GENEVA ARBITRATION 



2418 



GENII 



nomination, and of the Delancey Divinity 

 School. Here also is located the Smith Astro- 

 nomical Observatory. The post office, erected 

 in 1906 at a cost of $100,000, a $100,000 city 

 hall, a state armory and a $52,000 Y. M. C. A. 

 building are the most notable buildings. 



Geneva was settled in 1796 and was char- 

 tered as a city in 1898. It was named for the 

 district of Geneva in Switzerland because of 

 the similarity of its picturesque location to 

 that of the European canton. The Indian 

 village of Kanadesaga occupied a site near the 

 present city; it was destroyed by General 

 James Clinton in 1779. F.K.H. 



GENEVA ARBITRATION. During the 

 American War of Secession, a number of Con- 

 federate ships, notably the Alabama, did great 

 damage to the commerce of the North by 

 preying on its merchant vessels. As these Con- 

 federate ships had been fitted out in English 

 ports and were permitted to sail therefrom, at 

 the close of the war the United States govern- 

 ment demanded that England pay damages for 

 this violation of neutrality laws. On May 8, 

 1871, commissioners representing England and 

 America signed the Treaty of Washington, 

 which provided that the question of the claims 

 against England should be decided by a board 

 of arbitration, to meet at Geneva, Switzerland. 

 The settlement of these claims is therefore 

 known as the Geneva Arbitration. The tri- 

 bunal, which consisted of distinguished states- 

 men from Switzerland, Italy and Brazil, 

 awarded the United States damages to the 

 amount of $15,500,000. See WASHINGTON, 

 TREATY OF; ALABAMA, THE. 



GENEVA CONVENTION, an agreement to 

 better the condition of sick and wounded sol- 

 diers in time of war, entered into by nearly 

 all of the nations of Europe at a conference 

 held at Geneva, Switzerland, in 1864. The 

 terms of the agreement, which have been ae- 

 cepted by every European government, by the 

 United States and by. several South American 

 and Asiatic countries, are as follows: 



(1) Ambulances and military hospitals are re- 

 garded as neutral as long as they contain sick 

 persons. 



(2) This neutrality is extended to the persons 

 engaged in caring for the sick and wounded. 



(3) The neutrality of these persons continues 

 after the hospitals are taken by the enemy, and 

 they must not be hindered from departing or re- 

 maining. 



(4) If they depart, only their private property 

 may be taken with them, except ambulances, 

 which may be removed entire. 



(5) A house containing a sick soldier is not to 

 be used for the quartering of soldiers. 



(6) Wounded men who are cured may return 

 to their own country if they promise not to take 

 np arms again during the rest of the war. 



(7) Hospitals and ambulances must carry, in 

 addition to the flag of the nation, a flag bearing a 

 red cross on a white ground, and doctors and 

 nurses must wear an arm badge of the same 

 colors. 



A second conference, held at Geneva in 1868, 

 applied the principles of this agreement to war 

 on the sea. It was then decided to declare 

 neutral all- hospital ships, merchant vessels 

 having wounded on board, and boats picking 

 up wounded or shipwrecked persons. These 

 must carry the Red Cross flag, and their men 

 must wear the arm badge. Government hos- 

 pital ships must be painted white with a green 

 stripe, and those of aid societies white with 

 a red stripe. See RED CROSS SOCIETIES. 



GENGHIS KHAN, jen'giz kahn, or JEN- 

 GHIS KHAN (1162-1227), began his career at 

 the age of fourteen years as the chief of a small 

 Mongol tribe and soon displayed the marked 

 military talent which made him one of the 

 greatest conquerors in history. After much 

 domestic warfare he subdued various Tartar 

 revolts, and was proclaimed ruler of the united 

 Mongol and Tartar tribes. Claiming a divine 

 call, he so inspired his soldiers that they will- 

 ingly followed him to battle. The most im- 

 portant episode in his career was the conquest 

 of Northern China. After a series of lengthy 

 campaigns, Pekin, the capital, was taken in 

 1215. Turkestan was next invaded, and two 

 of its cities, Bokhara and Samarcand, were 

 demolished. 



In 1225 Genghis Khan, although then over 

 sixty years old, attacked and conquered the 

 king of Tangut (Southwestern China), who had 

 harbored and refused to surrender two of his 

 enemies. Worn with years and warfare, he 

 then left further conquests to his sons, among 

 whom, upon his death, his vast territorial pos- 

 sessions were divided. 



GENII , je ' ne i, as most commonly under- 

 stood, those mysterious and fascinating spirits, 

 familiar to every reader of the Arabian Nights. 

 Some were good, assisting Aladdin to build his 

 palace, sympathizing with the needs of hu- 

 manity, and bearing a lover half across the 

 world in the twinkling of an eye that he might 

 look upon his loved one's face; but some were 

 hopelessly evil, thwarting the powers of good 

 in every possible way. A well-known example 

 of this man-hating class is the one who threat- 

 ened to kill his benefactor who had released 

 him from the jar in which he was confined, 



