AMERICA AND THE LAW OF NATIONS.
[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sin,—The knowledge that the Constitution of the United States of America already embraces a considerable body of international law, as your learned correspondent informs us, is of immense value not only to the English-speaking races but to the civilized world generally. The practical problem, however, that confronts international jurists and statesmen is the creation of a " sanction " adequate to the enforcement of a law of nations among independent sovereign States.
At present the only sanction, if any, is a moral and not a legal one, and it is because the League of Nations, while not at present possessing the desired sanction, nevertheless offers to humanity the best hope of gradually evolving such, that it has the support of so many right-thinking and practical men. Not only " to make the punishment fit the crime," but to create the means of enforcement of a civilized punish- ment among civilized nations would, many of us believe, in time remove the occasion of such punishment. It is the problem of creating this sanction and a wholesome fear of its consequences that at present confronts the civilized world.
am, Sir, &e., H. J. E. STINSON.
4 Cullum Street, Fenchurch Street, E.C. 3.
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