IT

THE HAGUE, June 29th, 1907.

T is now just a fortnight since the Hague Conference opened, and the business of this Parliament of Mankind is now in a fair way of being started. The mustering of the representatives of forty-six different Governments, very few of whom have ever attended an International Conference before, and one third of whom are South and Central Americans, who take part for the first time in an Old World conference, necessarily entailed a great deal of preliminary work. The Conference met on the 15th, and was opened by a very good speech from M. de Nelidoff, which was subjected to most unfair criticism. The opening of the Conference, happening to coincide with the dissolution of the Duma, a variety of nonsensical rumours were spread abroad to the effect that M. de Nelidoff had toned down his opening address and had refrained from saying many things that he otherwise might have said. As a matter of fact, M. de Nelidoff had prepared his speech days before it was known that the Duma was going to be dissolved, and the speech itself bore no evidence of having been toned down. It was as hearty and as confident as the opening speeches of M. de Staal, and it contained at least one passage which might well have been altered if the dissolution of the Duma had been taken into account.

THE PRESIDENT'S OPENING SPEECH.

M. de Nelidoff vindicated the success of the last Hague Conference, and expressed his hope that substantial progress would be made by the new assembly. He warned us against excessive optimism-a malady from which very few people seem to suffer most remarkable pasnowadays. One of the sages of his speech was that in which he rebutted the absurd delusion which is prevalent in many quarters, that the way to make war infrequent is to make it terrible. As a matter of fact, the pages of history are a record to show that the more brutal and violent the methods of barbarism employed in war, the more chronic wars become. The humanisation of war, instead of making it a popular pastime, seems to have exactly the opposite effect. M. de Nelidoff concluded by intimating that there were some questions of honour, dignity, and national interests which no nation would ever hand over to a third party. He spoiled the force of this, however, by saying that individuals were in the same position as nations, provoking the obvious retort that individuals are compelled to submit to tribunals, no matter how they may consider the question at issue involves their honour, personal dignity, or vital interest. It was unintended on his part, but it was an apt reminder that the time may come when nations, like individuals, may have to recognise that the authority of a tribunal constituted by the whole of

mankind cannot be thrust on one side by pompous phrases concerning honour, dignity, and vital and national interests.

THE CONFERENCE HALL.

The Ridderzaal, in which the Conference is held, holds conveniently about 250 persons, each provided with a desk for his own use. At the opening sitting the public and the press were admitted to the gallery, and it was subsequently decided that at full meetings of the Conference invitations should be issued to the

public when their attendance was desired, but that the sittings of commissions should be private. As a matter of fact, all the sittings might be open to the public without damaging the secrecy of the proceedings. The speeches, which were for the most part read, were inaudible or unintelligible in the gallery, and we did not know what it was that the Dutch Foreign Minister and the Russian President had been saying until we left the Hall, when printed reports of the speeches were thrust into our hands by the attendant.

THE FOUR COMMISSIONS.

Nor was

For business purposes the Conference is divided up into four Commissions, three of which are subdivided into two sub-Commissions each. The Presidents of these Commissions, together with the President of the Conference, form a kind of Cabinet, known as a Commission of the Presidents, which meets to decide the hours of meeting of the various Commissions and other matters of general interest. The subjects allocated to these Commissions are those which are outlined in the original Russian programme. No Commission was appointed to discuss the question of armaments. there a Commission for the Drago Doctrine. The latter subject, however, will come up in the Arbitration Commission. Each member of the Conference has a right to elect which Commission he will serve upon, and as there are over two hundred delegates, representing forty-six countries, they would, if divided evenly, yield about fifty members for each Commission. But as any member can serve, if he pleases, on all four Commissions, the average strength of each Commission is about one hundred. These are sub-divided by the same principle of selection, each member deciding upon which sub-commission he prefers to serve. Here, again, he can serve on both if he likes. Presidents can sit on all the Commissions.

THE QUESTIONS BEFORE THE COMMISSIONS. The First Commission, presided over by M. Bourgeois, deals with the question of arbitration. This is sub-divided into two Commissions, which divide the subjects between them. The First SubCommission has devoted itself to the amendment of the Arbitration Convention of 1899; the Second SubCommission deals with the proposals for establishing

an International. High Court of Appeal for settling questions relating to the capture of prizes in naval war. It will probably also deal with the Drago doctrine, which lays down the principle that the armed forces of creditor nations should not be employed to collect dividends on Foreign Bonds.

The Second Commission deals with the question of the Rules of Land Warfare, and is presided over by M. Beernaert, who has as his assistant M. Asser.

The Third Commission deals with the

rules of Naval Warfare, with the bombardment of unfortified towns, and with the laying of floating mines. This is presided over by M. Hagerup, the first Norwegian delegate. The Second Sub-Commission deals with the application of the Geneva Convention to Naval War.

