M. Ladislas de Hamory, député. M. le comte Georges Karolyi, député. M. Aurate Csatho, rédacteur. M. François de Komlossy, rédacteur. Italie. M. le marquis di San Giuliano, président. M. le prince B. Odescalchi, vice-président, sénateur. M. G. B. Brunialti. M. le comte Giuseppe Bracci, député. M. A. Capece Minutolo, Marquis di Bugnano, député. M. le marquis Colonel Charles Compans, député. M. le marquis L. Compans. M. Federico di Palma, député. M. le colonel Arturo Galletti di Cadilhac, député. M. Edoardo Daneo, député. M. le comte Annibale Lucernari, député. M. G. di Stefano, député. M. Achille Visocchi, député. M. A. Pavia, député. M. le commandeur G. Cerruti, ancien député. M. Giuseppe d'Andrea, député. M. le marquis Théodoli di San Vito, secrétaire. Norvège. M. John Lund, député, président du groupe, ancien président du Lagthing. Dr. Gobat, député. M. Ch. Kinzelbach. M. Alfred Brustlein, député. M. Heinrich Scherrer, député. Suisse. [Translation.] REPORT OF MR. GOBAT, SECRETARY-GENERAL OF THE INTERPARLIAMENTARY UNION. A year has passed since the Conference met at Vienna. I wish to record that that meeting, of all those held heretofore, has enjoyed the greatest measure of public notice. From one end of Europe to the other, the press paid it attention and published accounts of its proceedings, generally accompanied by favorable comments. The newspapers of the capital of Austria, organs of a population that is sincerely fond of pacific aspirations, having made it a point, with remarkable zeal, for which we thank them, to give to the deliberations of the Twelfth Conference a wide publicity, the press of the other countries followed their example. I note this gratifying result in order to show how great is the importance of enlisting the interest of the newspapers at the seat of the Interparliamentary Conferences in the labors of the said Conferences. While we have thus far been unable to secure a direct cooperation of the press in our efforts, let us at least avail ourselves, for our general meetings, of the powerful means of action at its disposal. It is an auxiliary of which we stand in absolute need. The Bureau of the Interparliamentary Union carried out the decisions of the Conference of Vienna by communicating them to the proper quarters. I then assisted in the preparation of the account of the proceedings of that meeting. The Austrian Committee had the excellent idea of taking another census of the members of the Union, the first of which I had published some ten years ago in our late magazine, "La Conférence Interparlementaire." The census shows a membership of over 2,000, not including the United States, whose group had not yet been organized. What strength lies in that figure and how much greater would that strength be, if we had a better organization! The Peace International Bureau having called upon us to acquaint the groups of the Union with the resolutions of the Twelfth Universal Peace Congress held at Rouen, concerning the suspension of armament, the right to peace, and the use of balloons in warfare, I complied with the request and communicated the resolutions to the members of the councils. I tried to organize a group of the Union in Greece, the only one of the European countries under a constitutional government that has not joined the institution. Having procured the addresses of several influential deputies, I made overtures to them, by sending them the reports of our proceedings, as well as the publications of the Bureau, and asked them to organize a group. One of them answered that he would do so; but thus far he has not kept his promise. The agitation now prevailing in the Balkans may account for this to a certain point. Furthermore, the manager of the Interparliamentary Bureau, in addition to the very considerable current work that devolves upon him his correspondence alone includes 384 letters and 8 circulars sent out since the Conference of Vienna-has had much of his time taken up by the organization of the St. Louis Conference. That city had been conditionally designated to be the seat of our twelfth general meeting. It was agreed that the personal invitation of the American delegate to the Conference of Vienna should be confirmed by that of an Interparliamentary group. After his return home Mr. Bartholdt succeeded in organizing, in a rather short time, a group which confirmed his invitation, and I lost no time in informing the members of the Interparliamentary Union Council of the fact. Then, our honorable colleague of the United States introduced in the House of Representatives of Congress a resolution by which Congress itself was in turn to address an invitation to the members of the Interparliamentary Union. In the meanwhile I received the invitation of the American group, drawn up in accordance with all the rules. I immediately communicated it to the Interparliamentary Council. Next came the decision of Congress; a cordial invitation addressed to the Interparliamentary Union to hold its general meeting in a city of the United States, with an appropriation of the sum required to defray expenses. I This memorable resolution was made known to the council. entreated, in my circular letter, the members to use their best efforts. to promote the Conference of St. Louis. The wish, which I took the liberty of expressing, was fulfilled beyond all expectation. Mr. Bartholdt and I were far from hoping, when we wondered, at Vienna, how many of our members would go to St. Louis, that more than 250 would respond. From the beginning of the year 1904, there was a constant exchange of views between Berne, Washington, and St. Louis. If I was not always able to send to applicants precise information, I beg them to consider that distance hampered communication and that while I offered advice or directions to the American committee, I always had to await its decision. The Bureau had also to look after the means of transportation and serve as an intermediary between a large number of our members and the ocean steamship navigation companies. The Interparliamentary Council met at Brussels on the 29th of April