Hague Conventions

“ If this commonwealth depended, for the freedom of deliberation, on the laws of any state where it might be necessary to sit, would it not be liable to attacks of that nature (and with more indignity) which have been already offered to Congress? With respect to the government of Holland, I believe the States General have no jurisdiction over the Hague; but I have heard that mentioned as a circumstance which gave undue influence to Holland over the rest. We must limit our apprehensions to certain degrees of probability. ”

“ The nation which behaves in like manner deserves no higher consideration.
The conduct of President Wilson and Secretary Bryan in signing these all-inclusive treaties at the same time that they have kept silent about the breaking of the Hague conventions has represented the kind of wrong-doing to this nation that would be represented in private life by the conduct of the individuals who sign such contracts as those mentioned. The administration has looked on without a protest while the Hague conventions have been torn up and thrown to the wind. ”

“ General conventions, to which most of the European states are parties, were signed in 1883 at Paris for the protection of industrial, and in 1886 at Bern for the protection of literary and artistic, property, and, from 1899 onwards, a series of general treaties, to none of which is Great Britain a party, have been signed at the Hague, as the result of conferences, invited by the government of the Netherlands, for solving some of the more pressing questions arising out of “ the conflict of laws.” ”

“ The second Hague conference, of 1907, besides revising the convention made by the first conference, of 1899, as to the laws of war on land, produced new conventions, dealing respectively with the opening of hostilities; neutral rights and duties in land warfare ”

“ Alongside the Hague Peace Conventions and more or less connected with them are standing treaties of arbitration which have been entered into by different nations for terms of years separately. The first of what may be called a new series was that between Great Britain and France. It has now been followed by over a hundred others forming a network of international relationships which shows that, at any rate, the wish for peace is universal among mankind. ”

“ The institutions of The Hague will be for it well nigh a sine qua non at success, and there must be measures for compelling a resort to them in disputes between members of the league and in those arising between any of them and States outside of it. Such provisions as have been contained in the best constitutions that have been suggested for new leagues will be needed in one that may evolve out of one of the existing combinations. ”

“ Germany is a proven perjurer not only in the eyes of the nations at war with her, but also in the regard of the forty-four countries signatory of the Hague Convention. However, we have never heard that a single one of these nations lodged a protest against her actions. The Hague Convention has been torn into shreds, and not one of its signers has entered the slightest protest.
Is the next society of nations to be modeled on the same principles? Is the next society of nations going to draw up articles of the same kind as the Hague society? ”

“ But whereas the State is a settled institution, firmly established and completely organised, the Family of Nations is still in the beginning of its development. A settled institution and firmly established it certainly is, but it entirely lacks at present any organisation whatever. Such an organisation is, however, gradually growing into existence before our eyes. The permanent Court of Arbitration created by the First Hague Peace Conference, and the International Prize Court proposed by the Second Hague Peace Conference, are the first small traces of a future organisation. ”

“ The project for the establishment of a permanent code of international character met at The Hague, and has always met, one formidable obstacle: How can all the states be represented in a body which must necessarily be small? ”

“ As the seat of the executive government, and of the representative bodies, the Hague enjoys advantages which other towns of the republic do not possess; but these advantages are vastly inferior to the benefits which it derived from the stadtholder and his court, and most persons, even republicans, sorrowfully complain of its striking and rapid decay. ”

“ There would not even be the slight benefit that might obtain from the more general statement that we intend hereafter, when we can come to an agreement with foreign powers as to what shall be submitted, to enter into arbitration treaties; for we have already, when we ratified The Hague treaty with the various signatory powers, solemnly declared such to be our intention; and nothing is gained by reiterating our adherence to the principle, while refusing to provide any means of making our intention effectual. ”

“ The delegates of the United States believe, hence, that substantial progress and a noteworthy and historic step in advance has been taken in the interests of peace, and that means have been provided by which wars will be rendered less frequent, if not wholly avoided, between the countries of the Western Hemisphere. The opening of the doors of the permanent tribunal of The Hague to all of the Republics of America, as this protocol has done, is of itself an achievement of the greatest importance. ”

“ The Nations have also carefully abstained from undertaking any obligation to use force to uphold the benevolent rules and agreements of general application that have been recorded at Hague Conferences ”

“ This Convention has been duly ratified both by Germany and by the United States. Its non-ratification by Great Britain is, I conceive, irrelevant.
But Germany contends that the situation is governed by Art. 19, the text of which has been several times set out in your columns, of the old Convention of 1799. This may startle those who are acquainted with what occurred at The Hague in 1907, and I have seen no reference to what must be the gist of the German argument on the point. They no doubt argue that the old Convention remains unrepealed by No. ”

“ The views which we have expressed are supported by modern scholars of high standing in the field of international law. While they differ somewhat in theory as to the present legal status of Germany and concerning the situs of residual sovereignty, they appear to be in accord in recognizing that the powers and rights of the Allied Governments under existing conditions in Germany are not limited by the provisions of the Hague Regulations concerning land warfare. ”

“ Furthermore, the German authorities disregard in a systematic way the prescriptions of Article 52 of the above-mentioned regulations of the Fourth Hague Convention, which stipulate that requisitions in nature from towns and their inhabitants in the occupied territory can only be permitted when they are directly destined for the army of occupation. ”

“ Under both the Fourth Hague Convention of 1907 and the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949, it illegal for occupying forces "to compel the inhabitants of occupied territory to swear allegiance to the hostile Power." ”

