For years Mr.
Lansing had been connected with many international arbitrations
which, theoretically, was a magnificent training for a future
Secretary of State, and actually would have destroyed the creative
and administrative usefulness of a much stronger man than Robert
Lansing.
In the whole mummery of international relations there is nothing
more farcical than an international 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.
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