zerland, was appointed to examine and report upon Chapter VII the communications which had been received, addressed to the Conference from outside sources. It may well be imagined that the number of these communications was very great. They consisted of addresses, letters, and cablegrams, most of them containing an expression of the wishes of the senders for the success of the Conference. Furthermore, a great number of societies favoring disarmament, arbitration, or peace in general sent pamphlets or nal was illustrated with a characteristic drawing by the chairman, M. Bourgeois, and read as follows: July 25, 1899 HOTEL D'ORANGE PROCÈS-VERBAL (TRES CONFIDENTIEL) Conflit de Hors d'oeuvres Potage médiation Consommé Protocol final Filet de boeuf aux bons offices Liste d'artichauds, sauce facultative Revision de pêches sans appel Litige de pâtisseries Dessert amical Vin obligatoire Chapter VII books, many of them containing plans for an international court of arbitration, or for an agreement for disarmament or a limitation of armaments. Pamphlets Most of these pamphlets were also addressed to and projects. the individual members of the Conference, and while many of them were wholly impracticable and absurd in their notions, an acknowledgment is certainly due to the senders of some of the others, for the real assistance which their work afforded to the members of the Conference. This is more especially true of the book entitled "International Tribunals, a Collection of the various schemes which have been propounded and of instances, since 1815," by W. Evans Darby, LL. D., Secretary of the Peace Society, and published by the Peace Society of London. This book was found to be of great practical use by the members of the Comité d' Examen, and it will continue to be extremely valuable to students of International Law, who may hereafter compare the schemes therein set forth with the treaty adopted by the Conference. The plan for an International Tribunal, carefully elaborated by a committee of the New York State Bar Association, which consisted of Messrs. W. Martin Jones, William D. Veeder, and Edward G. Whitaker, was almost identical with the plan proposed on behalf of the American Government, and was distributed, together with a memorial A plan for a governmental Insurance Company to underwrite losses sustained in any war declared to be "just" by the directors of the Company; and a proposition to elect Prince Eitel Friedrich, the second son of the German Emperor, king of France, in the interests of peace, may be cited as representative examples. and various other papers, to all members of the Chapter VII Conference. tions to the American Commission. It may be added that the American Commission Communicareceived a very large number of telegrams and letters expressing sympathy and good wishes, and emanating from the most diverse sources. Every one of these messages was gratefully acknowledged, and their reception not only upheld the hands of the American Commission, but also made a more or less profound impression upon the members of the Conference from other countries, who regarded the interest of the great New World Power of the West in the cause of peace and arbitration, as a most significant and important sign of the times. Besides all of these communications, appertaining to the proper work of the Conference, the latter was, naturally, perhaps, flooded with appeals and propositions not in the least germane to its object. In many cases oppressed written or printed appeals were followed up by the appearance of representatives or delegations from nearly every oppressed nationality of the world. The Poles, Finns, Armenians, Macedonians, and Appeals of Young Turks- to mention no others sent repre- nationalities. sentatives asking for action on the part of the Conference in behalf of their fellow citizens, and basing their arguments upon very simple logic. Peace, they one and all declared, was not permanently possible without justice; and justice, they protested, would not be completely established until their own particular aspirations had been satisfied. Several of them endeavored to emphasize their requests by the Chapter VII positive threat that unless they were given what they considered a fair hearing, they would seize the occasion of the Peace Conference as a most fitting time for a revolutionary outbreak, which they hoped would embarrass the Conference and turn it into a laughing-stock. This is not the occasion to inquire into the merits of any of the cases so eloquently pleaded before the separate delegations, especially before the American Commission, nor was it possible at The Hague to enter into any discussion with the sincere and earnest advocates of these various causes upon the subject of the alleged bad faith or general wickedness of this or that Power represented at the Conference. Pathological observations. In the study of political pathology it is both interesting and sad to observe how the feeling of oppression and injustice blinds the vision of its victims, so that they refuse to see not only any possible good on the part of their oppressors, but also the impossibility of any attainable progress which does not relieve their own immediate necessities. Every meritorious cause, in the whole world, racial, political, or otherwise, is benefited, or most assuredly not injured, by the results of the Peace Conference. But to the minds of many of the sincere and honest nien who could not see that they were demanding impossibilities, the Conference itself, by turning the cold shoulder upon their appeals, appeared to be giving a stone where bread was legitimately asked and confidently expected. Disappointment at the results of the Conference ment of some was also expressed, and was probably sincerely Chapter VII felt, on the part of many so-called "friends of peace," Disappointwho held that too many concessions were made to "friends of what they were pleased to call the "evil spirit of war." peace." The Conference did not denounce war in general terms, nor did it declare it or believe it to be evil under all circumstances. It is not recorded that the directors of a new railway, at the time of the first introduction of this mode of transportation, found it necessary to denounce stage-coaches, or that they regarded horses as worthy of being condemned. forever and under all circumstances. They contented themselves, it may be assumed, with furnishing a better alternative, and thus allowed full play to the force of events. It was a conference of practical men of affairs, not of dreamers and enthusiasts, which sat at The Hague, and its work is to be judged accordingly. of disagree Up to the very last day there was danger that Last dangers unanimity in the adoption, especially of the Arbitra- ment. tion Treaty, would after all be broken by a negative vote on the part of one of the great Powers, which would inevitably have been followed by similar votes on the part of several of the minor Governments represented. When on July 25, the Arbitration Treaty, under the reserve of the declaration of the United States, was finally adopted unanimously, a sigh of relief was heaved by all of the delegates who were most concerned in the preparation of the Treaty and the settlement of the various disputed questions which threatened up to the last to wreck their entire |