NETHERLANDS. 



533 



Military hospital ships that is, ships built and 

 fitted out by states specially and solely for the 

 purpose of carrying aid to wounded, sick, and 

 shipwrecked persons. 2. Hospital ships equipped 

 entirely or in part at the cost of private indi- 

 viduals or of relief societies officially recognized 

 by a belligerent government. 3. Hospital ships 

 fitted out entirely or in part at the cost of pri- 

 vate persons or of officially recognized societies 

 belonging to neutral countries. All three classes 

 are neutralized that is, are to be respected and 

 exempted from capture, provided the names of the 

 vessels have been communicated to the belliger- 

 ent powers before they are employed; and in the 

 case of the second and third classes, provided the 

 belligerent power to which they are attached has 

 given them an official commission and has noti- 

 fied their names to the other belligerent power, 

 as in the case of the first class. All three classes 

 are expected and required to take relief and as- 

 sistance to the wounded, sick, and shipwrecked 

 without distinction of nationality. The hospital 

 ships of any of the three classes are not to im- 

 pede in any way the movements of the combat- 

 ants. During and after a battle they will act 

 at their own risk and peril. Either belligerent 

 shall possess the right of controlling and visiting 

 the ships, and shall be able to reject their aid, 

 order them away, oblige them to take a given 

 direction, put a commissioner on board, and even 

 detain them should the gravity of the situation 

 require it. Trading vessels, yachts, or neutral 

 boats carrying the wounded, sick, or shipwrecked 

 men of the belligerents may not be captured on 

 account of this transportation, but they will be 

 liable to be captured if they commit any viola- 

 tion of their neutrality. An article providing for 

 the interning of sick, wounded, and shipwrecked 

 men landed at a neutral port was only carried 

 after much discussion. The rules are only bind- 

 ing on the contracting powers in case of war be- 

 tween two or more of them, and they cease to 

 be binding from the moment when in a war 

 between several of the contracting powers a non- 

 contracting power joins one of the belligerents. 

 The convention was to be ratified with the least 

 possible delay, and the ratifications were to be 

 deposited at The Hague and certified copies sent 

 to all the powers represented at the conference. 

 Powers not signing the convention, but being 

 signatories of the Geneva convention of 1864, 

 could give in their adhesion at any subsequent 

 time by notifying the Government of the Nether- 

 lands, which would communicate the notification 

 to all the other contracting governments. The 

 convention remains in force until denounced, and 

 this must be done in a written notification to 

 the Netherlands Government, which will instruct 

 the other governments. The denunciation shall 

 only take effect one year after notification, and 

 only affect the notifying power. 



A Dutch resolution, supported by Russia, to 

 extend the St. Petersburg declaration of 1868 

 against explosive bullets, so as to prohibit also 

 the use of bullets that expand in the human 

 body, such as jacketed bullets with a part of the 

 core exposed, was directed against the dum-dum 

 bullet employed by the British in fighting the 

 Pathans in India and the dervishes in the Soudan. 

 The description covers also the latest service bul- 

 let adopted for the British army. The British 

 military delegate denied that even the dum-dum 

 bullet inflicted a cruel wound, saying that it was 

 not equal in stopping power to -the Martini bullet. 

 Capt. Crozier, of the United States delegation, 

 showed how easily bullets could be devised that 

 would inflict more tearing wounds, and yet not 



come within the prohibited classes. Ho there- 

 fore offered an amendment, by which the. use 

 of bullets which inflict wounds of useless cruelty, 

 such as explosive bullets, ami in general any 

 kind of bullet which exceeds the limit necessary 

 for placing a man immediately Itur* (if combat, 

 would be forbidden. The resolution was carried 

 in its original form. Another, forbidding the 

 dropping of explosives from balloons, and one 

 against filling shells with asphyxiating giises, 

 were opposed by Capt. Mahan, a L'nited States 

 delegate, who asked why submarine torpedo boats 

 should not be prohibited, as they were intended 

 to be far more destructive of human life than 

 such devices could be, and to cause asphyxiation 

 by water. The prohibition of submarine torpedo 

 boats was one of the specified objects in the origi- 

 nal Russian programme. It was strongly opposed 

 by France, whose engineers have applied them- 

 selves especially to the invention of boats of that 

 kind; and when the conference decided against 

 the prohibition, the vote of Russia was given 

 also in favor of the French contention. The 

 other resolutions were carried and were embodied 

 in declarations, separate from the conventions, 

 as follow: 



"DECLARATION I. The undersigned, as pleni- 

 potentiary delegates at the International Peace 

 Conference, duly authorized by their governments 

 to this effect, inspired by the sentiments which 

 found expression in the declaration of St. Peters- 

 burg of Dec. 11, 1868, and taking in consideration 

 the final clause of that declaration, hereby de- 

 clare that the contracting parties prohibit them- 

 selves, for a period of five years, from throwing 

 projectiles or explosives from balloons or by other 

 new analogous means. 



" DECLARATION II. The undersigned, as pleni- 

 potentiary delegates, hereby declare that the con- 

 tracting parties prohibit themselves from making 

 use of projectiles whose sole object is to diffuse 

 asphyxiating or deleterious gases. 



" DECLARATION III. The undersigned, as pleni- 

 potentiary delegates, hereby declare that the con- 

 tracting parties prohibit themselves from making 

 use of bullets which expand or flatten easily in 

 the human body, as, for instance, bullets with a 

 hard case which case does not cover the whole 

 of the inclosed mass or contains incisions." 



Suggestions in the original Russian programme 

 which were not adopted by the conference, but 

 were platonically approved, were made the sub- 

 ject of pious aspirations, including also the Amer- 

 ican proposal to exempt maritime commerce from 

 seizure. These pious wishes were expressed in a 

 series of resolutions referring to future confer- 

 ences such subjects as these, on which this con- 

 ference was deterred by political motives from 

 coming to a decision: 



" I. The conference considers that the limitation 

 of the military charges at the present time weigh- 

 ing upon the world is greatly to be desired for the 

 increase of the material and moral welfare of 

 humanity. 



" II. The conference expresses the wish that the 

 question of the rights and duties of neutrals 

 should be inscribed on the programme of a con- 

 ference to be held at an early date. 



" III. The conference expresses the opinion that 

 questions relative to the type and the caliber of 

 rifles and naval artillery such as have been ex- 

 amined by it should be the subject of study by 

 the different governments with a view to arriving 

 eventually at a uniform solution by means of a 

 further conference. 



" IV. The conference, taking into consideration 

 the preliminary steps taken by the Swiss Federal 



