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Show ARCHBISHOP RIOEDAN. His Grace of San Francisco Discusses The Hague Tribunal. -New York, Nov. 28. Distinguished as being the first successful plaintiff before the permanent international peace tribunal at The Hague, the Most Rev. Patrick William Rlordrj, arch-I arch-I bishop of San Francisco, noted before his departure from these shores for his energetic educational work on tne Pacific slope, returned today on the. Celtic. Most of the archbishop's time r.broad has been spent at TVhe Hague, where the peace tribunal, heard in detail all of the evidence stretched over a period pe-riod of thirty-three years regarding the Pious fund of the California church. It was a claim of the Catholic church against the Mexican government govern-ment for the accrued interest' on' this fund, since 1S69, and it ended in the claim being allowed in full. This triumph formed a precedent, which, the archbishop said today, e hoped would be followed by others in-terested in-terested in claims of an international nature. The eminent prelate looked the "picture "pic-ture of health when he landed. His cheeks were rosy. He walked -with a springy step, his shoulders well back. It was plain that his two sea voyages had been beneficial. With him was Garret McEnerny of San Francisco. "It has been a victory for us and I rejoice greatly," he said, "for this fund will make possible an extension of the educational and religious work in California. Cali-fornia. But it is not only for the sake of the church that I rejoice. It is because be-cause this case forms a precedent in such matters. Ionean by this that in my opinion all matters of minor i-or-tance can be settled by arbitration. Nations will not hereafter go to war except ex-cept for grave cause. All minor matters, mat-ters, such as money claims, boundary disputes, such, for example, as our Bering sea question, can be so settled. In most cases they probably will be. In respect to minor claims. I think the peace conference will accomplish murh and the czar, in urging the value of such conferences, deserves all praise. "But in grave international complications compli-cations I' doubt much if the people of the w-orld have as yet reached the state of civilization where it would be possible pos-sible to settle them by. arbitration. Nations Na-tions will not at least, now be willing to submit matters of great national K'llllKI I III " HUIIUI. I ll.li.Hl.1 I.IIU l.U.l l U, importance to a board of five men. However, we shall know that in time, v "It seems reasonable, now, however, to believe that the permanent peace conference will become one of the great and useful institutions of the world. Distinguished; authorities on international interna-tional law are convinced of the validity of its decisions. "In our case the United States and Mexico were the first to appeal to its rulings and the United States has. the honor of the first victory. "It was only a few days before our claim was so referred that I understood a mentber of the permanent tribunal expressed the opinion to an English colleague that- it would never be called upon to exercise its functions. Many people in the United States, judging the press, believed then that this tribunal tri-bunal would never have anything before be-fore it. But all opinions on these lines I were set at naught when the United States broke the ice and gave the tribunal tri-bunal its first case. I "President Roosevelt thus gave j proof to the world of the possibilities of ! such a tribunal. It is an example that j is bound to be followed by other nations. na-tions. "The tribunal decided in our favor and the share awarded to the California Cali-fornia diocese is $1,420,689 silver. The court was unanimous. "After leaving The Hague I went to Paris, and then to Rome. There I remained re-mained two weeks. I was permitted to have several audiences with the holy father. He is stronger than I expected to find him. His voice is clear. He can walk without aid, though he seldom ventures to, and can read without the aid of glasses.- "At 93, Pope Leo XIII is a marvel of strength and mental vigor. His memory is wonderful, as is his knowledge knowl-edge of current events. He knows all that is going on in the world from day to day and keeps himself abreast of the times. "From Rome I went back to Paris, remaining there two days; then on to Queenstown. We spent four days in Ireland and then boarded, the Celtic." |