conference of Brussels, which has remained unratified to the present day.

To accept in principle the employment of the good offices of mediation and optional arbitration in cases lending themselves thereto, with the object of preventing armed conflicts between nations; an understanding with respect to the mode of applying these good offices, and the establishment of a uniform practice in using them."

Questions of a technical character would have to be dealt with by the aid of specialists who should be invited to take part in the labors of the conference.

Both circulars were sent through the Russian minister to the Vatican at the same time and in the same manner as to the other governments. The Government of Italy, which had acquiesced in the admission of a papal delegate to the International Metrical Congress of 1872, with the reservation that it should not be taken as a precedent for the representation of the Vatican in conferences of a political character, intimated that it would send no representative if the Holy See were invited to take part in the conference. The efforts of partisans of the Church to secure the representation of the Vatican for the avowed purpose of establishing its position as an international state and raising political questions confirmed the Italian Government in its attitude. The incorporation of Tuscany, Modena, Parma, the Two Sicilies, and the papal states in the Kingdom of Italy had indeed never been consecrated by treaty, as the cession of Alsace-Lorraine to Germany had been, and if territorial questions came to be discussed in the conference the rights of the deposed princes and the temporal power of the Pope could not be excluded. The invitations to the conference were issued by the Government of the Netherlands, The Hague having been selected by the Czar as the place of meeting. The Czar's Government retained the initiative and the right to decide the preliminary conditions. No programme was discussed or decided upon by the cabinets beforehand. No invitation was sent to the Vatican, the Italian minister having, on Feb. 16, positively informed the Dutch Government that the presence of a papal delegate would be incompatible with that of a representative of Italy, and when the conference assembled the papal internuncio departed from The Hague. The Dutch Government desired to send invitations to the South African Republic and the Orange Free State. The British Government, however, let it be known that it would not recognize the international position of the former. The Dutch Government therefore suggested that in order not to make an invidious distinction between the two Boer republics neither should be invited. The Porte consented to the representation of Bulgaria, but raised a question of precedence, which was settled by seating the Bulgarian representatives with the Turkish delegation, but giving them an independent vote. Montenegro was represented only by the Russian delegates. None of the Spanish-American republies received an invitation. Outside of Europe, only the United States, China, Japan, Persia, and Siam were invited to send delegates.

The conference assembled in the Huis ten Bosch at The Hague on May 18. Baron De Staal, the first Russian delegate, was elected president. The states represented were Germany, the United States, Austria-Hungary, Belgium, China, Denmark, Spain, France, Great Britain, Greece, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Persia, Portugal, Roumania, Russia, Servia, Siam, Sweden and Norway, Switzerland, Turkey, and Bulgaria.

