INTERNATIONAL LAW AND ARBITRATION. BY THE LORD CHIEF JUSTICE OF ENGLAND. THE October Forum prints the annual address to the American Bar Association given by Lord Russell of Killowen on August 20th. Asking, What is International Law? the writer answers that he knows no better definition of it than that "it is the sum of the rules or usages which civilised States have agreed shall be binding upon them in their dealings with one another." Lord Russell rejects, as he did before the Paris tribunal, the idea which confuses International Law with "the Law of Nature" or the Law of Morals. The nations have, for example, leagued against the Slave Trade as immoral and inhuman, but have not declared it an offence against the Law of Nations. The latter begins and ends with custom and usage: What Sir James Stephen has eloquently said of religion may truly be predicated of International Law. The jurists set to music the tune which was haunting millions of ears. It was caught up, here and there, and repeated till the chorus was thundered out by a body of singers able to drown all discords and to force the vast unmusical mass to listen to them. THE ANGLO-AMERICAN SCHOOL. The need of rules of international conduct, obvious to nations always in contact on the Continent, was only slowly forced upon England. "It is hardly too much to say that, to the British Admiral accustomed to lord it on the high seas, International Law at first came, not as a blessing and an aid, but as a perplexing embarrassment." Nevertheless, English and Americans belong to the same school. They are mainly historical, concerning themselves with what has been and is, as opposed to the Continental school, which is ethical and metaphysical, confounding what is with what ought to be. The chief characteristic of International Law in later times Lord Russell finds in its greater humanity. HOW FAR ARBITRATION IS APPLICABLE. He rejoices in the rapid recent progress of international arbitration, but does not anticipate the near advent of the millennium of peace: It is hardly too much to say that arbitration may fitly be applied in the case of by far the largest number of questions which lead to international differences. Broadly stated, (1) wherever the right in dispute will be determined by the ascertainment of the true facts of the case; (2) where, the facts being ascertained, the right depends on the application of the proper principles of International Law to the given facts; and (3) where the dispute is one which may properly be adjusted on a give-and-take principle, with due provision for equitable compensation, as in cases of delimitation of territory and the like-in such cases, the matter is one which ought to be arbitrated. Passing to the question of a tribunal ad hoc, or a permanent tribunal, the Lord Chief Justice does not consider the latter a project ripe for practical discussion. He fears that a Standing Court of the Nations, open at little cost and no risk, might tempt busybody Jingoes to put forward pretentious and unfounded claims. But the Powers may legitimately exercise the Law of Nations in the interests of peace, by way of mediation. WHAT CIVILISATION IS. Lord Russell in conclusion asks if the civilisation we are anxious to preserve bears the true marks. Crimes have been committed in its name. But civilisation is not a veneer; it must penetrate to the very heart and core of societies of men. Its true signs are thought for the poor and suffering, chivalrous regard and respect for woman, the frank recognition of human brotherhood, irrespec tive of race or colour or nation or religion, the narrowing of the domain of mere force as a governing factor in the world. the love of ordered freedom, abhorrence of what is mean and cruel and vile, ceaseless devotion to the claims of justice.. Civilisation in that, its true, its highest sense, must make for Peace. Democracy, despite its occasional fitfulness, works in the same direction. "The abiding sentiment of the masses is for peace-for peace to live industrious lives, and to be at rest with all mankind.” PAX ANGLO-AMERICANA. He "cannot end without referring to the two great divisions-American and British-of the English-speaking world": Who can doubt the influence they possess for ensuring the healthy progress and the peace of mankind? But if this influence is to be fully felt, they must work together in cordial friendship, each people in its own sphere of action. If they have great power, they have also great responsibility. No cause they espouse can fail; no cause they oppose can triumph. The future is, in large part, theirs. They have the making of history in the times that are to come. greatest calamity that could befall would be strife which should divide them. Let us pray that this shall never be. Let us pray that they, always self-respecting, each in honour upholding its own Flag, safe-guarding its own Heritage of right and respecting the rights of others, each in its own way fulfilling its high national destiny, shall yet work in harmony for the Progress and the Peace of the World. AN OTHER PAPER ON ARBITRATION. The In the Journal of Ethics for October, Mr. Westlake writes on International Arbitration and