298 SYMPOSIUM ON INTERNATIONAL LAW. 



nations of Europe, that arbitration has not been able always to pre- 

 vent war; that, even with its conciliatory processes of mediation and 

 intervention, it has been swept aside by war; that nothing has been 

 devised which, in the present attitude of the peoples of the earth in 

 their relations to each other, and in the existing conditions of the 

 human mind, can abolish war. But, just as international law itself 

 if forced beyond a given point is found to have its limitations, so its 

 component parts, of which arbitration is one, can not be expected to 

 attain to that which no human agency has as yet made possible. 



That it is a method of avoiding conflict and preserving peace, 

 there can be no possible doubt ; nor can we fail to admit its efficacy 

 when we consider how frequently heretofore it has intervened amidst 

 the passions of men, and how, even in our own case, when the in- 

 terests and temper of the people were drawing them to the verge of 

 a conflict it has turned aside from us the frightful disaster of a 

 modern war. 



It may be said, indeed, with honor to the generous purposes of 

 the American people in their public dealings with other nations, that 

 this principle of fair and just consideration of the claims of right 

 on both sides has been taken as the basis upon which they have 

 rested their contentions in the international controversies that have 

 presented themselves, ever since the establishment of the independence 

 of the United States. 



It appears in the plan for the adjustment of the differences sub- 

 sisting between ourselves and Great Britain immediately after the 

 Revolutionary War, and for the establishment of our boundary lines 

 along the River St. Croix mentioned in the treaty of peace ; and we 

 see it in the provision made by Mr. Jay's treaty, to that end, in 1794, 

 that the disputed questions should be referred to the final decision 

 of commissioners, one of whom is to be appointed by the King of 

 Great Britain, one by the President of the United States, by and 

 with the advice and consent of the Senate, and these two commis- 

 sioners are to agree upon the choice of a third; or, if they can not 

 so agree, they shall each propose one person, and of the two names 

 so proposed one shall be drawn by lot in the presence of the two 

 original commissioners. The three commissioners so appointed shall 

 be sworn impartially to examine and decide the said question, ac- 



