route system; the establishment and marvelous growth of the rural free delivery and the parcels post; the money order service and the postal savings banks; it points out how all these things tend to supercede sectionalism by nationalism, and to promote not only private comfort and convenience, but national solidarity and patriotism. The feature of the post office service most interesting to the readers of this JOURNAL, and most important of all, is its international growth. It has gradually become an umbilical cord, bringing every country into intimate and direct contact with every other. It seems incredible to this generation that this reform, so natural and inevitable, should have been so long delayed, and so greatly impeded by certain great nations, in order to preserve a petty advantage of the control of postal receipts in the international transportation of the mails. It is a source of pride to Americans that the United States was one of the first to agitate for an international postal agreement, and was more effective and earnest than any other in finally bringing it about. "As recently as 1860," says Mr. Roper, "anyone who wished to mail a letter to a foreign destination was under the necessity of consulting numerous schedules of the postage rates and of indicating on the letter the exact route by which it was to go. Not even his postmaster, very often, could advise him intelligently." Postmaster General Montgomery Blair, at the beginning of Mr. Lincoln's administration, recognized the necessity for the standardization of international postal rates, and of the weight limits and other conditions of mail service between nations. It was on his initiative, through the Department of State, that the first international conference was held to consider these problems. Twelve European and three American countries participated in this conference, which was held in Paris, in 1863. As a direct outcome, the International Postal Convention at Berne, Switzerland, was held in 1874, and took the initial steps in the greatest postal reform in the history of the world. It framed an agreement to which twenty-three nations adhered, to the effect that postage was to be prepaid in all cases, and was fixed for letters at the uniform rate of five cents per half ounce. Each nation retained the postage collected on its outgoing letters, and the postage stamps and post marks of each nation were recognized by all other nations as entitling mail matter to dispatch, delivery, and forwarding anywhere within the consolidated postal territory of the world. A permanent organization was provided for at Berne, and it was agreed that conventions should be held from time to time as might be necessary to consider changes and amendments proposed by the member nations. A second conference met in Paris in 1878, which made many improvements in the system; others have followed at intervals, and every civilized country is now a member, and the nations of the world constitute one postal territory. The Universal Postal Union was the first and in many ways remains the most important instance of the united action of the nations, the first act of world legislation. It remains the practical demonstration of the possibility of that ultimate parliament of the world of which the poet has dreamed, and which practical students and statesmen count upon as the ultimate substitutive for international wars. Not until the greatest of all the wars the world has yet known shall have come to its end, will we be able to know whether its incalculable sufferings and sacrifices have brought us nearer to the goal. S. N. D. NORTH. The Hague Court Reports. Publication of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Division of International Law. Edited with an introduction by James Brown Scott, Director. New York: Oxford University Press, American Branch. 1916. pp. cxi, 664. $3.50. This is a collection in English of the first fourteen decisions rendered by the tribunals of the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague under the Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907 for the Pacific Settlement of International Disputes. There are also included the reports of the first two International Commissions of Inquiry constituted under the same conventions. The need for the collection within a single volume of these important international decisions cannot be better put than in the report of the editor, Dr. Scott, which he made to the Trustees of the Endowment recommending their publication by the Division of International Law: It is unnecessary and, indeed, out of place in this report to descant upon the importance of the Permanent Court and of the awards rendered by special tribunals, because, however imperfect the machinery and however open to criticism some of their awards may be, the fact is that the organization of the first tribunal chosen from the panel marks an era in international relations and the first step taken for the creation and development of arbitral jurisprudence. The Administrative Council publishes brief abstracts of the proceedings before he special tribunals and prints the official awards. These documents are in French 1 and, so far as the Director has been able to learn, the awards have not been collected and published in a separate volume, which could be consulted by any and all who happen to be interested in this method of settling international disputes. The American Journal of International Law has translated and published each decision as it appeared, but the awards, which are interesting and valuable, are scattered through a number of volumes and are thus not easily found or consulted. The Endowment has received numerous requests both for the awards and for information concerning them. The Secretary has been unable to comply with these requests and he has been unable to refer inquirers to any single