Volume I Part 74 (1/2)

[Sidenote: Declaration of St. Petersburg.]

-- 562. The Declaration of St. Petersburg[922] of November 29, 1868, signed by Great Britain, Austria-Hungary, Belgium, Denmark, France, Greece, Holland, Italy, Persia, Portugal, Prussia and other German States, Russia, Sweden-Norway, Switzerland, and Turkey--Brazil acceded later on--is a pure law-making treaty. It stipulates that projectiles of a weight below 400 grammes (14 ounces) which are either explosive or charged with inflammable substances shall not be made use of in war.

[Footnote 922: Martens, N.R.G. XVIII. p. 474.]

[Sidenote: Treaty of Berlin of 1878.]

-- 563. The Treaty of Berlin[923] of July 13, 1878, signed by Great Britain, Austria-Hungary, France, Germany, Italy, Russia, and Turkey, is law-making with regard to Bulgaria, Montenegro, Roumania, and Servia. It is of great importance in so far as the present phase of the solution of the Near Eastern Question arises therefrom, although Bulgaria became full-sovereign in 1908.

[Footnote 923: Martens, N.R.G. 2nd Ser. III. p. 449. See Mulas, ”Il congresso di Berlino” (1878).]

[Sidenote: General Act of the Congo Conference.]

-- 564. The General Act of the Congo Conference[924] of Berlin of February 26, 1885, signed by Great Britain, Austria-Hungary, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Holland, Italy, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden-Norway, Turkey, and the United States of America, is a law-making treaty of great importance, stipulating: freedom of commerce for all nations within the basin of the river Congo; prohibition of slave-transport within that basin; neutralisation of Congo Territories; freedom of navigation for merchantmen of all nations on the rivers Congo and Niger; and, lastly, the obligation of the signatory Powers to notify to one another all future occupations on the coast of the African continent.

[Footnote 924: Martens, N.R.G. 2nd Ser. X. p. 414. See Patzig, ”Die afrikanische Conferenz und der Congostaat” (1885).]

[Sidenote: Treaty of Constantinople of 1888.]

-- 565. The Treaty of Constantinople[925] of October 29, 1888, signed by Great Britain, Austria-Hungary, France, Germany, Holland, Italy, Russia, Spain, and Turkey, is a pure law-making treaty stipulating the permanent neutralisation of the Suez Ca.n.a.l and the freedom of navigation thereon for vessels of all nations.

[Footnote 925: Martens, N.R.G. 2nd Ser. XV. p. 557. See above, -- 183.]

[Sidenote: General Act of the Brussels Anti-Slavery Conference.]

-- 566. The General Act of the Brussels Anti-Slavery Conference,[926]

signed on July 2, 1890, by Great Britain, Austria-Hungary, Belgium, the Congo Free State, Denmark, France,[927] Germany, Holland, Italy, Persia, Portugal, Russia, Sweden-Norway, Spain, Turkey, the United States of America, and Zanzibar, is a law-making treaty of great importance which stipulates a system of measures for the suppression of the slave-trade in Africa, and, incidentally, restrictive measures concerning the spirit-trade in certain parts of Africa. To revise the stipulations concerning this spirit-trade the Convention of Brussels[928] of November 3, 1906, was signed by Great Britain, Germany, Belgium, Spain, the Congo Free State, France, Italy, Holland, Portugal, Russia, and Sweden.

[Footnote 926: Martens, N.R.G. 2nd Ser. XVI. p. 3, and XXV. p. 543. See Lentner, ”Der afrikanische Sklavenhandel und die Brusseler Conferenzen”

(1891).]

[Footnote 927: But France only ratified this General Act with the exclusion of certain articles.]

[Footnote 928: Martens, N.R.G. 3rd Ser. I. p. 722.]

[Sidenote: Two Declarations of the First Hague Peace Conference.]

-- 567. The Final Act of the Hague Peace Conference[929] of July 29, 1899, was a pure law-making treaty comprising three separate conventions--namely, a convention for the peaceful adjustment of international differences, a convention concerning the law of land warfare, and a convention for the adaptation to maritime warfare of the principles of the Geneva Convention of 1864,--and three Declarations--namely, a Declaration prohibiting, for a term of five years, the discharge of projectiles and explosives from balloons, a Declaration concerning the prohibition of the use of projectiles the only object of which is the diffusion of asphyxiating or deleterious gases, and a Declaration concerning the prohibition of so-called dum-dum bullets. All these conventions, however, and the first of these declarations have been replaced by the General Act of the Second Hague Peace Conference, and only the last two declarations are still in force.

All the States which were represented at the Conference are now parties to these declarations except the United States of America.

[Footnote 929: Martens, N.R.G. 2nd Ser. XXVI. p. 920. See Holls, ”The Peace Conference at the Hague” (1900), and Merignhac, ”La Conference internationale de la Paix” (1900).]

[Sidenote: Treaty of Was.h.i.+ngton of 1901.]

-- 568. The so-called Hay-Pauncefote Treaty of Was.h.i.+ngton[930] between Great Britain and the United States of America, signed November 18, 1901, although law-making between the parties only, is nevertheless of world-wide importance, because it neutralises permanently the Panama Ca.n.a.l, which is in course of construction, and stipulates free navigation thereon for vessels of all nations.[931]

[Footnote 930: Martens, N.R.G. 2nd Ser. x.x.x. p. 631.]

[Footnote 931: It ought to be mentioned that article 5 of the Boundary Treaty of Buenos Ayres, signed by Argentina and Chili on September 15, 1881--see Martens, N.R.G. 2nd Ser. XII. p. 491--contains a law-making stipulation of world-wide importance, because it neutralises the Straits of Magellan for ever and declares them open to vessels of all nations.