REPORT ON EXCHANGES. 135 



legislative chambers of each contracting state, as soon as they are pub- 

 lished, and without passing through the intermediary bureaus of ex- 

 changes, a copy of the official journal and of the parliamentary docu- 

 ments and annals." 



In your instruction to me there was no mention of this proposition. 

 It is not referred to by Professor Baird or by Mr. Boehmer in his mem- 

 orandum. 



Upon verbal inquiry at the foreign office, I ascertained that it was 

 sent in November last to the Belgian legation at Washington, with in- 

 structions to bring it to your notice. 



I had therefore to deal with the proposition entirely as a measure of 

 possible utility to Congress. I saw that the transmission of fifteen or 

 twenty copies of the Congressional Record, of all the bills, motions, peti- 

 tions, reports, &c, by post would involve a large outlay in postage, in 

 addition to the cost of paper and printing, and that it would entail the 

 employment of additional clerks to attend to it. On the other hand, 

 the daily receipt of similar matter from fifteen or twenty Governments 

 would require a considerable staff to sort and care for the publications, 

 and soon involve the construction of additional room for their preser- 

 vation. 



I have no doubt that such an exchange established with certain Gov- 

 ernments would prove of great usefulness to Congress, but I very 

 much question whether it would be wise to bind ourselves to such an ex- 

 change with all the countries represented in the convention. If you 

 should differ with me, the way is still open for our Government to enter 

 into such an arrangement, as the article proposed by the Belgian Gov- 

 ernment was omitted from the convention signed by all the delegates 

 to the conference, and was made the subject of a special convention 

 between those which supported it. 



The delegates of Austria-Hungary, Belgium, Brazil, Italy, Portugal, 

 Roumania, Spain, and Servia signed the two conventions. 



The delegates of the United States, France, and Switzerland, being 

 opposed to the Belgian proposal, signed only the draft of the general 

 convention, which was signed by all the delegates. 



For a more thorough comprehension of the discussion of the con- 

 ference I inclose herewith (inclosure 3) a copy and (inclosure 4) a 

 translation of the proposals originally submitted to our discussion at 

 the opening of the conference, and a proof copy of the proceedings 

 of the conference (inclosure 5), of which I have made a tree transla- 

 tion (inclosure G). 



I inclose herewith copies and translations of the final protocol which 

 was signed by the delegates of all the powers represented at the con- 

 ference (inclosure 7), and of the. draft of the convention signed by them 

 (inclosure 8). 



I also inclose a copy and translation of the convention embodying 

 the Belgian proposal for the immediate exchange of parliamentary doc- 



