Vol. XV, No. i 



WASHINGTON 



January, 1904 



Th 



THE 



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THE ALASKAN BOUNDARY TRIBUNAL* 



By Hon. John W. Foster, LL. D, 



THE Tribunal which was recently 

 in session in London and which 

 adjusted the irritating and dan- 

 gerous controversy respecting the Alas- 

 kan boundary was an unique body. It 

 was not an arbitration tribunal in the 

 usual acceptation of that term, as there 

 was no umpire or neutral judge. Its 

 membership was composed of three per- 

 sons nominated by each government, 

 and as a decision to be effective required 

 the concurrence of a majority of the 

 court, it vas necessary for the settlement 

 of the controversy that at least one 

 member should decide against the con- 

 tention of his own government. 



It was insisted by the opponents of 

 the measure that it would prove a use- 

 less proceeding, as a majority decision 

 could not be obtained. Its friends, how- 

 ever, felt that the question was of such 

 a character as to offer a solution by 

 sober-minded judges, before whom the 

 facts should be presented in a judicial 



manner ; and, even if unhappily there 

 should be a failure to secure an effective 

 decision, the effort would not be in vain, 

 as the evidence upon which each party 

 relied in support of its contention would 

 be accessible to the public, and it would 

 be enabled to make an intelligent study 

 of the controversy. 



In 1896 a notable conference of the 

 friends of arbitration from all parts of 

 the United States was held in Washing- 

 ton to urge upon our government the 

 making of a treaty of arbitration with 

 Great Britain. 



That movement resulted in the fram- 

 ing of a convention in January, 1897, 

 signed by Mr. Olney, Secretary of 

 State, and Sir Julian, afterward Lord, 

 Pauncefote. These two eminent states- 

 men, while they agreed that most 

 questions of an international charac- 

 ter might be referred to an impar- 

 tial and neutral arbitrator for decis- 

 ion, also agreed that there were other 



*A lecture delivered in Dr Foster's course in American Diplomacy in Columbian University, 

 Washington, I). C, Decembers, 1903. 



