Mr. Hodgson Pratt, in the letter we publish in another
column on a general Court of Arbitration for the settlement of disputes between nations without war, seems to think that any difference between nations which had not actually resulted in war might be settled by such a Court of Arbitra- tion. What will he say to Mr. O'Brien's cheerful proposal in the May Nineteenth Century to invoke the decision of such a Court at Washington on Ireland's demand for Home-rule P Nothing seems to ne clearer than that there are very grave differences (of such a kind as this) which could no more be submitted to arbitration with the least hope of a settlement that would wield any authority over the mind of either nation, than a dispute between a husband and a wife as to the sincerity and depth of their attachment to each other could be submitted to the arbitration of a third party, though no third party could be any fair judge. Were the Court to say to us Separate by all means,' after England had just said No,' would England, could England, accept the sen- tence P If it were to say 'Separation is ruin to both,' would Ireland or could Ireland attach the slightest authority to the judgment P There are many issues in the disputes of nations
that can be settled by no International Court of Arbitration, however sublime.
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