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CHAPTER VIII.

CONFEDERATIONS.
§ 2O6.

ANOTHER form of governments having a composite struc-
kinds ture and of great importance can be comprised

of confederation. under the term confederations, or federal gov-
ernments. There is a difficulty in drawing a line between
this class of governments, and unions which are less close
and have little or no central authority able to control the
members. An agreement between two neighboring states —
\ve will suppose them for the present to be small communi-
ties — may relate to a particular action, as a resistance to a
common neighbor of greater power than belongs to either of
them, or to a number of actions of the same kind, such as
continued intercourse, like buying and selling in each other's
markets, and crossing each other's territories, which rest on
the faith of treaties. Agreements of the first of these descrip-
tions cease when the action which they contemplate ceases ;
those of the other class are made either for a term of years, or
have no limitation. Or, again, there may be leagues of two
or more such states for purposes of mutual defence intended
for all time, with a specification of the duties which are to be
performed when the casus fcederis arises. This league takes
from the freewill of each, in a certain contingency, the power
of acting as it otherwise might, but the parties may be in
other respects entirely separate from one another, The
agreement is then of the international sort. They may not
even give and receive the rights of commercial intercourse.
Here, then, as yet there is no federal government, although