' Certainly not when merely _useless_ or _disagreeable_,
as seems to be said in an authority which has been quoted, Vattel. 2.
197, and tho he may under certain degrees of _danger_, yet the danger
must be imminent, & the degree great. Of these, it is true, that
nations are to be judges for themselves, since no one nation has a
right to sit in judgment over another. But the tribunal of our
consciences remains, & that also of the opinion of the world. These
will revise the sentence we pass in our own case, & as we respect
these, we must see that in judging ourselves we have honestly done
the part of impartial & vigorous judges.
But Reason, which gives this right of self-liberation from a
contract in certain cases, has subjected it to certain just
limitations.
I. The danger which absolves us must be great, inevitable &
imminent. Is such the character of that now apprehended from our
treaties with France? What is that danger. 1. Is it that if their
government issues in a military despotism, an alliance with them may
taint us with despotic principles? But their government, when we
allied ourselves to it, was a perfect despotism, civil & military,
yet the treaties were made in that very state of things, & therefore
that danger can furnish no just cause.
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