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Show "All exceptions, therefore- to the full and complete power of a nation within its own territories must be traced up to the consent of the nation itself * They can flow from no other legitimate source <> It would be entirely useless to multiply authorities* So strong- ly is the principle of general and absolute sovereignty maintained that it has even been asserted by high authority that admitted internal ser itudes cease when they conflict with the necessities of the servient State. (Bluntschli, p. 212 j see criticism by Creasy 5 pf 258«) Wheth- er this be true or not, its assertion serves to emphasize the truth that self-preservation is one of the first laws of nations. No be~ liever in the doctrine of natural servitudes has ever suggested one which would interfere with the enjoyment by a nation within its own territory of whatever was necessary to the development of its re~ sources or the comfort of its people, "The immediate as '.well as the possible consequences of the right asserted by Moxico shows that its recognition is entirely inconsistent with the sovereignty of the United States over its national domain. Apart from the sum demanded by way of indemnity for the past, the clai involves not only the arrest of further settlement and development of large regions of country, but the abandonment, in great measure at least, of what has already been accompli shed <, ****** "It is not suggested that the injuries complained of are or have been in any measure due to wantonness or wastefullness in the use of water or to any design or intention to injure0 The water is simply insufficient to supply the needs of the great stretch of arid country through which the river, never large in the dry season, flows, giving much and receiving littleo "The case presented is a novel one* Whether the circumstances make it possible or proper to take any action from considerations of comity is a question which does not pertain to this Department; but that question should be decided as one of policy only^ because in, my opinion, the rules, principles., and the precedents of international law impose no liability or obligation upon the United States» (Italics ourso) Opinions of Attorneys General, Vol. XXI, p. 28C-3O" The above opinion was given in 1895> and it is 'worthy of note that thereafter and on May 21, 1906, a treaty was concluded with the Republic of Mexico entitled a "Convention Providing for the Equitable Distribution of the Watexs of the Rio Grande for Irrigation Purposes", by the terms of which the United States agreed to annually furnish to Mexico only 60,000 acre feet of water from the river* The treaty was later ratified and proclaimed Jan* 16, I907 (Malloy, Treaties, Vol, 1, page 1202) „ Ht is also worthy of note that by the terms of the treaty it was specifically provided as followsi "The United States, in entering into this treaty, does not there- by concede, expressly or by implication, any legal basis for any claim. Heretofore asserted or which may be hereafter asserted by reason of an |