International Conference Held at Washington Part 5

Mr. RUTHERFURD, Delegate of the United States, remarked that the Delegate from France, his learned friend, Mr. JANSSEN, had expressed the opinion that the Delegates had not the power to decide upon any particular meridian, but that they were sent here merely to discuss this principle, namely, whether a general meridian was desirable. He added that he was, of course, not in possession of the instructions which the Delegates from France received from their own Government, but that he found among the instructions received by the Delegates of the United States from their Government a copy of one of the communications made by the President of the United States to France, as well as to the other nations, through the Secretary of State, in which was this language:

"I am accordingly directed by the President to request you to bring the matter to the attention of the Government of ----, through the Minister for Foreign Affairs, with a view to learning, whether its appreciation of the benefits to accrue to the intimate intercourse of civilized peoples from the consideration and adoption of the suggested common standard of time, so far coincides with that of this Government as to lead it to accept an invitation to partic.i.p.ate in an International Conference at a date to be designated in the near future."

The Delegate of the United States continued by saying that the whole object of this Conference was not to establish the principle that it is desirable to have a prime meridian, but to fix that prime meridian; that that was the object of the meeting, and that it seemed to him that there must be some misapprehension on the part of the learned gentleman from France in thinking that this Conference has not the power to fix upon a prime meridian; that as to our organization, the Delegate of France (Mr. Lefaivre) spoke of its not being sufficiently complete to take up this subject at present, but that it seemed to him that the Delegates undoubtedly were ready to hear and express arguments _pro_ and _con_ in regard to that question; that he supposed that every Delegate had studied this matter before coming here, and that he did not think that any Delegate would be likely to come here unless he knew, or thought he knew, some thing about this matter.

Mr. VALERA, Delegate from Spain, announced that he had no power to pledge his country on this subject; that his authority merely extended to the power of recommending to his Government such resolutions as this Conference might adopt.

Count LEWENHAUPT, Delegate of Sweden, then said: "I desire to state in the protocol that I have no power to engage my Government by my votes on the different questions which will be submitted to this Conference, and that, therefore, these votes must only be considered as an engagement on my part to recommend to my Government the decisions for which I vote."

General STRACHEY, Delegate of Great Britain, said that in the name of the Delegates of Great Britain he wished to state that they were in the same position, but that would not prevent them or this Conference from forming an opinion and expressing it.

The PRESIDENT stated that on behalf of the Delegates from the United States they had no power except that of discussion and recommendation.

Mr. DE STRUVE made, on behalf of the Delegates of Russia, a declaration identical with that made by the Delegate of Sweden.

Baron VON ALVENSLEBEN, Delegate from Germany, made the same announcement on behalf of his Government.

Mr. FERNANDEZ, Delegate from Mexico, made the same announcement.

Mr. VALERA, Delegate of Spain, remarked that this Conference was called together not merely to discuss the subject of a prime meridian, but to determine, so far as these Delegates were concerned, the propriety of adopting a particular prime meridian, and that his Government would decide afterwards whether it would accept what this Conference should recommend.

Dr. CRULS, Delegate of Brazil, stated that his Government authorized him to take part in the discussion, but not to commit his Government to the adoption of any particular proposition.

Mr. FLEMING, Delegate of Great Britain, said that he would like to call the attention of the Conference to the language of the act of Congress calling this Conference together, and that language runs as follows:

"That the President of the United States be authorized and requested to extend to the Governments of all nations in diplomatic relations with our own an invitation to appoint delegates to meet delegates from the United States in the city of Was.h.i.+ngton, at such time as he may see fit to designate, for the purpose of fixing upon a meridian proper to be employed as a common zero of longitude and standard of time-reckoning throughout the globe."

He added that he thought the object of the Conference clearly was to determine and to recommend; that although the word "recommend" was not used in the body of the resolution, it was certainly understood, and, as a matter of fact, the t.i.tle of the joint resolution pa.s.sed by Congress contains the word "recommend." It reads as follows:

"An act to authorize the President of the United States to call an international conference to fix on and recommend for universal adoption a common prime meridian, to be used in the reckoning of longitude and in the regulation of time throughout the world."

Baron von Schaeffer, Delegate of Austria-Hungary, then moved that the Conference adjourn until Monday, the 6th instant, at one o'clock, to enable Delegates to confer on this subject.

