FINAL ACT OF SECOND PAN AMERICAN SCIENTIFIC CONGRESS. 105 



what may be called an international institution, in order that the concep- 

 tion of international law may, as it were, be internationalized. 

 A distinguished teacher of the law of nations has said : 



It is to be deplored that many writers on the law of war and neutrality 

 should take every opportunity of displaying their political sympathies and 

 antipathies, and should confound their own ideas of justice, humanity, 

 and morality with the universally recognized rules of warfare and neutral- 

 ity. French books often contain denunciation of the Germans and the 

 English; English books Hall's classical treatise furnishes at once an illus- 

 tration and a warning frequently condemn the Germans and the Rus- 

 sians; and the Germans on many occasions retaliate by reproaching the 

 French and the English. 1 



This tendency to defend the policy of one's own country is the more in- 

 sidious because it is often unconscious, and the best way, it is believed, to 

 overcome this tendency seems to be to come into contact with teachers 

 of reputation of different countries in some international institution, 

 where the bias of one, if it exist, may be offset by the views of another 

 teacher of equal repute and of a different nationality. 



On the 1 2th day of January, 1914, the Academy of International Law 

 was founded at The Hague, and arrangements had been made for its 

 formal opening on the ist day of October, 1914. It was not opened on 

 that date, for reasons which need not be mentioned in this connection. 

 It should be said, however, that arrangements had already been made 

 for courses of instruction by distinguished teachers and professors of 

 international law drawn from different countries, as it is a fundamental 

 rule of the Academy that no two instructors should be chosen during one 

 and the same period from the same country. The student body was to 

 be drawn from advanced students of different foreign countries, and it 

 was believed by the most distinguished publicists that, by the presence 

 of professors selected from different countries and by the intercourse of 

 students, likewise coming from different countries, the horizon of the 

 professors would be broadened and their views, as well as the views of 

 the students, internationalized. The great experiment remains to be 

 tried, as the Academy is to be opened in the Peace Palace at The Hague 

 at no distant date, and the students will, it is to be hoped, press in in- 

 creasing numbers to this Mecca of internationalism. 



Arrangements were in contemplation and indeed well under way to 

 establish one or more fellowships in all countries parties to The Hague 

 Conventions, so that young men planning to engage in the practice of 

 international law or to devote themselves to diplomacy might perfect 

 their studies at this international center. For the time being the process 



1 Oppenheim, International I,aw, ist ed., vol. ii, p. vii. 