“ The Hague Convention had passed rules which ameliorated the practices of war as regards the combatant forces and had solemnly proclaimed the duty of respecting the lives and property of non-combatant civilians. ”

“ It was a great step forward that the Congress of Vienna was able, for the first time, to create general international law by agreement, and that thereby general international law of the legislative kind could come into existence side by side with the customary law of nations. But the nineteenth century introduced international legislation only occasionally. If, as sketched above, success attends the attempt to make the Hague Peace Conferences a permanent institution, there would be evolved for the society of states a legislative organ corresponding to the parliaments of individual states. ”

“ The provisions of The Hague Convention were wisely regarded when President McKinley tendered his friendly offices in the interest of peace between Great Britain and the South African republics. While the American Government must continue the policy prescribed by Washington, affirmed by every succeeding President and imposed upon us by The Hague Treaty, of non-intervention in European controversies, the American people earnestly hope that a way may soon be found, honorable alike to both contending parties, to terminate the strife between them. ”

“ If for any cause the Permanent Court of The Hague should not be opened to one or more of the high contracting parties they obligate themselves to stipulate in a special treaty the rules under which the tribunal shall be established as well as its forms of procedure. ”

“ If good offices and mediation are interposed at the right moment, they will in many cases not fail to effect a settlement of the conflict. The stipulations of the Hague Convention for the peaceful adjustment of differences have greatly enhanced the value of good offices and mediation by giving a legal right to Powers, strangers to the dispute, to offer their good offices and mediation before and during hostilities. ”

“ It seems especially appropriate that The Hague should be chosen as the permanent meeting place of the peace tribunal, for it is not only centrally located for European countries, and, being small, is not itself tempted to appeal to arms, but it has long been the home of religious liberty, and its people were pioneers in the defense of the doctrine that rulers exist for the people, not the people for the rulers. ”

“ When, however, as in the case of the proposed Court, there is set up a body which is given jurisdiction over questions of international rights 85with powers like those of a common law court to evolve by the cumulation of their decisions new rules of international law, it is easy to perceive why all the powers represented at the Hague agreed that the judges sitting in this court must possess the highest qualities of judicial mind and learning. ”

“ Let us have faith then—as we well may—that the day will come, and that our children, if not we ourselves, will see it, when the reference of any international dispute to the Hague Tribunal will seem as natural, as much a matter of course, as in private life the reference of a dispute about property to a court of justice is now ”

“ Arbitration, conciliation, all the means already provided for amicable adjustment, and if possible for the prevention of international conflicts, should be organized on a more solid and more definite basis than in the past, with the sanction, or at least the maximum of necessary precautions, of a federated Europe. All which we have done at The Hague, far from being lost, will serve as a foundation for the building of a pacific federation. ”

“ Here now is a task laid out for the Interparliamentary Union, namely, to develop further the work begun at The Hague.
At this writing—1908—however, that formula has not been found. Parliamentarians, with but few exceptions, when they are not in the Conference but in parliament, do nothing but consent, consent. The study of the problem was postponed from the first to the second and from the second to the third Hague Conference, and still it remains uninvestigated. Where there is no will, there is no way. ”

“ Great Britain is not going to imitate the cynical contempt for treaties, evidenced by the action of Germany in Belgium and Luxemburg, in disregard not only of the well-known treaties of 1889 and 1867, but of a quite recent solemn undertaking, to which I have not noticed any reference. Art. 2 of The Hague Convention No. v. of 1907, ratified by her in 1909, is to the following effect:—
"Belligerents are forbidden to move across the territory of a neutral Power troops or convoys, whether of munitions or of supplies." ”

“ Of course, it is possible to suggest that the Hague Tribunal is conceivably the germ of such an overriding direction and supreme court as the peace of the world demands, but in reality the Hague Tribunal is a mere legal automatic machine. It does nothing unless you set it in motion. It has no initiative. ”

“ In point of fact, the question raised by Sir Edward is not an open one, and, even in our own favoured country, it is most desirable that every one should know exactly how matters stand. The universally accepted rules as to the persons who alone can claim to act with impunity as belligerents are set forth in that well-known "scrap of paper" The Hague Convention No. ”

“ A convention with Great Britain providing for the survey of the Alaskan Canadian Boundary, April 26, 1906, was followed during the next few years by various understandings as to Canada, Alaska, and also the Newfoundland Fisheries — a long vexed question; the Senate early in 1909 ratified an agreement to submit this to The Hague Tribunal. At The Hague, by a treaty signed October 18, 1907, by representatives of practically all civilized nations, and ratified by the Senate early in the following April, a Permanent Court of Arbitration to sit at The Hague was established. ”

“ Here you have the jurisdiction of the court definitely laid down in the treaty creating it. Wider jurisdiction can afterward be conferred as circumstances may justify, it is to be hoped that other Hague Conferences may gradually provide a more and more extended code of international law which the court is to administer and that its jurisdiction may finally extend to all the other principal questions which are now submitted to our federal tribunals under our own constitution. ”

“ The person who formerly conducted the Parliament of England, with so much honour to himself and satisfaction to his guests, was an Englishman; but he retired from business shortly after the expulsion of the stadtholder, and the consequent removal of British subjects from the Hague. His successor, with every possible disposition to gratify those who frequent his house, has not the ability; for, alas! the Hague is no longer the resort of the wealthy and luxurious from all parts of Europe, and by such guests alone is an inn to be maintained in splendour. ”