International Conference Held at Washington Part 2

Mr. FREY, Delegate of Switzerland, said that, in his opinion, the order of proceedings to-morrow should be first a general discussion.

Mr. VALERA, Delegate of Spain, stated that he thought the proceedings should be recorded in two languages at least, and that Secretaries conversant with these languages and specially acquainted with the subject matter pending before the Conference should be selected; that, in order to have the record of the proceedings accurate, officers qualified in this way were requisite, and that it would be preferable to elect these officers after consultation among the members of the Conference, which could be had between now and the meeting to-morrow.

Count LEWENHAUPT, Delegate of Sweden, said that he saw no difficulty in deciding now that the order of proceedings to-morrow would be first the election of the Secretaries and then a general discussion, and he moved that this proposition be adopted.

The Conference then unanimously agreed to the proposition.

Professor ABBE, Delegate of the United States, inquired whether it would not facilitate the action of the Conference to-morrow if the President appointed a committee now who could nominate the Secretaries.

The PRESIDENT replied by asking whether it would not be better to select this committee at a subsequent meeting, rather than at the first meeting, which was held to-day.

Commander SAMPSON, Delegate of the United States, then gave notice that at the session to-morrow he would bring before the Conference the question whether the meetings shall be open to the public or not, and that he would, at the proper time, also make a motion for the purpose of determining the sense of the Conference as to the propriety of inviting distinguished scientists, some of whom are now in Was.h.i.+ngton, and who may desire to be present at the meetings of this Conference, to take part in the discussion of the questions pending.

Mr. LEFAIVRE, Delegate of France, stated that in regard to the first proposition--that is, as to making the proceedings public, he would object, inasmuch as he thought that by opening the doors of this Conference to the public nothing could be gained, while the proceedings might be embarra.s.sed or delayed by such a course.

Professor ADAMS, Delegate of England, stated that he did not favor the first proposition to make the proceedings of this Conference public, but he did agree with the second proposition, and thought it was a very important and valuable one.

The PRESIDENT remarked that the propositions made by the Delegate of the United States of America were merely in the nature of a notice, and that they were not before the Conference at the present time, and, consequently, were not the subject of discussion; still he thought that much good could be elicited from this interchange of opinions in a preliminary way.

Captain STEWART, Delegate of Paraguay, said that he thought that it would be a very good thing, in view of the proposition to make the meetings public, to invite all the world to the Capitol for the discussion of these subjects.

Professor ABBE, Delegate of the United States, stated that it would be perfectly practicable to have the discussions of the Conference printed in full from day to day for our own official use, and that the public might thereby be made familiar with the proceedings if it were necessary.

The PRESIDENT announced that arrangements had been made by the State Department whereby the proceedings of each day would be printed and furnished in time for the examination of the members of the Conference before the next meeting, and that they would be printed in two languages, French and English; but that these records or protocols could not be regularly verified until the Conference shall have appointed duly authorized Secretaries.

Baron VON SCHaeFFER, Delegate of Austro-Hungary, asked that a list of the delegates be presented to each of the members of the Conference.

The PRESIDENT replied that he would instruct the acting Secretary (Mr.

Peddrick) to have the list prepared.

Upon the motion of Mr. DE STRUVE, Delegate of Russia, the Conference then adjourned until to-morrow, (Thursday,) the second instant, at one o'clock p. m.

II.

SESSION OF OCTOBER 2, 1884.

The Conference met pursuant to adjournment in the Diplomatic Hall of the Department of State, at one o'clock p. m.

Present:

Austria-Hungary: Baron IGNATZ VON SCHaeFFER.

Brazil: Dr. LUIZ CRULS.

Colombia: Commodore S. R. FRANKLIN.

Costa Rica: Mr. JUAN FRANCISCO ECHEVERRIA.

France: Mr. A. LEFAIVRE, Mr. JANSSEN.

Germany: Baron H. VON ALVENSLEBEN, Mr. HINCKELDEYN.

Great Britain: Sir F. J. O. EVANS, Prof. J. C. ADAMS, Lieut.-General STRACHEY, Mr. SANDFORD FLEMING.

Guatemala: Mr. MILES ROCK.

Hawaii: Hon. W. D. ALEXANDER, Hon. LUTHER AHOLO.

Italy: Count ALBERT DE FORESTA.

j.a.pan: Professor KIKUCHI.

Mexico: Mr. LEANDRO FERNANDEZ, Mr. ANSEL ANGUIANO.

Paraguay: Capt. JOHN STEWART.

Russia: Mr. C. DE STRUVE, Major-General STEBNITZKI, Mr.

KOLOGRIVOFF.

San Domingo: Mr. DE J. GALVAN.

Salvador: Mr. ANTONIO BATRES.

Spain: Mr. JUAN VALERA, Mr. EMILIO RUIZ DEL ARBOL, and Mr. JUAN PASTORIN.

Sweden: Count CARL LEWENHAUPT.

Switzerland: Col. EMILE FREY, Professor HIRSCH.

United States: Rear-Admiral C. R. P. RODGERS, Mr. LEWIS M. RUTHERFORD, Mr. W. F. ALLEN, Commander W. T.

SAMPSON, Professor CLEVELAND ABBE.

Venezuela: Senor Dr. A. M. SOTELDO.

Absent:

Chili: Mr. F. V. GORMAS and Mr. A. B. TUPPER.

Denmark: Mr. O. S. A. DE BILLE.

Liberia: Mr. WM. COPPINGER.

Netherlands: Mr. G. DE WECKHERLIN.

Turkey: RUSTEM EFFENDI.

The PRESIDENT stated that the first business before the Conference was the election of Secretaries.

Mr. DE STRUVE, Delegate of Russia, stated that it was his opinion that it would be very difficult to elect Secretaries by a direct vote, and he proposed that the selection of the Secretaries be left to a Committee to be appointed by the President; that the Committee present the names of the officers selected to the Conference, and that these Secretaries be four in number.

Count LEWENHAUPT, Delegate of Sweden, stated that it was generally understood among the delegates that Mr. Hirsch, one of the delegates from Switzerland, should be elected a Secretary, as he was a Secretary of the Conference held at Rome, but as he has not yet arrived, he proposed that the Conference elect only three Secretaries to-day.

Mr. DE STRUVE, Delegate of Russia, stated that he believed that Mr.

Hirsch would soon arrive, and he accepted the amendment just offered.

The original motion, as modified by the amendment, was thereupon unanimously agreed to.

The Chair appointed the Delegate of Russia, Mr. de Struve, the Delegate from Spain, Mr. Valera, the Delegate from France, Mr.

Lefaivre, and the Delegate from Sweden, Count Lewenhaupt, as the Committee to select the Secretaries.

The Conference thereupon took a recess, to enable the Committee to consult and report.

Upon the rea.s.sembling of the Conference, the Delegate of Sweden, Count Lewenhaupt, announced that the Committee had selected for Secretaries the Delegate from Great Britain, Lieut.-General Strachey, the Delegate of France, Mr. Janssen, and the Delegate from Brazil, Dr. Cruls.

The report of the Committee was then unanimously adopted by the Conference, and the Delegates named as Secretaries signified their acceptance of the office.

Mr. DE STRUVE, Delegate of Russia, moved that the President direct the Acting Secretary to arrange the seats of the Delegates according to the alphabetical order of the countries represented. He added that it would be a great convenience to the members to have their seats permanently fixed.

The motion was unanimously agreed to.