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Show 215 211 of it. is apparent estabA 51112141410 in the 1"irs1 Conference it was agreed 111111 the lishnient 11f international commissions of inquiry is :1 "useful" 111111 this method 111‘ avoiding warfare. and in 111117 it was agreed with method is "desirable" as well. 11111 it was so hedged about ces circumstan and interests. vital 111111111, to as 11111‘21ses l 01\:1diti1'1na as 21 sub 111 permitting. 111111 it was derided as mere pretense~ or 111' t‘ irberus. Nevertheless it has already (111111111111 11111111101 proof and wise the which 111 standard a raising of 1110 dutv and success honest 111m 1e1'1air; for. endorsed by the 112113110 Conferences and made readily z111111ical1le by the adoption 111 :1 few simple rules of procedure. it has enabled the great powers of Russia and Great liritain to settle s11eedil_v 211111 11‘211‘1‘11111)' the 111:11'0 dispute conA eerning‘ the 111111 tishermen 111T 1110, Hoee'er bank. 111W" 111031111 mum lv' ‘ason as well as experience proves that if :1 thorough and i11111artial inquirv be made into internati1'111al differences, and if the trutlr the whole truth and nothing but the truth be published, a decent respect for the 111111111111 of 11121111111111 and an aroused national and [11111the nei'fuaul public opinion will 11111121111 "1"‘1:11111s121nces to permit" v11:1l and "honor which in s different of even settlement peaceful intere., are involved. "Investigate [11'1'111'17 _\'ou light," was the (10111211111 of the conferences; "investigate and you 11101171 tight"? at least in nine times out 11f teniis the verdict of recent history. The agreement adopted by the conference that powers in 1114' one 111111" would have recourse to the good offices or mediation of 21111 of case in arms, to appeal an before 1)11\\‘er~ friendly or more serious dispute. and as far as circumstances permit, was supplecon- mented bv the further statement that the signatory powers dispute. the to strangers powers, more or one that sider it useful per- should. 1111 their on 11 initiative, and as far as circumstances at niit. offer their good offices or their mediation to the states by agreement this of restriction T110 other each variance with an the phrase "as far as circumstances permit" was considered (1111 1111 i1 1111:112'111- one: but it was adopted because the conference be not desire to 21110111111 more than the powers could reasonably _ expected 111 carry out. When the principle embodied in these agreements is cominter- pared with the former jealous resentment of any "foreign before vention" which dominated international relations 1891'). statement the progress made by the conference in the mere frank 11111 when it is recalled that, inspired bv it, President Roosevelt extended the good time." of the 11111th States government to japan and Russia in their recent war and that the Peace of Portsmouth, New 112111111sl1ire, was the fortunate result, the value of this feature of the convention 111' 114111) 15 greatly proven by an aec111111>lisl1ed fact of vast historic import. The desirability of a more frequent resort to this means of avoiding or shortening 21 war was e1111)l1as17.ed in the Conference of 1907, which added the words "and desirable" to the former statement that the powers consider good offices and mediation "useful." This slight addition to the 11l1rase1,1l1:1,qy of 181)1)111av not have directly the desired result of increasing the frequency of good offices and mediation; but it at least e1111111as'ixes the former statement that their extension, even duringr the course of hostilities, shall not be considered by either of the parties to the dispute as an unfriendly act. The consistent adoption of this latter view" together with the growing1 conviction that the interests of one are the interests of all in the family of states. will increase the frequency of this means of preventing war and insuring instiee. A treatise 011 international law, which is widely used as a text-book in this country 211111 in 131114‘1211111‘ was \\riiten b_v 1'1‘117 fessor Lawrence, of the Universities of Cambridge and (1111‘ and was published a few years before the 111eeting‘ 111 the lust Hague Conference. That treatise devotes tive, pages 11111 of six hundred and thirtysix to 21 consideration of arbitration in all its phases, and these are confined to a discussion of the 1111ssil1ilitvof concluding a treaty for arbitration between (ireat 1'.1'itain and the United States. :\ Permanent Court of Arbitration 1111' 1111 1111: world, with its Permanent 1311102111, Advisory 1111111111, and 1‘0111‘1Palace at The Hague, an luternational 1'1" ,1: (fonrt. 11111111ato1‘y arbitration of contractual indebtedness 21nd scores of obligatory arbitration treaties between nations, to say nothing of :1 1111111treaty of obligatorv arbitration and a Court of .\1'bi11':1l 11114111. are wholly outside the i111ae'inz1tion of this brilliant but antiquated author, or are deemed so 111111111 imaginative and visionary as not to deserve mention. \\'0 need \Ct'k 1111 more striking 011111-1110 of the advance registered by the two Hague (‘11111'1-1'1-111'es than this simple fact. For all of the-.0 1'.\11‘:1111‘11i11:1r_\' institutions have been not merely dreamed of since 1811), but within the brief spilll |
