b. THE CONFERENCE OF 1907

The difficulty, the impossibility perhaps, of forming at present a just estimate of the historic importance of so recent an assembly as the second Peace Conference, needs no argument with students of history. All that will be attempted here is to suggest a few considerations prerequisite to such an estimate, to quote the opinion of a few men who participated prominently in the work of the conference itself, and to summarize briefly its achievements.

Students of these achievements should not forget that the growth of institutions, even national ones, is necessarily and desirably slow; for not only must national prejudices be overcome and national interests reconciled, in the making of international agreements, but these agreements, to be binding and fruitful, must be neither forced nor reluctant. It should not be forgotten, either, that no human assembly can accomplish all that ought to be done, or all that is expected of it; and that by emphasizing unduly its failures, its real successes may be unduly minimized.

In judging of the work of this "parliament of man," we should remember the slow and often disappointing results of the parliaments of nations. We should remember, too, that the international assembly, unlike national legislatures, was composed of representatives of every kindred, tongue, and nation; and that the delegates, though possibly in advance of the political and moral standards of their own people, were bound by strict instructions from governments which necessarily

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reflected the diverse institutions and ideals of their respective nations. It should be remembered, also, that in an assembly of the representatives of sovereign and independent states, the rule of the majority and the enforcement of parliamentary law were subordinated to the necessity of practical unanimity and of voluntary agreement.

In view of these limitations and obstacles, the achievements of the second Peace Conference were far more than could have been reasonably expected; while taken by themselves they afford a cause of present gratification and a rich promise of increasing fruitfulness.

I. WARFARE IN THE AIR

The prohibition upon the hurling of projectiles from balloons, which was imposed by the first conference, was renewed by the second, and increased from the former duration of five years to that of "the end of the next conference.

Whatever may be the final result of international legislation on this matter, the next seven years are to be saved from the horrors of a warfare from on high, in which the elements of uncertainty and the lack of adequate control of engines of destruction so largely prevail.

One of the laws and customs of warfare on land, adopted in 1907, was a permanent prohibition of the bombardment of undefended towns and buildings by artillery, by the launching of projectiles or explosives from balloons, or by any means whatever.

II. WARFARE ON THE SEA

The regulation of warfare on the sea was a task full of difficulties both technical and delicate. The questions discussed were burning ones which recent bitter events had made prominent, and every one had to be considered from the point of view of both belligerent and neutral, while the interests of both continental and maritime 1 powers had to be reconciled.

The Congress of Paris of 1856 and the Peace Conference of 1899, with their handful of rules, were the only precursors of the second conference in the vast task of regulating naval warfare. To the four or five former rules, the second conference added a full score and its deliberations upon questions still unsolved will undoubtedly become the basis of the future solutions of several other knotty problems. In the words of the reporter of the IV Commission, which accomplished so much of this difficult labor: "The result achieved to-day is only the corner stone of the edifice universally expected and desired, whose completion can not be hoped. for in a few months. Devotion to law and the spirit of equity and conciliation, by which the labors of this commission have not ceased to be inspired, are the best gauge of the future."

The Russian delegates, Professor de Martens, president of the IV Commission, and M. Nelidow, president of the conference, reflected the importance attached by their country to the solution of the naval questions which the Russo-Japanese War had pressed forward, by declaring that praise or criticism of the conference would be equivalent to praise or criticism of the code of maritime law

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which it adopted, since the two were indissolubly bound together; and that the code of maritime law was even more important than what had been accomplished for arbitration.2

The International Prize Court which is classed in this book with the other international courts under the section of arbitration, may also rightly be looked upon as a triumph within the domain of the regulation of warfare on the sea. And this court Sir Edward Fry of Great Britain, declared to be the most remarkable of all the measures adopted by the conference, "because," he explained, "this is the first time in the history of the world that there has been organized a truly international court. International law to-day," he continued, “is nothing else than a chaos of opinions which are often contradictory and of decisions of national courts based on national laws. We hope to see growing up little by little around this court a system of laws truly international which shall owe its existence solely to the principles of equity and justice, and which will therefore deserve not only the admiration of the world, but the respect and obedience. of civilized nations." This system of international prize law, the outgrowth of the prize court established by the second conference, will also look back to that conference as its primal source.

1. Submarine Mines

The prohibition of the use of unanchored mines, unless/ constructed in such manner as to become harmless within

1 Professor de Martens, in his final address to the IV Commission.

2 President Nelidow, in his final address to the conference.

3 Sir Edward Fry, in his address to the conference at its last plenary session.

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one hour after their control has been lost; the prohibition of the use of anchored mines which do not become harmless as soon as they break their cables; the prohibition of the use of automobile torpedoes which do not become harmless when they have missed their aim; the prohibition of the placing of mines along the coasts and in front of the ports of the enemy, with the sole purpose of intercepting commerce; the requirement that every precaution be taken to protect peaceful navigation against submarine mines; and the agreement that belligerents shall cause them to become harmless after a limited time by removing them, or guarding them, or indicating the dangerous regions and notifying the other powers of them; such were the important regulations prescribed by the second conference for the use of submarine contact mines and torpedoes.

In view of the great destruction to neutral commerce caused in the past by these "demons of the sea," and in view of the fact that this was the first attempt to regulate their use by belligerents and neutrals alike, the achievement of the conference in this respect was of great importance. It is true that the British delegation gave public expression to its keen disappointment that the rules did not go still farther and prohibit the use, under any conditions, of unanchored mines, and restrict the area of anchored mines. But in the regulations adopted, a very long step was taken; and the earnest solicitude of the greatest maritime power of the world in regard to the matter will be a potent force in developing the existing rules into still more drastic ones. And meanwhile, the public acknowledgment, by Germany's first delegate, of the belligerent's heavy responsibility to neutrals in the