The Fourth Commission, over which M. de Martens presides, has not divided itself up into sections. It deals with the juridical questions arising out of naval warfare. It is this Commission which will have to consider the important questions of the right of capture of private property at sea, and a variety of other questions of a similar nature.

WHERE THE DELEGATES STAY.

There is some doubt as to the exact days of meeting, but the general understanding is that Commissions would meet three days a week--in the morning at 10.30, in the afternoons at 2.30-and that as far as possible Saturdays, Sundays, and Mondays should be left free, so that the great institution of the week-end would be established at the Hague, to enable delegates to take holiday in Amsterdam, Brussels, Paris, or London, as they felt inclined. At least one-half of the delegates have taken up their quarters at Scheveningen, but so far they have not had a very good time, as the weather has been very cold,

the wind stormy, and those who remained in the Hague have had the best of it. The English, American, Japanese, and Italian delegations all have their headquarters at the Hotel des Indes; the Russians, Belgians, Swedes, and Siamese, with a sprinkling of other nationalities, have theirs at the Oude Doelen; the Turks are at the Twee Steden; but the Austrians, French, Germans, and some of the Russians are at Scheveningen, together with almost all the South American delegates, who must have found the cold sea-coast very trying after the tropical regions on the other side of the Atlantic.

A SPIRIT OF JUBILANT CONFIDENCE.

The great contrast between this Conference and the first is the very different mood in which the delegates have begun business. In 1899, nearly everybody was in the depths of despondency. Some openly scoffed, notably Count Münster, the delegate of Germany. This year the mood of the members of the Conference, especially in the case of those who attended the last Conference, is one of almost jubilant confidence. This change, which is noticeable in all the delegations, is especially so in the case of Germany. Baron Marschall von Bieberstein, the first German delegate, has made it clear from the very first that Germany means business; that he came instructed to do his level best to achieve good

results, and that it would not be Germany's fault. if the Conference did not promote the peace of the world. The Germans also took their stand in favour of publicity. They said they thought that nothing would tend to make the Conference succeed so much as an intelligent interest on the part of the outside public; and no person could be more accessible to newspaper men than Baron Marschall von Bieberstein. In this I am sorry to say he offers a very striking contrast to the British deleation, whose dealings with journalists, to say the least, are not very fortunate. It is, of course, difficult to expect an old gentleman like Sir Edward Fry, who is eighty-two years of age, to understand how to manage the representatives of the press, but he might, at least, abstain from rubbing them up the wrong way, even if he had made up his mind not to give them any information. Sir Edward Fry is a picturesque figure, and is universally respected. The rest of the delegates have as yet conspicuously refrained from making their mark. The American delegates, Mr. Choate and General Porter, are well to the front. Mr. Rose is at present a name and nothing else; and Mr. Hill, though diligent in all social functions, does his work lik a mole-underground. Admiral Sperry is a much less conspicuous figure than was Captain Mahan, and Mr. Buchanan and Mr. Scott are among the most cheerful and genial members of the deputation.

THE OLD GUARD.

Of the personages of the Conference the Old Guard are still to the front. It would be probably difficult to find a more competent body of international lawyers than M. de Martens, M. Asser, M. Renault, Dr. Zorn, Professor Lammasch, and M. de VillaUrrutia. Among the South Americans, M. Ruy Barbosa, a Vice-President of Brazil, is said to be a very distinguished man; but his body is as small as the country which he represents is great. By far the most talked-of man is Dr. Drago, formerly Minister of Foreign Affairs for the Argentine Republic, and now best known as the author of the Drago doctrine. He is a young man full of energy and intelligence; a lawyer, an author, a judge, and a man who has made his mark in the New World, and is now making it in the Old.

SOME SOUTH AMERICAN DELEGATES.

Of the other South Americans it is as yet too early to speak. An unfortunate incident happened in connection with the Cuban delegate. A newspaper man hard up for copy set abroad a story that this gentleman, Mr. Orestes Ferrara, was an anarchist who had been sent to a convict prison for attempting to assassinate a statesman in Italy. This story, for which there was not even a colourable shadow of foundation, so preyed upon his mind that he resigned his post. As a matter of fact, Mr. Ferrara is a man of lofty character and great enthusiasm, who, when a mere lad, volunteered to

Spanish with equal facility, and is one of the men who will make his mark.

TWO INTERNATIONAL DELEGATIONS.