its limits. He does not accept my formula," Always arbitrate before you fight," for he would refuse to go to arbitration upon some questions, whereas I would go to arbitration on all questions, reserving the right to appeal to arms if the award were so manifestly unjust as to justify us in facing the odium of going to war against the decision of the arbitral tribunal. Mr. Westlake's conclusion is thus expressed: Arbitration is already applied between States to almost every difference which appears on the face of it to fall within the category which has been roughly described as legal. Those are not the differences out of which it need now be seriously apprehended that wars will arise. What is wanted is earnest effort to bring more or less within the range of arbitration differences which do not at first sight admit of it. It should be considered on each such occasion whether some part of the difference does not admit of arbitration; whether. as to the rest, the powers of a mediator might not be given to the arbitrator; whether, if unlimited arbitration be impossible, it may not be possible to fence a reference by conditions securing the honour of the parties, and those real and great interests which they must not allow to be imperilled. If it should be found practicable to bring the parties together for the quasi-judicial discussion of any points before arbitrators, so much will have been withdrawn from the dangerous part of the case, and their temper for the diplomatic discussion of the remainder will probably have been improved. Shall I go further, and say that even some questions of politics and honor, questions affecting independence in the large and true meaning of the term, may be referred to arbitrators? Te persons from whom, as from ordinary arbitrators, a sentence binding the parties should be required, although it cannot be given on legal grounds? It is possible that this may be so, where the questions are not of vital importance, and where the arbitrators are carefully chosen with a view to the special nature of the difference. But to extend the practical bounds of arbitration in the ways indicated would be something more than to continue a process which can as yet be pronounced to be working, and will demand the active and intelligent cooperation of statesmen and of public opinion on each available occasion. THE TSAR ON TOUR. M. LEROY-BEAULIEU contributes a remarkable article on the Russian Emperor's visit to the first October number of the Revue des Deux Mondes. He begins by warning Frenchmen against the two dangers, of exalting the Russian alliance and of underrating it. These fêtes form a tacit acquiescence in the Treaty of Frankfurt, and the reason why the young Emperor is acclaimed by all nations is that he is everywhere considered as the herald of peace. 66 A The meeting at Breslau of the two Emperors inspires M. Leroy-Beaulieu with a passage of real eloquence: caprice, a sudden burst of passion on the part of one of these men, the elder of whom has scarcely reached the age of maturity, an order, a word, a signature, a telegram, and Europe, enamoured of peace, and the civilised world are hurled into the most frightful war that has ever "For this reason it is fortunate," ravaged the planet." thinks M. Leroy-Beaulieu, "that they are two, for this Whatever France thinks very fact acts as a restraint. of William II., in spite of his German 'bravades,' his somewhat noisy activity, his mystical imagination, and his feudal ways and air, he is a man and a sovereign. He has developed since his accession and his emancipation from the Bismarckian tutelage, and now, thanks to Nicholas II., he has ceased to be the Young Emperor. Some affirm that the young Tsar Nicholas holds his Imperial cousin in high esteem." If so, it is rather because of the marked contrast between the temperaments of the two Emperors. Modest, timid, reserved, as he has seemed, Nicholas is like his father, above all a Russian, and like his father he means to be nobody's second. M. Leroy-Beaulieu then comes to the visit to the Queen. He says at the outset that nothing that the three kingdoms could offer to the Russian Emperor could detach him from the policy which he has inherited from his father. "And what can the English offer him if it be not his share in the breaking-up of the old world from the ruined towers of Byzantium to the crumbling walls of China? . . . Once upon a time, the Englishman, jealous of preserving everything which could not fail to his share, accused Russia of lying impatiently in wait for the end of the Imperial moribund of the Bosphorus, and the distrust of the Englishman seemed to be well founded. To-day, the roles would appear to be reversed. . . . The Northern eagle, sure of its prey, instead of tearing in pieces with beak and claw expiring Turkey or wounded China, seems to take pleasure in spreading over them the protecting shadow of its outstretched wings." He admits that France finds herself to-day no longer in the van as far as her prestige and authority in the East are concerned. The real fault is the reciprocal distrust of the Powers, dating from Cyprus and fed by all that England has done in Egypt, in the Soudan, in