INTERVENTION

(Lat. inter, andvenio, I come.) In Politics, the interposition of one state in the domestic affairs of another. The right of armed int erven it on is one of the most contested portions of the public law of nations; as, although practised frequently enough by the more powerful with reference to the weak, it had never been regarded otherwise than as a permitted abuse of power until the time of the congre es of Vienna, Laybach, ., when it was publicly recognized by the leading cabinets of Europe. [s. 621]