Three commissions were appointed. The first commission, which had to inquire into the question of the restriction of armaments and expenditure for military purposes, had as material to guide its deliberations Prince Metternich's memorandum of 1816 regarding the suggestion of the Prince Regent of England, supported by Alexander I of Russia, that the normal peace footing of the individual powers should be determined by an international conference; the letter sent by Napoleon III, the Emperor of the French, on Nov. 4, 1863, to the various sovereigns of Europe, proposing a conference in Paris to lay the foundations of universal peace; and documents containing arguments for disarmament or the reduction or limitation of armaments by Rolin Jacquemyns, Prof. Lorimer, Count Kamarowski, David Dudley Field, M. Merignhac, Johann von Bloch, M. Bastiat, and Prince Obolinsky. The second commission, which dealt with the laws governing civilized warfare, had its attention directed to the declaration of the congress of Paris signed on April 6, 1856; the Geneva convention of Aug. 22, 1864; the additional clauses to the Geneva convention adopted on Oct. 20, 1868, but never ratified; the St. Petersburg convention prohibiting among civilized nations the use of certain projectiles; the minutes of the Brussels conference of 1874 on the laws and observances of war, which did not lead to the conclusion of a convention; the original suggestions for an international convention on the laws and observances of war which the Russian Government laid before the Brussels conference; the manual on the laws of land warfare adopted by the Institute of International Law sitting at Oxford in 1880; the rules regarding the bombardment of cities by naval forces adopted by the Institute of International Law sitting at Venice in 1896; the declaration of France and Great Britain regarding the additional clauses to the Geneva convention; the proposal of M. Moynier for the revision of the Geneva convention; the provisional programme submitted by the Swiss Federal Council; and the circular sent by the Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs on Feb. 13, 1871, suggesting an agreement of the powers to admit the principle of the inviolability of private property on the seas and a precise definition of the term contraband of war. The third commission, to which the question of mediation and arbitration was referred, received as documents to guide its deliberations Lord Clarendon's proposal at the Paris congress of 1856 as regards a friendly state being called in as mediator before having recourse to force; Signor Mancini's resolution presented in the Italian Chamber of Deputies, expressing the hope that arbitration would become the frequent and accepted method of solving international controversies in accordance with the principles of justice; the resolution regarding compromise adopted by the Institute of International Law sitting at Zurich in 1877; the twelfth article of the general act of the Berlin conference of 1885, regarding mediation or arbitration in the case of controversies connected with the basins of the Congo and the Niger; the scheme of procedure in international arbitration drawn up by the Institute of International Law sitting at The Hague in 1875; David Dudley Field's plan for the estab lishment of an international arbitration tribunal; the bases of an international treaty for arbitration laid down at the meeting of the Association of International Law at Brussels in 1895; the proposal for the establishment of a permanent court of international arbitration adopted by the interparliamentary conference at Brussels in 1895;

the conclusions arrived at in the interparliamentary conference on arbitration and peace which met at Brussels in 1897; the Washington treaty of May 8, 1871; the proposal for the establishment of a tribunal of arbitration for the settlement of disputes between states of North, Central, and South America, signed at Washington on April 18, 1890; Lord Salisbury's letters of March 5 and May 18, 1896, to the British ambassador at Washington relating to the conclusion of a treaty of arbitration; the treaty of arbitration concluded between the United States and Great Britain, but not ratified; the treaty providing for arbitration between the Argentine Republic and Italy, signed at Rome on July 23, 1898; the fifty-fifth and fifty-eighth clauses of the Brussels general act of July 2, 1890; the twenty-third clause of the Universal Postal Convention of July 4, 1891; the decisions of the Madrid Judicial Congress of 1892; and the opinion of M. Descamp on the subject of arbitration.

The 15 articles added to the Geneva convention of 1864 by the second convention of 1868, which Russia proposed to bring before the conference, aimed at giving more security for the protection of the wounded during war on land, and at applying for the first time in naval warfare the principles of the Red Cross. After they were adopted by the Geneva conference Russia proposed an amendment to one of the articles that Germany hesitated to accept, and that the Netherlands and Portugal accepted only with reservations. Hence the convention was never ratified. During the Franco-German War the two belligerents agreed upon a special modus vivendi for observing the additional articles.

Petitions were received from the Armenian and Macedonian committees and from Finland presenting the grievances of the former against the Turkish Government and of the latter against violations of its charter of liberties by the Russian Government. The petitioners were given to understand that the conference could not go outside of the points contained in Count Muravieff's circular.

The American delegates submitted a proposal for exempting private property at sea from capture. It was not supported by Great Britain, and was opposed by France and Russia, as it would enable Great Britain to wage war without endangering her vast commerce or her food supplies, and allow her to concentrate her great naval forces against a weaker enemy. The representa tives of other countries having small shipping interests were also opposed to the proposal. The United States had declined in 1856 to sign the declaration of Paris abolishing privateering and agreeing that the neutral flag covers enemy's goods except contraband of war; but at that time the United States Government expressed its willingness to forego the right of privateering if the powers would agree to declare all private property at sea exempt from capture, as President Monroe had argued that it ought to be. In the Spanish-American War the governments of the United States and Spain issued declarations that they would not employ privateers. The proposal submitted by the American commissioners to the Peace Conference was as follows:

attempt to enter a port blockaded by the naval forces of any of the said powers."

