THE NEW YORK 147803 ASTOR, LENOX AND TILDEN FOUNDATIONS. 1900. LONDON: WERTHEIMER, LEA AND CO., PRINTERS, CIRCUS PLACE, LONDON WALL. INDEX.-1898-1899. Additions to Library, 252 11, 24, 38, 46, 60, 92, 104, 128, 152, 168, 180, 192, 208, 220, 252, 264, 276, 288, 300, 312 American and Canadian Arbitration Commission, 102 American Feeling towards England, 28 American Peace Society, 187 Anglo-American Arbitration Conference, 116 Anglo-American Committee, 88 Anglo-American League, 101 Anglo-American Union, 127 Anglo-Egyptian Convention, 172 Annexation of Hawaii, The, 102, 114 ARBITRATIONS: Great Britain and Venezuela, 1, 141, 173, 196, 213, 257, 268, 292 Behring Sea Award, 1, 55, 82 Delagoa Bay, 55, 61, 173, 184, 196, 292 Great Britain and Russia, 81, 213, 292 Chili and Argentina, 81, 99, Hayti and San Domingo, 99 196 Italy and Argentine Republic, 101, 118 Anglo-American Commission, 117, 141, 155, 173, 184, 196, 213, 256, 268, 293 Battle at Sea, 205 Berne Peace Bureau, 288 Bigger Army, A, 29 British Reply to the Russian Em- peror, 175 British Slave Trade, 10 Bryce, Mr. James, on the Situation, 308 Carlyle on the Bible, 287 Catalan Union, Peace Manifesto of Chinese Adopt Conscription, 308 Deputation to Mr. Balfour, 203 Dangerous Plaything, A, 299 Deputation to the Russian Ambassador, 218 Dreyfus-Zola Trials, Our Interest in the, 57 Doukabors, The, 267 Effective Parable, 285 Figures for the Peace Society, Some, 293 Folly of War, The, 116 French Peace Society, 55 "Gallant 45," The, 45. Garrison, W. Lloyd, on the " Craze of Imperialism," 281 General Notes, 218 Gladstone (A Requiem), 71 Great Gathering at St. James's Hall, 166 Greek Frontier Delimitation, 87 Horniman, F. J., M.P., 60 How Queen Victoria averted War, 23 How Wars are Sometimes Made, 40 Hurricane in America, The, 101 Ideal and the Real in War, The, 305 Imperial Policy of Great Britain, Indian Frontier, The, 44 Industrial Arbitration, The better way of, 104 Inner Sanctuary, The, 309 Interesting Historical Episode, An, 251 International Arbitration and LEADING ARTICLES:- The Morais of Soldiers, 110 The New Year, 158 Fruits of the Peace Confer- The Dutch and the Boers, 270 Was It Necessary? 291 An "Unbroken Front," 306 Look at All Sides, 293 Looking Ahead with £1,000, Sup- Lorimer, Dr., on Imperial Expan- Lynching of Italians, 271, 307 Maarten Maarten's, Mr., Christ- 111 Memorial to the Tzar, 245 Morley, John, at Brechin, 178 Morley, John, on the Present Nation's Opportunity, The, 54 No Confidence in his Master, 201 POETRY:- Peace Notes, 22 Song of the War-Fiend, 55 A Voice from the West, 98 Tzar's Peace Proposals, 127 The Dawn of Peace, 205 Politics and Morals, 59 Secretary's Visit to the North, 58 Soudan War, 33. 83, 119, 130, 195 Spain, Financial Position of, 112 Speeches at the Peace Conference, 260 Striking Suggestion, A, 44 Templars and the Peace Confer- Turkish Quay Dues. 100 Unione Lombarda, 55 United Presbyterian Church and Veteran's Testimony, A, 177 Wanted-A New Peace Society. War and Christianity, The, 84 What Army Increase means, 30 Russia and the Persian Gulf, 260 What Mrs. Mondaine Thinks, 172 What the Nations Pay for War, AND INTERNATIONAL ARBITRATION. "Put up thy sword into his place for all they who take the sword shall perish with the sword."-Matt. xxvi. 52, "They shall beat their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning-hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more."-ISAIAH ii. 4. Anglo-American Arbitration The British Slave Trade Agents and Auxillary Societies Book Notices..... ... CURRENT NOTES. 12 It is gratifying to be able to report that the observance of Peace Sunday has been quite as satisfactory as in previous years, and that the number of clergymen of the Church of England taking part in it was much greater. It would be a grand consummation if Peace. Sunday became a point of unity between all those who, entering into the spirit of the Christmas season of goodwill and Peace, join thus in showing their common loyalty to the Prince of Peace. BOTH the Peace Society and the Peace Sunday movement are indebted to the editors of the Daily Chronicle, the Echo, and the Daily News for inserting in their respective issues a list of the London ministers who had intimated their observance of the day, and the committee thank them for their courtesy. AN incident very appropriate to Christmas Day is announced from St. Petersburg in a Reuter's telegram, which says that the Official Messenger of that date contained the announcement of the Czar's sanction of the appointment of Professor Martens, at the instance of the Governments of Great Britain and of the United States of Venezuela, as President