296 A Positive Century (1815–1914)this orthodox standpoint as old- fashioned and benighted. Th e purpose of
modern international law, in his opinion, is not merely the negative one of
reducing or eliminating war and conquest. It is also the positive one of or ga-
niz ing the world’s economic and social relations in a rational and construc-
tive way. Th e “social conscience” of humanity, he optimistically asserted, was
in a state of constant expansion, fi rst from the family to the nation- state—but
now and in the future, from the nation- state to the sphere of international
relations as well. State sovereignty is accordingly not something to be revered
but, on the contrary, something to be overcome, in the name of humanity.
Th e other form of intervention that was allowed by the solidarists was
humanitarian intervention. Th e fi rst lawyer to endorse its lawfulness was
E. R. N. Arntz. He was originally German, from Cleves, but his po liti cal ac-
tivism brought him into disfavor. In the 1830s, he fl ed to Belgium aft er be-
ing indicted for treason. In his new homeland, he became a law professor at
the newly founded University of Brussels, where he spent nearly his entire
career. His consideration of intervention arose out of a crisis in 1876, when
the government of Turkey resorted to brutal methods to suppress an insur-
rection in Bulgaria (then part of the Ottoman Empire). Th e harshness of the
Turkish action, estimated to have led to some thirty thousand deaths, caused
outrage over much of Europe— including demands for military action in
support of the victims.
Arntz wrote (though only very briefl y) in support of the interventionist
cause, from a basically solidarist perspective. He insisted that the rights
and interests of human society as a whole should take pre ce dence over the
sovereign rights of individual states, just as, in national societies, the pri-
vate interests of individuals yield to the general public interest of the com-
munity at large. Arntz also insisted, again consistently with the solidarist
outlook, that intervention in humanitarian crises must be undertaken by
the international community collectively, and not by individual states on
their own.
Th is thesis received at least cautious support from the prominent Belgian
lawyer Gustave Rolin- Jaequemyns. Rolin- Jaequemyns exemplifi ed the soli-
darist spirit in action, as he was active in various social welfare causes and
belonged to an or ga ni za tion called the International Association for the
Progress of Social Science. He was also a strong supporter of disarmament,
another unusual sideline for a nineteenth- century international lawyer.