On the record
War cannot be justified merely on a technicality; nor can the concession of ocean belligerency to rebels without a port or prize court.
Source
gutenberg.orgEditor's note · Context
Sumner argues that war and concessions to rebels cannot be justified by mere legal technicalities.
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Without yielding to any of these extreme views with regard to the mischiefs or the benefits of party, all should agree that the only true and legitimate object of such an association is to uphold, advance, and develop certain principles…
Tendencies of nations, as revealed in history, teach that our aims are in harmony with prevailing laws, which God, in his benevolence, has ordained for mankind.
Again I repeat, so long as the War System prevails under the sanction of International Law, these painful incongruities will be apparent.
They belong to a system so essentially irrational, that all the admitted virtues of many of its agents cannot save it from judgment.
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