The commission would not admit that the subject came within the scope of the matters to be considered at the conference as defined in the circular of the Russian minister, and resolved to refer its consideration to a future conference.

The Russian delegates laid before the first commission the following proposals for the limitation of the military forces and budgets:

"1. The establishment of an international agreement for a term of five years stipulating the nonaugmentation of the present peace establishment of the troops serving in their own country.

"2. In case such an agreement be arrived at, the strength of the armies of all the powers, not including colonial forces, shall be determined for time of peace.

"3. The maintenance for the same term of five years of the military budgets at their present figures."

The Russian proposal for the limitation of naval armaments was as follows:

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Acceptation of the principle that for a term of three years the sum of naval budgets shall be determined, with the engagement not to increase the total during that triennial period, and with the obligation of announcing in advance for the said period, first, the total in tonnage of those ships of war which it is proposed to build without specifying the models thereof; secondly, the number of officers and crews in the navy; thirdly, the expenditure on works in ports, such as forts, docks, arsenals, etc."

None of the Continental military experts favored the principle of arresting or limiting the military armaments. The German delegate denied that military service was a burden in his country, arguing that, on the contrary, the army had made Germany united, strong, and prosperous, and was a school of civic virtue, of duty, energy, and application. Germany, England, and other countries were equally loath to submit their naval armaments to international control or selfdenying restrictions. The commission, on June 30, adopted the following conclusions:

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"1. That it would be very difficult to determine, even for a period of five years, the figure of effective forces without regulating at the same time the other elements affecting national defense.

"2. That it would be no less difficult to regulate by an international convention the elements of that defense as organized in each country according to very different views.

"3. That the restriction of the military burdens that at present weigh upon the world is greatly to be desired for the material and moral welfare of humanity."

The convention for the peaceful regulation of international conflicts by mediation and arbitration contains the principal ideas of the Russian, British, and American projects, in so far as they do not conflict with suggestions made by French, German, Belgian, Portuguese, and other delegates. Clauses providing for obligatory arbitration in certain classes of cases were omitted because Germany objected strongly to anything of the nature of compulsion. The Russian delegates first submitted the scheme proposed by their Government of mediation and arbitration. The British representatives had another plan, involving the creation of a permanent tribunal, which was acceptable to the Russians. A permanent court was also a feature of the American scheme, more complete and elaborate than the British. The American representatives also introduced a plan

for special arbitration. The text of the convention finally completed and adopted by the conference is as follows:

"THE MAINTENANCE OF THE GENERAL PEACE. "ARTICLE I.—In order to prevent as far as possible the recourse to force in international relations, the signatory powers agree to employ all their efforts to bring about, by pacific means, the solution of the differences which may arise between states.

"GOOD OFFICES AND MEDIATION.

"ART. II.—The signatory powers agree that in case of grave disagreement or conflict, before appealing to arms, they will have recourse, so far as circumstances allow it, to the good offices or mediation of one or more of the friendly powers. "ART. III.-Independently of this recourse, the signatory powers consider it useful that one or more powers that are not concerned in the con

flict should offer of their own initiative, so far as the circumstances lend themselves to it, their good offices or their mediation to the disputing

states.

"The powers not concerned in the conflict have the right of offering their good offices or their

mediation even during the course of hostilities. "The exercise of this right can never be considered by either of the disputing parties as an unfriendly act.

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ART. IV. The part of the mediator consists in the reconciliation of contrary pretensions and in the allaying of the resentments which may be caused between the disputing states.

"ART. V.-The duties of the mediator cease from the moment when it is announced, whether by one of the disputing parties or by the mediator himself, that the compromise or the bases of a friendly understanding proposed by him have not been accepted.

"ART. VI. Good offices and mediation, whether recourse is had to them by one of the disputing parties or on the initiative of powers not concerned in the conflict, have exclusively the character of counsel and are devoid of any obligatory force.

"ART. VII.-The acceptance of mediation can not have the effect, unless it be agreed to the contrary, of interrupting, retarding, or impeding mobilization and other measures preparatory to

war.

"If it (mediation) intervenes before the opening of hostilities, it does not, unless the contrary be agreed upon, interrupt the current military operations.

