The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1907-07-01

American Proposition Regard
ing lnviOIabiiity of Private
Property Likely to Succeed.
VIEWS WILL BE EXCHANGED
ACTIVITY OF CHoATE AND
PORTER.

Tho Haero. June 39.-Profiting by the
Eoi6ay- thc leading p!enipo:en tiaries met
privately today TO exchange views On the
principal questions before the peace con-
ference jose ph H.. Choate and General
Horace Porter coavcrscd at length with
Sir Edward Fry aup Sir ernest Satow- of
The Bri ish delegation. Professor dc Mar
tens Of Russia. Count TorrelH OF Italy,
ard Or. hrieer Of Germany. while VIII
Fam l.. Bu-hana:, who was the chairman
If the lean delegation which atterd-
cd the PI7-Americau congress. discussed
affairs win sC-ora4 Of the South AmeTi-
can de.rEa.es.
Some uEPo it'un seems to 5e raised
Ggainsl TIE proposition OF The inViola
h'lity of n7iTTt" property at sca by sew
CT1l Lati1-AmericG2 COuntl s. which,
having ~ merchant marine. think that
The abolition % :he right of capture and
q p1iyGteeTinS VIII deprive them of
weapon dreaded by their enemies. The
whole triple alliance. however strongly
support tits proposition. Indeed. among
The numerous secret documents distrib-
Uted TO-DAY IN sealed envelopes to the del
egdtes are definite declarations TO that
effect.
Austria's Position.
The Austrian delegation issued the fol-
lowing declaration:
The invioability of private property at
sea having been the object of many ser
iOus works and judicial studies IS now
so generally Acknowledged that a new
discussion Of this principle Is merely a
leCapltUlatiOn, more or less identical with
those uttered many times by the most
competent and erudite scholars. Austria,
taking into account private interests and
the essentially humanitarian object of this
principle, adopted il long ago. 1t there
fore wishes TO state that it will follow the
most liberal point of view regarding the
capture and cOnfiscation of merchant
men,
Italy makes the following statement:
Italy, being among the SignatOTy pow
ers of the declaration of Paris March 3d.
1856, regarding the abolition of privateer-
ing. strongly adheres to the doctrine so
tenaciOusly supported by the United
States. In the conference of 1899, Italy
stated her position, but as the present
take a decision completely favorable to
1.-The inviOlability of private property at sea,
the Italian delegation expresses their de-
sire that the middle course propositions be
presented and discussed
Germany Favorable.
Baron MarchaH Won Bieberstein. head
of the German delegation. stated to the
Associated Press that Germany's atti-
tude in this matter was entirely favOTa-
BILE
The other American proposition. the col
lection of pecuniary debts without the
will be discussed on Tuesday. General
Porter will explain its true scope but it
is understood that some amendments will
be presented.
Furthermore the American delegation
among various suggestions to strengthen
the court of arbitration at The Hague
is credited with the intention of prOpOs-
ing that the permanent arbitrator here
be judges instead of diplOmatiSts.
The idea that the peace conference be
held at fixed periods finds opposition, es-
-T7HT.- u
who are of the opinion that 1t will be i'm
possible to prearrange the meetings of
the conference, which would be unable to
assemble and work prOfitably under GER
tain circumstances, as, for instance, dur
ing a war,
From the documents which were dis
tributed today. it appears that the powers
are determined to take the opportunity of
settling the question Of the fransforns-
ton of merchantmen into Warships in
order to avoid a repetition of incidents
such as that of the seizure of the steam
ship MaldCCd by the Russians in the
Russo-Japanese war, which resulted sole
ly from want of international agreement
Russia Dsfines a "Warship."
The Russians evidently remembering
their later experiences, wish to define a
warship as ANY vessel commanded by a
naval officer with a crew subject to the
military code.'
The Russian statement with regard to
a warship further says:
Such a vessel must fly a war flag by
order of its government, which applies
from the moment of the issue of such an
order, and the vessel must be inscribed in
the list of WaTships in that country"
The British definition is more precise
and is expected to be supported by the
United States, Germany and Italy.
The Japanese proposition confines the
transformation Of merchantmen into war
ships to national ports, territorial waters
or ports and territorial waters occupied
nv ct ia wis tn eff TTDF
formation"
The Italian proposal follows;
Merchantmen can only be transformed
on condition of their being placed under
a naval officer and furnished with a
crew subject to military discipline. Mer-
chantmen leaving the territorial waters
of their own country after the opening OF
hostilities cannot change their character
on the open sea or the waters of another
state
The Dutch government proposes that
transformed merchantmen must be COM