SINCE THE PACIFICATION OF 1815. 515 Rivier, Professor of International Law in Brussels University as Arbitrator. By his death, in Brussels on the 21st July, 1898, the proceedings were interrupted; but M. H. Matzen, Professor at the University of Copenhagen, and President of the Danish Senate, has been appointed Arbitrator in his stead. (Pending.) 187. GREAT BRITAIN and FRANCE, in 1898. By Article 5 of the Niger Convention June 14th, 1898, provision is made for two fresh Commissions: the one to be appointed, within a year from its ratification, for the purpose of delimitating on the spot the frontiers west of the Niger, and the other within a period of two years from the same date to delimitate the frontiers east of that river. Subsequent difficulties having arisen in connection with territories in the neighbourhood of the Nile in Eastern Africa, a further Agreement was concluded in March, 1899, after considerable negotiations, dealing with these as a supplement of the Niger Convention. The arrangements provide for another Mixed Commission, which will complete the delimitation on the spot. An 188. GREAT BRITAIN and the UNITED STATES, in 1898. agreement between the United States and Canada was reached in May, 1898, and subsequently submitted to Great Britain for approval, for the creation of an Arbitral Joint Commission, to consider all subjects of controversy between the United States and Canada, and to frame a treaty between the Imperial Government and the former for the complete adjustment of these differences The High Joint Commission was composed of ten members-five from each side-viz., Lord Herschell, Sir Wilfrid Laurier, Sir Richard J. Cartwright Sir Louis H. Davies and John Charlton, Esq., M.P., on the one side; and Senator Gray, Mr. Kasson, Mr. Nelson Dingley, Jun., Mr. Fairbanks and ex-Secretary Foster on the other. The first meeting was held at Quebec, August 23rd, 1898, and Lord Herschell was appointed President. It was decided to discuss the following subjects in the order named, viz.: Behring Sea sealing; the fisheries on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts; the determination of the Alaska boundary (see No. 172); to arrange for the transit of bonded merchandise; alien labour laws; mining rights; the readjustment of customs duties; to revise the agreement regarding the presence of warships on the great lakes; the better defining of the frontier; extradition; wrecking and salvage rights. After remaining in session at Quebec for some three weeks the Commission adjourned to Washington, where its sittings were resumed and terminated by a brilliant banquet, December 20th. The work of the Commission was somewhat interrupted by the death of Mr. Dingley and the illness of Mr. Foster. After nearly eight months' deliberation, the Joint High Commission adjourned in February, 1899, without reaching any definite decision, to meet again on the 2nd August in Quebec. Since its adjournment it has sustained a further loss by the sudden and unexpected death of its President, Lord Herschell, in March, 1899. The Commission has not again met. 189. CHILI and PERU, in 1898. At the close of the war between Chili and Peru in 1884, the provinces of Tarapaca and Tacna were ceded by the latter to her victorious rival, on the understanding that at the end of ten years the future of Tacna should be determined by a plebiscite of its inhabitants. Owing to troubles in Peru, the decision has been deferred, but it has been finally agreed to submit the matter to the arbitration of the Queen of Spain, who will decide on the form the plebiscite shall take. 190. ARGENTINE REPUBLIC, CHILI and BOLIVIA, in 1898. A dispute respecting the delimitation of the Puña de Atacama, ceded by Bolivia to Argentina but claimed by Chili, which was not included in the Arbitration Protocol to be submitted to Queen Victoria (see No. 164) was by a protocol, signed by the representatives of the two Republics, November 12th, 1898, referred to a Conference of five members, named by each of the Governments, to meet forthwith in Buenos Ayres for a term of eight days only. Failing an agreement at the last sitting the matter was referred to the decision of an Arbitral Tribunal consisting of three persons, a delegate appointed by each Government and the United States Minister-Plenipotentiary to Buenos Ayres, the Hon. Mr. Buchanan. The labours of this demarcation commission were completed and the results announced by the Argentine Government through its various Ministers, March 25th, 1899. 516 INSTANCES OF INTERNATIONAL ARBITRATION SINCE 1815. 191. GREAT BRITAIN and BRAZIL, in 1899. Guiana boundary question. The British proposal to submit this question to Arbitration was accepted by the Brazilian Government, March 8th, 1899, and Senor Joaquim Nabuco, who was formerly Secretary to the Brazilian Legation in London, was appointed Commissioner to negotiate the Arbitration Treaty with Great Britain and prepare the case. 192. GREAT BRITAIN, GERMANY and the UNITED STATES, in 1899. The Samoan difficulty. By the Arbitral Award of June 14th, 1889, the fourteen islands of Samoa were declared an independent and neutral territory, and arrangements were made (see No. 131) for its administration. These hitherto worked successfully, but during the present year, 1899, complications arose in connection with the succession to the throne, and civil war resulted. The three interested powers appointed a Joint Commission to consider the questions arising between themselves out of the alleged infraction of the Berlin Treaty of 1889. This "Samoan Joint High Commission" consisted of Mr. C. N. E. Eliot, C.B., of the Diplomatic Service, for Great Britain, Mr. Bartlett Tripp, formerly Minister to Austria, for the United States, and Baron Von Sternberg, First Secretary of the Embassy at Washington, for Germany, who were to proceed at once to the islands and begin their work without delay. The Commissioners sailed from San Francisco in the U.S. Cruiser "Badger," April 26th. They completed their work; held their last meeting at Apia; and left on the 18th August. An agreement for the partition of the Samoan Islands was signed at Washington, December 2nd, 1899. 193. GREAT BRITAIN and RUSSIA, in 1899. Claim of Messrs. Jardine, Matheson & Co., to property held by them in the Russian Concession at Hankow. It has been arranged between M. de Giers, the Russian Minister, and Mr. Bax Ironside, the British Chargé d'Affaires, to submit the question to an Arbitration Court, which, says the Novoye Vremya, will have to examine from a strictly legal standpoint the documents produced by the firm, the formalities observed, etc. 194. The UNITED STATES and RUSSIA, in 1899. Claims of American citizens resulting from the seizure of whalers by Russia in the Behring Sea, within seven miles of the Asiatic coast. A final protocol has been drawn up, and the final formalities are being concluded for submitting these to Arbitration, but the procedure is still in its initial stages. 195. GREAT BRITAIN, GERMANY and the UNITED STATES, in 1899. Question of compensation for losses sustained at Samoa by subjects of the three Powers during the recent disturbances. By an Agreement between the three Powers, signed in Washington on November 7th, 1899, these were referred to a Court of Arbitration, so far as the losses had arisen from unjustifiable military action on the part of officers of one or other of the signatory Powers. (See also Nos. 131 and 192.) ANGLO-AMERICAN ARBITRATION TREATY, Signed at Washington, January 11th, 1897, and carried in the Senate on Wednesday, May 5th, by a majority of seventeen, forty-three voted for and twenty-six against. As, however, a majority of two-thirds was necessary to render the vote valid, the ratification of the Treaty was defeated. ITALY and the ARGENTINE REPUBLIC. GENERAL TREATY of ARBITRATION. Provides that all disputes between the two countries shall be referred to an Arbitration Court, and though the Tribunal is not permanent, the provisions for its creation, as needed, are. Signed at Rome, July 23rd, 1898. THE HAGUE CONVENTION. Adopted in a plenary sitting of the Peace Conference on July 29th, 1899, and signed immediately by the representatives of sixteen of the signatory Powers, to take effect as soon as nine at least agree. WERTHEIMER, LEA & CO., PRINTERS, LONDON. |