HAGUE PEACE CONFERENCE. An in ternational conference of delegates which as sembled at The Hague on May 18, 1899, in response to an invitation addressed by the Czar of Russia to the principal States of the civilized world, with a view to concerted action for the maintenance of a general peace and the ameliora tion of the hardships of war, and with a view to the possibld reduction of the military and naval armaments of the world. One hundred delegates, representing the United States, Mex ico, China, Japan, Persia. Siam, and twenty-one European powers were present. Italy objected to any representation of the Papacy. and Great Britain protested against the representation of the Transvaal Republic. It was accordingly decided to restrict participation in the Conference to States maintaining standing armies or navies. No delegates from the Central or South Ameri can republics attended. The Conference was in session from May 18 to July 29, and was presided over by Baron de Staal of the Russian delegation. For the purpose of facilitating the work of the Conference, three grand committees were formed, dealing respectively with armaments and engines of destruction, humane regulations in warfare, and mediation and arbitration. Each of the Great Powers was represented on all of the com mittees, and the delegation of each State had one vote on every proposal submitted to the Confer ence. The conclusions of the Conference were embodied in a final act signed July 29, by all the States represented. This act consists of three treaties or conventions, three formal declarations, and six resolutions. The first convention relates to the pacific adjustment of international dis putes. The second deals with the laws and usages of war on land. The third provides for the adaptation of the rules of maritime warfare to the principles of the Geneva Convention of 1864. The three declarations involve the pro hibition (1) of the use of projectiles or explo sives from balloons for a period of five years (accepted unanimously) ; (2) of the employment of projectiles which diffuse asphyxiating or other deleterious gases (not accepted by England and the United States); and (3) of the use of bullets which expand or flatten easily in the human body. In the six resolutions the Confer ence expresses the opinion that the limitation of the military burdens which now weigh so heavily upon the world is greatly to be desired for the enhancement of the moral and material well being of humanity (unanimously agreed to) ; that the questions relating to the rights and duties of neutrals, the inviolability of private property in maritime warfare, and the question of the bombardment of towns, should be referred to a future conference; and that the questions re lating to types and calibres of marine artillery and small arms and the size of military and naval budgets should be studied by the governments of the signatory powers with a view to estab lishing uniformity in the former and reduction in the latter.
Of all the conclusions reached by the Con ference the convention relating to and arbitration aroused the most general inter est. According to this convention, the signatory powers agree to resort to mediation in eases of serious international dispute, and a method of procedure is provided by which mediation may be arranged at the instance of the disputants or by the voluntary offer of neutral powers. It further provides that mediatory advances shall never he considered by the disputing parties as an unfriendly act. With a view to the adjust ment of international differences where neither `honor' nor 'essential interests' are involved, a commission of inquiry is provided for, whose duty it shall be to examine controverted ques tions of fact such as are susceptible of judicial ascertainment, and report the result of its in quiries to the disputing powers for their accept ance or rejection. Finally, with a view to the settlement of disputes between States by arbi tration, a Permanent Court of Arbitration was created. This tribunal is composed of persons eminent for their knowledge of international law, and chosen by the parties concerned from a per manent list of arbitrators nominated by the sig natory powers. Each power is allowed to nomi nate not more than four members, and their term of office is six years. In order to consti tute the court for a particular case, each party to the controversy chooses two arbitrators either from the list of permanent members or from persons who are not members, and these choose an umpire. There are also detailed provisions for selecting an umpire in case the two arbitrators cannot agree, for regulating the procedure of the court, for reviewing its decision, etc. The diplomatic agents of the signatory powers resident at The Hague, under the presidency of the Dutch Minister of For eign Affairs, constitute a permanent Council which serves as the office of the Permanent Court of Arbitration. The first resort to the Perma nent Court of Arbitration was made by the United States and Mexico in 1902 for the set-. tlement of the controversy in regard to the Pius Fund Claims. The delegates from the United States to the Conference were Andrew D. White, Seth Low, Captain A. T. Mahan, Captain Wil liam Crozier, Stanford Newell, and Frederick W. Holls, the secretary of the delegation. Consult: Davis, Elements of International Law (New York, 1900) ; and Holls, The Peace Conference at The Hague (New York, 1900).