the English Transvaal, and on the Niger. In a word, policy had in advance discredited English philanthropy," and for the time being the poor Armenians have had to What has been done in Crete pay the consequences. shows what can be done elsewhere. Only one thing is needed the union of Europe, which the visit to Balmoral can restore or complete. AN English lady, artist's widow, resident in Frankforton-Main, takes young ladies wishing to study music, languages, or art, for which subjects Frankfort offers Reference kindly permitted to the special facilities. Archbishop-Designate of Canterbury, Holman Hunt, Esq., W. M. Rossetti, Esq., H. J. Falk, Esq. For terms, etc., apply direct to Mrs. TUPPER, 20, Cornelius-strasse, Frankfort-on-Main, Germany. WORKMEN'S WAGES IN FRANCE. NEXT in importance are unquestionably the two papers which the Vicomte d'Avenel contributes on "Peasants and Workmen during Seven Centuries." In the first October number of the Revue des Deux Mondes he deals with the rate of wages in the Middle Ages. It is a striking picture that he draws of the vast nameless army of labourers who have from century to century carried on a bare struggle for existence. He allows two hundred and fifty working days in the year, and on that basis he reckons that the workmen in the Middle Ages at the beginning of the fourteenth century began with 782 francs a year, and gradually increased to 860; while between 1376 and 1400 the pay amounted to 1,040 francs. In the fifteenth century the rate of pay oscillated between 1,100 and 1,240 francs a year. It was then incontestably superior to the pay in 1896, when, for a working year of 300 days, it does not amount to as much as 1,020 francs a year. On another basis of calculation, if we equalise the number of working days in comparing the Middle Ages. with to-day, the advantage of the workman of old time may be expressed somewhat as follows: From the 1,210 francs which he received from 1476 to 1500 the workman's pay falls to 980 francs at the end of the reign of Francis I., and then to 760 francs at the end of the sixteenth century, and his condition by no means improved in the two hundred years which separate the beginning of the seventeenth century from the Revolution of 1789. In continuation of the article in the second October number of the Revue, M. d'Avenel deals with the rate of pay in modern times. He shows that from 1601 to 1790 the French peasant received pay varying from 570 francs under Henry IV., to 410 francs under Louis XVI., for a working year of two hundred and fifty days. He is never likely to see again the 870 and even 900 francs which he had under Louis XI. or Charles VIII., nor even the 650 to 750 francs which he gained throughout the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. France was rich in 1789, while the peasant and the workman were poor; France in 1475was evidently poor, while the proletariat was rich—a most curious phenomenon. In the space of these six centuries, 1200 to 1800, which constitutes a notable period in the annals of humanity, we see the evolution of the typical Frenchman and his development as a citizen. The progress of society has not really ameliorated the condition of The Government machine has been the working man. equally useless. The workman has to struggle with an environment before which potentates and Parliaments. are alike powerless. The rate of pay obeys an economic law. The increase of the population has reduced the The present century has seen the introduction of a new element-namely, science. Economically price of labour. speaking, in spite of the barriers of the custom-houses, the nineteenth-century man has no longer any country, while what secrets in the future science may have in store for us it is of course impossible to say. It is possible that science may disarrange to our advantage the old equilibrim between labour, population, and land under which our fathers lived and suffered. It is certain that science has wrought enormous changes already; and M. d'Avenel, with a dig at the politicians who vainly flatter themselves with the idea of ameliorating the condition of the Foor by modifying the distribution of existing riches, asserts that it is only by the creation of new riches that the lot of the poor can be made better. OLD AGE PENSIONS IN DENMARK: WHILE this large and opulent country of ours is talking about Old Age Pensions, poor little Denmark, it seems, has actually got the idea successfully realised. Miss Edith Sellers, whose papers on People's Kitchens Abroad have been greatly appreciated, describes in the National Review the working of the Old Age Relief Law in Copenhagen. This law, which came into force January 1st, 1892, was "the joint work of Conservatives and Radicals": In the spring of 1891 the Danish Government announced their intention of levying a tax on lager-beer; whereupon the Radical Opposition declared that, as this tax would fall most heavily on the working-classes, the money it yielded ought to be devoted to benefiting this section of the community, and, with the help of M. Marcus Rubin, the well-known economist, they drew up a scheme for the spending of it on providing old-age pensions for