xation, or to become the instrument of returning
the slave to his master. So also for the Christian state. Existing
wrong may have to be allowed, lest a greater wrong be done. Conscience
only can decide; and for that very reason conscience must be kept
free, that it may decide according to its sense of right, when the
case is presented.

There is, therefore, the very serious consideration attendant upon
what is loosely styled "compulsory" arbitration,--arbitration
stipulated, that is, in advance of a question originating, or of its
conditions being appreciated,--that a state may thereby do that which
a citizen as towards the state does not do; namely, may voluntarily
assume a moral obligation to do, or to allow, wrong. And it must be
remembered, also, that many of the difficulties which arise among
states involve considerations distinctly beyond and higher than law as
international law now exists; whereas the advocated Permanent
Tribunal, to which the ultra-organizers look, to take cognizance of
all cases, must perforce be governed by law as it exists. It is not,
in fact, to be supposed that nations will submit themselves to a
tribunal, the general principles of which have not been crystallized
into a code of some sort.

A concrete instance, however, is always more comprehensible and
instructive than a general discussion. Let us therefore take the
incidents and conditions which preceded our recent war with Spain. The
facts, as seen by us, may, I apprehend, be fairly stated as follows:
In the island of Cuba, a powerful military force,--government it
scarcely could be called,--foreign to the island, was holding a small
portion of it in enforced subjection, and was endeavoring,
unsuccessfully, to reduce the remainder. In pursuance of this attempt,
measures were adopted that inflicted immense misery and death upon
great numbers of the population. Such suffering is indeed attendant
upon war; but it may be stated as a fundamental principle of
civilized warfare that useless suffering is condemned, and it had
become apparent to military eyes that Spain could not subdue the
island, nor restore orderly conditions. The suffering was terrible,
and was unavailing.

Under such circumstances, does any moral obligation lie upon a
powerful neighboring state? Or, more exactly, if there is borne in
upon the moral consciousness of a mighty people that such an afflicted
community as that of Cuba at their doors is like Lazarus at the gat