ARTICLE 33.

Un registre tenu par le Ministère des Affaires Etrangères des Pays-Bas indiquera la date du dépôt de ratifications effectué en vertu de l'article 29 alinéas 3 et 4, ainsi que la date à laquelle auront été reçues les notifications d'adhésion (article 30 alinéa 2) ou de dénonciation (article 32 alinéa 1).

Chaque Puissance contractante est admise à prendre connaisance de ce registre et à en demander des extraits certifiés conformes.

En foi de quoi, les Plénipotentiaires ont revêtu la présente Convention de leurs signatures.

Fait à La Haye, le dix-huit octobre mil neuf cent sept, en un seul exemplaire qui restera déposé dans les archives du Gouvernement des Pays-Bas et dont des copies, certifiées conformes, seront remises par la voie diplomatique aux Puissances qui ont été conviées à la Deuxième Conférence de la Paix.

Certifié pour copie conforme: Le Secrétaire-Général du Ministère des Affaires Etrangères des Pays-Bas.

HANNEMA.

ARTICLE 33.

A register kept by the Netherlands Ministry for Foreign Affairs shall give the date of the deposit of ratifications made in virtue of Article 29, paragraphs 3 and 4, as well as the date on which the notifications of adherence (Article 30, paragraph 2) or of denunciation (Article 32, paragraph 1) have been received."

Each Contracting Power is entitled to have access to this register and to be supplied with duly certified extracts from it.

In faith whereof the Plenipotentiaries have appended their signatures to the present Convention.

Done at The Hague, the 18th October, 1907, in a single copy, which shall remain deposited in the archives of the Netherlands Government, and duly certified copies of which shall be sent, through the diplomatic channel, to the Powers which have been invited to the Second Peace Conference.

And whereas it is provided by its Article 30, that non-signatory Powers may adhere to the said Convention;

And whereas the Senate of the United States of America by its resolution of April 17, 1908, (two-thirds of the Senators present concurring therein) did advise and consent to the adherence by the United States to the said Convention with the reservation and exclusion of its Article 23 and with the understanding that the last clause of Article 3 of the said Convention implies the duty of a neutral power to make the demand therein mentioned for the return of a ship captured within the neutral jurisdiction and no longer within that jurisdiction;

And whereas the President of the United States of America, in pursuance of and in conformity with the aforesaid advice and consent of the Senate, did, on the 23rd day of February, 1909, declare the adherence of the United States to the said Convention;

And whereas notice of the adherence of the United States to the said Convention has been given to the Government of the Netherlands in conformity with Article 30 of the said Convention;

And whereas, the said Convention has been duly ratified by the Governments of Germany, Austria-Hungary, Denmark, Mexico, the Netherlands, Russia, Sweden, and Salvador, and the ratifications of the said Governments were, under the provisions of Article 29 of the said Convention, deposited by their respective Plenipotentiaries with the Netherlands Government on November 27, 1909;

And whereas, in accordance with the provisions of Article 30 of the said Convention, the Government of China gave notification to the Netherlands Government on January 15, 1910, of its adherence to the said Convention;

Now, therefore, be it known that I, William Howard Taft, President of the United States of America, have caused the said Convention to be made public, to the end that the same and every article and clause thereof may be observed and fulfilled with good faith by the United States and the citizens thereof, subject to the reservation and exclusion and the understanding herein above mentioned.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the City of Washington this twenty-eighth day of February in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and [SEAL.] ten, and of the Independence of the United States of America the one hundredth and thirty-fourth.

By the President:

P. C. KNOX,

Secretary of State.

WM. H. TAFT.

XIV.

DECLARATION PROHIBITING THE

DISCHARGE OF PROJECTILES

AND EXPLOSIVES FROM BALLOONS.

Signed at The Hague, October 18, 1907.

Ratification advised by the Senate, March 12, 1908.

Ratified by the President of the United States, February 23, 1909. Ratification deposited with the Netherlands Government, November 27, 1909.

Proclaimed, February 28, 1910.

Ratified by Bolivia, China, France, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Norway, Salvador. Adhered to by Haiti.

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

A PROCLAMATION.

Whereas a Declaration prohibiting the discharge of projectiles and explosives from balloons was signed at The Hague on October 18, 1907, by the respective Plenipotentiaries of the United States of America, the Argentine Republic, Austria-Hungary, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Bulgaria, China, Colombia, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Great Britain, Greece, Haiti, Luxemburg, Norway, Panama, the Netherlands, Peru, Persia, Portugal, Salvador, Siam, Switzerland, Turkey, and Uruguay, the original of which Declaration, being in the French language, is word for word as follows:

"Considering that the progress of civilization should have the effect of alleviating as much as possible the calamities of war;

"That the only legitimate object which States should endeavor to accomplish during war is to weaken the military forces of the enemy;

"That for this purpose it is sufficient to disable the greatest possible number of men;

"That this object would be exceeded by the employment of arms which uselessly aggravate the sufferings of disabled men, or render their death inevitable;

That the employment of such arms would, therefore, be contrary to the laws of humanity;

"The Contracting Parties engage mutually to renounce, in case of war among themselves, the employinent by their military or naval troops of any projectile of a weight below 400 grammes, which is either explosive or charged with fulminating or inflammable substances." Declaration of St. Petersburg, 1868.