workmen. CONDITIONS OF RECEIVING RELIEF. The measure passed is a “model of brevity," scarcely covering a foolscap page. It limits the relief to those who possess the rights of a native-born subject. The applicant must further : "(a) Not have undergone sentence for any transaction generally accounted dishonourable, and in respect of which he has not received rehabilitation. "(b) His poverty shall not be the consequence of any actions by which he, for the benefit of his children or others, has deprived himself of the means of subsistence, or be caused by a disorderly or extravagant mode of life, or in other ways be brought about by his own fault. "(c) For the ten years preceding the date of his application for 'old age relief,' he must have had a fixed residence in the country, and during that period not have been in receipt of relief from the poor law administration, or have been found guilty of vagrancy or begging." "This is the first time in modern times," remarks the writer, "that an attempt has been made to discriminate by legislation between paupers and paupers." HOW THE RESPECTABLE POOR ARE CARED for. The thriftless are left to the tender mercies of Danish poor law, with the workhouse as the only refuge : The respectable poor, on the contrary, are treated not as paupers at all, but as pensioners; and everything that can be done is done to prevent the help they receive entailing on them any humiliation or disgrace. They forfeit none of their rights as citizens by accepting old age relief; they may continue to vote at elections, if they choose, and so far as the law goes, there is nothing to hinder them from even playing a part in public life. Then they have no dealings whatever with relieving officers, or other Poor Law authorities, but have officials of their own to take care of them. It is especially enacted, too, that no part of the cost of their relief shall ever be defrayed out of the poor rate; the necessary money must be raised by the joint contributions of the State-the proceeds of the beer-tax-and of the communes to which the recipients of it belong. With regard to the relief itself, it is decreed that it "must be sufficient for the support of the person relieved, and of his family, and for their treatment in case of sickness, but it may be given in money or in kind, as circumstances require, or consist in free admission to a suitable asylum or other establishment intended for that purpose." OLD-AGE HOMES. The administration of this law is entrusted to the communal authorities in the provinces, and in Copenhagen to the town council, who have deputed it to their department of public charities, with a special secretary. There is an old-age inspector for each of the three districts of the city, who look after and make the requisite inquiries about all old-age applicants. When the application is granted, the form of relief varies according to the local discretion. "In Copenhagen it is the rule to place such of the applicants as have no one to take care of them, and are too feeble to take care of themselves, in Old-age Homes, and to grant annuities to the rest." These homes resemble our oldfashioned almshouses. The inmates are comfortably housed, well clothed, well fed, and treated with the utmost consideration-all at the cost per head of about a shilling a day. The fame of these homes led the late Tsar, at the request of the Tsarina Marie, to send a commissioner to study their working with a view to imitating them in Russia. In cases of temporary need, only a special grant is made once for all. The highest annuity ever granted in the city is 300 kronor (£16 16s.) a year. The pension may be forfeited by misconduct or by marriage if that involves the need of increased aid. NUMBER AND COST OF RECIPIENTS. The measure was a bit of a "leap in the dark"; but out of a population in Copenhagen of 400,000, there applied for aid in 1892 only 5,339 persons, and only 4,320 got it. The numbers were on January 1, 1893, 4,006 pensioners (1,221 men and 2,785 women), on January 1, 1894, 4.372, and on January 1, 1895, 4,635 (1,382 men and 3,252 women), with 1,110 persons dependent on them. The full amount of the State grant is £111,110, which is distributed proportionately to the local expenditure. So far only half that amount has been paid annually, but this year the whole sum will go. The amount of relief given under this law in Copenhagen, exclusive of the cost of administration, was in 1892, £25,140 (£9,899 from the State, £15,241 from the City); in 1893, £33,709, and in 1894, £34,218. Since this law has been in operation there has been in Copenhagen a considerable decrease in the amount spent on pauper relief: in 1892, a decrease of £4,383, in 1893. of £3,819, in 1894, £4,415, as compared with 1891, and making no allowance for the great growth in population during these years. "THE 'EATHEN." Pearson's Magazine for November contains a poem by Rudyard Kipling, entitled "The 'Eathen." In it he describes the making of a soldier in the Indian Army from the time he joins as a young recruit till he becomes an officer. We quote three verses, which will give some idea of the way Rudyard Kipling has dealt with the subject: The young recruit is 'aughty-'e draf's from Gawd knows where, They bid 'im show 'is stockin's an' lay 'is mattress square: 'E calls it bloomin' nonsense- 'e doesn't know no moreAn' then comes up 'is company an' kicks 'em round the floor: The young recruit is 'ammered— 'e takes it very 'ard, 'E 'angs 'is 'ead an' mutters-'e sulks about the yard; 'E talks o' cruel tyrants 'e'll swing for by-an'-by, An' the others 'ears an' mocks 'im, an' the boy goes orf to cry. 