IO2

THE GREEN BAG

State; and in 1890, the Conference of Brus sels, which resulted in the Final Act for the suppression of the African slave trade. PEACE CONFERENCE AT THE HAGUE, 1899.

Such were the path-breaking efforts which cleared the way for the meeting of the great Peace Conference that assembled at The Hague on the 18th of May, 1899, the year after the death of the mighty Bismarck whose warlike policy, through which France was humiliated and Germany consolidated, had converted the Continent of Europe into a military camp, in which each nation was vying with the other to build up vast armies and navies as an intolerable burden to all. In the hope of relieving that condi tion of things the Czar of Russia issued an invitation which was answered by a hundred delegates from twenty-six powers — twenty European, four Asiatic, and two AmericanAt a very early stage in the proceedings of an assembly called by the chief of the great empire of the east of Europe, the first plenipotentiary of the great empire of the west, Sir Julian Pauncefote, formally pro posed, in a remarkable memoire, the ques tion of the creation of a permanent tribunal of arbitration. The delegates of the United States submitted at the same time a similar proposition, expressing the desire that ar bitration might become a nominal method of adjusting international controversies. While the delegates of the German empire objected, and no doubt wisely at that time, to obligatory arbitration as a step too far in advance of existing conditions, they sub sequently expressed the cordial adherence of Germany to a voluntary international court, Prof. Zorn declaring that his govern ment "fully recognized the importance and grandeur of the new institution." In the original scheme submitted by Russia at The Hague, it was proposed that, "Arbi tration shall be obligatory in the following cases, so far as they do not affect vital interests or the national honor of the con tracting states." In that category were in

cluded differences regarding pecuniary dam ages suffered by a state or its citizens; and the interpretation or application of treaties upon certain designated subjects. But, after objection had been made to a part of the Russian scheme by the delegates of the United States, it was rejected as a whole upon a motion made by a delegate of the German empire. Thus the battle at The Hague in favor of compulsory arbitration was wholly lost; there was an unwillingness to concede it even when limited to the settle ment of rights purely legal, as contra-dis tinguished from such as are purely politi cal. The first battle in favor of compulsory arbitration within those limits was destined to be won upon the soil of the New World. THE PAN-AMERICAN CONFERENCE OF 1901-2.

The Czar's invitations were limited to those countries having diplomatic representatives at St. Petersburg. And so no delegates came from the Central and South American republics. The only American powers pres ent were the United States of America and Mexico. And yet when President McKinley, in his message to Congress in 1899, de clared it expedient that the several Ameri can republics, constituting the International Union, should hold another conference, they promptly assembled in the City of Mexico, in October, 1901, not only to approve of what had been done at The Hague, and secure admission into its conventions as signatory powers, but to take a step in advance of its proceedings respecting ar bitration. Russia's limited proposal which failed at The Hague was revived in sub stance in the Second Pan-American Confer ence in the following form: "It is now pro posed to submit such cases to The Hague tribunal in accordance with the tendencies of which this assembly has given such unanimous evidence." Under the terms of Article i, it is provided that: "The high contracting parties agree to submit to ar bitration all claims for pecuniary loss or damage, which may be presented by their