Leading Articles in the Reviews. 



163 



THE PROSPECT OF INTERNATIONAL ARBITRATION. 

 Bv Presidext Taft. * 



In the Coitury Magazine for January Presiilent 

 Taft publishes an apjieal for the ratification of the 

 Arbitration Treaties, in which he explains what the 

 'I'rcaties are supposed to do, and points out that most 

 of the critics fail to realise their provisions. He points 

 out, for instance, that under the Treaties the final 

 determination must always rest with the Senate by 

 virtue of the fact that all special agreements must 

 be sent to that body for its approval. He thinks it 

 is inconceivable that the Senate would exercise its 

 power to nullify the results of a just decision of the 

 High Commission, but it would retain its power to 

 prevent any gross miscarriage of justice through the 

 operation of the power of that Commission. He stoutly 

 defends the fourth provision, which declares tliat a joint 

 Commi.ssion appointed by the two disputants should 

 iiave power to decide whether or not the question is 

 arbitral. But, he says, the pending Treaties do not 

 provide for the submission to any Commission of any 

 ijuestion which atlects the vital interests or the 

 honour of the nation unless such question be 

 determinable by the principles of law and equity. 

 Such questions as the Monroe Doctrine could not 

 be settled according to the principles of law and 

 equity, and no decision of the Commission would 

 be valid unless two of its American members sided 

 with the three other members in declaring the 

 question to be fit for arbitration. President Taft 

 says he is quite willing to share the right of appoint- 

 ing the commissioners with the Senate. He points 

 out that it is obvious that with the safeguards that 

 are provided, and under the limitations proiJOsed, few 

 <|uestions would ever come before^the Commission for 

 decision. 



He then deals with the objection that the recent 

 events in China and Tripoli have been cited as 

 evidence against the Treaties. He says that so far 

 from this being the case they tell directly in favour — 

 not, indeed, of tin- moderate prop(jsals of the Treaty, 

 but of a much more drastic solution towards which 

 the Treaties are a step in advance. 



\Vhen Mr. St< ad was in Turkey and proposed to the 



Turks that they should demand that Italy should 

 .irbitrate the Tripoli question, the answer that was con- 

 stantly made was, " We do not want arbitration ; we 

 want a court of criminal justice before which we can 

 arraign the burgl.ir who has broken into our house." 

 President Taft, we are delighted to see, expresses him- 

 self in entire agreement with this notion : — 



The iJial for wliuli >inccre atlvoc.ilc*^ of universal peace .arc 

 ^Irivinj; b an inlcrn.ilional court of arliltr.iliun, l.cforc wliicli a 

 weak nation m.iy summon one more poHt;rful when the wcakrr 

 liclii;ves it* rictus an- Ijciny violated by the more powerful. If 

 llierc ha* teen \mjiisl spoliation of China such a Inlnm.il wniild 

 have iliscli»ctl the fact and would have forbidden such 

 spoliation. 



In the cvsc of Tripoli, a» Jn the case of Turkey cenerall^-, 

 such a triliunal would have served to insure to Turkey its 

 lights whenever ihcy were In danger of violation. Il i* pre- 



cisely llie absence of such a tribunal, to which a weak nation 

 can appeal, which makes possible the violation of its rights by 

 one more powerful. It is precisely the absence of such a 

 tribunal which makes possible the violation of the provisions of 

 general treaties guaranteeing the integrity of nations unable to 

 protect themselves. 



President Taft then argues strongly against the 

 notion that questions of vital interest or national 

 honour should never be referred to arbitration. He 

 says : — 



That argument presupposes that a nation is the best judge of 

 a question involving its own rights, although human experience 

 clearly proves the contrary. Xo just nation can desire other 

 than an equitable settfement of such a question. And it 

 seems hardly necessary to argue that an equitable settlement 

 is far more likely to proceed from a just and impartial 

 tiibunal than from the inner consciousness or from the popular 

 and too often impassioned clamour of one of the nations whose 

 interests are at st.-ike. .-^nd even if this were not so, to what 

 can nations appeal when their vital interest or their national 

 honour is at stake if the arbitration of an imiiarlial court is 

 to be rejected ? To the arbitrament of war ? And if to that, 

 what guaranty is there of a just decision ? 



If these Treaties are passed, some advance will 

 have been taken towards- the creation of an Inter- 

 national Court of Arbitration, whose sutnmonses should 

 be made compulsory and whose judgments final. 



PRESIDENT TAFT ATTENDING MASS. 

 In the December Bulietin of the Pan-Ainencan 

 Union an account is given of the Pan-American Mass. 

 The writer says : — 



The l'an-.\mcrican Mass has now become one of the regular 

 holiday functions of Washington in the celebration of the 

 Thanksgiving Day festival in the United States. Kor the third 

 time Tiranksgiving, which in 191 1 fell upon the last day of 

 November, was made the occasion of that solemn service in 

 St. Patrick's Church in \V.ashington, and particular attention 

 w.is paid to the spirit which pervades that holiday in all 

 America. 



The President of the United States, the diplomatic repre- 

 / senlativcs of the twenty other .\merican Republics, members of 

 Ihe Cabinet, and very many especially invited guests,^ com- 

 pletely filled the well-known church of St. Patrick's, and 

 all were impressed with the dignity and beauty of the 

 ceremony. 



President and Mrs. Taft were given the place of 

 honour. Cardinal (libbons was in attendance at the 

 altar. Bishop Donahue, in his sermon, expressed 

 vigorous hope that the Senate would approve the 

 treaties of peace now pending between the United 

 Slates and Great Britain, and between the United 

 States and France. The Bishop applauded the 

 l,atin-.\meriran States for their efforts iti behalf of 

 international |)e.'ice, and mentioned the Court at the 

 Hague and the Pan-American Union as both great 

 forces for the spicad of the spirit of i)cacc. A feature 

 of the musical programme was the recessional, the 

 Pan-American March, played by the organ and 

 orchestra, and including parts of the tialiotial airs of 

 all the American countries. 



.■\re there no Kcnsitites in the United St.-ites? 

 Fancy the hubbub that would be created if the King, 

 or even the Pritne Minister, in this country were lo 

 attend Mass 1 



