RESOLUTION OF RATIFICATION BY THE SENATE OF A CONVENTION CONCERNING THE RIGHTS AND DUTIES OF NEUTRAL POWERS IN NAVAL WAR, SIGNED AT THE HAGUE, 1907.

Resolved (two-thirds of the Senators present concurring therein), That the Senate advise and consent to the adherence of the United States to a convention adopted by the Second International Peace Conference held at The Hague from June 15 to October 18, 1907, concerning the rights and duties of neutral powers in naval war, reserving and excluding, however, Article XXIII thereof, which is in the following words:

A neutral power may allow prizes to enter its ports and roadsteads, whether under convoy or not, when they are brought there to be sequestrated pending the decision of a prize court. It may have the prize taken to another of its ports.

If the prize is convoyed by a war ship, the prize crew may go on board the convoying ship.

If the prize is not under convoy, the prize crew are left at liberty.

Resolved, further, That the United States adheres to this convention with the understanding that the last clause of Article III implies the duty of a neutral power to make the demand therein mentioned for the return of a ship captured within the neutral jurisdiction and no longer within that jurisdiction.

XIV 1907..

DECLARATION PROHIBITING THE DISCHARGE OF PROJECTILES AND EXPLOSIVES FROM BALLOONS.

Concluded October 18, 1907; ratification advised by Senate March 10, 1908; ratified by the President February 23, 1909; ratification deposited with the Netherlands Government November 27, 1909; proclaimed February 28, 1910.

[Translation.] DECLARATION.

The Undersigned, Plenipotentiaries of the Powers invited to the Second International Peace Conference at The Hague, duly authorized to that effect by their Governments, inspired by the sentiments which found expression in the Declaration of St. Petersburg of the 29th November (11th December), 1868, and being desirous of renewing the declaration of The Hague of the 29th July, 1899, which has now expired,

Declare:

The Contracting Powers agree to prohibit, for a period extending to the close of the Third Peace Conference, the discharge of projectiles and explosives from balloons or by other new methods of a similar

nature.

The present Declaration is only binding on the Contracting Powers in case of war between two or more of them.

• The ratifications of this convention were deposited at The Hague November 27, 1909, by the United States of America, China, Great Britain, The Netherlands, Bolivia, and Salvador.

It shall cease to be binding from the time when, in a war between the Contracting Powers, one of the belligerents is joined by a nonContracting Power.

The present Declaration shall be ratified as soon as possible.
The ratifications shall be deposited at The Hague.

A procès-verbal shall be drawn up recording the receipt of the ratifications, of which a duly certified copy shall be sent, through the diplomatic channel, to all the Contracting Powers.

Non-Signatory Powers may adhere to the present Declaration. To do so, they must make known their adhesion to the Contracting Powers by means of a written notification, addressed to the Netherland Government, and communicated by it to all the other Contracting Powers.

In the event of one of the High Contracting Parties denouncing the present Declaration, such denunciation shall not take effect until a year after the notification made in writing to the Netherland Government, and forthwith communicated by it to all the other Contracting Powers.

This denunciation shall only have affect in regard to the notifying Power.

In faith whereof the Plenipotentiaries have appended their signatures to the present Declaration.

Done at The Hague, the 18th October, 1907, in a single copy, which shall remain deposited in the archives of the Netherland Government, and duly certified copies of which shall be sent, through the diplomatic channel, to the Contracting Powers.

1. Pour l'Allemagne :

2. Pour les États Unis d'Amé- JOSEPH H. CHOATE.

12. Pour la République de Cuba: ANTONIO S. DE BUSTAMANTE.

GONZALO DE QUESADA.

24449-VOL 2-10-72

MANUEL SANGUILY.

14. Pour la République Domini- DR. HENRIQUEZ Y CARVAJAL

1907.@

FINAL ACT OF THE SECOND INTERNATIONAL PEACE CONFERENCE. THE FINAL ACT OF THE SECOND INTERNATIONAL PEACE CONFERENCE, AND THE ANNEX ATTACHED THERETO, ADOPTED AT THE HAGUE DURING THE SESSIONS OF THE CONFERENCE.

The Second International Peace Conference, proposed in the first instance by the President of the United States of America, having been convoked, on the invitation of His Majesty the Emperor of All the Russias, by Her Majesty the Queen of the Netherlands, assembled on the 15th June, 1907, at The Hague, in the Hall of the Knights, for the purpose of giving a fresh development to the humanitarian principles which served as a basis for the work of the First Conference of 1899.

The following Powers took part in the Conference, and appointed the Delegates named below:

Germany:

His Excellency Baron Marschall de Bieberstein, Minister of
State, Imperial Ambassador at Constantinople, First Dele-
gate Plenipotentiary;

M. Kriege, Imperial Envoy on Extraordinary Mission at the pres-
ent Conference, Privy Councillor of Legation and Legal Adviser
to the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Member of the Permanent
Court of Arbitration, Second Delegate Plenipotentiary;
Rear-Admiral Siegel, Naval Attaché to the Imperial Embassy
at Paris, Naval Delegate;

Major-General de Gündell, Quarter-Master General of the Gen-
eral Staff of the Royal Prussian Army, Military Delegate;
M. Zorn, Professor to the Faculty of Law at the University of
Bonn, Judicial Privy Councillor, Member of the Prussian
Upper Chamber, and Crown Syndic, Scientific Delegate;
M. Göppert, Councillor of Legation and Councillor attached to
the Department for Foreign Affairs, Assistant Delegate;
M. Retzmann, Lieutenant-Commander on the Naval General
Staff, Assistant Naval Delegate.

The United States of America:

His Excellency Mr. Joseph H. Choate, ex-Ambassador at Lon-
don, Ambassador Extraordinary, Delegate Plenipotentiary;
His Excellency Mr. Horace Porter, ex-Ambassador at Paris,
Ambassador Extraordinary, Delegate Plenipotentiary;
His Excellency Mr. Uriah M. Rose, Ambassador Extraordinary,
Delegate Plenipotentiary;

His Excellency Mr. David Jayne Hill, ex-Assistant Secretary of
State, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary at
The Hague, Delegate Plenipotentiary;

Rear-Admiral Charles S. Sperry, ex-President of the Naval War
College, Minister Plenipotentiary, Delegate Plenipotentiary;
Brigadier-General George B. Davis, Judge Advocate-General of
the United States' Army, Minister Plenipotentiary, Delegate
Plenipotentiary;

Mr. William I. Buchanan, ex-Minister at Buenos Ayres, ex-
Minister at Panamá, Minister Plenipotentiary, Delegate Pleni-
potentiary;

• Translation submitted by the Department of State to the Senate with second Hague conference treaties, February 27, 1908.