Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1919-04-08
MAKING OF TREATIES
Drafting and Preservation Of Very
Great Importance
MUST Be A COPY FOR each SIGNER

There Have Been Some Changes in the
| FormaIities; But the Changes Have
Not Been Very Great-It Was For
nerIy a Custom to Give Honora-
L RUINS to the Clerks.
Scraps of paper" otherwise known
as treaties, require much more time
for construction than they do for de-
struction; 50, considering the magni-
tude and difficulty of the problems in
volvcd, impatience with the delibera-
tfons of the delegates employed in
making the new Treaty of Paris is
somewhat unreasonable. For, writer
in The London Magazine tells us,
speaking Of the. conferences that pre-
ceded the formal Examinations of other
conflicts:
In the Crimean war, for example, the
conference lasted from February 25
to March 80; in the Spanish -Ameri-
can war, from October to December
10; in the Russo Japanese war, from
August to September S.
The preparation of the treaty itself
Is long task, as peace treaties are
elaborate documents. Until recent
years they were written by hand in
the blackest of ink, on vellum or on a
specially. made linen paper known as
treaty paper" But Of late years they
have been typewriter and then print
ed, all precautions being taken against
premature leaks" on the printing es-
Establishments entrusted with the work.
Says the writer, continuing the dis
| cussion:
Following established precedent,
treaties of peace practically always be-
gin with an appeal to the Almighty,
"Au nom de Dieu tout puissant" being
the formal most frequently said. In
treaties with Roman Catholic count
rfes, however, the phrase, I'm the rame
Of the most Holy and Undivided Trim
ity" is frequently substituted; while in
treaty with the Mohammedan state
the formula is altered to "In the name
of Allah the Almighty God" in the
copy allotted to the representative Of
that country.
For each Of the signatory Powers
one copy is signed and sealed. These
certified copies are for convenience Of
reference, and for printing duplicate
copies from, since the original signed
and sealed treaty is most precious
and carefully guarded document, and
tseldom sees the light Of day once 1t Is
stored away in the state archieves Of
the signatory Power.
Peace treaties are not written (or
printed) straight across the page, or
pages, like ordinary documents. They
are written in parallel columns, one In
English, the next in French, the next
in German, Italian, and so on, accord
| ing to.the number Of languages in use
In the signatory powers. The text of
each of these columns is an exact
translation of the texts Of all the 9TH
er columns, and utmost care is taken
in the selection of words that will con-
vey identical shades of meaning.
The seals affixed to ratified treaties
are usually very elaborate, and in or
der the better to preserve them, 1t Is
customary to enclose them in little
| round silver boxes. Most treaties, too,
are bound either in crimson morocco.
or in red velvet tied about with grt
cord.
Many of the treaties in the British
Record office however, are stored In
cylinders, boxes, portfolios, and bags,
There are thousands Of these docu-
ments, all carefully protected. When
they were stored in the foreign office,
they were kept in five-ton safes that
were so carefully constructed that when
the Emperor Frederick of Germany saw
them he smilingly commented to the
earl of Derby, "You are evidently de-
termined that no one shall break your
treaties" The treaties In the record
office include, as well as peace treaties
others relating to such matters as
fishery rights, boundary questions, and
commercial arrangements. There are
also many so-called domestic treat
ies," such as Queen Victoria's marriage
treaty and the treaty for the marriage
of Princess Charlotte, dated 1916. All
these documents were removed to Sec
ret places of still greater security dur
ing the period of air-raids.
| There is a curious story in connec-
ton with the only copy of treaty be-
longing to a foreign nation that has
been, for while, stored in the British
archieves. In 1877 sailor called at
the foreign office with brown paper
parcel, which was found to contain
the original Bolivian copy Of the treaty
of September 2s, 1910, between Great
Britain and Bolivia. Says the article
further:
The sailor had, it appeared, been
present in Bolivia during one OF tnelr'
at that time, periodical revolutions
when the state archives were thrown
into the streets by the revolutionists'
| A thin book, bound in crimson velVet'
| fell at his feet, anu, SloopiiS' IN H
ed it up and brought it away with him.
On examining it, he saw that II was
document of Importance, so on his re-
turn to England he took 1t to the ror-
eign office in London.
Here it was stored away for sarety
and forgotten. But eighteen years
afterward-that is to say, IN lsso-'he
Bolivian government apparently woke
ND to the fact that their precious treaty
was missing, and communicated WIN
the foreign office, asking II 1t couio
oblige them with a certified copy
Search was made with the result tf,at
the government was able to let tnem
have, not a copy merely, as asked ror'
but the original document, so strange;
ly lost and so strangely preserved. l.
was quite perfect, save that the usuai
wax seal in it's silver box was missing
This doubtless, was looted by the boi-
ivian mob during the revolution.
| Although modern peace treaties are