Immediately upon receipt of the department’s telegram I communicated with
the legations of Germany, France, and Great Britain at this capital to
ascertain what, if any, instructions had been received by them in regard
to approving the proposal of the United States to submit, to the powers
signatory of the convention for the establishment of an international
court of prize signed at The Hague October 18, 1907, an additional
protocol proposing certain modifications, set forth therein, of the
prize court convention to overcome difficulties of a constitutional
nature preventing or rendering uncertain the ratification, in the
present form, of the prize court convention by countries in which such
constitutional difficulties may exist. I learned from His Britannic
Majesty’s minister that while he had been fully informed in regard to
the matter in question, he had as yet received no instructions to take
any definite action in the premises. The German minister had received no
instructions. The French minister was in possession of all the facts in
regard to the recent conference at Paris of the representatives of the
four-powers, joint proposers of the prize court convention at the second
peace conference, and had received from his Government not only a copy
of the additional protocol, but instructions which direct him to support
(appuyer) the proposal of the United States. I informed him that I had
communicated to the Netherlands Government the intention of the United
States to request that the Government of the Netherlands, as the
intermediary of the Hague signatories, transmit, with its favorable
recommendation, a circular note to the signatories of the prize court
convention, as soon as the Governments of Germany, France, and Great
Britain, joint proposers of the original prize court convention, should
have signified their approval of the additional protocol and of the
proposed method of procedure. It seemed best to him, however, for the
time being, to await the arrival of instructions to the German and
British ministers before taking any action, and to consult with them
with a view to taking the same, or similar, action in the matter.
I have advised the department of these facts by cable.
[Inclosure.]
Minister Beaupré to the Minister for
Foreign Affairs.
American Legation,
The
Hague, April 23,
1910.
Sir: I have the honor to recall to your
excellency’s attention the fact that in the month of November, 1909,
the Government of the United States addressed to the powers
signatory of the convention for the establishment of an
international court of prize, signed at The Hague October 18, 1907,
and represented at the recent naval conference at London (Dec. 4,
1908–Feb. 26, 1909), an identic circular note of the Secretary of
State of the United States, dated October 18, 1909, proposing, as
far as the present purpose is concerned, certain modifications of
the prize court convention in order to overcome difficulties of a
constitutional nature which either prevent or render uncertain the
ratification in its present form of the prize court convention by
countries in which such constitutional difficulties may exist, and
which, unless overcome, may deprive such countries of participation
in the beneficent results to be expected from the establishment and
operation of the international court of prize. As a participant in
the naval conference at London, your excellency’s Government is
aware that the delegates of the United States to this conference
called attention to the constitutional difficulties which militate
against the ratification of the prize court convention in its
present form by the United States, and that the conference
unanimously adopted the following vœu:
“The delegates of the powers represented at the naval conference
which have signed, or expressed the intention of signing, the
convention of The Hague of the 18th October, 1907, for the
establishment of an international prize court, having regard to the
difficulties of a constitutional nature which, in some States, stand
in the way of the ratification of the convention in its present
form, agreed to call the attention of their respective governments
to the advantage of concluding an arrangement under which such
States would have the power, at the time of depositing their
ratifications, to add thereto a reservation to the effect that
resort to the international prize court in respect of decisions of
their national tribunals shall take the form of a direct claim for
compensation; provided, always, that the effect of this reservation
shall not be such as to impair the rights secured under said
convention, either to individuals or to their governments, and that
the terms of the reservation shall form the subject of a subsequent
understanding between the powers signatory of that convention.”1
Upon the receipt of the text of this vœu the Government of the United
States, on March 5, 1909, cabled its diplomatic agents accredited to
the powers represented at the naval conference its intention to
“send an identic circular note to each of the participating powers,
setting forth at length the reasons which influence the United
States to request a rehearing de novo of a question involved in a
national prize decision, and the means whereby this change of
procedure may be effected without interfering with the rights of
governments or individuals under the prize court convention.”
The responses of the various powers to the identic circular note
dated October 18, 1909, setting forth in detail the modifications to
be made in the prize court convention in order to permit the United
States and other powers, which may possess the same constitutional
difficulties, to ratify the convention in a modified form, were so
favorable in principle as to justify the United States in taking
further action to secure through diplomatic channels the acceptance
of the proposed modifications, so essential to the prompt and final
establishment of the international court of prize. The United
States, therefore, consulted the Governments of Germany, France, and
Great Britain, as joint proposers with the United States of the
prize court convention at the Second Hague Peace Conference, in
order to prepare a text of an additional protocol to the original
convention which, without violating its spirit and while preserving
intact the rights guaranteed to its signatories, might nevertheless
be calculated to enable the United States, and such other powers in
which difficulties of a like constitutional nature may exist, to
accept without delay the convention as modified and secure at the
earliest possible moment the establishment of the international
court of prize.
I have the pleasure and the honor to inform your excellency that the
inclosed text of an additional protocol meets with the approval of
the proposers of the original convention, and that, in their
opinion, its acceptance seems calculated to obviate the
constitutional difficulties which may exist in some countries
without sacrificing any of the fundamental purposes of the
convention and without prejudicing the rights secured to the
signatory powers, their subjects or citizens. I therefore beg your
excellency to give early attention to the inclosed copy of the
additional protocol, in
[Page 622]
order that the Government of the Netherlands may be enabled, as the
intermediary of the Hague signatories, to transmit in the very near
future and with the favorable recommendation of your excellency’s
Government a circular note to the signatories of the prize court
convention, upon the request of the United States, as soon as the
Governments of Germany, France, and Great Britain, joint proposers
of the original prize court convention, shall have signified to your
excellency’s Government their approval of the additional protocol
and of the proposed method of procedure.
Upon being informed that the Governments of Germany, France, and
Great Britain have formally notified your excellency of their
approval, both of the additional protocol and of the procedure to be
followed, I shall present the formal request of my Government that
your excellency transmit a circular note to the signatories of the
prize court convention.
In informing your excellency of the desires of the United States and
of the joint proposers of the prize court convention, I beg to
assure your excellency that my Government is actuated solely by the
sincere desire to secure the ratification of the prize court
convention at the earliest possible moment and in such a form as to
enable the United States and the other countries in which
constitutional difficulties may exist regarding the acceptance of
the original convention to participate in the labors of the
international court of prize and the beneficent results so
universally, so confidently and justly, expected from its
establishment and successful operation.
I avail, etc.,
