The Arbitration Treaty 191 



In human affairs a period of three centuries is 

 a brief one, and the progress already made in the 

 direction toward which the two great Frenchmen 

 were looking is significant and prophetic. The vast 

 armaments now maintained on. the continent of 

 Europe cannot possibly endure. Economic neces 

 sities will put an end to them before many years. 

 But disarmament, apparently, can only proceed 

 pari passu with the establishment of peaceful 

 methods of settling international questions. The 

 machinery for this will probably be found in the 

 further development of two institutions that have 

 already come into existence, the International Con 

 gress and the Court of Arbitration. The existence 

 of these institutions, which is now occasional, will 

 tend to become permanent : the former will deal 

 preferably with the establishment of general prin 

 ciples, the latter with their judicial application to 

 special cases. As European congresses meet now 

 upon extraordinary occasions, so once it was with 

 the congresses of the American colonies, such as 

 the New York Congress of 1690 and the Albany 

 Congress of 1754 for concerting measures against 

 New France, and the New York Congress of 1765 

 for protesting against the Stamp Act. Then came 

 the Continental Congress of 1774, which circum 

 stances kept in existence for fifteen years, until a 



