in the United States was the culmination of a movement which included, among other noteworthy facts, resolutions similar in tenor passed by the American Institute of Instruction at its meeting in Montreal and by the National Association of School Superintendents at its meeting in Chicago. It was brought to the author's attention while he was in The Hague endeavoring to fulfill the mission of an American journalistic representative at the second Peace Conference; and so desirable did it seem that the Association's recommendation to its members should be acted upon that this book was written in the hope that it might prove of service to them in carrying it out. The arrangement of topics is such that either a consecutive account of each conference may be secured, or a comparative study of the discussion and action upon each topic by the two conferences may be made. The participation of the delegations from the United States in the work of each conference has been made especially prominent. But both commendation and condemnation, in this as in other particulars, have been carefully avoided. For the object sought by the author was to present a true and impartial-a historical-record, and not to enter upon the field of partisan argument or theoretical contention. As to the proportionate amount of space devoted to the various topics, it may be said that some of them which have been presented in some detail, although but little or no important action was taken upon them by the two conferences, are none the less prominent in the public thought and are destined to play an important rôle in future conferences. The sources of information for the two conferences are few in number, but are both official and satisfactory. For the first conference, the official record, entitled "Conférence Internationale de la Paix," has been published in a large quarto volume of six hundred and twenty pages by the Netherlands minister of foreign affairs. It contains the minutes of all the meetings of the conference, its commissions and subcommissions; the admirable reports upon the discussions of the subcommissions and commissions; and the official text of the conventions, declarations, and resolutions adopted by the conference. The "Actes et Documents relatifs au Programme de la Conférence de la Paix de la Haye 1899," also published by order of the Netherlands government, is a valuable collection of materials upon which the work of the conference was based. "The Peace Conference at The Hague," by F. W. Holls, a member of the United States delegation to the conference, is authoritative and interesting. The official record of the second conference, identical in character with that of the first, and of far larger volume, was printed from day to day during the conference, but has not yet been published. Through the courtesy of the Netherlands minister of foreign affairs the author was able to procure a complete set of this record and to base his account of the conference upon it. Almost all of the multitude of documents and comptesrendus of the conference were published in the Courrier de la Conférence, which appeared daily during the sessions of the conference, under the editorship of the able and distinguished journalist, Mr. William T. Stead. In common with all the readers of the Courrier, the author of this book owes a large debt of gratitude to Mr. Stead for the enterprise and public spirit shown by him in inform ing the public so fully of the work of the conference, and in stimulating and informing the members of the conference as well. All of the proceedings of the two conferences were conducted in the French language, and since the speeches had first to be translated from the speakers' native languages into French and then, for the purpose of this book, into English, it can not be hoped that their original flavor and force have been fully retained. But it is to be hoped that enough has been retained to impress readers with the great and genuine eloquence of many of the speeches, and to illuminate the serious record of these two unique and epoch-making events in the world's history. VILLA BOSCH HOEK THE HAGUE |