of the Court of Arbitration on the territorial dispute between the States named. The Court will probably sit in Paris. FRESH light, it is said, has been thrown upon the Anglo-Venezuelan question. The British Government despatched a couple of legal experts to British Guiana, to collect in the colony all the available evidence bearing thereon. A supposed exhaustive search of the Colonial archives had already taken place, but the experts discovered in the vaults of the Law Courts at [PRICE 1d. Georgetown, a series of volumes of minutes or memoranda, written by or at the dictation of the Commandeur of the Settlement, containing a running history of the Dutch Settlement, from the middle towards the close of the seventeenth century. This new evidence, it is said, will set the boundary question in such clear light that the work of the Arbitrators will be greatly facilitated. THE minutes are all written in Dutch, and the volumes will have to be handled with care, the paper being very brittle and torn in many places; but the writing is easily read, and although it will take a considerable time to get an English translation of the contents there will be no difficulty about it. Taking into consideration the number of volumes which will have to be perused before the English case can be made out, it is very improbable that the Commissioners will be able to begin their task before the middle of next year. The newly-discovered evidence will necessitate an entirely new statement of the case, such is the importance of the entries in the "Commandeur's" diary or minute book regarding the territorial limits of the Dutch jurisdiction or influence. ANOTHER triumph of Arbitration has to be chronicled. The Anglo-American Commission, consisting of Judges King and Putnam, for the assessment of the damages to be paid by the United States for the seizure of twentyfive sealing vessels between 1886 and 1892, have handed a unanimous award to Sir Julian Pauncefote and Mr. Sherman. It will, thefore, be unnecessary to appeal to the umpire. The claims aggregated 857,000 dollars, with interest for ten years at 7 per cent. The amount awarded is 464,000 dollars. The offer made by Canada to take 425,000 dollars, three years ago, was accepted by Mr. Cleveland, but rejected by Congress. The present amount seems to be on the same basis, with interest added for half the period since elapsed. MEANWHILE the question of the arrangements between the the two Governments for regulating the taking of seals in Behring Sea is making slow progress. Practical agreement was reached by the experts as to the facts of the case, but that was only one thing. The difficulty is to reconcile the claims of Canada and the United States-to find a way out-and the reference in President McKinley's annual Message to Congress throws no light whatever thereon. Concerning the Behring Sea question, the Message says:-" The result of the recent Seal Conference will make it a duty for the Governments concerned to adopt measures without delay for the preservation of the herds, and negotiations to that end are now progressing." THE President's Message, while interesting in some respects, was generally regarded as a weak and colourless State paper. Doubtless it suffered by contrast. The Message referred chiefly to the questions of currency reform and Cuba, the President, in regard to the latter, adopting a moderate tone towards Spain, and expressing a desire that she should not be embarrassed in her attempt to bring about the pacification of the island. Regarding International Arbitration, the President declared that it represents the best sentiments of the civilised world, and that treaties embodying these humane principles on broad lines, without in any way imperilling the interests or honour of the United States, will have the President's constant encouragement. DR. C. A. BERRY, to whose meeting with the members and friends of the Birmingham Auxiliary we refer elsewhere, affirms that during his five weeks' journeyings in the United States he did not meet one man who was opposed to Arbitration; but while he found a general enthusiasm for the principle, he found in some quarters an objection to a binding Treaty of Arbitration. This, to some extent, accounts for the failure of the recent draft Treaty; another reason lay in the fact that no one seemed to have taken the question to himself as the main question of his political life. Another difficulty lies in an unexpected direction-" the American citizen is the most susceptible nationalist in the world." THE process of preparing the country for the Government proposals to spend more money on the ariny, which