BELGIUM. INTERNATIONAL MARITIME CONFERENCE IN REGARD TO SALVAGE AND COLLISIONS AT SEA. No. 209.] The Acting Secretary of State to Minister Townsend. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, February 1, 1905. SIR: This Government having accepted the invitation extended to it by the Government of Belgium to take part in the International Maritime Conference in regard to salvage and collisions at sea, to be held at Brussels, beginning on the 21st of the present month, this Department will be pleased to have you attend the conference as one of its delegates, and to inform the Belgian Government that you will do so, and that your colleague will be Mr. William W. Goodrich, of New York City, who was chairman of the delegation of the United States to the International Marine Conference held at Washington in 1889. The object of the Brussels Conference is to consider the drafts of two proposed international conventions approved by the International Maritime Committee at their Hamburg Conference in 1902. These drafts have been put in conventional form by the Belgian Government and will by that Government be laid before the conference. Copies of the drafts can be obtained by application to the Belgian Government. As the proposed conventions conflict in important particulars with existing laws of the United States, this Government has consented to participate in the conference only on the accepted condition that it would not be in any way bound by the determination of the conference. For this reason it is not expedient to invest you with plenary power. Should you in the light of the practical, technical, and legal knowledge you have on the subjects to be considered think it advisable to sign the proposed conventions, you will do so ad referendum and subject to such legislation as may be necessary by the United States to make them effective. The Department will be pleased to have you furnish it with a full report of the proceedings of the conference. I am, etc., No. 211.] FRANCIS B. LOOMIS. The Secretary of State to Minister Townsend. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, February 9, 1905. SIR: I inclose herewith a copy of a letter addressed to this Department by Mr. Robert D. Benedict, president of the Maritime Law Association of the United States, embodying suggestions in regard to the projects which are to be considered by the International Maritime. Conference at Brussels." As these suggestions have the concurrence of the Department of Commerce and Labor, they may be accepted as the views of the Government of the United States. This Department thinks, therefore, that instead of signing the proposed conventions with the reservation stated in its No. 209 of the 1st instant it would be preferable for the delegates of the United States to have provision made in the conventions for subsequent adhesion by nonsignatory governments, and thus leave the matters open for legislative action. The Department will be pleased to have you and Mr. Goodrich freely consult it by telegraph as occasion may require after his arrival in Brussels. I am, etc., JOHN HAY. LEGATION OF BELGIUM, MEMORANDUM. The conference on maritime law which has just met at Brussels has adjourned after having signed a protocol, the terms of which the delegates have agreed to submit to the examination of their governments concerning two projects of conventions on collisions and salvage. This protocol was signed by the delegates of Belgium, the Kongo, Spain, France, Italy, Japan, Norway, the Netherlands, Roumania, Russia, and Sweden. The delegates of the United States did not consider themselves authorized to sign this protocol. The various States represented, and the Government of Belgium in particular, would be greatly pleased if the minister of the United States at Brussels were authorized to sign this protocol. It will be noticed that this protocol does not imply any engagement. It provides only for the submission of the projects to the examination of the governments. શ [Inclosure.] International Conference on Maritime Law. PROTOCOL. The undersigned delegates, convinced of the great advantages which from every point of view would result from a uniform law on maritime collisions and assistance, and certifying to the favorable dispositions shown in the premises by all the members of the conference during the course of its labors, unanimously agree: 1. To submit to their respective governments, with a view to examination, the annexed projects a prepared by the conference. 2. To suspend the deliberations of the conference and to adjourn them to a date to be proposed by the Belgian Government. Done at Brussels, February 25, 1905. (The signatures follow.) a Not printed. The Acting Secretary of State to Minister Townsend. [Telegram.] DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, March 14, 1905. You may sign protocol agreeing to submit, with a view to examination, projects of maritime conference. Minister Townsend to the Secretary of State. ADEE. No. 253.] AMERICAN LEGATION, Brussels, March 16, 1905. SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of Department's cable of yesterday's date. * * * In conformity with instructions, I have signed the protocol of the International Maritime Conference held at Brussels, February 25 last. * * * I have, etc., LAWRENCE TOWNSEND. No. 27.1 The Acting Secretary of State to Minister Wilson. