The daily morning journal and courier., 1899-05-10
CONFERENCE AT THE HAGUE
SETTL ElENT OF INTERNATIONAL F
 DISPUTES BY ARBITRATION.
Great Britain and the United States Will stand Together in Advocacy of the Adoption of Scheme--A erica Not ment Problem.
nent Problem.

Washington, May 9.-The United | States and Great Britain will stand to- gether in the advocacy of the adoption
 of a scheme for the settlement of inter-
 national disputes by arbitration which
 will be presented to the disarmament conference at it's meeting in The Hague
 on May 16. The American delegates,
 headed by Ambassador White, are equipped with a fairly well dgested
 plan for the execution of this long cher
 ished project, while the British dele
 gates are prepared with a plan which
 is almost identical with the American
 project.
 The details cannot be procured for
 publication in advance of the presenta-
 tion of the projects to the conference.
 It is known, however, that there are
 essential differences between the last
 plan and that embodied in the treaty
 drafted by Secretary Olney and Sir Jul
 ian Pauncefote, which failed of action
 in the senate when submitted for rati-
 fication. The differences are rather In
 the methods provided for securing an
 impartial adjudication than in the for
 maj convention, and it is believed that on these points the British and Amerl- can propositions are not precisely sim liar. It cannot be said that the Ameri- can delegates go to the conference with any strong expectation that their own scheme for securing the adjustment Of disputes by arbitration, or, indeed, any project of the kind, will secure the ad- hesion of the entire conference or even a majority of the delegates. But they are content to plant the seed and make a beginning which. it is hoped by the president and Secretary Hay, will in the end have substantial results.
 The American delegates go commit ted to this arbitration project much more strongly than to anything likely to figure before the conference. Re- garding disarmament, their instruc- tions are to tell the conference that the present armament of the United States and any within the possibilities of the future are so far below the present min imum armements with which any of the great powers of Europe are likely to be content that there is really not any reason why the United States should be called into the argument.
 Other points upon which the delegates have been instructed are correctly re- ferred to in the cable dispatches this namely, the exemption from seizure of individual property and the extenion of the Red Cross rules to war like operations at sea. As 10 the for mer, the president expressed himself very strongly in his last message to as the delegates go charged to give practical effect to these views As to the Red Cross extension, both the United States and Spain during the re- cent war voluntarily agreed to apply 1 the Red Cross to the rules at sea. But l another point in the instructions which ! Is not mentioned in the cable dispatch | es is that relating to the amelioration of the horrors of war and with this, too, the American delegates are deeply It was because of the pres i dent's interest in this subject as much | as for other reasons that the two tech : 1ical experts, Captain Mahan and Cap { tain Crozier. were included in the | American delegation, and the state de- i oartment hopes that something in this direction will be accomplished at the approaching conference.