The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1872-09-14 00:00:00

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 1872.

ENGLAND AND AMERICA.

For some time past the eyes of Europe, to
use a hackneyed phrase, have been turned to-
wards Geneva. Inithat city, so much beloved of
tourists, and so full of historical associations,
there was sitting a Tribunal of Arbitration hav-
ing to decide on important questions affecting
the relations between two mighty nations. The
leading question was how far England was liable
to pay damages to the United States in com-
pensation for losses incurred through the do
'ations of certain Confederate cruisers: brit
were minor questions to answor, compli-
cated by written and unwritten international
law; and it was well knewn that it WU by no
means impossible for very serious disagree-
ments, not to say actual hostilities, to arise out
of the failure of the Geneva arbitration. But
happily all fears on this score have now been
dissipated, and among the latest news from
Geneva are pleasant accounts of fetes, and re-
at the satisfactory conclusion of the ar-
on. At a banquet held under the presi-
dency of M. Carteret, President of the Council
of State, that gentleman observed that he looked
on the gathering of the arbitrators as a happy
omen for the future possibility of settling the
disputes of two great nations without shedding
blood. This, indeed, is one of the most agree-
able reflections arising nut of the completed
work of the Arbitrators. Had they failed, a
heavy blow and' sore discouragement would have
been given to the principle of Arbitration, but
now that principle has received the stamp of ap-
proval on the part of some of the most eminent
statesmen of our time, and has moreover been
proved to be practically available in the settle-
ment of an International dispute as difficult to
deal with, at at one time threatening as serious
consequences as any dispute that is ever likely
to arise between England and America. It is
in this respect especially that the conclusion of
the deliberations of the Geneva Tribunal is so
satisfactory. The world has for ages been so
accustomed to wars that we are apt to overlook
the stupidity, as well as the cruelty and costli-
ness of this mode of settling national differences.
But the settlement by Arbitration is not a de-
cision by the law of force, by murder, pillage,
and destruction, but by argument and reason.
Instead of contending armies striving to kill
each other, and aiming who shall effect most
misery on unoffending people, a few statesmen,
chosen for their personal honour, their irupartia-
silty, and their knowledge of international law,
have met in amicable conceive, have talked the
matter over, and have come to a conclusion at
which both the great nations chiefly concerned
may equally rejoice. We may now fairly hope
and expect that whenever nations have points of
difference arbitration may be resorted to. It
will certainly be proposed by the people of those
nations. It is not peoples that make war, but
sovereigns and diplomatists. It Is the people
wholare called upon to fight add to be slaugh-
tered, to be pillaged and rendered homeless, or
widowed, or fatherless; it is the sovereigns who
take 1111 the honour and glory, such as it is. The
success of the principle of arbitration in the
AnglaAmerican affair will,Swe hope, be a strong
argument for the adoption of this principle in
future in substitution for cruel, revengeful,
bloodthirsty war.
The peaceful and amicable award of the Goa-
eva Tribunal may be regarded as a triumph for
the present Government. Nothing succeeds
like success. The arbitration has been a grand
success, and Ministers naturally !share in this.
But this matter must not be looked at from a
political point of view. The result probably
would have been just the same had a Conserva-
tive Government been in power. More power-
ful than the action of the United States or the
British Cabinet has been, we believe, the sound
common sense of the two great Englieh-speak-
big nations. There has been on either side a
determination that illpossible this unhappy quar-
rel should be settled, not by recourse to arms,
but by peaceful arbitration, and the Geneva Tri-
bunal has but given force to the national will on
either Bide of the Atlantic.
With the award of the arbitrators both Great
Britain and America are bound to be content.
There are rights and wrongs on both sides. It
is difficult for interested parties on either aide of
a quarrel to take a thoroughly impartial view of
the whole affair; but this is, we believe, just
what the arbitrators have done. They have
favoured neither aide, but have endeavoured to
do justice to both, We submit, not only with
mere acquiescence, but with gratitude and joy.
The award may be pecuniarly against us. but
an impartial tribunal has declared that we ought
to pay it, and we will pay it with as little grumb-
ling as may be. A war would in any case have
cost us much more. Even ultimate victory,
could we have been certain to have gained it,
would have only been less disasterous than de-
feat. We know the worst of our pecuniary loss.
We never should have known the ultimate loss,
the misery, and the crime of war.

tourists,

predati(
there ,'

joicing
bitration.