and he adds:--

"As if arbitration were not the rule between _masters_ and
_workmen_."

I have often demonstrated the "illusion of such arbitration" (among
others see _Le Siècle_, October 6th, 1899), the negative effects
produced in France by the law on optional arbitration, and in England by
the Conciliation Act of 1896.

From an international point of view, the judgment passed by the
Arbitration Tribunal in the matter of the Delagoa Bay Railway, after a
lapse of ten years, is not one to induce governments to have recourse to
it.

In the relations between England and the Transvaal, the Arbitration
Question is closely connected with the Suzerainty Question. It was
raised May 7th, 1897, by the State Secretary, Mr. Van Boeschoten, in
reply to the complaints made in Mr. Chamberlain's despatch of March 6th,
1897, relating to the violation of the 1884 Convention. Mr. Van
Boeschoten's proposal was that the President of the Swiss Confederation
should be asked to appoint an arbitrator.

On October 16th, 1897, Mr. Chamberlain replied:--

"The Government of the South African Republic proposes that the
contested points of the Convention shall be submitted to
arbitration, the arbitrator to be appointed by the President of the
Swiss Confederation. In making this proposal the Government appears