MEDIATION, in international law the intervention of a third Power, on the invitation or with the consent of two other Powers, for the purpose of arranging differences before an appeal to arms or after war has broken out. In either case the mediating Power negotiates on behalf of the parties who invoke or accept its aid, but does not go further. Unlike an arbitrating Power the mediator limits his intervention to suggestion and advice. His action is liable to be arrested at any time at the will of either party unless otherwise agreed, in which case to arrest it prematurely would be a breach of good faith.
Of successful mediation in the strict sense there have been many instances: that of Great Britain, in 1825, between Portu gal and Brazil; of France, in 1849-50, when differences arose between Great Britain and Greece; of the Great Powers, in 1868 69, when the relations of Greece and Turkey were strained to breaking-point by reason of the insurrection in Crete ; of Pope Leo XIII., in 1885, between Germany and Spain in the matter of the Caroline islands. In these cases mediation averted war. The Austro-Prussian War of 1866, the war between Chile and Peru in 1882, that between Greece and Turkey in 1897, and that between Russia and Japan in 1905 are instances of wars brought to a close through the mediation of neutral Powers. Mediation has also been occasionally employed where differences have arisen as to the interpretation of treaties or as to the mode in which they ought to be carried out ; as when Great Britain mediated between France and the United States with regard to the Treaty of Paris of July 4, 1830. In one case at least mediation has been successful after a proposal for arbitration had failed. In 1844, when war between Spain and Morocco was threatened by reason of the frequent raids by the inhabitants of the Rif on the Spanish settlement of Ceuta, Spain declined arbitration on the ground that her rights were too clear for argument. But
both she and Morocco subsequently accepted joint mediation at the hands of Great Britain and France.
The cause of mediation was considerably advanced by the Dec laration of Paris of 1856. The plenipotentiaries of Great Britain, France, Austria, Russia, Sardinia and Turkey recorded in a pro tocol, at the instance of Lord Clarendon, their joint wish that "States between which any misunderstanding might arise should, before appealing to arms, have recourse so far as circumstances might allow (en tant que les circonstances l'admettraient) to the good offices of a friendly Power." Article 8 of the Treaty of Paris, concluded in the same year, stipulated that "if there should arise between the Sublime Porte and one or more of the other signing Powers any misunderstanding which might endanger the maintenance of their relations, the Porte and each of such Powers, before having recourse to the use of force, shall afford the other contracting parties the opportunity of preventing such an extremity by means of mediation." These precedents (in which it will be seen that "good offices" and "mediation" are used inter changeably) were followed in the general act agreed to at the Conference held at Berlin in 1884-85, the object of which was to secure religious and commercial liberty and to limit warlike operations in the Congo basin.
A special form of mediation was adopted by The Hague Peace Conferences of 1899 and 1907. It was provided that, before an appeal to arms or during hostilities, a Power not a party to the dispute shall be entitled to offer good offices or mediation to the States at variance, and that the exercise of this right shall not be regarded by either of the parties in dispute as an unfriendly act. (M. H. C.; H. H. L. B.)