Chapter V The practical article. correspondence or action under this Article will be communicated by the interested parties to the International Bureau at The Hague, in the manner provided by Article 22, for the case of special Arbitration Tribunals, to become part of the general archives of International Law which should eventually be gathered there. Attention was called by Chevalier Descamps to the fact that existing treaties might have effects, which it was not possible accurately to forecast, upon the choice of seconds by some of the European States. Ile instanced the case of Belgium in its relations with the Powers guaranteeing its neutrality, under the provisions of the treaty of April 15, 1839. Upon the practical value of Article 8, experience value of the alone can give a truly satisfactory judgment. The introduction or recognition of something akin to the duelling code has been criticised as an unnecessary concession to the so-called "military spirit." It must however be remembered that this very concession operates as a restraint. Appealing, as it perhaps does, to prejudices and habits of thought of the military class, this Article reaches the very persons who are apt to be impervious to other restraining influences, and who have hitherto not infrequently turned the scale in favor of war. The best guarantee of future usefulness, however modest in its scope, is to be found in the fact that it was unanimously adopted by so careful, conservative, able, and eminent a body of men as the Peace Con ference. With this initiatory endorsement the Article Chapter V may confidently await the judgment of the future. TITLE III. ON INTERNATIONAL COMMISSIONS OF ARTICLE 9. In differences of an international nature involving neither honor nor vital interests, and arising from a difference of opinion on matters of fact, the Signatory Powers recommend that parties who have not been able to come to an agreement by diplomatic methods, should, as far as circumstances allow, institute an International Commission of Inquiry to facilitate a solution of the differences by elucidating the facts, by means of an impartial and conscientious investigation. vation. The institution of International Commissions of Not an inno Inquiry is, strictly speaking, by no means an innovation. Numerous instances of more or less importance, especially on questions of fact regarding occurrences upon or near boundary lines, have frequently been investigated by a commission composed wholly or partly of neutrals. The true line of a boundary has often been fixed by neutral surveyors, and in one recent case, beyond no doubt the most notable of all, a commission was appointed by a Power nominally neutral, viz., the United States of America, to report upon the true boundary between Venezuela and British Guiana, preparatory to a declaration guaranteeing the boundary so found to Venezuela. Experience has no doubt shown that an international commission, Chapter V Difficulties selected by the parties to a controversy, is the most efficacious method which has thus far been found, to settle a question of fact, which otherwise might, by uncertainty or misconstruction, easily become the germ of a dangerous conflict. It is unnecessary to enlarge upon the dangers to peace arising in many cases merely from uncertainty or positive misinformation regarding questions of actual fact. The halfforgotten Schnäbele affair, regarding an alleged occurrence upon the Franco-German frontier, will serve as a special example. The growing recklessness of the sensational press in every civilized country, and the paralysis which seems to have overcome their Governments, so far as attempts to effectively check this evil are concerned, make the necessity for an impartial and efficient method of inquiry more urgent than ever. At the same time, no subject before the Conference was involved in greater difficulties, or bore within it greater dangers. It will readily be seen that it would be comparain the way. tively easy in any case to consider the proposition for the appointment of a Commission of Inquiry as an implied reflection upon the character or sufficiency of some national institution or governmental agency, with the result of creating as much or more imbitterment of national feeling than the very errors of fact which it was sought to correct. Moreover, this danger would very likely be greatest where the necessity for the commission might be most urgent, especially in States having a comparatively brief legal and administrative experience, or such as securing labor under the disadvantages of conflicting racial Chapter V and religious interests among their population. That the idea should nevertheless have been adopted unanimously with all the rest of the Convention, constitutes one of the most surprising and encouraging advances made by the Conference, the credit for which is due not only to the intrinsic merits of the proposition, but also to the extreme diplomatic skill with which the negotiations and deliberations preceding its adoption were conducted. Nothing would have been easier than to have frightened all, or Difficulty of nearly all, of the minor Powers represented, into an adoption. attitude of uncompromising hostility, by merely emphasizing the fact, which could not be denied, but which without special emphasis was made less objectionable, namely: that the institution of commissions. of inquiry is quite likely to be of far greater practical importance, at least in the near future, than any other result of the Conference. The efforts of the friends of the proposition in this direction were almost neutralized by the well-intended but ill-advised proceedings of some private "friends of peace" on the outside of the Conference. In an extremely able account of the Conference,' the following language is used: "It was the fashion at the Conference to belittle the significance of the international Commissions d' Enquête. It was expressly set forth that these commissions shall have nothing of an arbitral character, but one chief object, which will be sedulously set By Mr. William T. Stead in the London Review of Reviews, Aug. 15, 1899. Chapter V The object of the title. Speech of M. de Martens. before the people, will be to counsel the importance of the international Commissions d'Enquête and to give them as much as possible of an arbitral character." It must surely now be understood, both by the writer and by the many excellent people whom he undoubtedly represented, that by no other method than by refraining from unduly emphasizing the significance of the commissions of inquiry could the idea ever have been adopted, and while it is perfectly proper for private individuals and associations to influence the public opinion of the world in such a manner as to invest them with as much dignity, arbitral character, or any other desirable attribute, as possible, it was quite another matter to propose having this done by the representatives of the Powers establishing the institution. Whatever may be said of the friends of the proposition in the Conference, they are certainly not open to the reproach of not having been fully aware all the time of the tremendous possibilities for good involved; nor should they be criticised severely for the insertion of the words, "affecting neither honor nor vital interests." The object of the title, and its bearing upon the general work of the Conference was set forth by its author, M. de Martens of Russia, in a speech of great clearness and eloquence, in the course of which he said: "The object of commissions of inquiry is the same as that of arbitration, good offices, and mediation, namely to point out all the means of appeasing conflicts arising among nations,, and to prevent war. This is the only object, and there is no other. The |