Third.  In doubtful cases, and when the body of the nation has not pronounced, or HAS NOT PRONOUNCED FREELY, a sovereign may naturally support and defend an ally; and it is then that the voluntary law of nations subsists between different states.  The party that has driven out the king pretends to have right on its side; this unhappy king and his ally flatter themselves with having the same advantage; and as they have no common judge upon earth, they have no other method to take but to apply to arms to terminate the dispute; they therefore engage in a formal war.

[Sidenote:  Not obliged to pursue his right beyond a certain point.]

“In short, when the foreign prince has faithfully fulfilled his engagements towards an unfortunate monarch, when he has done in his defence, or to procure his restoration, all he was obliged to perform in virtue of the alliance, if his efforts are ineffectual, the dethroned prince cannot require him to support an endless war in his favor, or expect that he will eternally remain the enemy of the nation or of the sovereign who has deprived him of the throne.  He must think of peace, abandon the ally, and consider him as having himself abandoned his right through necessity.  Thus Louis the Fourteenth was obliged to abandon James the Second, and to acknowledge King William, though he had at first treated him as an usurper.

[Sidenote:  Case of defence against subjects.]

[Sidenote:  Case where real alliances may be renounced.]

“The same question presents itself in real alliances, and, in general, in all alliances made with the state, and not in particular with a king for the defence of his person.  An ally ought, doubtless, to be defended against every invasion, against every foreign violence, and even against his rebellious subjects:  in the same manner a republic ought to be defended against the enterprises of one who attempts to destroy the public liberty.  But it ought to be remembered that an ally of the state or the nation is not its judge.  If the nation has deposed its king in form,—­if the people of a republic have driven out their magistrates and set themselves at liberty, or acknowledged the authority of an usurper, either expressly or tacitly,—­to oppose these domestic regulations, by disputing their justice or validity, would be to interfere in the government of the nation, and to do it an injury. (See Sec. 54, and following, of this Book.) The ally remains the ally of the state, notwithstanding the change that has happened in it. However, when this change renders the alliance useless, dangerous, or disagreeable, it may renounce it; for it may say, upon a good foundation, that it would not have entered into an alliance with that nation, had it been under the present form of government.

[Sidenote:  Not an eternal war.]