The daily morning journal and courier., 1896-08-21
ENGLAND'S CHIEF JUSTICE
LORD RUSSELL'S SPEECH TO OUR
 BAR ASSOCIATION.

BAR ASSOCIATION.
 He Defines International Law and Then Takes Up the Subject of International Arbitration-somo Things Cannot be Arbitrated-War Is in the Air Now, He Says.
 Saratoga, Aug. 20,--No greater ova- ton was ever given to any speaker in Saratoga than that accorded to Lord Russell, lord chief justice of England, when he entered Convention hall at 1925 o'clock this morning to address the American Bar association in its nineteenth annual convention here as- sembled
 The applause was long continued. He was greeted by an audience of 4,5O0 per sons Lord Russell and Sir Frank Lockwood were escorted by President Storey of the Bar association to the platform, where there were already as- sembled MT. Justice Rufus Peclham, Attorney General Harmon, Court of
  Parker, United States District Court Judge Coxe, J. Randolph Tucker, Hen ry Hitchcock, w. Allen Butler, the Hon. Edward J. Phelps, Everett F. Wheeler, James c. Carter, Nathaniel Shipman, Bishop John P, Newman and Montague Crackanthorpe. Just under the gallery sat Colonel Ingersoll, who was an interested spectator, It was .b~ SAtat Storey stepped to the front of the plat form and introduced the distinguished jurist. He said:
 T have now the very great pleasure. not of introducing, for he needs no in troduction to any English-speaking lawyer, but of presenting to you Lord Russell of Killowen, the lord chief jus tice of England, who will deliver the annual address on International Ar bitration.'
 As Lord Russell stepped forward the vast audience broke into applause, which continued for fully a minute Throughout the delivery of his paper which was more of an address than 8 forensic effort, the closest attention was given by the audience. Lord Rus sell spoke easily, impressively and with great force. There was no gesticula- tion He stood easily, behind high desk. with his hands firmly grasping the sides, and read his address in even, convincing tones which was frequent ly punctuated with applause. He wore a black Prince Albert coat, white waist coat and light trousers.
 Lord Russell, in opening, spoke of the numerous points of union and fraternl- ty between England and the United States, and of the greatness of these great nations. He complimented Amer ica on the part which the Judges and writers of the United States have play ed in the development of international law.
 Story, Kent, Marshall Wheaton, Dana Woolsey Halleck and Wharton, among others, compare not unfavora- ply with the workers of any age in this province of jurisprudence.
 What then is international law?
 T know no better definition of it 1 than that it is the sum of the rules or Ausages which civilized state have agreed shall be binding upon them in their dealings with one another
 s'Is this accurate and exhaustive? Is there any priori rule of right or reason or of morality which, apart from ard independent of the consent of nations, is part of the law of nations? Is there a law which nature teaches, and when, by it's own force, forms component part of the law of nations? Was Gro- tius wrong when to international law he applied the test 'placuit-ne Genti- bus?'
 q stand by the proposition which in 1893 I sought to establish. That prop osition was that international law was neither more TOT less than what civil- ized nations have agreed shall be bind- ing on one another as international law.
 Appeals are made to the law of na- ture and the law of morals, sometimes as if they were the ss me things, some- times as if they were different things; sometimes as if they were in them selves international law, and some times as if they enshrined immutable principles which were to be deemed to be not only part of international law, but. if I may so say, to have been pre- ordained. I do not stop to point out in detail how many different meanings have been given to these phrases-the law of nature and the law of morals. Hardly any two writers speak of them in the same sense No doubt appeals to both are to be found scattered loose ly here and there in the opinions of continental writers.
 Lord Russell then discoursed upon the law of nature and the law of morality and the different estimates of their scope and force Nations disagreed in these as in other interpretations of what is binding in law and conscience. ''We conclude then, that, while the aim ought to be to raise high it's ethical standard, international law, as such, includes only so much of the law of moral or of right reason or of natural law (whatever these phrases may cov- er) as nations have agreed to regard as international law"
 Lord Russell then considered the part played by the United States in shaping the modern tendencies of International law and in conclusion remarked as fol- lows:
 T turn now to the consideration of what characterizes the later tendencies of international law. In word, it is their greater humanity.
 When Menelik, emperor of Abys- sinia. was recently reported to have cut off the right arms and feet of 300 oiIy q