Omaha daily bee., 1899-05-18
MUCH PAINS TO MAKE PEACE
Delegates to The Hague Divide Burden Of
Their Formidable Task,
WORK ASSIGNED TO THREE COMMISSIONS
One VIII Consider Disarmament, An
other Laws of Warfare aud the
Third. Arbitrntion-De Stnal of
Russia VIII Preside.

THE HAGUE, May 17.-All the delegates
to the International Peace conference have
arrived. Today was spent in a general ex-
change of visits.
The permanent president of the confer
ence will be NJ. De Staal Russian ambassa-
dor to Great Britain and the head of the
Russian delegation. The honorary chairman
who will open the proceedings will be NJ.
De Beaufort president of the council and
minister of foreign affairs of the govern
ment of the Netherlands.
The city is brilliantly decorated with for
eign flags, denoting the various national
headquarters. This evening M. Won karne-
book. former Dutch minister OF foreign
affairs gave a dinner to introduce the for
eign delegates.
The reporters will be admitted only to
hear the inaugural address of NJ. De Beau
fort who is excluded from opening the dis
cussion of the cars project. Three commits
sions will then be named to arrange pro-
grams for discussion. The first relates to
restrictions of armaments and military eX-
penditure. The second deals with the laws
governing civilized warfare and the thlrd
with mediation and arbitration.
A great mass of diplomatic documents will
be submitted on these Embellishments
| including the memorandum of Prince Met
ternich of Austria in 1916, regarding the
suggestion of the prince regent OF England,
supported by Alexander l of Russia, for an
| international peace conference; the opinions
! of David Dudley Field of the United States,
as to fixing a permanent limit to military
| forces: the argument of NJ. Merignhac M
| favor of simultaneous disarmament; the
| proposals of Napoleon III to conVoke Eu-
| ropean peace conference at Paris In 1868,
and similar papers.
The second commission will consider the
declarations of the congress of Paris, 1901,
and the Geneva convention, 1861 the uh-
ratified clauses of the Geneva convention in
| 1868 the acts of the ST. Petersburg conven-
tion prohibiting the use Of certain pro)ectlies
nv civilized nations, the minutes Of the
brussels conference of 1874 the suggestions
of the oxford manual regarding the laws
and obseryances of war the rules for the
rbombardment of cities adopted by the lnsti-
tute of International Law in Venice in 1896,
| the declaration Of France and Great Britain
regarding the unadopted rules OF the Geneva
convention, the views of the Amsterdam
| Chamber of Commerce approved by success
| sive Netherlands foreign ministers urging
| the adoption CT the minutes of the Brussels
conference of 1874 dealing with the laws
| and observances of war, which did not leau
to the conclusion of any convention, and
the circular of the Dutch minister of for
| etgn a1alrS III 1911 " IhV "'oP'iS'
Of the principle of inviolability of private
property and urging clearer dehnition OF
| the term ''contraband of war.
study of Arbitration.
The third. commission will -constter stnH
proposals of Lord Clarendon at the Paris
| congress in 1856 for the intermediaton of a
friendly state previous to a recourse to
force. the motion of Signor Mancini in the
Italian Chamber of Deputies in 1875 in favor
| of arbitration the acts of the Berlin and
; Zurich conferences on compromise and
| mediation, David Dudley Fields plan for an
| arbitration tribunal, the proposals for an
arbitration tribunal for the North, Central
and South American states adopted In
Washington in 1890. the marquis of Sails
burys letters to Sir Julian Pauncefote in
1885, relating to the conclusion OF an arbi-
tration treaty between Great Britain and
the United States and the terms of the rati'
fed Anglo American treaty and many SINH
lar documents.
NJ de Staal will open the conference by
summarizing the objects of the gathering
and expressing the confidence of Emperor
Nicholas V that the powers will support the
benefcent work of the conference. After
the appointment of the commissions the
conference will adjourn for a week.
The American delegates, 1t is understood
will carefully abstain from mixing in purely
European questions, but will take ar
earnest part in the discussion of the appli
cation of arbitration and improvements il
the Geneva rules for the protection of fielc
hospitals. They will give also special at
tention to the abolition of privateering ant
the exemption of all private property from
seizure except contraband of war, this
policy being the same as that adopted b.
Benjamin Franklin in negotiating the treat!
with Frederick the Great and successivelI
urged by Presidents James Monroe, James
Buchanan, Benjamin Harrison and William
| McISinlay