eldom regarded things which did not immediately relate to
it. The continual attention of sovereigns to what is on the carpet, the
constant residence of ministers, and _the perpetual negotiations, make
Europe a kind of a republic, the members of which, though independent,
unite, through the ties of common interest, for the maintenance of order
and liberty_. Hence arose that famous scheme of the political
equilibrium, or balance of power, by which is understood such a
disposition of things as no power is able absolutely to predominate or
to prescribe laws to others."--Book III. ch. iii. Sec. 47.

"Confederacies would be a sure way of preserving the equilibrium, and
supporting the liberty of nations, did all princes thoroughly understand
their true interests, and regulate all their steps for the good of the
state."--Ibid. Sec. 49.

CONTRIBUTIONS IN THE ENEMY'S COUNTRY.

[Sidenote: To be moderate.]

"Instead of the pillage of the country and defenceless places, a custom
has been substituted more humane and more advantageous to the sovereign
making war: I mean that of contributions. Whoever carries on _a just
war[41] has a right of making the enemy's country contribute to the
support of the army, and towards defraying all the charges of the war_.
Thus he obtains a part of what is due to him, and the subjects of the
enemy, on submitting to this imposition, are secured from pillage, and
the country is preserved. But a general who would not sully his
reputation is to moderate his contributions, and proportion them to
those on whom they are imposed. An excess in this point is not without
the reproach of cruelty and inhumanity: if it shows less ferocity than
ravage and destruction, it glares with avarice."--Book III. ch. ix. Sec.
165.

ASYLUM.

"If an exile or banished man is driven from his country for any crime,
it does _not_ belong to the nation in which he has taken refuge to
punish him for a fault committed in a foreign country. For Nature gives
to mankind and to nations the right of punishing only for their defence
and safety (Sec. 169): whence it follows that he can only be punished by
those he has offended.

"But this reason shows, that, if the justice of each nation ought in
general to be confined to the punishment of crimes committed in its own
territories, we ought to except from this rule the villains who, by the
quality and habitual frequency of their crimes, violate all public
security, and declare them