Peoples or nations commune with
each other only through the national authorities, and when the
state proclaims neutrality or non-intervention, all its subjects
are bound to be neutral, and to abstain from all intervention on
either side. There may be, and indeed there is, a solidarity,
more or less distinctly recognized, of Christian nations, but of
the populations with and through their governments, not without
them. Still more strict is the solidarity of all the individuals
of one and the same nation. These are all bound together, all
for each and each for all. The individual is born into society
and under the government, and without the authority of the
government, which represents all and each, he cannot release
himself from his obligations. The state is then by no means a
voluntary association. Every one born or adopted into it is
bound to it, and cannot without its permission withdraw from it,
unless, as just said, it is manifest that he can have under it no
protection for his natural rights as a man, more especially for
his rights of conscience. This is Vattel's doctrine, and the
dictate of common sense.
The constitution drawn up, ordained, and established by a nation
for itself is a law--the organic or fundamental law, if you will,
but a law, and is and must be the act of the sovereign power.
That sovereign power must exist before it can act, and it cannot
exist, if vested in the people or nation, without a constitution,
or without some sort of political organization of the people or
nation.
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