The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1904-11-28
AGREEMENT UPON
NORTH SEA AFFA AIR
TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT
THAT BRITISH AND RUSSIAN REP
REsENTATIVES HAVE SIGNED.

Agreement Was Drawn Up In
French-EnsIish Translation Is
sued by the British Foreign Of
fce-NnriOus Provisions of the
Agreement-COmmi Will Meet
Soon Ina Paris-NavaI Officers 10
Comprise Ii.
London. Nov. 27.-The Foreign Of
flee has issued the following English
translation of the declaration signed
at st. Petersburg by Sir Charles Har-
dinge, the British ambassador, and
Count Lamsdorff, the Russian Foreign
Minister:
His Britannia majesty's government
and the imperial Russian government,
having agreed to entrust to an inter-
national commission of inquiry assem-
bled conformably to Articles TX to
XIV of The Hague convention of July
20. 1899, for the pacific settlement of
international disputes, the task of
elucdating by means OF an impartial
and conscientious investigation the
questions of fact connected with the
incident which occurred during the
night of Oct 21-22, 1904. in the North
sea (on which occasion the firing of
guns on the Russian fleet caused the
loss of boat and the death OF two
persons belonging to British fishing
fleet, as well as damages to other
boats of that fleet and injuries to the
crews of some of those boats), the
undersigned being duly authorized
thereto, have agreed upon the follow
ing provisions:
Composition of the Commission.
Article 1. The international COM
mission of inquiry shall be composed
of five members (commissioners) OF
whom two shall be officers of high rank
in the British and Imperial Russian
navies, respectively. The governments
of France and of the United States
shall each be requested to select one
of their naval officers of high rank
as a member of the commission. The
fifth shall be chosen by agreement
between the four members above men,
toned in the event of no agreement
being arrived at between the four COM
missioners as to the selection of the
fifth member Of the commission. His
imperial and royal majesty, the EN-
peror of Austria and King of Hungary.
will be invited to select him. Each
of the two high contracting parties
shall likewise appoint legal assessor
to advise the commissioners and an
agent officially empowered to take part
in the labors of the commission.
To Fix Responsibility.
ARTICLE II. The commission shall In
quire into and report on all circum-
stances relative to the North sea incl
dent and particularly on the question
as to where the responsibility lies and
the degree of blame attaching to sub
jects of the two high contracting par
ties or to subjects of other countries
In the event of their responsibility be-
ing established by the inquiry.
article III. The commission shall
settle the details of procedure which
il will follow for the purpose Of ac-
complishing the task wherewith it has
been entrusted.
Article w. The two high contract
ing parties undertake to supply the
commission to the utmost Of their aIbil-
ity, with all the means and facilities
necessary In order to enable IL to ac-
quaint itself thoroughly with and APP
preciate correctly the matters in dis
pute.
Article v. The commission shall
assemble in Paris as soon as possible
after the signature Of this agreement
Article vi. The commission shall
present its report to the two high
contracting parties, signed by all the
members Of the commission.
Article VII. The commission shall
take all its decisions by a majority OF
the votes of the five commissioners.
As to the Expenses.
art. VIII. The two high con-
tracing parties undertake each to
bear on reciprocal terms the expenses
of the inquiry made by 1t previous to
the assembly of the commission. The
expenses incurred by the international
commission after the date of it's as
sembly in organizing it's staff and
conducting the Investigations which II
will have to make shall be equally
shared by the two government.
"In faith whereof, the undersigned
have signed the present agreement
(declaration) and affixed their seals to
It,
Done in duplicate at st. Petersburg.
Nov. 25, 1904"