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, September 6, 1905. SIR: At the International Maritime Conference held at Brussels in February last the Government of the United States was represented by your predecessor, Mr. Lawrence Townsend, and by Judge William W. Goodrich, of New York, a member of the Maritime Law Association of the United States. The object of the conference was to consider the drafts of two proposed international conventions in regard to salvage and collisions at sea, approved by the International Maritime Committee at their Hamburg Conference in 1902. These drafts met with some objections in the Brussels Conference, but were finally adopted in an amended form by the conference with a view to their submission to the respective governments when the conference adjourned to a time to be fixed by the Belgian Government. The Department is now informed by the Belgian legation at Washington that the adjourned conference has been called to meet at Brussels on October 16 next. The Department will be pleased to have you attend this conference in Mr. Townsend's place. Judge Goodrich will be your colleague. The drafts which the February conference agreed to submit to the governments have received consideration by the Department of Commerce and Labor and by the Maritime Law Association of the United States. It having been recommended by the conference that each government taking part therein might formulate for the consideration of the adjourned conference forms of such treaties as might be acceptable to it, the Maritime Law Association of the United States, in a letter dated June 13, 1905, submitted to the Department a form of treaty in reference to collisions at sea which, in the association's opin ion, "the Department of State might well present at the ensuing meeting of the conference" in place of the one proposed by the conference. Having been requested to furnish its views on the form of treaty presented by the Maritime Law Association, the Department of Commerce and Labor, in a letter dated the 4th ultimo, states that it is reluctant to commit itself to the treaty as proposed by the February conference or to the amendments thereto proposed by the Maritime Law Association or to any definite propositions on the subject, for the following reasons: 1. It understands that the American delegates were sent to the conference ad referendum and on the understanding that the Government of the United States would not be in any way committed by their action. 2. While the Department of Commerce and Labor is disposed to approve generally the amendments proposed by the Maritime Law Association as probably meeting some of the objections to American participation in the conference, mentioned in Treasury Department letter of June 15, 1903, such an approval, if accepted by you and includeded in instructions to our delegates, might be regarded as committing the government to the treaty. The interests of American exporters are involved, as well as of shipowners, and in this country are much more extensive. It has not been practicable to ascertain sentiment concerning the treaties in this country except that of the Maritime Law Association. The Department sees no objection to the issue of instructions to Minister Wilson that while this government is not definitely committed to the amendments, the amendments represent the views of the Maritime Law Association, an organization of the highest standing in the United States. 3. As about 60 per cent of American foreign commerce is carried on by vessels of Great Britain and Germany and as those powers have not yet been represented at the conference, the Department is the more convinced that the general instructions to the American delegates should not be changed by specific approval of propositions before the conference by the Government of the United States. In the Department's No. 209, of February 1, 1905, it was stated that As the proposed conventions conflict in important particulars with existing laws of the United States, this government has consented to participate in the conference only on the accepted condition that it would not be in any way bound by the determination of the conference. For this reason it is not expedient to invest you with plenary power. Should you, in the light of the practical, technical, and legal knowledge you have on the subjects to be considered, think it advisable to sign the proposed conventions, you will do so ad referendum and subject to such legislation as may be necessary by the United States to make them effective. This instruction was modified by that of February 9, 1905, No. 211, so that, instead of signing the conventions ad referendum and with the reservation stated, the delegates of the United States were to have provision made in the conventions for subsequent adhesion by nonsignatory governments, thus leaving the matters open for legislative action. It is by this last-mentioned instruction and by the letter of August 4, 1905, from the Department of Commerce and Labor that you are to be guided in your attendance at the October conference. Should occasion require, the Department will be pleased to have you consult it by telegraph. A copy of this instruction has been sent to Judge Goodrich for his information and guidance. I am, etc., a Not printed. F. B. LOOMIS. The Secretary of State to Minister Wilson [Telegram.] DEPARTMENT OF STATE, You may sign protocol of Maritime Conference similar to that of February 25, last signed by Mr. Townsend. No. 33.1 Minister Wilson to the Secretary of State. AMERICAN LEGATION, ROOT. Brussels, October 29, 1905. SIR: I have the honor to report the convening of the International Maritime Conference at Brussels, October 16, 1905, under the presidency of His Excellency Mr. Beernaert, Belgian minister of state. The following countries were represented: Germany, Austria-Hungary, Belgium, Chile, Kongo Free State, Cuba, Santo Domingo, Spain, United States of America, France, Great Britain, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Nicaragua, Paraguay, The Netherlands, Portugal, Roumania, Russia, and Sweden. The representation of most of the concurring countries was large and distinguished, and the debates were most interesting and instructive. At the first meeting of the conference, Monday, the 16th October, I made a declaration in conformity with the instructions contained in Department's No. 211, of February 9, 1905, and the letter of the Department of Commerce and Labor of August 4, 1905, and submitted the form of treaty furnished by the Maritime Law Association. SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the Department's cablegram. of October 27, 1905. In compliance with the instructions therein contained, I to-day visited the ministry for foreign affairs and attached my signature to the protocol of the convention. This protocol does not differ in any material respect from that signed by Mr. Townsend. All of the concurring representatives have signed the convention. I have, etc., HENRY LANE WILSON. a Not printed. |