WILSON— LEGISLATIVE ASPECTS. 309 



agreement upon (i) limitation of armaments; (2) restrictions upon 

 new methods of warfare; (3) prohibition of firing from balloons; 

 (4) prohibition of submarines and rams; (5) adaptation of prin- 

 ciples of Geneva Convention of 1864 to naval warfare; (6) neutrali- 

 zation for vessels saving those overboard after battles at sea; (7) 

 revision of rules of war on land; and (8) acceptance of principles 

 of mediation and arbitration with view to preventing armed conflicts. 



It will be observed that of these eight topics suggested, seven look 

 to furthering peace by limitations upon the conduct of war, and the 

 last topic suggests a quasi-legal method of furthering the movement 

 toward peace. 



The international conference suggested by the Czar and repre- 

 senting twenty-six Powers met on the 20th of May, 1899, in the 

 House in the Woods in the quaintly beautiful Dutch city. The Hague, 

 and remained in session a little more than two months. It is known 

 as the First Hague Peace Conference. The Conference drew up 

 three conventions, three declarations, one resolution, and six wishes : 

 Conventions (i) for the pacific settlement of international disputes 

 by means of good offices and mediation, commissions of inquiry and 

 arbitration; (2) regarding the laws and customs of war on land; 

 (3) adaptation of Geneva Convention of 1864 to maritime warfare; 

 Declarations (i) prohibiting the discharge of projectiles from bal- 

 loons; (2) the use of projectiles for the difTusion of deleterious or 

 asphyxiating gases; (3) the use of expanding bullets; Resolution- 

 affirming the desirability of the restriction of military budgets; 

 Wishes for further consideration of various matters upon which the 

 Conference had not reached agreement. The last topic upon the 

 program suggested by the Czar, had become the first Convention of 

 the First Hague Conference, or the furtherance of the aim of peace 

 by means quasi-legal in character assumed a foremost place in the 

 results of these deliberations at The Hague ; and the first item in 

 the program, the attainment of international peace through the re- 

 striction of the means by which each nation had hitherto maintained 

 its rights, viz: effective armament, became the subject of a resolu- 

 tion and a wish. The last had become first. The Conference had 

 asserted its confidence in the law as the method for settling interna- 

 tional disputes. 



