Chapter II Address of responsible for the good of their peoples we owe it to ourselves to accomplish a useful work in finding the method of employing some of the means for the purpose of insuring peace. Among those means arbitration and mediation must be named. Diplomacy has admitted them in its practice for a long while, but it has not fixed the method of their employment, nor has it defined the cases in which they are allowable. It is to this high labor that we must concentrate our efforts sustained by the conviction that we are laboring for the good of all humanity, according to the way which preceding generations have foreseen, and when we have firmly resolved to avoid chimeras, when we have all recognized that our real task, grand as it is, has its limits, we should also occupy ourselves with another phase of the situation. From the moment when every chance of an armed conflict between nations cannot be absolutely prevented, it becomes a great work for humanity to mitigate the horrors of war. The governments of civilized States have all entered into international agreements, which mark important stages of development. It is for us to establish new principles; and for this category of questions the presence of so many persons of peculiar competence at this meeting cannot be otherwise than most valuable. But there are, besides these, matters of very great importance, and of great difficulties, which also appertain to the idea of the maintenance of peace, and of which a consideration. has seemed to the Imperial Government of Russia a proper part of the labors of this Conference. This is the place to ask whether the welfare of peoples does Chapter II not demand a limitation of progressive armaments. It is for the governments to whom this applies to weigh in their wisdom the interests of which they have charge. "These are the essential ideas, gentlemen, which should in general guide our labors. We shall proceed, I am sure, to consider them in a lofty and conciliatory spirit, for the purpose of following the way which leads to a consolidation of peace. We shall thus accomplish a useful work, for which future generations will thank the sovereigns and heads of state represented in this assembly. of Com "One of our preliminary duties in order to insure Appointment the progress of our work is to divide our labors, and mittees. I therefore beg to submit for your approval the following proposal. Three Committees shall be appointed. The First Committee shall have charge of the Articles 1, 2, 3, and 4 of the Circular of December 30, 1898. The Second Committee of Articles 5, 6, and 7. The Third Committee shall have charge of Article 8 of the said Circular, and each Committee shall have power to subdivide itself into subcommittees. "It is understood that outside of the aforementioned points the Conference does not consider itself competent to consider any other question. In case of doubt the Conference shall decide whether any proposition originating in the Committee is germane or not to the points outlined. Every State may be represented upon every Committee. The First Dele Chapter II Communications to the press. Summary of the sessions of the Conference. gates shall designate the members of the respective delegations who shall be members of each of the Committees. Members may be appointed upon two or more Committees. In the same manner as in the full Conference each State shall have but one vote in each Committee. The Delegates, representing the Governments, may take part in all the meetings of the Committees. Technical and scientific Delegates may take part in the full meetings of the Conference. The Committees shall appoint their own officers and regulate the order of their labors." These propositions of the President were unanimously adopted. At the same meeting the President and the Bureau were authorized to communicate to the members of the press a summary of the proceedings of each Committee, it being understood that in other respects the rule of secrecy should be maintained. At its subsequent sessions the Conference adopted the reports presented by its various Committees, and an account of its work will be found in the following chapters under the appropriate heads. In the interest of historical and chronological accuracy it should however be stated that the Conference held ten sessions in all, of which the first two, on May 18 and 20, have been described above. At the third session, May 23, the various Committees were announced. At the fourth session, June 20, the report of the Second Committee on the Extension of the Geneva Rules to naval warfare was adopted, and the Committee on the Final Act was appointed. Chapter II At the fifth session, July 5, the report of the Second Committee on the Laws and Customs of War was adopted, and the subject of the immunity of private property on the high seas, introduced by the American representatives, was referred to a future conference. At the sixth session, July 21, the report of the First Committee on Disarmament and on the employment of certain instruments of warfare was agreed to, and at the seventh session, July 25, the report of the Third Committee on the peaceful adjustment of international differences was adopted, subject to the declaration of the United States of America regarding the Monroe Doctrine. The eighth and ninth sessions, July 27 and 28, were devoted to a discussion of the Final Act, and the placing upon record of various formal declarations; and an account of the tenth or final session, July 29, will be found in a subsequent chapter. F Misconception of the Conference. CHAPTER III THE WORK OF THE FIRST COMMITTEE LIMITATION OF ARMAMENTS THE future historian of the Peace Conference will of the object regard the fact that this gathering was, almost from the first, named the "Disarmament Conference," as a most significant circumstance, throwing a peculiar light upon the condition of public opinion, especially with reference to the institution of universal military service. The word "disarmament" does not occur in any of the official documents of the Conference, but the idea was immediately seized upon almost unconsciously by the public at large, as the ultimate goal toward which the entire movement must inevitably tend. The immediate result of this misconception was perhaps unfortunate, in that it led directly to the widespread impression of the "failure" of the Conference, when it became apparent that disarmament was a subject which could not even be seriously considered. It is a matter of history that immediately after the adjournment of the Conference this alleged failure to agree, even upon a limitation of present armaments, was made the text of innumerable unfavorable observations upon the Conference as a whole, and its positive results in other directions, far reaching and momentous as they are, were almost entirely 66 |