ARBITRATION AND WAR.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXI, Issue 9580, 3 August 1894, Page 3

ARBITRATION AND WAR.

TO THK EDITOR. Sir,—Will you allow me space for one of two remarks suggested by Mr. Mackechnie's letter on Arbitration? There is . certainly, as Mr. Mackeehnie says, no gainsaying. that "arbitration is desirable and possible when parties are willing to accept the decision of such a court as final." The doubt conies in when the parties are unwilling* But much can be done by arousing, public opinion against war. with all the calamities and horrors it brings, and iu favour of arbitration in its stead. It must be remembered that even when a war has taken place, when thousands. of men have been slain and thousands more maimed and mutilated, the final result has to be decided, not by arms, but by a court of some kind, which by no means always decides in favour of the supposed victor. Witness the Treaty of San Stefano, torn to pieces by -combatants and replaced by the Treaty of Berlin. It were far more sensible to have arbitration before war has claimed its victims. When the moral sense ol men has been trained and cultivated to a higher level, any nation that refused to submit to a Court of Arbitration would have to put up with being treated as an uncivilised outcast from the comity of peoples. There was a time, jjot 30 long ago, when private quarrels were settled by force. The growth of a higher moral ideal has put a stop to war between individuals in the same , nation. May we not reasonably hope that a similar growth will presently abolish war between nations ? Men surely are not merely " animals guided in the main by the instincts and passions incidental to an animal life." In the actions of many, perhaps most, of us, there is too much of mere animal desire and mere animal life, but it should be the aim of all good citizens to check, not to encourage, contentment with such a low ideal.' It is true philosophy that bids us Arise anil fly The reeling Faun, the sensuvl fea<t; Move upward, working out the beast, And let the ape and tiger die. And it is not only the highest form of reU« gious life, but also the truest practical wisdom, which bids us hold «u as an .example the '' character and life of Jesus the Christ. The elevating power of a high ideal is well ex- : pressed by His own words, " I, if I be lifted! up, will draw all men unto Me."l am, etc., S August 2,159-1. W. Steadman Aldis.