THE HESPERIAN STUDENT.
aciously being exerted, nnd little by little "Symmetrical
Order" was being established, when tho flood of barbar
ian invasion turned the tide.
With this condition of man let us contrast the stale of
society in the eighteenth century. Let us select 'luse
countries renowned lor the obstinacy, tyranny and op
presiou of their sovereigns, France under Louis XIV,
nnd the colonics of America under George III. In tho
former the lower classes have been driven to desperation
by extreme poverty, mado worse by tho exactions of ruth
less and unprincipled monarchs. In the latter, unjustly
subjected to impositions and taxes, with no voice in the
government and no hope r.f obtaining it. In both nations
their stubborn, conservative rulers, with a people roused
t( action by the eloquence of patriots and statesmen, nnd
a sense of indignities heaped upon them. For centuries
the lower classes in France have been striving for liberty
and equality. The tide seemingly carried them only the
farther from tho goal. They speed to-day, they arc put
back to-morrow. Willi no hope of peaceably attaining
their end they have given a new interpretation to Natural
Law.
In the speculations of men like Rousseau, the central
figure is man in a supposed State of Nature. "Every law
or institution which would misbeseem this imaginary
being under these ideal circumstances, is to be con
demnr d'M and nny change which will bring him nearer
to lli'j simple natural state, is worthy to be effected at
whatever cost. "The theory is still that of the Roman
lawyers, but as it were turned upside down. It is not the
Law of Nature, but the Slate of Nature."
The great difference between the modern and ancient
views, is that the one bitterly and broadly condemns the
present for its unlikenesB to tho ideal past, while the
other, assuming the present to be as necessary as the past
does not affect to disregard or censure it." The functions
of the Law of Nature arc remedial ; those of the State of
Nature revolutionary.
In Rome the Law of Nature was confined to the law
yers. They had no desire to give it to the people who
would not have been ready to receive it, for the fulness
of time had not come. In modern times it has been
wrested from their grasp. Tho people, downtrodden and
oppressed, have siczed upon it as their last hope. Under
these circumstances what wonder that the law of Nature
wps no longer a mere legal dogma, but became a vital po
litical principle, a law which makes men free and equal
before the law, not only in theory but in reality as well.
Before the crisis comes in France, stimulus is added by
the conduct of America. In sympathy with the pccuWar
idea1 so popular in France, the American lawyers joined
the French assumption that "all men are born equal,"
with that more familiar to the English, that "all men are
born free," and made the two the keynote of i heir Decla
ration of Independence. Roused by the patriotic enthus
iasm of men like Patrick Henry and Thomas Jefferson,
the people apply the accepted interpretation of Natural
Law to Jhcir own country. It is but the echo descended
from the past. "Taxation without Representation is
Tyranny." In despair of securing the one without the
the other, and with the consciousness of the justice of
their cause, they grasp the double-edged sword of their
Liberty and Equality, the Gordian-knot of Tyranny is
cut, aud America is forever free.
The theory in Natural Law now returned to its home
in France endowed with vastly greater energy and en
joying much greater claims on general reception and re
spect. The end was not long delayed. The volcano
which had been smouldering for so many centuries at
last burst fortli in all its fury. False to their principles
as many were, yet tho bloody days of 1780 wore the end
of Absolutism, and the beginning of happier day for
France.
Grand as lias been the results of these two great icvo
lutions, yet the grandest service rendered by Natural Law
to Modern Nations is Modern International Law. One
of the legal legacies of Rome was the Jus Gentium, or
Law Common lo all Nations. This was developed by
observing all the laws common to those tribes with
which Rome came in contact, aud regulated her inter
course with them until the time of the Stoics. When
Roman Law was stimulated by the theory of Natural
Law, the Praetors turned to the Jus Gentium, and suppos
ing this to he the lost code of Nature began to incorporate
it in their Edicts, aud 'lie old Deccmviral code was event
ually prececded by it. This interpretation was the first
mistake. In the beginning of Modern History, there
was, properly speaking, no International Law. The law
yers believed that in the Praetorian Edicts they had dis
covered such a law. Here lies the second mistake.
The Romans could scarcely conceive of a relation ot in
dependent Slates in which all were equal, but this was
just the inlcrpretation given to what was simply tho Ro
man Properly Law, but as just a law as could well have
been fr-uned. Its acceptance was urged on European
nations It was long before they were willing to take
this step, but the labor of Hugh Grotius finally secured
for it the enthuisostic assent of all Europe, "an assent
which has been renewed over and over agaiu." Upon
the double mistake of the Roman and Modern lawyers
rests that law which has so happ'.Iy contributed ts the
happiness of mankind.
When the Stoic placed their fundamental principle iu
the laws of their country little did they think of the latent
power hidden there, or of the influence it would exert
when they aud their philosophy had passed away. The
force of the Law of Nature is not yet spent. That which
is not the direct result of a first cause may be a ripple of
the undulating ocean, while at (he bottom lies the power
which set that vast bojy iu motion. The influence of
free nations can never be estimated. We see it in Russia,
stirred to her foundations; iu Italy throwing off the
Papal yoke; in Spain rising from the ignorance aud
superstition of the past; or in England graining the fran
chise to multitudes of her subjects. Go where we may
and we find men ever striving for liberty, The greater
the liberty, united with self control tlin greater the pro
gress, and the striving is stimulated and the purpose
strengthened, by the example of nations which have
striven and succeeded.
Duty aud self control were the sum of the moral tenets
of the Stoics. They builded more wisely than they know
when they bequeathed to succeeding ages uot only their
principle but tho practical illustration of that power
which alono constitutes true greatness.
Men of the present forget that self-government is tho
greatest liberty. If they exercised more of that noblo
self-control of the Stoic would the end of justice
