Arizona republican., 1899-11-05

tended to commemorate the victories
of Prince Henry of Orange. One of the
decorations consists of the figure of
Peace. carrying in. each hand an olive
branch and standing in the midst of Il
group of children. who unroll Il great
scroll inscribed: THE greatest vic
tory is that which leads to peace"
It is usual to have as the presiding
officer Of an international conference
q representative of the nation within
whose territory the conference is as
sembled. But NJ de Beaufort. minister
of foreign affairs of the government of
the Netherlands. declined the presi-
dency of the conference and NJ. de
Staal. the Russian ambassador 80
Great Britain and head of the Russian
delegation. was selected for the posi-
ton. n. de Beaufort was made hon
orary president In opening the con-
ference NJ. de Staal referred To the fact
that on the historic soil of the Neither
LANDS the greatest political problems
haf been discussed. Here" he de-
clared. is the cradle of science and in
ternational law"
The conference, like most interna-
tional conferences. sat behind closed
doors The press. however. was fur
nished from day to day with state
ments of the proceedings of committees
as we'll as of the plenary sittings. This
did not satisfy the newspapers espe-
cially those of the United States 1t
was said that in the United States we
had learned that every good cause is
advanced by 4 frank public debate
and that only suspicious prospects are
likely to thrive behind closed doors
But these critics forgot that the Unit
ed States senate is accustomed to eX-
ecutive sessions for the ratification of
treaties. The practice of secret ses-
sions for the discussion of international
questions is not likely to be speedily
abandoned and there are weighty raa-
sons in favor of the existing practice.
The nations in addition to the United
States represented at the conference
We're the following: Russia. Great
Britain. Germany. France. Austria
Hungary. Spain, Italy, Belgium. Hol-
land, Denmark, Greece. Portugal. Lux
emburg, Sweden and Norway. Switzer-
land, Turkey. Roumania. Servia, Mon
tenegro. Bulgaria, China, Japan. Siam
and Mexico.
The conference drew up for the ap-
proval of the governments represented
three conventions. These were:
I. A convention for the specific set
tlement of international disputes
>. A convention concerning the laws
and customs of war en- land.
). a convention for the adoption of
laws against the use of asphyxiating
CT deleterious gases from balloon pro-
jectiles, and for the prohibition of the
use of bodies that easily expand in the
human body.
Other subjects were brought to the
attention of the conference. but for
NAL conventions We're agreed to only
in the cases specified above In addi-
ton the conference gave expression 70
its opinion in respect to the following
matters:
THE conference considers that linn
itations of the military charges which
at present Cypress the world are great
ly to be desired for the increase of the
material and moral welfare of man
kind.
The conference expresses the opin-
ion that the question of rights and dU-
ties of neutrals should he inscribed on
the programme of a conference to be
held at an early date.
The conference expresses the opin-
ion that questions relative to the type
and caliber of rifles and naval artil-