will doubtless be made on the reassembling of Parliament, has been carried on during the month with unabated vigour. The agitation, begun by Lord Wolseley, Mr. Finlay and others, has been pursued by other parliamentary and military experts. And the platform has been so vigorously used, that there would seem to be little left either for the Cabinet or the Queen's Speech to disclose when Parliament meets. It must be admitted that the discussion has been carried on with great skill and the most effective tactics, and the threat of Conscription has been held out or withdrawn just as it seemed likely to be useful or the opposite. It has been there always, just as the certainty is always there, awaiting the nation at the end. of the path, if it will only be beguiled into entering upon it. NOT always, however, has it been deemed wise to beat the tom-tom. It has been sometimes used in a more cautious fashion. The late Commander-in-Chief, for instance, was recently entertained at dinner by the Mayor of Richmond, when he took occasion to say: "England was an absolutely free nation-though she was very strongly a monarchial nation-and being a free nation he did not think that anybody would like to see conscription or enforced military service introduced into it. Those to whom he was speaking might not be affected, because they were most of them of a certain age, but their sons and nephews would feel it, and they would not like to be drafted by force into the army, and sent to the West Indies or Hong Kong. He did not think England ought ever to have conscription. He said that not because he did not know and admire that valuable institution from the military point of view, but because it would be absolutely impossible to introduce it into a great, free, commercial country, such as that in which they lived." BY such talk as this the country has been half cajoled, half frightened, and when the process has been pursued sufficiently long, and the discussion has brought out certain facts on the other side, that the increase of the army has gone on year by year, pari passu with that of the fleet, for instance, the Secretary for War comes forward to allay the fears which have been awakened, and clench the appeal which has been so assiduously and adroitly made. "It may be some day," he says, "that we may be driven to compulsory service," but the time is not yet. According to him, the army is far from being in the weakened condition some of the critics would have the country believe, and a scheme of reform contemplated by the Government is not of the wholesale character supposed. He admits that we are short of men, and that there are serious deficiencies in our organisation, and then he puts forward in outline the scheme that he will propose to Parliament to remove as far as it may be done the shortcomings of the present system, and that meanwhile is to simmer in the popular mind so as to gain its acquiescence. LET there be no mistake, however; though for the present the scheme of the Government may simply be framed to meet the difficulties arising from the lack of recruits, the new Imperialist Jingo policy of the Government will make it impossible to stop there. As the late Secretary for War pointed out, the nature and extent of the burden of our defensive expenditure must depend upon our policy, and if we go all over the world increasing our obligations, it is that which will form the strain upon our army, and not the whim or caprice of this minister or the other. Whatever crafty dialecticians may say, the policy that brings us into rivalry with the great military Powers of the world will render the compulsory service, which is draining their lifeblood and reducing them to huge fighting and killing machines, and nothing else, as indispensable for this "absolutely free nation "-then no longer free-as for them. It is IT is such a policy as we are pursuing in India, where, by the way, our troops have had a serious reverse, which makes the strain upon our army. For, says Truth, the "punitive" expeditions in the valleys of the hills forming our north-western frontier in India still continue. Villages are burnt, mills are destroyed, and those who inhabited these villages are slain. alleged that this endeavour to deprive the hill tribes of the independence that they have enjoyed for centuries. is in contravention of a distinct pledge given by us. But even supposing that there were no such pledge, the fact remains that these men are fighting for an independence which is their dearest possession. Supposing that the Spaniards were to burn villages, destroy watercourses, and shoot down all who opposed such a |