St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1896-02-14
NO MORE WARS.

Perhaps the most interesting feature
of the latest phase Of our controversy
with Great Britain over Venezuela is
the assurance which it contains that
nothing, except an unprovoked attack
by one of these nations upon the other.
They have been approaching this kind
of understanding for the last genera
ton. The agreement to arbitrate the
Alabama claims was the first step. So
profound was the dissatisfaction with
this result in Great Britain that many
persons believed it to be the last oc-
casfon on which that country would
consent to arbitrate. It has arbitrated,
however, time and again since then,
and SO have we. Sometimes, as in the
Boring sea dispute, we are the party
that gets the small end of the bargain.
But, despite the disappointment of
each nation as the decision chances to
arbitration has grown so deep and uni
versal that we believe no war Juror,
can ever, in the future, prevail against
it.
The whole Venezuelan matter has
now become a practical tribute to the
propriety and necessity of international
arbitration. That is the one principle,
outside of the Monroe doctrine, which
comes out Of the broil with new dignity
and unanimous approval. In our rep
reservations to the British government,
our whole plea has been for arbitra-
ton. We had offered our services in
that respect to Great Britain long ago,
as a means of composing the Venezu-
elan question, and they were declined.
We suggested again, in these latest
commun1ca tons, that the United States
could hope or ask for nothing better
than an arbitration of the Venezuelan
difficulty. Now, not only has the
course taken by the leaders of Eng
land, in both political parties, been
such as to lead up inevitably to arbi-
trdC1On as the SOluClOn OIL the
dispute, but they have made this an
occasion to proclaim, publicly, their de-
sire that these two great English
speaking nations, kin of blood, and
each in it's way working toward an en-
largement of human liberty, should
agree upon arbitration as the perma-
nent and accepted method of settling
all their differences in the future.
That such is the desire of this nation,
there is no room for doubt. Not only
the peace societies and the churches
pie everywhere believe in 1t, but so
does everybody else but the bellicose
politician
This common desire existing to de-
clare practically that wars between
Great Britain and the United States
shall cease forever to be a possibility
has now become recognized fact, and
will be law of their future action. 1t
should be born in mind, in view Of this,
that if we are to rely upon arbitration
hereafter, as is the fervent hope of
everybody except the demagogue and
the swashbuckler, then we must consent
to abide by the decision rendered, and
agree to perform it without evasion Or
delay. It is not to our credit that we
are slow to pay awards, and reluctant
to a degree 20 a composition whose
terms are not as favorable as we had
desired. Witness the indisposition of
congress to carry out the agreement Of
the Boring sea commissioners, and the
quibbling unfairness with which the
members deal with bill to establish
another tribunal to fix the amount of,
compensation that we must pay.
Arbitration is a refinement of civili-
zation. It is possible only between peo-
pies who have religious reverence for
good faith. 1t can remain intact only
where the parties are perfectly willing
to bow to decision and to- perform
obligations which, in their opinion,