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officers of the watch on the bridges of the Souvoroff was attracted by a green rocket, which put them on their guard. This rocket, sent up by the "admiral" of the fishing fleet, indicated in reality, according to regulation, that the trawlers were to trawl on the starboard tack.

Almost immediately after this first alarm, and as shown by the evidence, the lookout men, who, from the bridges of the Souvoroff, were scanning the horizon with their night glasses, discovered "on the crest of the waves on the starboard bow, at an approximate distance of 18 to 20 cables," a vessel which aroused their suspicions because they saw no light, and because she appeared to be bearing down upon them.

When the suspicious-looking vessel was shown up by the searchlight, the lookout men thought they recognized a torpedo boat proceeding at great speed.

It was on account of these appearances that Admiral Rojdestvensky ordered fire to be opened on this unknown vessel.

The majority of the commissioners express the opinion, on this subject, that the responsibility for this action and the results of the fire to which the fishing fleet was exposed are to be attributed to Admiral Rojdestvensky.

12. Almost immediately after fire was opened to starboard, the Souvoroff caught sight of a little boat on her bow barring the way, and was obliged to turn sharply to the left to avoid running it down. This boat, however, on being lit up by the searchlight, was seen to be a trawler.

To prevent the fire of the ships being directed against this harmless vessel, the searchlight was immediately thrown up at an angle of 45°. The Admiral then made the signal to the squadron "not to fire on the trawlers."

But at the same time that the searchlight had lit up this fishing vessel, according to the evidence of witnesses, the lookout men on board the Souvoroff perceived to port another vessel, which appeared suspicious from the fact of its presenting the same features as were presented by the object of their fire to starboard.

Fire was immediately opened on this second object, and was, therefore, being kept up on both sides of the ship, the line of ships having resumed their original course by a correcting movement without changing speed.

13. According to the standing orders of the fleet, the Admiral indicated the objects against which the fire should be directed by throwing his searchlight upon them; but as each vessel swept the horizon in every

direction with her own searchlights to avoid being taken by surprise, it was difficult to prevent confusion.

The fire, which lasted from ten to twelve minutes, caused great loss to the trawlers. Two men were killed and six others wounded; the Crane sank; the Snipe, the Mino, the Moulmein, the Gull, and the Majestic were more or less damaged.

On the other hand, the cruiser Aurora was hit by several shots.

The majority of the commissioners observe that they have not sufficiently precise details to determine what was the object fired on by the vessels; but the commissioners recognize unanimously that the vessels of the fishing fleet did not commit any hostile act, and the majority of the commissioners being of opinion that there were no torpedo boats either among the trawlers nor anywhere near, the opening of fire by Admiral Rojdestvensky was not justifiable.

The Russian commissioner, not considering himself justified in sharing this opinion, expresses the conviction that it was precisely the suspicious-looking vessels approaching the squadron with hostile intent which provoked the fire.

14. With reference to the real objectives of this nocturnal firing, the fact that the Aurora was hit by several 47-millimeter and 75-millimeter shells would lead to the supposition that this cruiser, and perhaps even some other Russian vessels, left behind on the route followed by the Souvoroff unknown to that vessel, might have provoked and been the object of the first few shots.

This mistake might have been caused by the fact that this vessel, seen from astern, was apparently showing no light, and by a nocturnal optical illusion which deceived the lookout on the flagship.

On this head the commissioners find that they are without important information which would enable them to determine the reasons why the fire on the port side was continued.

According to their conjecture, certain distant trawlers might have been mistaken for the original objectives, and thus fired upon directly. Others, on the contrary, might have been struck by a fire directed against more distant objectives.

These considerations, moreover, are not in contradiction with the impressions formed by certain of the trawlers, who, finding that they were struck by projectiles and remained under the rays of the searchlights, might believe that they were the object of a direct fire.

15. The time during which the firing lasted on the starboard side,

even taking the point of view of the Russian version, seems to the majority of the commissioners to have been longer than was necessary.

But that majority consider that, as has already been said, they have not before them sufficient data as to why the fire on the port side was continued.

In any case, the commissioners take pleasure in recognizing, unanimously, that Admiral Rojdestvensky personally did everything he could, from beginning to end of the incident, to prevent trawlers, recognized as such, from being fired upon by the squadron.

