St. Paul daily globe., 1895-02-11
VERY SERIOUS OBSTACLES
To the Adoption of IL General Ar
bitratiOn Treaty.

WASHINGTON, Feb. 10.-The recent
visit to Washington of Mr.. Cremer, the
British member of parliament who was
charged with the presentation to our
government of a memorial signed by
about $50 of his colleagues in parlia-
ment urging the negotiation of an ar
bitration treaty with Great Britain, has
resultsd in stimulating interest in ths
project, which had rather Jagged since
the introduction of the Allison resolu-
ton some years ago. In congress the
proposition has taken tangible shape in
a radical joint resolution submitted by
Senator Sherman, and referred to the
committee on foreign relations, fully
authorizing the president to move i'll
the matter. While this resolution has
not been entirely acceptable to the ad-
Vocates of this scheme, it has served
it's purpose of forming the basis of con-
sideration by the committee. But,
meanwhile, negotiations have been
opened, as yet only preliminary in ma
ture, between our government and the
British ambassador that will, 1t is
said, if they result in the consummation
of treaty be fraught with the gravest
consequences, so far as the United
States is concerned. In it's present
shape the proposition is extremely
broad, though it may be narrowed as
the negotiations progress, for it con-
templates nothing less than q great
general treaty to which the United
States and all of the great European
powers shall be parties, by the terms Of
which any matter in dispute between
any of the signatory powers, which
cannot be adjusted by the ordinary
methods of diplomacy, shall be submit
ted to arbitration. There is nothing
substantially new in this proposition,
which has been discussed for many
years in various shapes, but the fact
that negotiations have actually begun
and are at last really within the reach
of possibility has had the effect to
draw the attention of certain senator's
who must pass upon any such treaty
to grave consequences that might be
expected to follow it's ratification. For
instance, it has been urged that the
Monroe doctrine, upon which our pre-
dominance in this hemisphere depends,
would be speedily dismissed as of no
force in an arbitration. Each of the
Signatory powers will be represent
ed upon the arbitration commission,
and, as the European powers would be
largely in the majority, there could be
but one result should any question be
submitted involving the application of
this doctrine to which they have never
subscribed and have tolerated only be-
cause of the ability of the United States
to maintain against any single power.
Another objection that has been ad-
Vanced is that the arbitration treaty
would absolutely deny the right of rev.
olution, and this might be very seri-
GUS matter to the United States. In
the event that Canada should cast off
allegiance to Great Britain it would
probably be impossible for this coun-
tryV to recognize her independence,
much less annex the Dominion, even
upon the unanimous application of it's
people Of late years the major part
of our negotiations with European
powers has been made up of the set
tlement of difficulties growing out of
our insistence upon the recognition of
the citizenship of naturalized Amer
leans. Upon this issue the United
States is at variance with almost all
of the European countries, which have
lOuIlu IL eSSelllldl W lHe IndlHIe-
nance of their great systems of en-
forced military service to deny the
right of expatriation to their subjects.
and, if such a question were submitted
to arbitration, the United States would
be certainly defeated in it's contention
and there would be no safety for our
naturaliZed citizens anywhere outside
of the United States. These are a few
of the difficulties that at present beset
the pathway of negotiations leading
to general arbitration treaty and it is
doubtful if they can be overcome.