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The National Geographic Magazine 



possessed in a greater degree the con- 

 fidence of their countrymen. It will 

 doubtless be gratifying to you to state 

 that they acquitted themselves in their 

 delicate positions with entire credit to 

 their country, without a word of criti- 

 cism of their conduct, so far as I am 

 aware, in either official or social circles 

 of the British capital, and, without 

 indulging in invidious comparisons, it 

 may be said that they displayed a judi- 

 cial temperament at least equal to their 

 Canadian colleagues, and were as sus- 

 ceptible to the arguments of opposing 

 counsel. On one of the points strongly 

 contended for by the United States, 

 that of Portland Channel, they decided 

 against their own Government, an ex- 

 ample which seems to have had no effect 

 on their Canadian associates. 



Even in the United States some press 

 criticism has been passed upon the action 

 of the President in this matter, and it 

 has been asserted that he should have 

 named judges of the United States 

 Supreme Court or other high judicatory 

 for the positions. It is due to the Presi- 

 dent to state that he offered the appoint- 

 ment to one of the justices of the 

 Supreme Court, and that the latter de- 

 clined, as it is understood, on the ground 

 that he did not regard the post as in the 

 proper line of his duties, and that it 

 was not just to his associates to accept 

 a position which would impose additional 

 labor upon them A second justice was 

 then approached with a like result. 

 There seems to be a growing sentiment 

 in this country that the members of our 

 highest court should not be called upon 

 to discharge functions of a semi-political 

 character, such as those relating to 

 boundary disputes, nor that they should 

 be burdened with additional duties when 

 their labors are already sufficiently 

 onerous. A similar view has been ex- 

 pressed by some of the British press 

 since the decision of the Tribunal, to 

 the effect that the Lord Chief Justice of 

 England should not have been placed 



in the embarrassing position of having 

 to pass judgment against his country 

 upon a question so greatly political, and 

 which has consequently exposed him to 

 bitter criticism. 



The British Government named as 

 members of the Tribunal Baron Alver- 

 stone, Lord Chief Justice of England ; 

 Sir Louis A. Jette, Lieutenant Governor 

 of Quebec, and John D. Armour, Judge 

 of the Supreme Court of Canada. Judge 

 Armour died soon after his appointment, 

 and the vacancy was filled by A. B. 

 Aylesworth, Esq., a prominent member 

 of the bar of Toronto. 



The duty of the Tribunal was pre- 

 scribed to be to render a decision which 

 was to be made up of answers to seven 

 questions specifically set forth in the 

 treaty. Experience has shown that the 

 work of courts of arbitration and inter- 

 national commissions is not infrequently 

 nullified or impaired by their members 

 exceeding their powers in rendering 

 their decision, or by departure from the 

 terms of reference. All error in that 

 direction was avoided in this instance 

 by the careful manner in which the 

 points at issue were set forth in the 

 treaty. 



The Case of each of the two parties 

 was required to be prepared and deliv- 

 ered to the opposite party within two 

 months from the date of the exchange 

 of ratifications of the treaty, which 

 occurred March 3, 1903. This was a 

 short time in which to do such an im- 

 portant work ; but, as the matter had 

 already been the subject of much dis- 

 cussion and research, it was practicable 

 to accomplish it in the period fixed. 

 The Case for each government consisted 

 of a statement of its views and con- 

 tentions on the seven questions sub- 

 mitted to the Tribunal, accompanied by 

 the documents, the official correspond- 

 ence, and all other evidence in writing 

 or in print upon which it relied. The 

 Case of the United States, with the ap- 

 pendices, constituted a quarto volume 



