4 JULY 1908, Page 35

International Arbitration as a Substitute for War between Nations. By

Russell Lowell Jones, M.A. (Simpkin, Marshall, and Co. 5s. net.)—Mr. Audrow Carnegie offered five prizes for essays on this subject, and to that now published was adjudged the first. Naturally it is largely occupied with a review of the past; in this review Mr. Jones appears to keep a level judgment. He does not deal in cheap denunciation ; he recognises that there must be a certain application to history of the Popie.n aphorism : "Whatever is is right." And lie is as temperate in his anticipa- tions as in his judgments. That something has been done he gladly acknowledges. Perhaps the most tangible result of the latest development of the movement—the Hague Conference—is the establishment of an International Prize Court. It still remains to be seen whether its decisions will be enforced. It is something, however, to have made even a theoretical advance. We may legitimately congratulate ourselves on this, though we may feel with our author that "as long as nations continue as separate entities to have clashing ideals, aims, and purposes, arbitration will fall far short of its ideal fruition."