A committee of the conference waited on me to present these resolutions and
to express the hope that our Government if it could take no part in their
action would at least sympathize with its object. I assured them that the
American people and Government could not be indifferent to such a move; that
we had been the first to take decided steps for the practical adoption of
the principle of arbitration, and that the efforts of the distinguished men
who in France and in England were endeavoring to reach the same object had
our moral support.
The members of the French Chambers who are in favor of arbitration are men of
character and ability 5 some like Jules Simon of the Senate and Mr. Frederic
Passy of the House are conspicuous and eminent in certain respects, but they
are not numerous, and the public at large seems to take very little interest
in the matter.
[Inclosure in No.
720.—Translation.]
Extract from the Proces-Verbal of the Parliamentary
Conference of the 31st October,
1888.
The members of the British and French Parliaments united in conference at
Paris the 31st October, 1888, for the purpose of assuring the
maintenance of pacific relations between Great Britain, the United
States, and France, by working at the preparation of treaties of
arbitration between these three nations for the friendly settlement of
differences which may arise between them, have taken cognizance of the
documents, parliamentary and others, relating to the question of
arbitration in the three countries, to wit, especially:
- First. The address sent to the President and Congress of the
United States by two hundred and thirty-three members of the
House of Commons of England, and the sentiments annexed thereto
of thirty-six members of the House of Lords, and of eminent
persons, such as Messrs. Gladstone, Bright, Spurgeon, Cardinal
Manning, Reverend Newman Hall, and the Lord Mayor of
London.
- Second. The resolutions presented to the two Houses of the
Congress of the United States by a great number of their members
and more especially by the Senators, in view of a permanent
treaty of arbitration between France, the United States, and
Great Britain, as well as with all other nations disposed to
join with them.
- Third. The reports of the Committee of Foreign Affairs and the
votes of the Senate in the sittings of the 14th and 18th June,
1888.
- Fourth. The provisions of resolutions, dated 21st January,
1887, and 21st April, 1888, presented to the chamber of deputies
of France by a great number of its members and tending to the
amelioration of international law by the more frequent resort to
arbitration for the settlement of conflicts between nations, and
more particularly to the conclusion of a general and permanent
treaty of arbitration between the French Republic and the
Republic of the United States.
- Fifth. The petitions addressed with this object to the French
Government, the last of which bears, besides others, the
signatures of one hundred and twelve members of the chamber of
deputies.
They declare, on the one hand, that the present state of the world
constitutes for all nations a source of dangers and of ruin to which an
end should be put; on the other hand, that the resort to arbitration for
the settlement of international difficulties, the efficacy of which has
always been proved on numerous occasions, is at once one of the surest
ways of terminating the difficulties which may arise, and one of the
best means of preventing these difficulties by the spirit of moderation
and justice which it tends to disseminate.
They consider that the facts above recalled and the manifestations of
opinion in the different civilized states show in the most evident
manner the feeling of the necessity of peace and security with which
civilized nations are animated.
They observe that, as far as the three nations specially cited above are
concerned, the initiative taken by an important number of the members of
their parliaments gives ground for hoping from these parliaments the
approval of conventions of a nature to insure, under conditions of
perfect dignity for each of the parties, the resort to arbitration.
That from the simultaneousness as from the importance of these
manifestations it is clear that the same movement was produced with the
same intensity and to the equal honor of each of the three nations in
the three countries; so that it can not be said that it belongs rather
to one than to another, and that no one of the governments in giving its
attention to it could be considered as making advances to the others,
advances whcih would be, moreover, entirely honorable.
They congratulate themselves upon this situation, record it, and by
common accord adopt the following resolutions:
- First. A copy of the present resolutions shall be forwarded
simultaneously to the Governments of the United States, Great
Britain, and France.
- Second. An appeal shall be made to the press and to public
opinion to second this movement.
- Third. All members present and those who have given their
approval to the provisions above recalled are requested not to
neglect any opportunity of drawing the attention of the
parliaments to which they belong to the question; and a similar
request shall be addressed to the members of the American
Congress who have presented or supported analogous
resolutions.
- Fourth. A further meeting, to which will be admitted not only
the members of the three parliaments above cited, but also the
members of other parliaments who have made themselves known by
their devotion to the same ideas, shall take place next year to
complete the work commenced in this first conference.
- Fifth. A committee shall be charged with making the
preparations for that meeting, and with carrying out the present
resolutions.
In accordance with the above-given fifth resolution, Messrs Frederic
Passy, president; Sir George Campbell and Cremer, vice-presidents; Jules
Gaillard and Burt, secretaries; officers of the meeting have been chosen
to form the executive committee, to whom have been joined Messrs.
Provand and Schwann, M. P.; Jules Simon, Senator; Siegfried and Yves
Guyot, deputies.
