A treaty, when made, is in fact only in force so long as the contracting parties choose to observe it; for as the contracting parties are sovereign powers, there is no superior authority to enforce the observ ance of the treaty. Respect for opinion and fear of other powers interfering, and various other motives may often combine to ensure the due execution of treaties, when the parties to them are not disposed to observe them.
Treaties between nations for mutual commercial advantages have been made at different times, but the small value of such treaties is now pretty well under stood by those who are in favour of unre stricted commercial intercourse. Such treaties are cumbrous expedients for effect ing what may generally be done better by the nation, which has most to give and is able to take most, relaxing its own restrictive laws; which is what Great Britain is doing now. A striking in stance of the effect of Great Britain's example is contained in the Reciprocity Acts.' [Sarre.] A complete account of the printed col lections of treaties is contained in the Discours Prdiminaire sur les differens Recueils de Traitas publies jusqu'h ce Jour' (pp. 3-73), in the first volume of the Suppl4ment an Recueil des Princi paux Traites; &c., by De Martens, 8vo., Gottingen, 1802. All preceding general collections are superseded by the great work of Du Mont and Rousset, entitled Corps Universel Diplomatique du Droit des Gens, contenant un Recueil des Trait& d'alliance, de pail, de trdve, de zientralite, de commerce, d'dchange, de protection, et de garantie, de touter les Conventions, &c. . . . depuis le regne de 1'Empereur Charlemagne jusques present,' &c., &e. The original work is in eight volumes, to which there is a sup plement in five volumes which appeared in 1739.
The collection of Du Mont and Ronsset has been completed and brought down to the present day by the late George Frederic de Martens, professor of the Law of Nature and Nations at Gottingen, and his successors, in their work entitled Recueil des Traites d'Alliance, &c. des Puissances et Etats de &c., 8c.e., the first volume of which, in 8vo., was published at Gottingen in 1790. Various supplements have been since published. The original work of de Martens consists of seven volumes.
There are separate collections of trea ties published in nearly all the countries of Europe, consisting for the most part of those treaties to which the country has been a party, and which therefore form tne history of its connection with foreign states. Most of those collections also De Martens has enumerated in the discourse already referred to. The most import ant of English collections is that entitled • Thome Rymeri Rodent, Conventions, Littera+, cujuscumque generis Acta Pub lics, inter Reges Anglia, et silos quosvis imperatores, reges,' &c., in 20 volumes,
folio, 1704-1735. It includes the period from A.D. 1101 to 1654. A second edi tion of the first 17 volumes (the last of which is occupied with an index to those that precede) was published at London, under the care of George Holmes, in 1727; a third, including the whole 20 volumes in 10, and with considerable additions and improvements, was brought out at the Hague in 1739 ; and a fourth, augmented by many new documents, has been in part printed under the direction of the late Record Commission. Vari ous collections have been published since that of Rymer. The latest general col lection of treaties which has appeared in this country is by George Chalmers, 2 vols. 8vo., London, 1790, which is a useful work. The new treaties and other state papers are annually published by the Foreign Office ; and there is a very convenient work, entitled A Complete Collection of Treaties, &c., at present sub sisting between Great Britian and Foreign Powers, so far as they relate to Com merce and Navigation, to the repression and abolition of the Slave Trade, and to the Privileges and Interests of the Subjects of the high contracting Parties; ' compiled from authentic documents by Lewis Hertzlet, Esq., librarian and keeper of the papers, Foreign Office, 5 vols. 8vo.. London, 1840.
For an enumeration of the principal works on the subject of treaties, and re ferences to the passages in the writers on public law in which the subject is con sidered. the reader may consult the In troduction to De Martens's Pricis du Droit des Gens Moderns de fondd sur les Traites et 2 vols. 8vo., Paris, 1831; vol. i., pp. 132-166, 268-270, 316 ; and ii., 22-33, 63-69, 113, 216-234, 291-308. There is a very use ful work by De Martens, entitled Cows Diplomatique,' 3 vols. 8vo., Berlin, 1801 ; of which the first two volumes (entitled separately Guide Diplomatique ') con tain an account of the principal laws of the powers of Europe and of the United States of America, relating to commerce and the rights of foreigners in peace and in war, and a list of the treaties and other public acts connecting these states, from the commencement of their diplomatic intercourse to the end of the eighteenth century ; and the third is entitled' Tableau des Relations Extdrieures des Puissances de I'Europe, tant entre elles qu'avec d'antres Etats dans lee diverses Parties du Globe.' In the Companion to the Almanac for 1831, pp. 44-63, will be found ' A Chronological Table of the more import ant Treaties between the principal civi lized Nations, with Notices of the Wars and other Events with which they are connected, from the beginning of the fourteenth century to