The first deputation that arrived at the Hague was a very influential party of ladies representing the International Council of Women, who came with a memorial in favour of peace for presentation to the Conference. It was a great disappointment to all of us that Lady Aberdeen could not take her proper place at the head of this deputation. In her absence Mrs. Ogilvie Gordon, the honorary corresponding secretary, displayed the qualities of Scotch determination and pertinacity. At first the deputation was met with the usual non possumus; it was impossible for anybody to be received by the Conference. That, of course, went without saying; but it was declared to be equally

on

work of the organisation of the movement had fallen. I introduced the deputation to M. de Nelidoff, who received the various memorials. There was an unintentional trace of scepticism in the President's reply when he asked the Churches to be patient with the Conference. As it had taken the Christian Church two thousand years, he said, to educate mankind up to the point of holding a Peace Conference, we should not be surprised if the Governments did not succeed in establishing universal peace and universal disarmament the very second time they tried their hand at achieving something practical.

was

impossible for anybody to be received by the President. Ultimately the precedent established by Madame Selenka in 1899, when she received behalf of the women of the Peace Crusade by M. de Staal, was allowed to prevail, and M. de Nelidoff consented to receive a small deputation of not more than three ladies. These ladies, however, pleaded their cause so well that he ultimately decided to receive the rest of them. Nothing could have been kinder or more charming than the way in which the President welcomed the representatives of the unrepresented half of humanity, and assured them of the great satisfaction with which the Conference would receive their assurances of support. He declared that he could only receive

one

other deputation, namely, that which came from the Churches of Great Britain and America, bearing very influentially signed manifestoes from the Churches, established and frec, in favour of the promotion of peace by arresting the expenditure on armaments and the more general adoption of arbitration in the settlement of international disputes. Bishop Welldon was expected to present this appeal of the Churches for peace; but here we were disappointed, and his place was taken by the venerable Dean of Ripon, accompanied by the Master of Polwarth, as the representative of the Presbyterians of Scotland; Mr. J. Allan Baker, M.P., the representative of the Nonconformists; and Mr. Stevenson, the secretary of the Peace Society, upon whom much of the

THE

"COURRIER DE LA CONFÉRENCE."

In connection with the Conference there has been opened at 6A, Princessegracht an International Club, which is used as a centre for the promotion of Internationalism. Baroness von Suttner twice a week holds receptions there, and twice a week meetings are held in the evening for the discussion of subjects relating to the Conference. These gatherings have been very well attended, not by delegates so much as by visitors who come to the Hague, and by the leading pacifists. It is in this building, also, that Messrs. Maas and van Suchtelen, publishers of the Courrier de la Conference, are established, and where the editorial offices of the paper are to be found. The Courrier de la Conference is a four-page illustrated daily paper which I am editing, distributed free every morning to all the members of the Conference, and sold to the general public. It is a great improvement typographically upon the Dagblad, part of which I rented at the last Conference. It is, of course, produced under great difficulties, being written in English, translated into French, and set up by Dutch compositors; but notwithstanding all drawbacks, it promises to be a very useful adjunct to the

deliberations of the Conference.

THE LIMITATION OF ARMAMENTS.

It is as yet too early to speak concerning what the

Cure the disease, and the armaments will dry up of themselves. International animosity is the fire; armaments are but the smoke. It is no use trying to get rid of the smoke while the fire is left raging. This, of course, is an argument in favour of a peace budget, and the making of a resolute effort by the executive Governments of the world to promote peace and good-will among their subjects, and to develop the system of international hospitality, which Prince von Bülow declared was the only practical means by which Governments could work for peace.

SPECIAL MEDIATION.

The other question in which I am chiefly interested, that of preventing a sudden outbreak of war by insisting upon boycotting any Power which does not call in special mediation, and allowing thirty days in which to see whether the disputants can compose the quarrel, seems likely to meet with more opposition from our own delegates than from either the Germans, Russians, or the French. It would be a sad commentary on the desire of our people to rid the world of the dread of sudden war if the attempt to interpose a pause between the rupture of diplomatic negotiations and the outbreak of hostilities was wrecked by the refusal of Great Britain to consent to the delay necessary for deliberation and mediation.

Conference will do; but, so far as can be judged at present, it will do nothing practical about armaments. It is expected, however, that the discussion will take place, probably in one of the Commissions. Germany will be present at the discussion, but will not take part in it. She may, however, be willing to assent to a form of sound words expressing the desire of all nations that something should be done to arrest the growth of armaments, and once more recommending the different Governments to make a study of the question. If this is done, it is to be hoped that some effort will be made to fix a time when the various Governments should send in the reports of their studies; otherwise no practical result is likely to follow. The general opinion of all the delegates, especially our own, who do not seem to be by any means enthusiastic on the subject, is that the excessive expenditure on armaments is a symptom of a deepseated disease which must be cured before anything effective can be done in the way of reduction of military and naval expenditure. That disease is the distrust and rivalry which exists between nations, and the absence of any well-established method of settling disputes and of preventing a sudden outbreak of war.

L'Assiette au Beurre.]

The Spirit of War at Sea.