THE PEACE CONFERENCE OF CENTRAL AMERICA

So much has already been said about the Peace Conference of Central America, which recently met in Washington, that some may deem it unnecessary to say anything more about its aims and projects; but we feel that, very important as all its plans are, one of them is so particularly momentous that we can not help devoting to it a few serious observations.

It is well known that this conference was the realization of the hope and the fulfillment of the plans of two very able and very distinguished statesmen the President of the United States and the President of Mexico who, in their devotion to the cause of universal peace, did all in their power to make it successful. The delegates, moved by the laudable purpose to establish perpetual peace in the five republics of the Isthmus, subscribed, in the course of their deliberations, to the following compact:

That a Central American court of justice be constituted and maintained, which shall act as arbitrator and last tribunal of appeal in all questions and controversies that may arise among the republics of Central America, no matter what these questions and controversies may be, or what may have given rise to them, in case the respective departments for foreign affairs should not have found a common ground for an understanding.

The principal feature in the conception and plan of the Central American Court of Justice is that it shall not at all be a mere commission of arbitration, but a genuine judicial tribunal, whose work shall be to sift evidence, consider arguments, and pronounce judgment in all questions that may be brought before it, acting, of course, in accordance with rigid justice and equity, and with the principles of international law. This form of international arbitration is, in our opinion, the only royal road to the definite triumph of the generous and noble idea; for, as has been very wisely said by Mr. Elihu Root, one of the ablest diplomatists of the present day:

What we need for the further development of arbitration is the substitution of judicial action for diplomatic action, the substitution of judicial sense of responsibility for diplomatic sense of responsibility. We need for arbitrators, not distinguished public men concerned in all the international questions of the day, but judges who will be interested only in the question appearing upon the record before them. Plainly, this end is to be attained by the establishment of a court of permanent judges who will have no other occupation and no other interest but the exercise of the judicial faculty under the sanction of that high sense of responsibility which has made the courts of justice in the civilized nations of the world the exponents of all that is best and noblest in modern civilization.

It is understood that the Central American Court of Justice shall be fully independent; that the sittings shall be held in the town of Cartago, situated in the central tableland of Costa Rica; that its members shall be appointed by the legislative bodies of the Central American republics; that they shall be selected from among the best jurists of the respective republics, moral character and professional ability being made the principal qualifications; that they shall have no special connection with their respective governments; that they shall be charged with no mandate or other commission that might interfere with the purity of their motives, the uprightness of their acts, and the equity of their decisions; that in the country of their appointment they shall enjoy the personal immunity of magistrates of the supreme court of justice, and in the other contracting republics shall have the privileges and immunities of diplomatic agents; that concerning questions of law the court shall decide in accordance with the principles of international law, and concerning questions of fact in accordance with its own judgment; in short, it is understood that the Central American Court of Justice shall represent the national conscience of Central America, as is aptly expressed in the thirteenth article of the compact. The interested parties have solemnly bound themselves to submit to the judgments of the court, and have agreed "to lend every moral support that may be necessary" in order that those judgments may be properly fulfilled.

This Court of Justice, the first tribunal of its class in the history of civilization, shall be, it is hoped, a strong and durable defense

for international peace and fraternity in Central America; it shall be the beacon to attract the hearts and minds of all intelligent Central Americans, causing the five sister republics to advance hand in hand toward the lofty eminence of a higher progress than that to which they have hitherto aspired.

The establishment of the Central American Court of Justice will be the practical realization of the ingenious plans formulated and recommended by the American delegates at the Second Peace Conference at The Hague, plans which, it will be remembered, were received with enthusiastic applause, though unfortunately they had no immediate success. The Court of Justice in Cartago will be, in some degree, the child of that bright idea, the happy performance of that which was a happy thought.

What must strike an intelligent observer is the eminently practical nature of the project introduced by the American delegates at The Hague, and it is no wonder that the arguments and suggestions of those able diplomatists were received so favorably; indeed, it is no wonder that the seed then planted is already about to yield fruit, and we feel certain that, little by little, the idea will take root in the hearts of the nations, and that the ultimate result will be the grand success of a great and valuable institution dedicated to the work of combating international discord and misery, and of promoting international peace and prosperity.