"ART. VIII.-The signatory powers agree to recommend the application, in circumstances which permit of it, of a special mediation in the following form:

"In the case of a grave disagreement endangering peace the disputing states should each choose one power to which they may intrust the mission of entering into direct communication with the power chosen by the other side for the purpose of preventing the rupture of pacific relations.

"During the continuance of their mandate, the duration of which, unless the contrary is stipulated, can not exceed thirty days, the question in dispute is considered as referred exclusively to these powers. They must apply all their efforts to arranging the difference.

"In case of the actual rupture of pacific relations these powers remain charged with the common mission of profiting by every opportunity of re-establishing peace.

"INTERNATIONAL COMMISSIONS OF INQUIRY.

"ART. IX. In cases in which a difference of appreciation of questions of fact should arise between the signatory powers which has given rise to a disagreement of an international character which could not be settled by the ordinary diplomatic methods, and in which neither the honor nor the vital interests of these powers are at stake, the interested parties agree to have recourse, so far as the circumstances permit it, to the institution of international commissions of inquiry, in order to establish the circumstances which have given rise to dispute and to clear up by an impartial and conscientious inquiry on the spot all questions of fact.

ART. X.-The international commissions of

inquiry are instituted by special convention between the disputing parties, defining the scope of the inquiry and the powers of the commissioners. The question at issue is to be argued from the standpoint of the two contending parties. ART. XI.-The commissions of inquiry, unless otherwise stipulated, are constituted as described in Article XXXI.

"ART. XII.—The interested powers undertake to furnish to the international commission of inquiry, to the fullest extent that they shall consider possible, all the means and all the facilities necessary for the complete knowledge and exact appreciation of the facts in question.

ART. XIII.-The international commission of

inquiry shall present to the interested powers its report signed by all the members of the com

mission.

"INTERNATIONAL ARBITRATION.

"ART. XV.-International arbitration has for its object the settlement of disputes between states by judges of their own choosing and in conformity with their reciprocal rights.

"ART. XVI.-In questions of right, and especially in questions of the interpretation or application of international conventions, arbitration is recognized by the signatory powers as the most effective and at the same time the most equitable means of settling disputes not arranged by diplomatic methods.

"ART. XVII.—The agreement to arbitrate may be concluded for disputes already in existence or for disputes about to arise. It can deal with every sort of dispute or only with disputes of a specified category.

"ART. XVIII. The arbitral convention involves an engagement to submit in good faith to the arbitral decision.

"ART. XIX.-Independently of general or special treaties, which may already bind the signatory powers to have recourse to arbitration, these powers reserve to themselves the liberty to conclude, either before the ratification of the present article or afterward, new agreements, general or particular, with the object of extending compulsory arbitration to all cases which they judge capable of being submitted to it.

ART. XX. With the object of promoting the development of arbitration, the signatory powers consider it useful to lay down certain rules concerning arbitral jurisdiction and procedure.

"These provisions are only applicable in case

the parties themselves do not adopt other rules with reference to this matter.

"OF THE PERMANENT COURT OF ARBITRATION. "ART. XXI.-With the object of facilitating immediate recourse to the arbitration of international differences not settled by diplomatic means the signatory powers pledge themselves to organize in the following manner a permanent court of arbitration, accessible at all times and working, except there be a contrary stipulation of the disputing parties, in conformity with the rules of procedure inserted in the present convention.

ART. XXII.-This court has competence in all cases of arbitration unless the disputing parties agree to establish a special arbitral jurisdiction.

ART. XXIII.—An international bureau established at The Hague, and placed under the direction of a permanent secretary general, is to act as the office of the court.

"It is to be the intermediary for the communications dealing with the meetings of the latter.

It is to have care of the archives and the conduct of all the administrative business.

"The signatory powers shall communicate to the bureau a copy of every agreement to resort to arbitration and of every arbitral decision made by special arrangement apart from the permanent court. They shall likewise communicate all laws, regulations, and documents evidencing the execution of sentences of the court.

