The San Francisco call., 1899-07-06
INFLUENCE OF
AMERICA FELT.
Delegates Score Victory
at The Hague.
WHITES PLEA SUCCESSFUL
PROTECTION OF PRIVATE PROP
ERTY AT SEA DURING WAR.
Special Conference to Be Summoned
Hereafter to Consider the Plan
Proposed by the United
States.
Special Dispatch to TIL. Call.

delegates scored great success tO-UdS
in obtaining from the Peace Conference
a unanimous vote in favor of having
the question of private property at sea
in time of war referred to special con-
ference to be summoned hereafter.
Much diplomatic nagement was
necessary and many obstacles had
been surmounted before this result was
reached.
The second committee met this morn
ing, and Andrew D. White, head of the
American delegation, broached the sub
ject The question of its admissibility
under the conference mandate was dis
cussed. No vote was taken, but an
agreement was arrived at to allow the
Americans to present their case in full
this afternoon. Had a vote been taken
Immediately the Americans would
doubtless have carried their point by
a majority of one or two, and to avoid
this a resolution was proposed, recog-
nizing the Importance and COmpleXity
of the question and recommending the
summoning of d special conference.
At the afternoon sitting of the COM
mittee the successive clauses of the
laws of war having been adopted, NJ.
de Mertens of the Russian delegation
moved a resolution to that effect.
Mr.. White seconded it. In the course
of q clear and eloquent statement of
the American case. he said the Ameri-
can Government had accepted the invi-
tation TO participate in the conferences
with alacrity, because of the opportun-
ity it was expected the conference
would afford for preaching the truth
with regard to the immunity from cap
ture of private property at sea. He
admitted, however, that the United
States Government recognized it would
be hopeless to expect any decisive re-
suit from this conference. owing to the
three causes, absence of instruction or
power from the governments; second,
doubts as to the competence of the con-
ference, and third. the length of time
necessary for a discussion of all the
bearings of the case.
Mr.. White frankly admitted the diff
culties involved in deciding what con-
stituted the contraband of war. but in
sisted that these supplied one of the
best arguments for a full and promi-
nent discussion. The suffering and
losses which seizures entailed are i'm
mense. while the effect upon the ulti-
mate result of war was almost moth
ing.
Referring to the experience of the
United States in the war of the re-
bellion, he said that only three Con-
federate cruisers did anything of i'm
sells. quadrupled the rate of insurance
between America and Great Britain,
and caused the transfer of a half mil
lion tons of American shipping TO Brit
ish bottoms. The final result was that
the whole American marine was vir-
tually swept out of existence.
IF that resulted from the operations
of the three poorly equipped little
steamers" he continued " what would
have happened with the means at the
disposal of the greater nations of to-
day? Yet every one knows that this
privateering had not the slightest effect
in ending or even shortening the war,
nor would 1t have had any even if the
losses had been ten times greater. The
only real effect is gained by Warships in
maintaining a blockade. Nowadays the
transfer Of goods by land is so general
that interruption by sea as a rule does
nothing to promote the ending of the
war, but that interruption may destroy
accumula tons of human wealth and
skill requiring generation to make
good. while the losses cannot be con-
fined to belligerents alone, but must
affect more or less directly the whole
world"
Mr. White warmly repudiated the
supposition that the Americans were
animated by selfish considerations
They were eminently practical, he
said but not less re-eminently de-
voted to great ideals. This he illus
trated by referring to the enormous
sacrifice made during the civil war and
the devotion of Americans to arbitra-
ton. But the question he was urging
upon the delegates, he asserted, was
one of right, justice and progress of
the whole world, and this all Ameri-
cans felt deeply. Nor could the accept
ance of the American proposal injure
any nation, but, on the contrary, it
would strengthen all.
The head of the American delegation
concluded with an eloquent appeal to
the jurists, diplomatists and statesmen
of all nations assembled in the confer
ence to take the subject under careful
consideration, declaring in the words
Of Count Nesselrode that the addi-
tions of this plea to international law
would be crown of glory to the
worlds diplomacy"
NJ. Rahusen of the Dutch delegation
supported Mr. White and suggested
that the Governments favoring the
themselves.
Sir Julian Pauncefote. head of the
British delegation, said that British
opinion was divided on the subject and
that he had no instructions regarding
it. In his personal opinion the ques-
tion was outside the scope of. the con-
ference.
NJ Bourgeois, head of the French del
egation. and Captain Schein of the
Russian delegation. announced that in
the absence of instructions they could
not vote. The resolution was then put
and carried without opposition. with
the reservations on the part of Great
Britain. France and Russia.
The committee also adopted resolu-
tion that the question Of the determine
ton of rights and duties of the several
states should be placed on the pro-
gramme of a future conference.
The plenary conference assembled
subsequently and accepted all the reso-
lutions of the committee.
The American delegation is much
gratified at the result. The delegates
could not anticipate practical issue at
this time. The maximum success pos
sible was full and free opinion of plac-
ing the American view on record and
of continuing unbroken the tradition
of a century of American protest in be-