Omaha daily bee., 1908-11-01

affair-for that matter. all the meetings
are. The members Of the congress and
their attendants are more gorgeously ar
rayed than Solomon in all his glory. Those
who are military officers arc in their
highest degree of gold lace. civilians wear
the diplomatic uniform, knee brooches,
s-wallow-tailed coats and cooked hats, the
coat and brooches Of royal blue cloth en-
crusted with gold lace.
How Conference IL Organized.
The proceedings are opened with a speech
by the foreign minister Of the entertain
ing country. or by the leading plenipoten-
uary Of the country summoning the con-
gress. Then the president is elected. He
Is likely to be either the entertaining for
eign minister or some distinguished repre-
tative Of a neutral or disinterested power.
Bismarck was chosen in both capacities at
Berlin.
The next step depends upon the makeup
Of the gathering. Where the actual MEM
bership of the congress is limited and
where the subject OF discussion Is single
and coherent. the congress is apt to act
as a committee Of the whole throughout
the discussion. This was the case with
the congress of Berlin.
The members of that body were the
representatives Of the great powers-Eng-
land, France, Germany, Austria and Rus
STA, with Turkey let in on account OF her
superlative concern I'm the occasion. The
only variation that took place was the
admission OF Roumania, Servia, Bulgaria,
Montenegro and Greece, when their i'm
mediate interests were taken up.
But in large conferences, such as the
peace gatherings of 1908 and last year at
The Hague and the congress of Vienna,
where practically every nation in Europe
was represented, the custom is to divide
the work of the congress among various
commissions. At The Hague last year
those in turn were subdivided, for the con-
sideration of various topics. into a number
of minor groups.
Where commissions are appointed a vast
amount of diplomatic skill has to be dis
played by the chosen president Of the
congress in the allotment of the members
and in the choice of presidents and vice
presidents and honorary presidents for
each subdivision in order that no indi-
vidual and no country may feel that 1t mas
been sighted.
Real Work Done In Secret.
However earnestly the sessions of the
congress may be conducted, and whatever
appearance they may have of shaping the
results. however solemn the voting on these
may appear to be, it is not infrequently
the case that the real work is done in
secret and outside of the regular sessions.
Thus at the congress of Vienna, which
readjusted the map and the policies of
Europe after the Napoleonic wars, the
real determining act was a secret treaty
negotiated by Lord Castlereagh, the chief
English plenipotentiary, with France and
Austria and a number of the small powers
to curb the ovsrweaning ambition of Russia
and Prussia.
At the treaty of Paris similar secret
agreements were made to protect the in
tegrity of the Turkish dominions. At the
congress Of Berlin Disraeli, the head of the
English delegation, and Count Gortchakoff.
the chief Russian. all but reached an open
rupture at the open session. But Bismarck
privately interviewed. He talked with the
two statesmen and presently he brought
them together, and the result was a pri-
vate understanding which made all the
rest of the work OF the congress easy.
At the close of each days session a re-
port of the proceedings is drawn up for
record. This is called the protocol. The
original is filed I'm the foreign office Of
NAA1 SllNNAA min NCtAANA eAA1 SbBAN' 49, ~
livered to each OF the plenipotentiaries.
The latter forward copies of 1t, together
with their own reports Of the proceedings
and of their Views, daily to
their capitals. In cases where they are
not themselves the heads of the govern
ments of their states they often have to
wait for Instructions based on these re-
ports.
In former times this involved enormous
delay. 1t is not surprising that in the old
times OF difficult travel European con-
crosses lasted for years. But nowadays,
with the aid of the telegraph and cipher
codes, daily sessions are entirely feasible
without the delegates exceeding their
powers or involving their governments with
out authority.
Thus the congress of Berlin was able
to complete its deliberations in just a
month. 1t lasted from. June 10 to July 10.
1878. Evidently Bismarck, who called 1t
and dictated its close. was not supersti-
tious. II the last Hague congress stretched
itself out over several months this was be-
cause It was not a very intense affair and
there was no particular reason for cutting
short the festivities which attended its
progress,
One by one. as the points under dis
cussion are settled. the results, in the form
Of memoranda, are confided to expert
draughtsmen to be Incorporated into the
terms Of a treaty. Usually each article
is in final shape at the next session after
it is outlined, and 1t is then voted on and
accepted by the delegates.
1t must be remembered, however. that tho
voting at an international congress has
no resemblance to that which takes place
in a legislative body. The majority does
not rule. Each party to the congress Is
an Independent and sovereign state, which
cannot be coerced, except, of course. by
war. Therefore every xsie to be effective
must be unanimous.
Final Vote on Treaty.
And. after all, when the work Is done
and all the agreements are couched in dip
lomatic circumlocution the congress comes
together once again to finally vote upon
the treaty as a whole and 10 execute IL
by fixing the signatures of the plcnipo-
tentisries. Each country concerned has its
own copy deliberately ~engrossed on parch-
ment and usually a copy is deposited IN
the archives Of the entertaining state.
Then comes the last acts of all-very like