The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-05-18

THE TRANSVAAL SENSATION
HOW SOUTH AFRICANS VIEW THE
ARREST OF ENGLISHMEN.
Confident the Treason Charges Were
Worked Up by Boer Police-The
Prisoners Bound Over.

The HAGUE, May lt.-All tne ueleSdteS
to the international peace conference have
arrived. To-day was spent in a general ex-
change of visits The permanent president
of the conference will be M. De Staal, I<us-
sian ambassador to Great Britain, and the
head of the Russian delegation. The nom
orary chairman, who will open the proceed
ings, will be NJ. De Beaufort. president of
the Council and minister of foreign affairs
of the government of the Netherlands.
The city is brilliantly decorated with for
eign flags, denoting the various national
headquarters. This evening M. Van Karne-
book, former Dutch minister of foreign af-
fairs, gave dinner to introduce the for
eign delegates. The reporters will be ad-
mitted only to hear the inaugural address
of NJ. De Beaufort, who is excluded from
opening the discussion on the Cars project.
Three committees will then be named to
arrange programmes for discussion. The
first relates to restrictions of ornaments
ard military expenditure. The second deals
with the laws governing civilized warfare,
and the third with mediation and arbitra-
ton. A great mass of diplomatic documents
will be submitted on these subjects--docu-
ments including the memorandum OF Prince
Metternich, of Austria, in 1916. regarding
the suggestion of the prince regent of Eng
land supported by Alexander I, CT Russia,
for an international peace conference; the
opinions of David Dudley Field, Of the
United States, as to fixing permanent linn
II to military forces: the argument of M.
Merignhac in favor Of simultavous disarm-
ament; the proposals of Napoleon III to
convoke a European peace conference at
Paris in 1863, and similar papers.
The second commission will consider the
declarations cf the congress Of Paris, 1850,
and the Geneva convention, 1864, the unrat-
ified clauses of the Geneva convention of
1868, the acts of the st. Petersburg conven-
ton prohibiting the use of certain projec-
tiles by civilized nations, the minutes Of the
Brussels conference of 1874, the suggestions
of the Oxford Manual regarding the laws
and observances of war; the rules for the
bombardment of cities adopted by the insti-
tute OF international law in Venice in 1896;
the declarations of France and Great Brit
ain regarding the unadopted rules of the
Geneva convention; the views of the Am
sterdam Chamber of Commerce, approved
by successive Netherlands foreign ministers,
urging the adoption Of the minutes of the
Brussels conference of 1874, dealing with the
laws and observances of. war, which did
not lead to the conclusion Of any conven-
tion, and the circular of the Dutch minister
of foreign affairs in 1871 relating to the
adoption of the principle of inviolability OF
private property and urging a clearer defini-
ton Of the term 'contraband of war;
The third commission will consider the
proposals of Lord Clarendon, at the Paris
congress- in 1856, for the intermediation 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 CEN
trail and south American States, adopted in
Washington in 1890. the Marquis Of Sails
bury's letters TO Sir Julian Pauncefote in
1886 relating to the conclusion of an arbi-
tration treaty between Great Britain and
the United States and the terms of the rat
flied Anglo-American treaty, and many
similar documents.
NJ. De Staal will open the conference by
summarizing the objects of the gathering
and expressing the confidence of Emperor
Nicholas that the powers will support the
beneficent 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 pure
ly European questions. but will take an
earnest part in the discussion of the appli-
cation OF arbitration and Improvements in
| the Geneva rules for protection of field hos
pitals. giving also special attention to the
abolition OF privateering and the exemption
OF all private property from seizure, ex-
cept contraband of war. this policy being
the same as that adopted by Benjamin
Franklin in negotiating the treaty with
Frederick the Great and successfully urged
by President James Monroe, James Bu-
chanan, Benjamin Harrison and William