ABSTRACT
A confederation of state is distinguished from an international alliance pure and simple chiefly by its long continuance. It is devised to last for ever in the human sense of the word, and is either on a living consciousness of national comradeship, or upon common historical traditions. The allied States feel their need of each other in war, and they express it in their political forms. Thus arose Switzerland, which serves us as a general type of confederate Federations. Its members were pledged not only to mutual support against the foreign enemy, but also to bear each other's burdens at home by consent or arbitration. Consequently the members of a Confederation exercise their natural liberum veto. No sovereign can be called on to obey, and therefore each individual must be given the right to object to the decision of the majority.