16. Finally, the Dmitri Donskoi having signaled her number, the Admiral decided to give the general signal for "cease firing." The line of his ships then continued on their way, and disappeared to the southwest without having stopped.

On this point the commissioners recognize, unanimously, that after the circumstances which preceded the incident and those which produced it, there was, at the cessation of fire, sufficient uncertainty with regard to the danger to which the division of vessels was exposed to induce the Admiral to proceed on his way.

Nevertheless, the majority of the commissioners regret that Admiral Rojdestvensky, in passing the Straits of Dover, did not take care to inform the authorities of the neighboring maritime powers that, as he had been led to open fire near a group of trawlers, these boats, of unknown nationality, stood in need of assistance.

17. In concluding this report, the commissioners declare that their findings, which are therein formulated, are not, in their opinion, of a nature to cast any discredit upon the military qualities or the humanity of Admiral Rojdestvensky, or of the personnel of his squadron.

BOOK REVIEWS

Studies in History and Jurisprudence. By James Bryce, D. C. L. London: Henry Frowde. New York: Oxford University Press.

1901.

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Mr. Bryce's collection of "Studies" is too well known to be made the subject of extended comment at this late date. But the relations of history—especially of political history to legal development, which he has made peculiarly his own and in which his ripe learning and rare capacity for sound generalization are at their best, have such an intimate bearing on the origin and present condition of international law that we may be pardoned a belated reference to those portions of the work which deal with that subject. These are meager enough and might well be expanded into a volume, but, meager as they are, will repay thoughtful consideration.

Mr. Bryce confines his comments on the law of nations to two aspects of international relations - one the modifications which the doctrine of sovereignty undergoes when applied to the relations of dependent or partially dependent states to the superior state; the other the influence which the doctrine of a natural law, underlying and shaping the development of actual legal relations, has exerted on the history of international law.

*

The section dealing with sovereignty in international relations is, indeed, little more than a suggestion of the difficulties which the subject presents. As our author says, "The varieties of relation in which one state may legally stand to another are endless and elude any broad classification," and the nature and degree of the sovereignty exercised by the one over the other complete or partial, perfect or imperfect must vary accordingly. The fundamental difficulty, that of basing any notion of sovereignty on a superior authority derived wholly from treaty, where the laws of the paramount state do not run to the inferior state, is barely more than glanced at. But surely here is the very root of the matter. If the treaty whereby a state agrees to transact its diplomatic business exclusively through the foreign office of another state is in the legal sense a surrender of its sovereignty, what shall be said of a treaty of alliance whereby two states bind themselves, on paper, to subject their military and naval establishments to one another's use

under certain circumstances?

Can it be said strictissimi juris that such

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engagements result in anything more than rights (and rights of imperAnd should not the term fect obligation at that) in personam? eignty" be in all cases confined to the status which a state has assumed, a status recognized by, and, in the sense of international law at least, enforceable against all other nations? These questions show how intricate the problem of sovereignty really is in international relations and how much more elucidation it requires than it receives in the work before us.

The indebtedness of our international law to the doctrine of a natural law, common to all mankind, which was adopted from the Roman jurists by Grotius, Gentilis, Paffendorf, and their successors, is a commonplace of the schools. Our author does not attempt to say anything new on the subject, but restates the conventional view clearly and, consistently with the scope of his paper, with adequate fullness. It is much to be desired, however, that Mr. Bryce or some other competent student of political history shall give us a work in which the influence of this noble humanitarian conception, which our modern analytical methods have done so much to discredit, shall be rigorously compared with the influence of maritime custom and of modern humanitarian feeling in the actual international law as practiced by the nations in their intercourse with one another. One can not help feeling that, as in the development of municipal law and of political institutions, the influence. of general conceptions has been somewhat exaggerated and that we owe much to the course of events which we are fain to attribute to theories of law and government. The importance of a more scientific and rigorous treatment of the law of nations is emphasized by the importance which that law is likely to assume in the world-wide movement for international arbitration and the establishment of a high court of arbitral justice. These prefigure a development of international law in the next few decades of which its previous history and present state are but faint adumbrations.

GEORGE W. KIRCHWEY.

The Law Affecting Foreigners in Egypt. By James Harry Scott. Revised edition. Edinburgh: William Green and Sons." 1908. pp. xii, 390.

The appearance of this book is rendered timely by Lord Cromer's proposals for the reform of the system of justice and legislation in force

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