France,  England,  Prussia,  Austria  and  Russia,
have  each  at  many  times  both  ignored  the  treaties
they  have  signed  and  violated  the  arbitration  agree-
ments to  which  they  were  parties.
And  what  of  ourselves?  Are  we  willing — have
we  been  willing  in  the  past — to  abide  by  arbitra-
tion?

Would  ive  have  agreed  to  the  decision  of  an  in-
ternational tribunal  regarding  any  of  our  five  great
crises:  the  Revolutionary  War,  the  War  of  1812,
the  War  with  Mexico,  the  Civil  War,  the  War  with
Spain?  }

In  1775  we  were  colonies  of  Great  Britain,  inter-

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92  AWAKE!  U.  S.  A.
nationally  recognised  as  such,  under  the  govern-
ment of  the  King  of  England,  who  decided  to  direct
our  commerce  and  to  tax  us  as  British  subjects.
If,  at  that  time,  there  had  been  an  international  tri-
bunal and  if  we  had  carried  our  case  to  that  tri-
bunal, would  Russia,  Prussia,  Austria,  Spain  and
royal  France,  all  absolute  monarchies  and  leading
nations  of  the  world,  have  decided  in  our  favour ;  or
would  they  have  held  that  the  English  Government
had  a  right  to  direct  the  commerce  of  one  of  its
colonies  and  to  fix  import  duties?

Certainly  in  1848,  if  we  had  submitted  to  an  in-
ternational tribunal,  our  legally  unjustified  and  un-
reasonable occupation  and  seizure  of  Texas,  a  por-
tion of  another  nation — the  international  court
could  have  arrived  at  but  one  decision :  *'The  United
States  has  no  international  right  to  steal  Texas."
Yet  if  we  had  not  seized  it,  it  would  to-day  be  in
the  same  condition  of  anarchy  as  that  in  which
Mexico  finds  itself.
