Page:Outlines of European History.djvu/804

 ment of in- ternational law 694 (hulines of Eitropean History began the expulsion of the French from North America. Besides these American provinces she received the rock and fortress of Gibraltar, which still gives her command of the narrow entrance to the Mediterranean. The develop- The period of Louis XIV is remarkable for the development of international law. The incessant wars and great alliances embracing several powers made increasingly clear the need of well-defined rules governing states in their relations with one another both in peace and in war. It was of the utmost importance to determine, for instance, the rights of ambassa- dors and of the vessels of neutral powers not engaged in the war, and what should be considered fair conduct in warfare and in the treatment of prisoners. Grotius's War The first great systematic treatise on international law was published by Grotius in 1625, when the horrors of the Thirty Years' War were impressing men's minds with the necessity of finding some means other than war of settling disputes between nations. While the rules laid down by Grotius and later writers have, as we must sadly admit, by no means put an end to war, they have prevented many conflicts by increasing the ways in which nations may come to an understanding with one another through their ambassadors without recourse to arms. Louis XIV outlived his son and his grandson and left a sadly demoralized kingdom to his five-year-old great-grandson, Louis XV (17 15-1774). The national treasury was depleted, the people were reduced in numbers and were in a miserable state, and the army, once the finest in Europe, was in no condition to gain further victories. We have now reviewed the long history of western Europe from the remote period when the makers of the fist-hatchet wandered naked through the tropical jungles which then covered France to the days when Louis XIV and his elegant courtiers rolled in their splendid coaches amid the carefully tended gar- dens and sparkling fountains of Versailles. It is the story of