_
In the same opinion the Supreme Court calls attention to an act passed
in 1798, declaring that the United States were freed and exonerated from
the stipulations of previous treaties with France. This subject was
fully considered by Justice Curtis, who held, as the Supreme Court says
(Page 602): "That whilst it would always be a matter of the utmost
gravity and delicacy to refuse to execute a treaty, the power to do so
was a prerogative of which no nation could be deprived without deeply
affecting its independence."
We observe, therefore, that under our own ideas of international law the
United States claims the right to disregard its stipulations if the
interests of the country should require it. And the same right we should
concede to other nations. Particularly to Germany in the present
instance, when we find her battling for her very existence against
enemies that seek to destroy her, against enemies that surround her on
all sides, against enemies that do not hesitate to bring troops into the
conflict from the wilds of Africa and Asia, and who do not hesitate to
drag Japan into this war, causing her to disregard Chinese neutrality in
her effort to capture a small settlement, lawfully occupied in China by
a handful of German soldiers.
Pages:
413
414
415
416
417
418
419
420
421
422
423
424
425
426
427
428
429
430
431
432
433
434
435
436
437