'E learns to do 'is watchin' without it showin' plain, 'E learns to save a dummy, an' shove 'im straight again. 'E learns to check a ranker that's buyin' leave to shirk, An 'e learns to make men like 'im so they'll learn to like their work. MISS ANNIE E. HOLDSWORTH'S portrait appears in this month's Sunday Magazine, and she promises the interviewer that the story she is contributing to that magazine in 1897 will" make the new woman think I have deserted her cause." WANTED: A WORLD-LANGUAGE: AND HOW TO GET IT. He is "THE Modern Babel" is the title of Professor Mahaffy's article in the Nineteenth Century. distressed at the mistaken patriotism which condemns men of science to bury their discoveries and conclusions in the particular dialect of their land. English, French, and German, once thought the three keys to all that was really valuable in modern literature, are now no longer sufficient. There are vast treasures of knowledge in Italian, Greek, Dutch, Russian, and Hungarian, which would once have been confided to more cosmopolitan tongues. Wales is "kept barbarous by upholding its own obsolete language," and Irishmen are found who insist on officials in the south and west counties being required to speak the native Erse. Nations thus lose touch of each other. And in the most fruitless effort to "terrible waste learn many modern languages, there is of time and labour." a THE ONLY POSSIBLE CANDIDATE. The remedy for this modern Babel is "the use of one common language in addition to the mother-tongue of each people," -a common language such as Greek was once, and later, Latin,-such as French was more recently in diplomacy. The need has been so obtrusive as only a few years to give rise to Volapük. Even savage nations with their pigeou-English have shown a clearer insight: In spite of the stupid indifference of our rulers, who will not see that language is one of the great sources of a nation's influence. English enterprise and English trade make it perfectly impossible for any other nation to impose its language on the world. From this aspect we may include under English the great Republic of the West, which not only speaks English all over North America, but which leavens the cargoes of foreigners that arrive almost daily at her ports, and insists that, whatever may be their nationality or speech, they shall accommodate themselves to the condition of understanding and speaking English. If we add to the influence of the United States that of the English colonies all over the world, the preponderance of English is so great that we only wonder why our language has not long since become not only the trading language (Handelsprache), but the language of common intercourse throughout the nations of the world. That it will become so in time is very probable, if English commerce and English wealth continue to expand at their present rate. WHAT HINDERS? OUR STUPID DIPLOMATISTS; The new particularisms only hasten this result. The two principal hindrances come from our diplomats and our pedants. Our diplomats let slip every chance of asserting the use of English, even allowing French, with Arabic, instead of English, to be the official language of Egypt. That country was almost Anglicised by American schools and our commercial influence, until English diplomacy set to work to Frenchify it. In fifty years the decadence of France will palpably prove the folly of perpetuating the local ascendency of its tongue. AND OUR WRETCHED SPELLING. But the great obstacle to the universal adoption of English is our spelling. Yet the pedants, in examinations and in crit ques, lay tremendous stress on strict adhesion to our unphonetic and irrational spelling. Shall we then follow the banner of Sir Isaac Pitman? "As a new system, no." But if every literary man would do a little to modify our spelling slightly in a more phonetic direction - as in rime, rythm, sovran, and perhaps tho-a great change would soon be made. "The real and only object for the present generation is to accustom the vulgar English public to a certain indulgence or laxity in spelling, so that gradually we may approach-I will not say a phonetic, but-a reasonably consistent orthography." PLEA FOR LOOSE SPELLING-AND ACCENTS. "Laxity in spelling"-with what joy would the overwhelming majority of English-writing folk in both hemispheres welcome the license the Professor wishes to extend to them! A further expedient which the ancient Greeks adopted after their "common dialect" came into use is recommended by the Professor: "they put accents on their words " Why not adopt the same device as regards English? I have known many a British traveller puzzled in Ireland because he was ignorant of the accents on our proper names. Why not therefore write