New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1899-06-19
SOVEREIGNTY AND ARBITRATION.

Divine right is TO the fore at The Hague
We are told that Germany Is the STUMBLING
block to arbitration. The emperor reSaluS
himself as the dlvincly appointed sovereign OF
The realm. and therefore he will not consent TO
the establishment of any superior sovereign!
over him such as he assumes a hxed court vi
arbitration would be- His assumption may DC
incorrect. Indeed we cannot help regarding
II so And his notion Of the divine right OF
kings may be entirely out Of accord with Amerl-
can ideas Nevertheless. on the main question
His Majesty is quite right. That fact does not
bar ont arbitration 1t does and will. we be-
lleve. bar out the ill-conceived plans Of exces-
sve zeal in its behalf.
What the Emperor objects to-assuming the
reports about his attitude to be correct-is COM
pulsory arbitration Such arbitration has been
proposed in the Peace Congress by hlgh au-
thorlty. 1t has been proposed to set up an in
ternatonal tribunal to which nations would DE
compelled TO submit all disputes of certain
classes whether they wished to do so or not
under penalty of having, we suppose, all the
other Powers join in war against them we
have hitherto commented upon that scheme
and expressed the opinion that it would be aD-
soluteiy repugnant to the sentiment of the
American people and to the spirit OF American
institutions. In opposing it the American peo-
pie and the German Emperor would stand SIDE
by side. He would oppose 1t on the GROUND
of the divine right of his sovereignty. they
would oppose it on the ground or the divine
or the natural. right of their popular sover-
eighty republic. if 1t wish TO be perma-
nent cannot afford to rank its independent
sovereignty one whit below that of any mon
archy in the world. If an Emperor will brook
no supersessiOn of his authority by an alien
tribunal neither will the people of the re-
public They will not agree to bind them
selves in advance to submit a single case, no
matter how petty, to arbitration. For the mo-
ment they did so they would abrogate their
own sovereignty and independence.
We have said that we regard the Emperors
assumption that arbitration would necessarily
override national sovereignty as Incorrect
Compulsory arbitration would indeed do so.
Voluntary arbitration would not. as the history
of the German Empire itself testlies. Years
ago the dispute over the Caroline Islands was
practically submitted to the arbitration OF the
Pope Germany lost the case. But no one
ever imagined that the empire had lost one
whit of its independence, or that the En-
peror's divine right had in any degree been
impaired. SO the United States and Great
Britain have submitted several OF their disputes
to arbitration. without the slightest loss Of in
dependent sovereignty on either side. There is
no reason why that practice should not be ex-
tended so as to deal with nearly all the dis
putes and differences between all nations, and
for the more convenient use OF it there might
be permanent tribunal established with fixed
r,,1oc If \ Wpll-POQSiUprpl
posal to that end has been submitted to the
Peace Congress. Against IT the reported OBJ
lection of the German Emperor to other
schemes cannot be validity directed. There
seems to he no good cause why ii should not
be adopted. But any scheme for compulsory
arbitration. no matter how well meant. is not
only impractcable, but Is serious detrmen'
to the cause Of peace, inasmuch as IT tends tc
bring the whole principle Of arbitration into
disfavOr and dsrepute.