INTERNATIONAL ARBITRATION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIII, Issue 10111, 21 April 1896, Page 3

INTERNATIONAL ARBITRATION.

TO THE EDITOK. Sin,—The nineteen: !i century is rapidly marching to its triumphant terminus, and will soon repose in stately magnificence by the side of its illustrious predecessors, whose quickening ages and marvellous inventions have emphasised the ebb and flow of the Christian era. I need not; consume your space to pass mulpr rpvipiv Hw» wnnrforfnl (Itennvpripfl nnrl

inventions which have immortalised the period, but: have no hesitation in declaring that this epoch outvies all that has preceded, and stands out in towering magnitude far higher and vaster than the centennial giauts who have gone before. There is, however, the golden possibility of achieving an object infinitely more beneficial, glorious, and dazzling than anything which lias been compassed durine the cer.tury. .1 refer to the great question of international arbitration, and am pleased beyond measure to find that on both sides the Atlantic this subject is seizing the public mind. A galaxy ot influential men of all classes of thought and opinion have vigorously enrolled themselves on committees.

The minds of all ranks and [conditions of men and women have been amazingly agitated over the message of President Cleveland, and the possibility of a great and bloody fratricidal war has stirred up the thinkers to action. It seems incredible that a boundary line should have generated such a tremendous upheaval on the sea of emotion, and that under the pressure of party the danger of a rupture between two nations of the same race, language, and religion, seemed imminent. To avoid the possibility of a question of this or any other kind causing the outbreak of war has brought prominently forward the necessity foruti efficient tribunal of arbitration. It seems reasonable, politic, humane, and beneficent that arbitration should be resorted to before proceeding to war. The sword need not be dispensed with, but ought never to bo unsheathed till the machinery of arbitration has utterly broken down. If a modus vivendi could be found by which all international disputes could be temperately and dispassionately discussed without resort to brute force, the horrors ol war might be obviated, and an object lesson given by Great Britain and the United States would produce a moral, social, and economic effect which would add undying lustre to the last years of the century, and usher in an incalculable amount of benefit and blessing to the world, which in its mighty volume and infinite amplitude will never (even by white-heated enthusiasts) be realised till the recording angel reads the' history of the earth's transactions.—l am, etc., J. Abbott. Hurstmere, April 20,159 G.