The reports from the Hague on the larger issues, though
somewhat confused, seem to show that mediation is given up, and that nothing will be done towards reduction of armaments, but that the idea of arbitration in minor cases makes head- way. The latest idea popular with the Peace Congress is that the Ministers accredited to the Hague shall form the Tribunal, and that the Dutch Foreign Minister shall always be its President. This proposal has in its favour the great part which the Dutch have always taken in framing international law, and the great interest of Holland in any scheme for avoiding war, but there are some objections to it. The world will quarrel in future principally over colonial questions, and the Tribunal, therefore, should sit in a State without colonies. There are quarrels, too, of dynasties, and a Republic will be more impartial about them than the capital of any reigning family. Both these reasons point to Berne as the city which ought to be chosen, and to the Swiss President as the natural President of the Tribunal. There are no means of terrorising him, and he is not likely to be bribed.
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