All the indirect results of the two Peace Conferences, all the visions which they have summoned above the international horizon, are too numerous to be mentioned here, and they can be fully appreciated only with the progress of the nations towards them. But there are two indirect results of these conferences which, because of their prime and immediate importance, should be mentioned briefly here. These are, first, their promotion of what may be called in Tennyson's phrase, "the federation of the world"; and, second, their preparation for a third Peace Conference at The Hague.

I. THE FEDERATION OF THE WORLD

The above phrase has been selected as the title of this section, rather than its companion one, which is quoted with equal frequency, "the Parliament of Man." Of course, the meeting and work of the two Peace Conferences constitute in no true modern political sense a parliament. The universality of both phrases, it is true, was closely approximated by them. The one hundred members of the first conference represented twenty-six of the world's fifty-nine independent powers, and threefourths of its population and resources; the two hundred and fifty-six members of the second conference represented forty-four_of_the_world's fifty-seven powers claiming sovereignty, and practically all of its population and resources. But although the conferences may properly be called world assemblies, they lacked some essential features of a world parliament or legislature.

On the other hand, they possessed some striking features which may justify the appellation of the federation of the

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world. The legislative, judicial, and executive organs of this federation are still rudimentary, of course, but they have come to life, thanks to the Peace Conferences, and give promise of larger growth. The twenty conventions and declarations adopted by the two conferences form a code of international law which is, in the aggregate, of large volume and great importance. The judicial organs of this federation are the Permanent Court of Arbitration, the Court of Arbitral Justice, and the International Prize Court; and, although the first of these is for purely voluntary resort and the second has not yet been put in operation, they together form a very respectable judiciary for the world federation, a much more respectable one than various other federations have had, and one that is strengthened by an admirable code of judicial procedure and by the obligatory submission to it of at least two important classes of cases, the collection of contractual debts and the adjudication of maritime prizes.

The chief defect of international law in the past has generally been considered to be its lack of an efficient executive. This defect has been largely supplied by the two Peace Conferences. The conventions are operative only upon those powers which have accepted them, but they can be discontinued only after formal notice to the other powers and at the end of one year after the date of such notice. The sanction for the faithful observance of the conventions, meanwhile, rests not only upon the good faith and public opinion of each nation, but upon an international public opinion which has been so largely developed by the conferences that it is almost a creation of their own. They have greatly strengthened this international public opinion by the personal intercourse of

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e leaders of thought throughout the world; and they ave greatly enlightened it by holding up in the clear, any-sided light of a world discussion the ideals of each ation, thus making each nation more fully conscious nan ever before of its own ideals of international conduct nd of those of all other nations. The potency of this trengthened and enlightened international public opinion aas been illustrated many times in the pages of this book. Its force was acknowledged by such dissimilar men as Count Münster, of Germany, in the first conference, and M. Beernaert, of Belgium, in the second; it has been bowed to by many powers, ranging from the British Empire down to Venezuela.

This federation of the world is very far indeed from the ideal of a world empire, which was realized by Cæsar and attempted by Napoleon. It is also very far from the particularist ideal of absolute and isolated autonomy on the part of each nation, which has been found to be, both in the Orient and the Occident, as undesirable as it is impossible. The golden mean between these two extremes which this federation of the world has begun to represent, is well expressed by Professor de Martens, of Russia, in his closing address to the IV Commission of the second conference.

“If we deserve any credit,” he said, and his statement was received with unanimous applause, "for the elaboration of approved projects, it is by grace only of the conviction which inspires all of us without exception that the days of an isolated life and of separation between the nations have passed away for ever, that nations must make mutual concessions to each other, and that only on this essential condition can the organization of the new international and common life become a great blessing to all. This, gentlemen, is the mistress idea of all our labors, and this is the keystone of the edifice of law

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and justice whose corner stone we have recently laid. This idea will become in the future the solid guarantee of international peace, and, by leaving it as a heritage to our successors, we shall guarantee the success of their efforts towards the ideal which we have pursued."

The "edifice of law and justice," to which Professor de Martens referred, was the Peace Palace in The Hague. which Mr. Andrew Carnegie, of the United States, had presented, and whose corner-stone the second conference had laid. This palace, the seat of the international courts established by the conferences, is a tangible and beautiful expression of the ideal of the federation of the world, which they have done so much to realize. The chief public ceremony of the first conference, too, the honor accorded by the United States delegation to the memory of Hugo Grotius at Delft, was the exaltation of that international law and justice which must ever be the motive power and guidance of the federation of the world, and which the two Peace Conferences have done so much to develop.

II. THE THIRD PEACE CONFERENCE

The wholly unexpected manner in which the first conference was called into existence, and the large element of chance which entered into the summoning of the second, led the Interparliamentary Union and other influential organizations to demand that some regular means should be adopted by the second conference for the periodical assembly of its successors.

Secretary Root instructed the United States delegation of 1907 to "favor the adoption of a resolution by the conference providing for the holding of further

conferences within fixed periods and arranging the machinery by which such conferences may be called and the terms of the programme may be arranged, without awaiting any new and specific initiative on the part of the powers or any one of them.” "Encouragement for such a course," Mr. Root added, "is to be found in the successful working of a similar arrangement for international conferences of the American Republics."

The United States delegation introduced a resolution in accordance with these instructions and suggested, as the date of the meeting of the third conference, the month of June, 1914. Although the great desirability of the object of this resolution was freely admitted, the conference seemed to fear that it implied, in some way, a wrong to the Czar of Russia, since he had taken the initiative in calling the first conference and in arranging its programme of work, and had played a large part in the same respects in relation to the second conference. When the resolution was presented in the sixth plenary session, delegation after delegation arose and expressed its gratitude to the Czar, as the initiator of both conferences, and to the Queen of the Netherlands, as their hostess. The delegation of the United States participated in this expression of gratitude, and made it plain that no wrong was intended to the Czar, but that the welfare of humanity should not be subordinated to diplomatic ceremonialism. The resolution, as finally adopted as one of the desires (vaux) of the Final Act was as follows:

"The conference recommends to the powers the reunion of a third Peace Conference, which shall take place within a period analogous to that which has elapsed since the preceding conference, at a date to be fixed by common agreement among the powers, and