Show THE ETHICS OF OLD TREATIES Even In the matter of a promissory I note between Individual the law at inches high Importance to the question whether or not there has been value iccelvcd In other words J the law cares less for the written words which constitute a promise than for the substantial I sub-stantial obligation that lies behind the promise Back of the Clayton ulwcr treaty there does not linger the slightest slight-est vestige of any substantial obliga tion on the part of the United Slates There Is nothing analogous to the duty of rendering a quid Pro quo Where I i I nothing has boon received there Is nolh I lag to pay John Stuart Mill and nu j morons other writers on the equity of 1 such treaties have made It perfectly plain that where a convention has been signed that Is temporary In its very nature na-ture yet Is given the form of perpetuity In Its phrasing It will of necessity be abrogated wren the temporary circumstances circum-stances have been outlived and new anl conditions render It desirable to deal freely with a given situation A simple and honest way to deal with the CI lay tonBulwer treaty Is to Inform England that the people ant the public men of the United States have long considered II It morally and practically a dead letter let-ter and that It would be agresablo to I us to have Englands formal consent to Its abrogation Since there Is nothing whatever in the treaty that Is of real value and Importance to England there is no reason to suppose that there would be any hesitation on the part of I Lord Salisbury to accept our view I of the matter especially as this Is I precisely pre-cisely what the bestInformed English newspapers have been idviing him to doFrom The Progress of the I I World In the American Monthly Review Re-view of Reviews for March I I I |