last, Mr. Beernaert in the chair. Thirteen members were in attendance. It recorded the demise of one of its members, Count Don Arturo di Marcoartu, former senator of Spain, one of the parliamentarians who gave the greatest attention to international arbitration. He had made it, so to speak, the aim of his life. The council discussed the organization of the Twelfth Conference and offered various recommendations concerning the arrangements to be made by the American committee. It framed the order of business of that conference and decided to communicate it at once to the groups. Finally it instructed its bureau to forward a congratulatory address to the ministers of foreign affairs of France and Great Britain. That paper was drawn up in the following language: The Interparliamentary Council assembled at Brussels on the 25th of April last has noted with keen gratification that important agreements have recently been concluded between France and Great Britain, first an arbitration treaty, next, and quite recently, an agreement concerning various controversies that might arise between those two States. By these memorable acts, two powers of the first class have achieved in international policy progress from which the most happy results should flow. They have not only brought about a better understanding which bids fair to endure, but also inaugurated an international procedure which all the friends of justice among nations hail as a good omen for compulsory arbitration and the gradual limitation of armaments. Thus Great Britain and France set for the other states a noble example of magnanimity which secures to them moral preponderance among nations and the gratitude of humanity. Realizing the high importance of such agreements, the Interparliamentary Council, consisting of delegates from the parliaments of Europe and the United States, has instructed its bureau to tender to the makers of the Franco-British agreements its sincere congratulations on the work they have so happily accomplished. Mr. Delcassé and Lord Lansdowne have addressed their thanks to the bureau of the council. The Interparliamentary Council met again on the 11th of September at St. Louis to frame in their final shape the various resolutions laid before the council. I should like to present a long statement of the labors and declarations of the group of the Interparliamentary Union, but there are not many to record. On the occasion of the discussion of the budget in the Reichstag of the German Empire, Mr. Hoffmann, a deputy from Wurttemberg, set forth three points of the programme of the friends of international justice the guaranty for peace, the limitation of armaments, the perfecting of the Court of Arbitration at The Hague. These ideas are not very popular in Kant's fatherland, and it requires some courage to broach the subject in Parliament. Yet they are even now listened to without excessive impatience. By reading the speech of the honorable deputy from Wurttemberg and the Record of the Reichstag, I learned that, as far back as 1879, one of his colleagues introduced a resolution requesting the Chancellor of the Empire to call a congress of the European States for the purpose of examining the question whether it would not be expedient to reduce by one-half the armaments of armed peace, provisionally, for a term of ten or fifteen years. Prince Bismarck answered him that the first thing to do was to win the neighbors of Germany over to the idea of disarming. My purpose in mentioning this incident, which occurred twenty-five years ago, is to show that the friends of disarmament have no occasion to feel discouraged. The Imperial Chancellor looked upon the limitation of armaments as an impracticable scheme. Twenty years later a Universal Congress of the States was called to consider the question; and while it has not done so, it has at least admitted that it should be, and decided that it shall be, so examined by a future congress. At a sitting of the Reichsrat delegation of the Empire of Austria, Doctor Licht, deputy, speaking as a member of the Interparliamentary Union, asked that the arbitration clause be inserted in commercial treaties, and in such a way that its enforcement be secured by designating the Tribunal of Arbitration in the arbitral clause. This, as you see, is the formula adopted by the Interparliamentary Conference of Vienna. In France, Mr. Hubbard asked, at a session of the Chamber of Deputies, that an appropriation be made for the maintenance of the permanent court at The Hague. He carried his point. The same deputy introduced in the chamber a resolution requesting the French Government to concert with foreign governments arrangements for the limitation of armaments. The minister replied that the idea of limitation would not meet in France with serious opposition, but that it was not for France to take the initiative. The Portuguese Parliament continues to give official evidence of its interest in the Interparliamentary Union by designating the members of both houses who are to belong to it. This year it was the Upper House that designated the 61 peers and deputies representing the Parliament in our Union. Portugal distinguishes itself by its loyalty to the principles of justice. Sentiment favorable to peace is largely, constantly, and in every manner promoted in that country. These ideas are even made the subject of law lectures in the University of Coimbra. Similar conditions exist at Rome also, where one of our colleagues, Senator Pierantoni, delivered special lectures on the ideas and projects of international peace and justice throughout the history of mankind, followed by a commentary on the protocols of the conference of The Hague. Our colleague, Mr. Wavrinsky, secretary of the Swedish group, has published a detailed report of the Conference of Vienna. I now come to the Great Republic, of which we are now the guests. President Roosevelt in his annual message to Congress declared that the triumph of arbitration is a matter for congratulation, and that he was happy to see so many nations appear before the Permanent Court 23306-05-10 |