File No. 500.A3/29a.
[Untitled]
Washington , January 31, 1914 .
To the Diplomatic Officers of the United States accredited to the Governments which took part in the Second International Peace Conference at The Hague.
Gentlemen: By the Final Act of the Second Peace Conference at The Hague in 1907 it was recommended to the Powers that a Third Peace Conference should be held within a period corresponding to that which had elapsed since the preceding Conference, at a date to be fixed by common agreement between the Powers, and attention was called to the necessity of preparing a program of the Third Conference a sufficient time in advance to ensure the conduct of the deliberations of the Conference with the necessary authority and expedition.
In order to attain this object it was by the Final Act further declared to be very desirable that, some two years before the probable date of the meeting, a preparatory committee should be charged by the Governments with the task of collecting the various proposals which might be brought forward for submission to the Conference, of ascertaining what subjects were ripe for embodiment in an international regulation, and of preparing a program for the Conference. It was also proposed that this committee should be entrusted with the task of formulating for the Conference a system of organization and procedure.
On June 10, 1912, the President of the United States appointed an advisory committee to this Government to consider proposals for a program for the next Conference. This committee has submitted an elaborate preliminary report. The necessary steps have not, however, been taken by the Governments concerned for the appointment of the international preparatory committee contemplated by the Final Act of the last Conference. It having been in effect recommended to the Powers by the last Conference that the Third Conference should be held within a period of eight years, which would make the meeting fall in the year 1915, a space of a year and a half still remains within which the preparation of the program may be accomplished. This is a period much longer than that which was found to be sufficient for the preparation of the programs of the First and Second Conferences.
With a view to facilitate the consideration and preparation of the program of the next Conference, the President desires you immediately to propose to the Governments to which you are respectively accredited that the duties of the international preparatory committee shall be committed to the Administrative Council of the Permanent [Page 5] Court of Arbitration at The Hague, this Council being composed of the Netherlands Minister of Foreign Affairs and the diplomatic representatives of the Contracting Powers accredited to The Hague. To this Council the task of preparation for the Conference may readily and appropriately be committed. The place at which the Council sits leaves nothing to be desired from the point of view of convenience, while the entrusting of the work to a competent body already in existence would result in an appreciable saving both in time and in expense. If the membership of the Council were found to be too large for the efficient carrying on of the work in detail, this difficulty could at once be solved by the appointment of subcommittees to deal with particular subjects.
I am [etc.]