NETHERLANDS. 



529 



to intervene in the proceedings. If one or more 

 of them have availed themselves of this privilege, 

 the interpretation contained in the judgment is 

 equally obligatory on them also. 



"ART. LVII. Each party bears its own ex- 

 penses and an equal share of the expenses of the 

 tribunal, without prejudice to the penalties which 

 may be imposed by the tribunal against one or 

 another of the parties. 



" ART. LVIII. The present convention shall 

 be ratified with the least possible delay and the 

 ratifications deposited at The Hague. The officer 

 is to draw up a proems-verbal of each ratification, 

 a certified copy of which is to be sent by the 

 intermediary of diplomacy to all the powers 

 which have been represented at the conference. 



*'* ART. LIX. Nonsignatory powers which have 

 been represented at the conference can adhere to 

 the present convention. For this purpose they 

 must make known their adhesion to the con- 

 tracting powers by means of a written notifica- 

 tion addressed to the Government of the Nether- 

 lands, and communicated by the latter to the 

 other contracting powers. 



" ART. LX. The conditions on which powers 

 which have not been represented at the confer- 

 ence can adhere to the present convention will 

 form the object of a further agreement among the 

 contracting powers. 



" ART. LXL If it should occur that one of 

 the high contracting powers denounce the present 

 convention, such denunciation shall only take 

 effect one year after notification made in writing 

 to the Government of the Netherlands, and im- 

 mediately communicated by the latter to all the 

 other contracting powers. This denunciation only 

 to affect the power which has given such notifica- 

 tion." 



The representatives of the United States de- 

 sired to have the wording of the twenty-eighth 

 article altered, so as to leave no implication of 

 an obligation or pledge of the United States to 

 intermediate or intervene in any way in inter- 

 national differences arising between European 

 states, since that would contravene the principles 

 of Washington and Monroe that have been adopt- 

 ed as the settled policy of the United States. 

 The French representatives were so desirous of 

 letting the phrase stand that the American dele- 

 gates accepted it, expressing their reservation in 

 the following declaration: 



" The delegation of the United States of Amer- 

 ica, in signing the convention regulating the 

 peaceable settlement of international conflicts as 

 proposed by the International Peace Conference, 

 makes the following declaration: Nothing con- 

 tained in this convention shall be so construed 

 as to require the United States of America to 

 depart from its traditional policy of not entering 

 upon, interfering with, or entangling itself in the 

 political questions or internal administration of 

 any foreign state. Nor shall anything contained 

 in the said convention be construed to require 

 a relinquishment by the United States of Amer- 

 ica of its traditional attitude toward purely 

 American questions." 



In signifying the adhesion of the Ottoman Gov- 

 ernment to the arbitration convention the Turk- 

 ish delegation made the following declaration: 



"1. It is formally understood that recourse to 

 good offices, to mediation, to the commissions of 

 inquiry, and to arbitration is purely optional, and 

 can not in any case assume an obligatory charac- 

 ter or degenerate into intervention. 



" 2. The Imperial Government will have to 

 judge for itself as to the cases in which its inter- 

 ests allow of its admitting of those means, with- 

 VOL. xxxix. 34 A 



out its abstention or refusal to have recourse 

 thereto being considered by the signatory states 

 as an unfriendly proceeding. Of course, none of 

 the means referred to can be applied to ques- 

 tions of a domestic order." 



The second convention adopted by tin; confer- 

 ence deals with the laws and customs of war on 

 land. The signatory powers bind themselves to 

 issue instructions to all their land forces to act 

 in conformity with the articles of this conven- 

 tion. The articles only apply to the contracting 

 powers. Powers not represented at the confer- 

 ence or not signatories of the convention can give 

 in their adhesion by notifying the Government 

 of the Netherlands. The convention, which re- 

 places the code drawn up at the Brussels confer- 

 ence of 1874, runs as follow: 



"SECTION L OF BELLIGERENTS. 



" CHAPTER I. OF THE QUALITY OF BELLIG- 

 ERENT. 



" ARTICLE I. The laws, rights, and duties of 

 war apply not only to the army, but also to the 

 militia and corps of volunteers which combine the 

 following conditions: 



"1. Of having at their head some person re- 

 sponsible for his subordinates; 



" 2. Of having a fixed distinctive badge recog- 

 nizable at a distance; 



" 3. Of carrying their arms openly ; and 



"4. Of conforming in their operations to the 

 laws and customs of war. In countries where 

 the militia or corps of volunteers constitute the 

 whole or part of the army they are included in 

 the designation army. 



" ART. II. The population of a nonoccupied ter- 

 ritory which at the approach of the enemy spon- 

 taneously takes up arms to combat the invading 

 troops without having had time to organize itself 

 conformably to the first article shall be consid- 

 ered as belligerent, provided it respects the laws 

 and customs of war. 



" ART. III. The armed forces of the belligerent 

 parties may be composed of combatants and non- 

 combatants. In the case of capture by the enemy 

 both have the right to be treated as prisoners 

 of war. 



" CHAPTER II. OF PRISONERS OF WAR. 



" ART. IV. Prisoners of war are in the power 

 of the hostile government, but not of the indi- 

 viduals or corps which have captured them. They 

 are to be treated with humanity. All their per- 

 sonal belongings excepting their arms, their 

 horses, and military papers remain their prop- 

 erty. 



" ART. V. Prisoners of war may be interned 

 in a town, fortress, camp, or other place, with 

 the obligation of not transgressing certain fixed 

 boundaries; but they may only be imprisoned 

 when that is an indispensable measure of pre- 

 caution. 



" ART. VI. The state can employ prisoners of 

 war for work according to their rank and their 

 aptitudes. The work must not be excessive, and 

 must have no relation with the operations of 

 the war. 



"The prisoners can be authorized to work for 

 public administrations or individuals or on their 

 own account. 



" The work done for the state is to be paid on 

 the scale applicable to the same work when done 

 by soldiers of the national army. 



"When the work is done for other public ad- 

 ministrations or for private individuals, the terms 



