomatists may meet behind closed doors, their agreements, to be binding, must be approved by a body or bodies representing the people and be published as laws before they bind the contracting parties.

Of course, we must not cherish delusions, for the mere transfer of foreign affairs from the select few to the controlling many will not usher in the millennium; but just as representative government has succeeded the secret and irresponsible government of monarchs and their henchmen, and is justified by its fruits, so representative government must and will say the final word in international, just as it has in constitutional matters. The formation of national societies is an indication of the understanding of this need on behalf of the publicists in those nations in which they have been formed, and the time is not, it is believed, far distant when they will be organized in all countries

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