PHI LOS 0 P H Y . - Classic Works of Apologetics Online

i~lililary Ejtabjishmcnlj~ 481
newly discovered countries as belonging LO the prince
or state whose .~Ubjf·ct makes the discove~"y; and, in
pursuance of this rule, it is usual f\.lr a navigator,
",.ho f211s UpOll an ullknown shore, to take possession
of it, in the nalne of his sovereign at home, by erectiIlg
his standard, or dispJayil1g his flag upon a desart
coast. Now nothing can be more fanciful, or It.-ss
~llbstantiated, by any considerations of reason or justice,
than the right- \vhich such dis~o\'ery, or the
tran=,cient occupatli)Il and idle cl-remony that accom.
pany it, confer uf 1 0n the COulltry of the discoverer.
Nor call any stipularilln be produced, by which the
rest of- the \,,"()rld have bOUlld thetllsel\"es to submit
to this pretension. Y c::t \\,llen \\-e reflect that the
C!Jil11S t() lle\\;jy di~C06\rered coullrrie!~ can hal dly be
~ettl~J, bet\\:een tIle different nations ",hich frequent
t~em, without some po-irive ruk or other; that
such cIailns, if left unsettled, \\"ould prove sources of
ruinol13 and fatal contentions; that the rule alread)·
proposed, ho\vever arbitrary, POss(:~ses one principal
qltality of a rule-deternlillation and certainty,
abo'{e all, that it is acquiesced in, and that no one
has po\ver to substitute another', h()\vever he might
contri,Te a better, ill its place: when \~ e reflect upon
these properties of the rule, or ratller upon these
consequences of· rejecting its authority, we are led to
a~cribe to it the l7irtue and obligation of a -precept of
natural jllstice, because we perceive in it that which
is the foundation of justice it::-eff, public importance
and utility. l\nd a prince who should dispute tllis
rule, for the want of regularity in its formation, or
of inteliigible justice in its principle, and by such disputes
should disturb the tranquility of nations, and
at the same time lay the foundation of future disturbances,
wouid be little less criminal than he who
breaks the public peace by a violarion of engagenlents
to whicl1 lle h~d himself cOIlsented, or by an attack
upon tho~e national rights which are founded
. immediately in the law of nature, and in the first
perceptions of equity. The same thing may be repeated
of thp. rules which the law of nations prer>