others whose opinions evidently incline toward its Chapter VI adoption, but we have not succeeded in securing a support sufficiently unanimous to justify us in pressing the matter further during the present Conference. "The doubt generally entertained as to the competence of the Conference in relation to this question, - a doubt based upon the terms of the invitation which has brought us together, the fact that the delegates of various great Powers have not been furnished with special instructions bearing upon this subject, and, above all, the necessity which the Conference evidently feels of giving all possible time to those great questions which, at present, more directly interest the nations, all these circumstances make it evident that we cannot expect of this body at its present session a positive and final action regarding this subject. "But, though we are obliged, with sincere regret, to recognize this fact, our instructions impose upon us the duty to do all that lies in our power to the end that this great question may not be forgotten, but remain impressed upon the nations here represented. "We have not given up the hope of seeing it reach a happy solution. Nothing is more evident than the fact that eminent thinkers in the domain of International Law are more and more inclining to the doctrine which our Memorial advocates. More and more, also, it is becoming clear to the world at large, that the adoption of this principle is in the interest of all nations, and it is also more and more distinctly Chapter VI Speech of seen that every obligation to abstain from privateering is vain, save under the broad principle that all private property upon the high seas, with the exception of contraband of war, should be exempt from seizure; that the two methods of injuring an enemy in time of war are logically connected that to secure the abolition of one it is necessary to concede the other. Your eminent predecessor in the representation of the Russian Empire at a conference of great Powers, Count Nesselrode, expressed not only the profound conviction of a statesman and diplomatist but a great truth which is steadily gaining upon the world when he said, 'The adoption of the declaration in favor of this immunity which the United States has proposed, and which it steadily supports, would be a crown of glory to modern diplomacy.' "I am aware that an opposing argument has been used which, at first view, would seem to have considerable force, namely: that even if immunity be granted to private property, in so far as it is not contraband of war, a new question more intricate would immediately arise, namely: that of defining what is to be understood to-day as contraband of war. And we are reminded that, in a recent war between two great Powers, coal, breadstuffs, rice, and even merchant ships were regarded as contraband. But I certainly do not need to tell such an intelligent body as this, made up of men accustomed to great and difficult negotiations, that the difficulties in the way of a second step in a matter of this kind do not constitute an argument which should prevent our Chapter VI taking the first step. The wiser view would seem to be to take the first step, and having taken that, to determine how we can take the second. "Nor can I deny that efforts in behalf of the cause which we maintain have been weakened by some injudicious arguments. It must be acknowledged that more harm than good has been done by some of the arguments which liken private property on the sea, in all respects, to private property on land, in time of war. But this proves nothing against the overwhelming mass of arguments which, if this were the proper time and place for their presentation, could be cited in favor of our proposal. If the merits of the question itself were under discussion at this moment, if there were not other subjects upon which the attention of the world is concentrated and which absorb our activity, I would call your attention to the immense losses to which all nations are exposed under the present system, and to the utter uselessness of these as regards their influence on the final decision of great international questions. A mere glance over the history of the Confederate The lesson of cruisers during the American Civil War shows how Civil War. serious would be the losses to the Powers directly interested, and how ineffective the result under the present system. Only three of the Confederate cruisers did any effective work; their prizes amounted to 169 ships; the premium of Insurance between the United States and Great Britain increased from 30 shillings per ton to 120 shillings; American mer the American Chapter VI Speech of chant ships, aggregating nearly a million of tons, were driven under the British flag; and the final result was the almost total disappearance of the merchant navy of the United States. If such a result was obtained by the operations of three little vessels, far from being of the first class, and poorly equipped, what would happen with the means which are to-day at the disposal of great nations? Yet all the world knows that this employment of privateers, and all the enormous loss thereby occasioned, had not the slightest effect upon the termination or even toward the shortening of the Civil War. If the loss had been ten times as great they would still have contributed nothing toward ending the contest. All that was immediately effected was simply the destruction of a great mass of property belonging to the most industrious and meritorious portion of our population, resulting in the ruin of our sailors who had invested in their vessels all their hard-earned savings. The more remote general effect was to leave throughout our country a general resentment, sure to be the cause of new wars between the United States and Great Britain, had not a wise treaty of arbitration removed it. The only effective measure for terminating war by the action of a navy is the maintenance of a blockade. "In these days transportation of merchandise by land has so developed that the interruption of such transport by sea cannot, in general, contribute toward hastening the end of the war, but the effect may be so great in the destruction of wealth accumu lated by human industry, as to require generations Chapter VI to repair the loss, and thus the whole world is made to suffer. interests on the United "Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Conference: No separate the American Delegation is not, in this matter, advo- the part of cating the particular interests of our own country. States. We know well that under existing circumstances if war should break out between two or more European Powers, there would immediately be an enormous transfer of freight and vessels to neutral countries, and that from this the United States, as in all probability one of these neutral countries, would doubtless. reap enormous pecuniary advantages. But my Government lays no plans for gaining advantages of this sort. Might I not be permitted here to say that a characteristic trait of my fellow citizens has been imperfectly understood in Europe. Europeans suppose generally, that the people of the United States are an eminently practical people. That is true, but it is only half the truth. The people of the United States are not only devoted to practical aims, but they are even more devoted to ideals. There can be no greater error in considering the United States, or in dealing with them, than to suppose that American citizens are guided solely by material interests. Our own Civil War shows that, from first to last, material considerations were entirely subordinate to ideal, and that nearly a million of lives, and almost ten thousand millions of dollars, were freely sacrificed to maintain the ideal of our union as a Nation, and not as a mere confederation of petty states. |