Tui' Wai-; i\ rKU^)Li AND Akbitratiox. 



451 



Wlial the ( lovernnients ought to have done was to 

 havf restrained the Italians from viohiting the jjiiblio 

 law of Europe. They have failed in their duty. 

 Some of them are even believed to have been accom- 

 plices in the crime, having; encouraged by secret 

 treaty the perpetration of this outrage. But one and 

 all have failed to dis-charge the duty they recognised 

 in the Hague Convention and to defend the stipula- 

 tions of the treaty of I'aris. 



What then must lie done? 



'i'hat is a qoeslion almost as pressing for the 

 nations of Europe as for tlie Ottoman people. For 

 if the action of the Italian Government is acquiesced 

 in, then we are face to face with an era of international 

 anari hy in which no frontier is safe, no nation is 

 secure; in which .Might is the only Right, and the 

 conscience of mankind fails even to protest against 

 the most cynical violation of I'reaty Faith. 



.\re solemn intei national treaties to be torn up like 

 waste pa[)er ? Is no attempt to be made to secure a 

 selllement of internalional disputes save by methods 

 of slaughter? These two questions will be answered 

 in the negative if nothing is done to check the steady 

 progress of international anarchy. We stand at the 

 parting of the ways. If the action of Italy is to be 

 condoned by the peoples as well as by the Govern- 

 ments, then the fair prospect which shone before the 

 eyes of mankind at the opening of the Hague Con- 

 ference is blotted out with a black cloud. Instead of 

 progressing towards the establishment of an interna- 

 tional world-State in which justice is administered by 

 an impartial tribunal, mankintl will be thrown back 

 into the bloody welter of predatory war. 



F'rom the brigandage of the Italian IGovernment 

 and from the criminal connivance of the me<liating 

 Powers an .Appeal must be made to the Peoi^les of 

 the World. 'I'liey arc at present ill-informed con- 

 cerning what has happened, they are preoccupied 

 with their own afTairs and but half awake to the 

 enormity of the crime that has been committed in 

 Tripoli. 



'I'hey must be informed as to the facts, they must 

 be roused to attention, they must be summoned to the 

 defence of the right. 



The task is ditticult. Hut it is not impossible. The 

 Conscience of Mankind may sleep. It is not extinct. 

 Deep in the human heart lies latent a belief in Justice 

 to which it is possible to ap[)eal. 



Let us make that Ap|)eal, and make it now, 

 without wasting another day in waiting for the results 

 of -Mediation, which simply is anodier way of spelling 

 Anne.vation. 



WHY AI'PE.\L TO ARBITR.VITON ? 

 The appeals of the Sublime Porte to the Powers 

 have so far produce<l Mediation. They can go on 

 making these appeal, and they can go on with their 

 inediuting ; but tin- limc has come when the Ottoman 

 people must suppl'inent the Appeals for Mediation 

 iiy a Demand ol justice. 'I'his demand must be 

 iM.idi-. ivit to (III- Dii'lninacy, but to the Democracy 



of the World. It must be made in broad and simple 

 terms which the man in the street and the peasant at the 

 plough i-an understand. The case is simple enough. 



The Italian Government has picked a quarrel with 

 the Turk in order to pick his pocket. The Italian 

 (}overnment, having seized Tripoli, wishes to keep it. 

 .Against this the Ottoman people protest in the name 

 of Justice and of Right. 



But they can do more than protest. They can 

 make known to the Peoples of the World that they 

 are ready to prove the justice of their case before an 

 impartial Court. The popular formula is, " We are 

 willing to submit the whole case to arbitration and to 

 abide by the decision of the Judge." 



In the present case what is needed is not so much 

 a Tribunal of .Arbitration as a Criminal Court. But 

 a Criminal Court for International Malefactors does 

 not exist, whereas there is a Hague Tribunal for 

 Arbitration. It is ur.fortunately true that such a 

 Tribunal can only be constituted by consent of both 

 parties, and, as Italy will not consent to appear 

 before any Court, therefore the door of the Temple 

 of Justice is barred by the Power that has broken 

 the law-. 



But in a broad popular appeal to the Conscience 

 of the Nations these juristic difficulties do not arise. 



What is wanted is a declaration in a clear unmis- 

 takable popular formula that the Ottomans desire to 

 settle this dispute, whatever it may involve, by Arbi- 

 tration and not by War. This declaration can be 

 made under Article 48 of the Hague Convention 

 by the simple process of addressing a note to the 

 International Bureau of the Hague, stating that the 

 Ottoman Government is willing to submit t!ie whole 

 question in dispute between it and the Italian Govern- 

 ment to arbitration. The clause is as follows : — 



In case of dispute between two Powers one of (hem can 

 always address to the International Bureau a note conlaiiiing a 

 declaration that it would be ready (o submit (he dispute to 

 arbi(ra(ion. The Bureau must at once inform (he other Power 

 of ihe ileclaralion. 



The advantage of making this declaration in this form 

 lies in the lai^t that it would be immediately under- 

 stood by every nation as a direct challenge to Italy 

 to settle the dispute by an appeal to a tribunal where 

 Truth, Law, and Justice are supreme. 



When the Ottoman Government has made that 

 distinct formal declaration of the readiness to appeal 

 to arbitration, then it will be possible to make any 

 general appeal to the public opinion of luirope. 



The Note need not assume that Mediation has 

 failed ; all that is necessary is to notify the Bureau 

 that the Ottoman Government is willing, when the 

 right time arises, to submit the dispute to arbitration. 

 The Government can then go on with its mediation 

 till Christmas or the Greek kalends. 



'i'he (|uestions in dispute are capable of being 

 simply stated. They are : — 



1. — Have treaties, especially the treaties of 1856 

 and 1878, any value, or may they be treated as waste 

 paper ? 