Drogheda, Athenrý, Achónry, Athý, &c., and save trouble? And then why not gradually and tentatively distinguish by accents though and tough, plágue and ágúe, according to any system which may be found most simple and convenient? A paragraph at the opening of the Grammar would be sufficient to explain it. The Professor's appeal to pedantry and diplomacy is likely, it may be feared, to fall on deaf ears. The popular exigencies of the United States, where all the nationalities are compelled legally and practically to learn English, are more likely to simplify our spelling than the most Radical Education Department or Foreign Ministry on this side of the ocean. Nevertheless, this plea-by a professor-is significant. MRS. PHELPS'S NEW CREED. It ELIZABETH STUART PHELPS, writing in McClure's Magazine for November, formulates a new creed. is, she says, the result of twenty-five years' work and thought, and the outcome of her intense desire to keep step with the onward movement of human life. The following is the sum and substance of her belief: I believe in the life everlasting, which is sure to be: and that it is the first duty of Christian faith to present that life in a form more attractive to the majority of men than the life that now is. I believe in women, and in their right to their own best possibilities in every department of life. I believe that the methods of dress practised among women are a marked hindrance to the realisation of these possibilities, and that they should be scorned or persuaded out of society. I believe that the miseries consequent on the manufacture and sale of intoxicating liquors are so great as to command imperiously the attention of all dedicated lives. I believe that the urgent protest against vivisection which marks our immediate day, and the whole plea for lessening the miseries of animals as endured at the hands of men, constitute the "next" great moral question which is to be put to the intelligent conscience. I believe that the condition of our common and statute laws is behind our age to an extent unperceived by all but a few of our social reformers; that wrongs medieval in character, and practically resulting in great abuses and much unrecorded suffering, are still to be found at the doors of our legal system. I am uncertain whether I ought to add that I believe in the homoeopathic system of therapeutics. I am often told by sceptical friends that I hold this belief on a par with the Christian religion, and I am not altogether inclined to deny the sardonic impeachment! There is another thing which Mrs. Phelps believes in besides her creed proper. She says:— I look upon a short story, properly fitted for the higher magazines of our day, as one of the very finest forms of expression. No inspiration is too noble for it; no amount of hard work is too severe for it. It is my belief that there is a future for the short story, which all our experiments and achievements are building with a gradual and a beautiful architecture. "NEARLY ONE MARRIAGE A MINUTE": GRAPHIC MATRIMONIAL FACTS AND FIGURES. MR. J. HOLT SCHOOLING gives in the Pall Mall Magazine the second of his papers on "Hatches, Matches and Despatches," and shows afresh his remarkable skill in pictorialising statistics. At the present time, he tells us-people in England and Wales are being married at the rate of 1,250 per day, the daily marriages numbering 625. If we allow twelve hours per day for the performance of the marriages, we get a result of more than a hundred newly married persons for each hour of every day in the year, not omitting Sunday, i.e., nearly one marriage a minute. An ancient proverb runs to the effect that the absence of corn freezes up the matrimonial tendency, and Buckle has immortalised the relation between the price of corn and the marriage rate. The same fact impresses Mr. Schooling: Comparing marriages with population, the rate for the year 1895 was fifteen persons married per thous ind persons living: and looking back over the records for the last twenty-five years, one notices that the year 1873 showed the highest marriage rate (17.6), and this year was also remarkable for the highest degree of commercial activity, the total exports and imports for the year 1873 being worth £21 4s. 2d. per WHERE FOLKS MARRY MOST Matrimonial frequency varies widely in different districts, the persons married annually per thousand living on an average of ten years ranging from London (173), Lancashire (160), East Riding (158), Northumberland (15.8), West Riding (15.6), and Nottinghamshire (156) -the six highest-to Salop (124), Essex (123). Bucks (123), Rutland (115), Middlesex (outside London) (11-1), and Herts (110), the six lowest. Petitions for divorce, dissolution, or separation average during six years about 650 per annum-about as many per year as there are marriages per day. Petitioners are husbands and wives in numbers almost exactly equal, and 91 per cent. were successful. In an ingenious series of barometric columns, the writer shows the steady increase of marriages taking place without the rites of the Established Church--from 96 per thousand fifty years ago, to 304 per thousand in 1893. Purely civil marriages have |