volume, in French or English, in which the texts of the awards are to be found, with the exception of a Dutch publication entitled Grotius, International Year Book, in which the awards are printed in the language in which delivered. (Year Book of the Endowment, 1913–1914, pp. 139-140). Each award and finding is preceded by a syllabus giving the essential facts and holdings of the tribunal or commission or inquiry. It is followed by the agreement of submission and antecedent documents. useful in forming a complete understanding of the scope and juridical value of the award. Where maps and charts accompanied the decisions, these have been reproduced and inserted in their proper places. The Editor states in his preface that the translations of the awards and other documents have been obtained from the most reliable sources available. Official translations have been reproduced in official form; unofficial translations have been edited to such a degree as seemed necessary; where neither kind of translation was obtainable, the translations were made by the Endowment. He adds: "In view of the fact that the accuracy of the translations might be questioned, especially with respect to the more important documents, an Appendix has been added which contains the original official texts of the translated documents." As an annex to the Editor's introduction, he prints the original texts and translations of the Hague Convention of 1899 and 1907 for the pacific settlement of international disputes. GEORGE A. FINCH. 1 Since Dr. Scott's report was written, these decisions have been published in volume form by Professor George Grafton Wilson, of Harvard University, under the title The Hague Arbitration Cases (Boston: Ginn & Co. 1915. pp. x, 525). Professor Wilson's collection contains, in addition to the awards, the compromise, protocols, or agreements for submission. The official language is given in each case, and where that is not English, a translation is given on the opposite page.-G. A. F. Grotius Annuaire International Pour 1915. The Hague: This little volume opens with a review, interesting from a banking standpoint, of "The Netherlands Bank and the War," followed by an Aperçu de Faits Internationaux Juridiques. The latter covers the period from February 15, 1914 to September 1, 1915, condensed within the limits of twenty-three pages and, therefore, of necessity not comprehensive in any satisfactory meaning of the term. There follow comments upon Netherland's jurisprudence, a list of the members of the Permanent Court of Arbitration, and, seeming like an echo from a forgotten past, the fourteenth sentence of the Permanent Court of Arbitration in the matter of the dispute between Holland and Portugal. In addition there is contained a summary of treaties between The Netherlands and foreign countries touching questions of arbitration and other information relative to permanent international treaties, having a certain referential value. The book concludes with a bibliography for the years 1914-1915 upon the subject of public international law. The work described has, as may be inferred, greater value in Holland than elsewhere. Diplomatic Documents relating to the Outbreak of the European War. A reprint in two volumes of the official English translations of the two "Red Books" issued by Austria-Hungary, the two "Gray Books" issued by Belgium, the French "Yellow Book," the German "White Book," the Italian "Green Book," the two Russian "Orange Books," the Serbian "Blue Book," and the official text of the two British "Blue Books." Each volume is preceded by a table of contents which lists and summarizes every paper and document printed therein, and at the end of the second volume there is an analytical index digest, which, in addition to ordinary index purposes, will be found most useful in tracing the attitudes of the several countries upon important points in the negotiations which ended in the outbreak of war. Another useful feature of the work is a list of all important personages who are mentioned in or who took part in the correspondence, showing their official positions at the time. The Hague Conventions and Declarations of 1899 and 1907. Publication of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Division of International Law. Edited by James Brown Scott, Director. New York: Oxford University Press, American Branch. 1915. pp. xxx, 303. $2.00. This volume contains the official English translations of the conventions signed at and the declarations adopted by the two Hague Conferences, printed in parallel columns where each Conference adopted a convention on the same subject. They are accompanied by tables of signatures, ratifications and adhesions of the various Powers, the accuracy of which is vouched for by the Department of State of the United States, and the official depository of the acts of ratification and adhesion - The Ministry for Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands. The book also contains English translations of the complete texts of the reservations to the various conventions made during the course of the Conferences by the different Powers. A copious index-digest, covering 37 pages, adds materially to the usefulness of the volume. This useful volume has also been published in Spanish. The Freedom of the Seas. By Hugo Grotius. An English translation of the Mare Liberum of the "father of international law," accompanied on parallel pages by a revision of the Latin text of 1633. Translation and revision by Dr. Ralph Van Deman Magoffin, Associate Professor of Greek and Roman History in The Johns Hopkins University. Edited with an introductory note by James Brown Scott, Director. An Essay on a Congress of Nations for the Adjustment of International Disputes without Resort to Arms. By William Ladd. Publication of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Division of |