50 TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [VoL. VIII. 
s ‘‘The Pan-American Congress of 1gor.’’ This resulted in a Convention 
to which the United States and the Central and South American Republics 
were parties, providing for the compulsory reference to arbitration of all 
claims for pecuniary damages which may be presented by their respective 
citizens, and which, in accordance with international law, can be submitted 
through diplomatic channels, and can not amicably be adjusted through 
such channels, provided such claims exceed the sum of $10,000 in gold; and 
provided, further, that such claimants shall not have voluntarily served or 
aided subsequent to the ratification of the protocol containing this pro- 
vision, the enemies of the government against which the claim is presented. 
At this Congress the Hague Tribunal was recognized as worthy of 
confidence. 
Such, then, is the present position of International Arbitration. How 
far has the world, or that part of the world which calls itself civilized, pro- 
gressed towards the ideal so eloquently stated by Vattel long ago—in the 
following words: 
‘‘As the end of the law of nations is the happiness and perfection of 
the general society of mankind, it enjoins upon every nation the punctual 
observance of benevolence and good will, as well as of justice, towards its 
neighbours. This is equally the policy and the duty of nations. They 
ought to cultivate a free intercourse for commercial purposes, in order 
to supply each other’s wants, and promote each other’s prosperity. 
The variety of climates and productions of the surface of the globe, 
and the facility of communications by means of rivers, lakes, and the ocean, 
invite to a liberal commerce, as agreeable to the law of nature and extremely 
conducive to national amity, industry and happiness.” 
One may not doubt that— 
‘through the ages one increasing purpose runs, 
And the thoughts of men are widened with the process of the suns.’ 
But the increase is often hardly perceptible and there is a great deal 
of widening yet to be done. 
A very distinguished American recently declared that the principles 
which had guided the diplomacy of the United States were the Golden Rule 
and the Munroe Doctrine. ‘The student of American history is puzzled 
as to whether the orator had in his mind the revised version of the Golden 
Rule, as given by David Harum, ‘‘Do unto the other feller the way he’d 
like to do unto you, an’ do it fust,” or the good old rule, 
‘“That they should take who have the power 
And they should keep who can.”’ 
