Writers of genius and learning have defined this arbitrament, and laid down the rules by which it is governed, constituting a complex code, with innumerable subtile provisions regulating the resort to it and the manner in which it must be conducted, called the _Laws of War_. In these quarters we catch our first authentic glimpses of its folly and wickedness. According to Lord Bacon, whose authority is always great, "Wars are no massacres and confusions, but they are the highest _Trials of Right_, when princes and states, that acknowledge no superior upon earth, shall put themselves upon the justice of God _for the deciding of their_ _controversies_ by such success as it shall please him to give on either side."[8] This definition of the English philosopher is adopted by the American jurist, Chancellor Kent, in his Commentaries on American Law.[9] The Swiss publicist, Vattel, whose work is accepted as an important repository of the Law of Nations, defines War as "that state in which a nation _prosecutes its right by force_."[10] In this he very nearly follows the eminent Dutch authority, Bynkershoek, who says, "Bellum est eorum, qui suæ potestatis sunt, _juris sui persequendi ergo_, concertatio per vim vel dolum."[11] Mr. Whewell, who has done so much to illustrate philosophy in all its departments, says, in his recent work on the Elements of Morality and Polity, "Though war is appealed to, because there is no other ULTIMATE TRIBUNAL to which states can have recourse, _it is appealed to for justice_."[12] And in our country, Dr. Lieber says, in a work of learning and sagacious thought, that war is undertaken "in order to obtain right,"[13]--a definition which hardly differs in form from those of Vattel and Bynkershoek. [8] Observations upon a Libel, etc., Works, Vol. III. p. 40. [9] Lecture III., Vol. I. p. 45. [10] Book III. ch. 1, sec. 1. [11] Quæst. Jur. Pub., Lib. I. cap. 1. [12] Book VI. ch. 2. art. 1146. [13] Political Ethics, Book VII. sec. 19, Vol. II. p. 643. In accordance with these texts, I would now define the evil which I arraign. _War is a public armed contest between nations, under the sanction of International Law, to establish_ JUSTICE _between them_: as, for instance, to determine a disputed boundary, the title to territory, or a claim for damages. This definition is confined to contests between nations. It is restricted to International War, carefully excluding the question, often agitated, concerning the right of revolution, and that other question, on which friends of peace sometimes differ, the right of personal self-defence. It does not in any way throw doubt on the employment of force in the administration of justice or the conservation of domestic quiet.