al arbitration. It is always
preceded by great popular excitement. A ship is seized, a boundary
is run a few degrees north or south of the conventional line,
something else equally trivial fires the patriotic heart. The flag
has been insulted, the offending nation is a land grabber, national
honor must be vindicated. Secretaries of State write notes,
ambassadors are instructed, the press becomes rabid, speeches are
made; the public is advised to remain calm, but it is also assured
there will be no surrender. After a few weeks the public forgets
about the insult or the way in which it has been robbed; but the
responsible officials who have never allowed themselves to become
excited, continue the pleasing pastime of writing notes.

Months, sometimes years, drag on, then a new Secretary of State or
a Foreign Minister, to clean the slate, proposes that the childish
business be ended by an international arbitration. More weeks, more
often months, are spent in agreeing upon the terms of reference,
and finally the dispute goes before an "impartial arbitral
tribunal." Both sides appoint agents and secretaries, an imposing
array of counsel, technical experts; and as the counsel are always
well paid they have a conscientious obligation to earn their fees.

More months are required to prepare the case, which frequently runs
into many printed volumes; and the more volumes the better pleased
everybody is, as size denotes importance. The arbitrators, although
they are governed by principles of law, know what is expected of
them, and they rarely disappoint. Almost invariably their decision
is a compromise, so nicely shaded that while neither side can claim
victory neither side suffers the humiliation of defeat. As by that
time both nations have long forgotten the original cause of the
quarrel their people are quite content when they are told the
decision is in their favor. As junior counsel Mr. Lansing's name
appears in many international arbitrations, and it was precisely
the work for which he was fitted.

If Mr. Lansing had been a man of more robust fiber, he would have
returned his portfolio to Mr. Wilson as early as 1916, for the
President was writing notes to the belligerents and did not, even
as a perfunctory courtesy, consult his Secretary of State; he made
it only too patent he did not consider his advice worth asking. Mr.
Lansing was too fond of his official prominence to surrender it
easily, and that is another curious t