The proposition of the Delegate of Austria-Hungary was then agreed to, and the Conference adjourned to Monday, October 6, 1884, at 1 o'clock, p. m.

III.

SESSION OF OCTOBER 6, 1884.

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

Present:

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

Guatemala: Mr. MILES ROOK.

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

Italy: Count ALBERT DE FORESTA.

j.a.pan: Professor KIKUCHI.

Mexico: Mr. LEANDRO FERNANDEZ, Mr. ANGEL ARGUIANO.

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, Mr.

JUAN PASTORIN.

Sweden: Count CARL LEWENHAUPT.

Turkey: RUSTEM EFFENDI.

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

SAMPSON, Professor CLEVELAND ABBE.

Venezuela: Dr. A. M. SOTELDO.

Mr. RUTHERFURD, Delegate of the United States, said that the resolution offered by him at the last meeting omitted to state that the proposed meridian was for longitude, and he would offer the following as a subst.i.tute therefor:

"_Resolved_, That the Conference proposes to the Governments here represented the adoption of the meridian pa.s.sing through the centre of the transit instrument at the Observatory of Greenwich as the standard meridian for longitude."

The PRESIDENT then asked if the Conference would permit the subst.i.tution to be made, and it was unanimously agreed to.

Mr. RUTHERFURD, Delegate of the United States, stated that he did not propose to press the resolution to an early vote, but that it was offered simply to elicit the opinions of Delegates on the subject. He further stated that, having heard that the Delegates of France, Mr.

LEFAIVRE and Mr. JANSSEN, desired to present certain propositions, he would, for that purpose, move to withdraw for the time being the resolution offered by him.

No objection being made, the resolution was temporarily withdrawn.

Mr. LEFAIVRE, Delegate of France, then made the following statement:

Our colleague, Mr. RUTHERFURD, having withdrawn his motion for the adoption of the meridian of Greenwich, we, the Delegates of France, after consultation with him, submit the following motion:

"_Resolved_, That the initial meridian should have a character of absolute neutrality. It should be chosen exclusively so as to secure to science and to international commerce all possible advantages, and in particular especially should cut no great continent--neither Europe nor America."

Sir F. J. O. EVANS, Delegate of Great Britain, then stated that he presumed the Conference could hardly pa.s.s by the important meeting held at Rome, where twelve of the thirty-eight Delegates were directors of national observatories, and where the subject of the conditions which should attach to a prime meridian were discussed without reference to any particular nationality; that these learned gentlemen came to the conclusion (which he thought was a very wise one) that the necessity existed for a prime meridian that it should pa.s.s through an astronomical observatory of the first order; that modern science demanded such precision, and therefore they excluded all ideas of a meridian being established on an island, in a strait, on the summit of a mountain, or as indicated by a monumental building.

Looking at the subject in its various aspects, they came to the conclusion that there were only four great observatories which in their minds combined all the conditions, and this decision was unanimously received by that Conference. Those great observatories were Paris, Berlin, Greenwich, and Was.h.i.+ngton. He stated further that, having this in view, he thought this Conference should be particularly guarded, looking at the question from a scientific point of view, not to depart from the conditions laid down by the Conference at Rome; that he had no desire to advocate any one of the places enumerated, but merely mentioned them as satisfying all the conditions of science, which was so brilliantly represented at Rome.

Commander SAMPSON, Delegate of the United States, then said:

I can only attempt to antic.i.p.ate the arguments which may be advanced by the learned Delegate from France in support of his resolution to adopt a neutral meridian. But it is our simple duty, in our present judicial capacity, to examine the question of a prime meridian from all points of view. With the object, then, of considering the question from another stand-point, I ask your attention for one moment. This Congress, at its last meeting, by a unanimous vote, declared its opinion that it was desirable to adopt a single prime meridian for the purpose of reckoning longitude. Further, it is fair to a.s.sume that the delegates here a.s.sembled, in answer to a specific invitation from the Government of the United States, and for a stated purpose, have come empowered by their respective governments to act upon the questions submitted for their consideration in the invitation.

At the last meeting, the Delegates from France left us somewhat in doubt regarding their views upon this important question of the powers of the delegates, or at least of their own delegation. But as they have to-day advocated the adoption of a neutral meridian, we may conclude that they have the necessary delegated power to fully consider and determine the main question before us--the selection of a prime meridian.