'ART. XXIV. Each of the signatory powers shall designate in the three months following the ratification of the present act four persons at the most, of recognized competence in questions of international law, and enjoying the highest esteem, and ready to accept the duties of arbitrators.

"The persons thus nominated will be entered, with the title of members of the court, on a list which will be communicated by the bureau to all the signatory powers.

"Every modification of the list of arbitrators shall be brought to the notice of the signatory powers by the bureau.

"Two or more powers may agree to nominate one or more members in common.

"The same person may be nominated by different powers.

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The members of the court are appointed for a term of six years. Their appointment may be renewed.

"In case of the decease or of the retirement of a member of the tribunal the vacancy will be filled in accordance with the rules established for nomination.

"ART. XXV.-The signatory powers which desire to apply to the court for the settlement of differences which have arisen between them choose out of the general list the number of arbitrators jointly agreed upon.

"They give notice to the bureau of their intention to apply to the court and of the names of the arbitrators whom they have nominated.

"In case of a difficulty arising as to the choice of an umpire the choice is to be intrusted to a third power designated by agreement between the parties. Failing such agreement, each party is to designate a different power, and the umpire is to be agreed upon by the powers thus designated. 'ART. XXVI.-The tribunal sits usually at The Hague.

"It has the right to sit elsewhere with the consent of the parties in litigation.

"ART. XXVII.-Every power, though not a signatory of this act, can apply to the court

Consequently, they declare that the fact of one or several of them reminding the disputing states of the provisions of the present convention and the advice given, in the higher interest of peace, to apply to the permanent court, can only be considered an exercise of good offices.

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ART. XXIX.-A permanent council, composed of the diplomatic representatives of the signatory. powers resident at The Hague and the Dutch Minister for Foreign Affairs, who shall discharge the functions of president, shall be constituted in that city as soon as possible after the ratification of the present act.

"This council shall be charged with establishing and organizing the international bureau, which shall remain under its direction and under its control.

"It shall notify the powers of the constitution of the court, and shall provide for its installation.

"It shall decree its procedure, as well as all other necessary regulations.

"It shall decide all questions which may arise touching the working of the tribunal.

"It shall have absolute powers as to the nomination, suspension, or recall of the functionaries and employees of the bureau.

"It shall fix the pay and salaries, and control the general expenditure.

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The presence of five members at meetings duly convoked shall suffice to enable the council to deliberate in valid form. Decisions are taken by a majority of votes.

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The council addresses each year to the signatory powers a report on the labors of the court, on the discharge of the administrative services, and on the expenditure.

"ART. XXX.-The costs of the bureau shall be borne by the signatory powers in the proportion fixed by the international bureau of the Universal Postal Union.

"OF ARBITRATION PROCEDure. "ART. XXXI.-The powers which accept arbitration will sign a special agreement or compromise, in which are clearly laid down the object of the dispute as well as the extent of the arbitrators' powers. This document shall confirm the undertaking of the parties to submit themselves in good faith to the arbitrators' decision.

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'ART. XXXII.-The arbitral functions may be conferred on one single arbitrator, or on several arbitrators, named by the parties at their own discretion, or chosen by them among the members of the permanent arbitration court established by the present act.

"In the absence of a contrary agreement the formation of the tribunal of arbitration shall be proceeded with in the following manner:

Each party shall name two arbitrators, and they shall choose together an umpire.

In case of a division of votes, the choice of the umpire shall be intrusted to a third power, named in agreement by the parties.

If an agreement is not come to on this subject, each party shall designate a different power, and the choice of the umpire shall be made in concert by the powers so designated.

ART. XXXIII.-When the arbitrator is a sovereign or the chief of a state the arbitration pro

cedure shall be exclusively settled by his high determination.

"ART. XXXIV.-The umpire is president de jure of the tribunal.

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When the tribunal does not include an umpire it shall itself name its president.

“ART. XXXV.—Except there be a stipulation to the contrary, in case of the decease or resignation of one of the arbitrators, or his inability from any cause whatever to act, the vacancy will be filled in accordance with the rules established for nomination.