The Central American Court of Justice, the partial fruit of the good seed sown by the American delegates, shall be, as much as possible, in keeping with the American character and with American traditions; and, if we do not deceive ourselves, what has been so auspiciously begun will be continued with the energy, perseverance, and dexterity that can not but insure the utmost success.

A great modern philosopher says, very characteristically, that every new idea is in a minority of one against the whole world. It is beyond all doubt that even the best conceptions and schemes, even the best plans and projects, have to go through their period of probation; they have to prove that they are good before they receive the suffrages and the applause of the majority; nor is it necessary to insist very much on a truth that is so obvious in the pages of history,

and that is so generally known. This is the case in the industrial world, in the scientific world, in the political world in every sphere of human life. This has been the case with the great inventors, the great reformers and other pioneers of progress; it has been the case even with the great speculators in abstract science— nay, at times even with great innovation in literature and the fine arts. The idea appears a new thing in an old world; it is like the voice in the wilderness; it is the light that shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehendeth it not. At first it is hardly understood; perhaps it is misinterpreted, misrepresented, grossly attacked, shamefully ridiculed, unmercifully satirized. But it fights against all opposition, nevertheless; and, when its term of probation is past, when it has shown that it is what it claimed to be, it is maintained and applauded Ly a grateful and admiring nation, perhaps by a grateful and admiring world. The stone that the builders refused becomes the corner-stone of the temple.

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Though a long and severe probation has its serious drawbacks, it is in the nature of things, and it is often just, that the new thing should be compelled to show its worth before it is accepted and extolled; and the poet does not counsel unwisely when he says, prove before ye praise." This is a practical world, requiring useful works and not empty words; therefore, words and schemes and plans must show that they are pregnant with what Bacon calls "fruit" before they gain our acceptance and praise.

This was the case, for instance, with His Majesty the Emperor of Russia, who proposed and fathered the meeting of the First Peace Conference of The Hague in 1899, and the effects of whose very humanitarian plans and propositions are now eagerly awaited by the whole thinking world. Those effects may not be seen to-day, nor yet to-morrow, but they will certainly be seen at last, for nothing good can die, and we venture to affirm that, at no very distant date, the work of the First Peace Conference of The Hague will be the fundamental basis of the political life of the nations. Though by no means visionary optimists, we are yet far from being gloomy pessimists, and in spite of the incredulity of those who express want of confidence in our hopes and plans we can not help regarding the

prospect before us with much complacency, believing as we do in the attainment of the noblest ideals of humanity, and knowing that though man is not perfectible, he certainly is improvable.

It must be admitted, however, that at times the pessimists seem to have no mean case; nor do they refrain from trying to make the most of it. They point to the Russo-Japanese war, one of the most costly and sanguinary wars of modern times, and exclaim triumphantly:

Is this the peace predicted by the Czar? Is this the international brotherhood which the Hague Conference labored to secure? Ten years have not passed since the deliberations of that wonderful assembly, and, behold! instead of the olive branch of peace we have wars and rumors of war!

But the circumstance that the tragic conflict was inevitable shows that the Czar was gifted with no small share of foresight when he proposed that there should be an international assembly to consider the ways and means of diminishing the barbarities of warfare and the chances of war, and the great Monarch showed that he was not at all destitute of universal benevolence when he even avowed that the goal of all his endeavors was the entire abolition of war - the dawn of that world-wide peace which will be one of the greatest blessings of civilization. That peace can not be attained in a day, but we may do all that lies in our power to hasten its advent. Let us not attempt to deprive a statesman of his well-merited fame. To the Czar belongs the glory of ackowledging and proclaiming his belief in the possibility of an international bond of union; to him belongs the glory of making the first important step toward an era of universal peace. Continuing his good work, we shall approach nearer and nearer to that grand future, and posterity will continue the march

Till the war-drum throbs no longer, and the battle flags are furl'd In the parliament of man, the federation of the world.

No step in the march of progress is made precipitately, and it is useless trying to hurry mankind along. The historical process of ideas requires a slow gestation in order that they may have healthful life and proportion. No nation can be stopped suddenly and compelled to make a hasty change in its course; and no wise states