If we examine the Hague Convention carefully, we see that it considers the offer of good offices a duty of every nation. In other words, such offers should be made whenever a dispute becomes critical and threatens to explode into war.
No government, no head of state, made any attempt to avert or arrest the Boer War.
Compulsory arbitration is a practical instrument of pacification and, as such, it can and should be enacted by the Hague Conference.
