He must think of peace,
abandon the ally, and consider him as having himself abandoned his right
through necessity. Thus Louis the Fourteenth was obliged to abandon
James the Second, and to acknowledge King William, though he had at
first treated him as an usurper.
[Sidenote: Case of defence against subjects.]
[Sidenote: Case where real alliances may be renounced.]
"The same question presents itself in real alliances, and, in general,
in all alliances made with the state, and not in particular with a king
for the defence of his person. An ally ought, doubtless, to be defended
against every invasion, against every foreign violence, _and even
against his rebellious subjects: in the same manner a republic ought to
be defended against the enterprises of one who attempts to destroy the
public liberty_. But it ought to be remembered that an ally of the state
or the nation is not its judge. If the nation has deposed its king in
form,--if the people of a republic have driven out their magistrates and
set themselves at liberty, or acknowledged the authority of an usurper,
either expressly or tacitly,--to oppose these domestic regulations, by
disputing their justice or validity, would be to interfere in the
government of the nation, and to do it an injury.
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