The  heavy  pecuniary  burdens  that  the  conditions  of  modern
warfare  impose  on  a  belligerent  render  most  kinds  of  wealth

1  A  declaration  to  this  eifect,  adopted  at  the  Congress  of  Paris  in  1856,  has
since  been  signed  hy  all  civilised  States,  except  Spain,  Mexico,  and  the  United
States.
S


25S  ELEMENTS  OF  POLITICS  chap.
— public  or  private — undeniably  useful  to  him :  property
has  no  inconvenient  patriotic  sentiments  that  will  be  vio-
lated if  it  is  made  to  serve  the  needs  of  the  enemy,  and
common  humanity  is  not  offended  by  spoliation  if  mUd
and  regular,  as  it  is  by  the  harsh  treatment  of  innocent
persons.
StUl,  certain  limitations  may  be  established :  An  invader
must  be  allowed  to  seize  the  movable  public  property
of  the  invaded  country,  and  freely  to  use  immovables  for
his  own  purposes :  but  he  may  be  restrained  from  appro-
priating such  things  as  archives  or  State  papers,  which  are
specially  important  to  the  country  in  which  they  are  found,
but  not  available  for  warlike  uses  on  either  side.  Probably,
too,  the  appropriation  of  collections  of  pictures  or  books  may
be  prevented  in  future  civilised  warfare ;  since  they  could
only  be  made  available  for  warlike  purposes  by  being  sold
and  so  most  probably  dispersed :  and  the  loss  thus  entailed,
not  only  to  the  spoliated  country  but  to  mankind  at  large,
would  generally  be  quite  disproportionate  to  the  belligerent's
gain.  On  somewhat  similar  grounds  a  temporary  conqueror
may  be  restrained  from  divertiug  public  revenues  set  per-
manently apart  for  such  social  purposes  as  healing,  educa-
tion, art,  and  science, — for  which  the  government  of  the
invaded  country  is  practically  only  a  trustee.