"ART. XXXVI.-The seat of the tribunal is designated by the disputing parties, or, in default of such designation, by the tribunal of arbitration.

The seat thus fixed upon can only be changed in consequence of a new agreement between the interested states or, in case of necessity, by decision of the tribunal itself.

“ART. XXXVII.-The disputing parties have the right to name to the tribunal delegates or special agents to serve as intermediaries between the tribunal and the litigating parties.

They are, moreover, authorized to intrust the defense of their rights and interests before the tribunal to counsel or advocates named by them for that purpose.

"ART. XXXVIII.-The tribunal decides upon the choice of languages authorized to be employed before it.

ART. XXXIX.-The arbitral procedure comprises as a general rule two phases-the phase of instruction and the phase of pleading.

"The first consists in the communication made by the agents of the disputing parties to the members of the tribunal and to the opposing party of all printed or written deeds and of all documents containing the cases of the parties.

The second is oral, and consists in the hear ing before the tribunal.

ART. XL.-Every document produced by one of the parties must be communicated to the other party.

'ART. XLI.-The hearing before the tribunal is directed by the president.

"It is recorded in reports set forth by secretaries appointed by the president. These reports alone are to be regarded as authentic. The pleadings are to be public only if so decided by the court with the consent of the parties.

"ART. XLII. The preliminary procedure being private and the debates being public, the tribunal has the right to refuse all new deeds or documents which the representatives of one of the parties wish to submit to it without the consent of the other.

"ART. XLIII.-The tribunal remains free to take into consideration new documents or proofs of which the agents or counsel of the disputing parties have made use in their arguments before it.

"It has the right to demand the production of these documents or proofs apart from the obligation of making them known to the opposite party. "ART. XLIV.-The tribunal can, moreover, require from the agents of the parties the production of all the documents and explanations which it requires. In case of refusal the tribunal takes note of the fact.

“ART. XLV.—The agents and counsel of the litigating parties are authorized to present orally to the tribunal all the arguments they consider useful for the defense of their cause.

"ART. XLVI.—They have the right to raise objections or incidental points. The decisions of the tribunal upon these points settle the contro

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"ART. XLVII.-The members of the tribunal have the right to ask questions of the agents and counsel of the disputing parties, and to demand from them explanations of doubtful points. Neither the questions put nor the observations made by the members of the tribunal in the course of the debates can be regarded as enunciations of the opinion of the tribunal in general or of its members in particular.

"ART. XLVIII.-The tribunal alone is authorized to settle its competence by the interpretation of the agreement to arbitrate as well as of other treaties which may be invoked in the matter, and by the application of the principles of international law.

"ART. XLIX.-The tribunal has the right to make rules of procedure for the direction of the arbitration, to settle the forms and periods within which each party will be obliged to finish its case, and to carry out all the formalities necessary for the receiving of evidence.

"ART. L.-The agents and counsel of the disputing parties having presented all explanations and evidence on behalf of their cause, the president of the tribunal announces the closing of the hearing.

"ART. LI.-The deliberations of the tribunal take place with closed doors.

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"Every decision is taken by a majority of members of the tribunal.

"The refusal of a member to give his vote must be noted in the report.

"“ART. LII.—The arbitral decision voted by a majority must state the reasons on which it is based. It is to be set down in writing and signed by all the members of the tribunal.

"Those of the members who are in a minority may, when signing, record their dissent.

ART. LIII.—The arbitral decision is read out at a public sitting of the tribunal in the presence of the agents and counsel of the disputing parties or after they have been duly sunfmoned.

"ART. LIV.-The arbitral decision, duly pronounced and notified to the agents of the disputing parties, definitely decides the question at issue, and closes the arbitration proceedings instituted by the agreement to arbitrate.

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ART. LV.-Except in the case of a contrary provision contained in the agreement to arbitrate, revision of the arbitral decision may be demanded of the tribunal which has given the decision, but only on the ground of the discovery of a new fact, which would have been of such a nature as to exercise a decisive influence on the judgment, and which at the moment of such judgment was unknown to the tribunal itself and to the parties.