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Burke, Edmund, 1729-1797

"The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke, Vol. 04 (of 12)"

In doubtful cases, and _when the body of the nation has
not pronounced, or HAS NOT PRONOUNCED FREELY_, a sovereign may naturally
support and defend an ally; and it is then that the voluntary law of
nations subsists between different states. The party that has driven out
the king pretends to have right on its side; this unhappy king and his
ally flatter themselves with having the same advantage; and as they have
no common judge upon earth, they have no other method to take but to
apply to arms to terminate the dispute; they therefore engage in a
formal war.
[Sidenote: Not obliged to pursue his right beyond a certain point.]
"In short, when the foreign prince has faithfully fulfilled his
engagements towards an unfortunate monarch, when he has done in his
defence, or to procure his restoration, all he was obliged to perform in
virtue of the alliance, if his efforts are ineffectual, the dethroned
prince cannot require him to support an endless war in his favor, or
expect that he will eternally remain the enemy of the nation or of the
sovereign who has deprived him of the throne.


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