and reason, instead of by appeal to the ordeal
of battle.

In a letter to the Secretary of the Mohonk Conference on International
Arbitration, in August 1911, 'Abdu'l-Baha said:--

About fifty years ago in the Book of Aqdas, Baha'u'llah commanded
people to establish universal peace and summoned all the nations
to the divine banquet of international arbitration, so that the
questions of boundaries, of national honor and property, and of
vital interests between nations might be settled by an arbitral
court of justice, and that no nation would dare to refuse to abide
by the decisions thus arrived at. If any quarrel between two
nations it must be adjudicated by this international court and be
arbitrated and decided upon like the judgment rendered by the
Judge between two individuals. If at any time any nation dares to
break such a decision, all the other nations must arise to put
down this rebellion.

Again, in one of His Paris talks in 1911, He said:--

A supreme tribunal shall be established by the peoples and
governments of every nation, composed of members elected from each
country and government. The members of this great council shall
assemble in unity. All disputes of an international character
shall be submitted to this court, its work being to arrange by
arbitration everything which otherwise would be a cause of war.
This mission of this tribunal would be to prevent war.

During the quarter of a century preceding the establishment of the League
of Nations a permanent Court of Arbitration was established at The Hague
(1900), and many arbitration treaties were signed, but most of these fell
far short of the comprehensive proposals of Baha'u'llah. No arbitration
treaty was made between two great Powers in which all matters of dispute
were included. Differences affecting "vital interests," "honor" and
"independence" were specifically excepted. Not only so, but effective
guarantees that nations would abide by the terms of the treaties into
which they had entered were lacking. In the Baha'i proposals, on the other
hand, questions of boundaries, of national honor and of vital interest are
expressly included, and agreements will have the supreme guarantee of the
World League of Nations behind them. Only when these proposals are
completely carried out will international arbitration attain the full
scope of its beneficent possibilities