REPORT ON EXCHANGES. 137 



and Sweden were represented at the first conference, which was held 

 at Brussels in 1880. The provisional arrangement which resulted from 

 that preliminary conference has siuce been converted into a project of 

 convention, the text of which is herewith annexed (A). 



Certain modifications to this preliminary project of conventions have 

 been proposed. They are set forth in the document which you wdl also 

 find inclosed herewith (B). 



The Government of the King has demanded on its part the adoption 

 of an amendment which seems of incontestable utility. It would be the 

 tenth article of the new arrangement, of which I have the honor, Mr. 

 Minister, to communicate to you the text, and concerning which the de- 

 liberations of the reunion of the 10th April will be held. As I stated 

 to you above, Mr. Minister, the labor of the delegates will be submitted 

 by them to their respective Governments, and thereafter the time of 

 meeting of the conference which will be held for the purpose of signing 

 the final arrangement will be fixed. 



The following is, Mr. Minister, the text of the amendment which I 

 have proposed : 



"The respective Governments moreover engage themselves to cause 

 to be forwarded to the legislative chambers of each contracting state, 

 as soon as they are published, and without passing through the inter- 

 mediary of the bureaus of exchange, one [two] copies of the official jour- 

 nal, parliamentary annals, and documents." 



I do not presume that this proposition can incur any opposition. A 

 common interest is attached to it for all countries to secure the prompt 

 communication of official acts and documents relating to parliament- 

 ary debates. In the last Belgian legislative session a member of the 

 Chamber of Bepreseutatives called my attention to this important point, 

 and it seemed to me that the projected convention furnished an oppor- 

 tunity of attaining, by a channel more efficacious than any other — that 

 is, of an international agreement — the object which we have in view. 

 Each Government will no doubt deem it expedient to admit a clause 

 which cannot fail to be fertile in good results and which cannot raise 

 any difficulty. 



1 will add, Mr. Minister, that the following powers have been invited 

 to participate in the deliberations to which I allude : Germany, Eng- 

 land, Austria-Hungary, Brazil, Denmark, Spain, United States of 

 America, France, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Boumania, 

 Bussia, Servia, Sweden and Norway, and Switzerland. 



The meetings will be held in the session room of the Boyal Academy 

 of Belgium, in the Palace of the Academies (Bue Ducale 1). The first 

 meeting will be held Tuesday next, April 10, at 11 o'clock. The instal- 

 lation of the conference will be under the care of the minister of the 

 interior. 



Pray accept, Mr. Minister, the assurances of my most distinguished 



consideration. 



FrEre-Orlean. 



