The position thus assumed is not clear. On the one hand the British claim did not, it is seen, go the length of the restriction Great Britain consented to place on her own right of search during the Boer War, seeming to apply only to the case of ships carrying conditional contraband. On the other, the complaint is based on the “interference” with neutral trade, which means the stoppage and search of vessels to ascertain whether they have contraband of any kind on board or not.
It must not be forgotten in this connexion that restriction of the rights of the belligerent necessarily entails extension of the duties of the neutral. The belligerent has an unquestioned right to “interfere” with all neutral vessels navigating in the direction of the seat of war, for the purpose of ascertaining whether they are carrying any kind of contraband or not. Under the Declaration of London of the 26th of February 1909 it is provided under arts. 32 and 35 that a ship's papers are conclusive proof as to the voyage on which she is engaged unless she is clearly out of the course indicated by her papers and is unable to give adequate reasons to justify her deviation. Thus the interference, if the declaration is ratified, will be confined to an examination of the ship's papers where the ship is not bound for a belligerent port (cf. art. 30 of the same convention).
Standing Peace Agreements. — Foremost among standing peace agreements are, of course, the International Hague Conventions relating directly to peace, agreements which have not only created a special peace jurisdiction for the settlement of international difficulties by judicial methods but also a written law to apply within the scope of this jurisdiction.
Alongside the Hague Peace Conventions and more or less connected with them are standing treaties of arbitration which have been entered into by different nations for terms of years separately. The first of what may be called a new series was that between Great Britain and France. It has now been followed by over a hundred others forming a network of international relationships which shows that, at any rate, the wish for peace is universal among mankind.[1]
There are, however, a large number of conventions which, although not concluded with the direct object of assuring peace where difficulties have arisen, tend in a very practical manner to contract the area of possible difficulties. These are conventions for the regulation of intercourse between the subjects and citizens of different states. Such conventions obviously remove occasions for friction and are therefore among the most effective agencies contributing to the preservation of peace among civilized peoples. In most cases such conventions have created international unions of states for all matters which lend themselves to international co-operation. The first in order of date was the postal union. The system it inaugurated has now extended its scope to telegraphs, copyright, industrial property, railway traffic, the publication of customs tariffs, metric measures, monetary systems and agriculture. Berne, being the capital of the most central of the neutral European states, is the administrative centre of most of these unions. Customs tariffs and the monetary unions, however, are centralized at Brussels,
- ↑
The following list of standing arbitration treaties concluded
after the signing of the Anglo-French treaty of October 14th 1903
is as complete as possible down to June 1910: —
Argentina- Brazil, September 7, 1905. ” Portugal, August 27, 1909. Austria-Hungary-Switzerland, December 3, 1904. Belgium- Denmark, April 26, 1905. ” Greece, May 2, 1905. ” Norway and Sweden, November 30, 1904. ” Rumania, May 27, 1905. ” Russia, October 30, 1904. ” Spain, January 23, 1905. ” Switzerland, November 15, 1904. Brazil- Portugal, March 25, 1909. ” Spain, April 8, 1909. ” Mexico, April 11, 1909. ” Honduras, April 26, 1909. ” Venezuela, April 30, 1909. ” Panama, May 1, 1909. ” Ecuador, May 13, 1909. ” Costa Rica, May 18, 1909. ” Cuba, June 19, 1909. ” Bolivia, June 25, 1909. ” Nicaragua, June 28, 1909. ” Norway, July 13, 1909. ” China, August 3, 1909. ” Salvador, September 3, 1909. ” Peru, December 7, 1909. ” Sweden, December 14, 1909. Colombia- Peru, September 12, 1905. ” France, December 16, 1908. Denmark- France, September 15, 1905. ” Italy, December 16, 1905. ” Netherlands, February 12, 1904. ” Russia, March 1, 1905. ” Spain, December 1, 1905. ” Norway, October 8, 1908. France- Italy, December 26, 1903. ” Netherlands, April 6, 1904. ” Norway and Sweden, July 9, 1904. ” Spain, February 26, 1904. ” Sweden and Norway, July 9, 1904. ” Switzerland, December 14, 1904. ” Brazil, April 7, 1909. Great Britain- France, October 14, 1903. ” ” Germany, July 12, 1904. ” ” Italy, February 1, 1907. ” ” Austria-Hungary, January 11, 1905. ” ” Netherlands, February 15, 1905. ” ” Colombia, December 30, 1908. ” ” Sweden and Norway, August 11, 1904. ” ” Denmark, October 25, 1904. ” ” Portugal, November 16, 1904. ” ” Spain, February 27, 1904. ” ” Switzerland, November 16, 1904. ” ” United States, April 4, 1908. ” ” Brazil, June 18, 1909. Honduras-Spain, May 13, 1905. Italy- Argentine, September 18, 1907. ” Mexico, October 1, 1907. ” Peru, April 18, 1907. ” Portugal, May 11, 1905. ” Switzerland, November 23, 1904. ” Netherlands, November 21, 1909. Netherlands-Portugal, October 26, 1905. Norway-Sweden, October 26, 1905. Norway and Sweden- Russia, December 9, 1904. ” ” Spain, January 23, 1905. ” ” Switzerland, December 17, 1904. Portugal- Spain, May 31, 1904. ” Austria-Hungary, February 13, 1906. ” Denmark, March 20, 1907. ” France, June 29, 1906. ” Italy, May 11, 1905. ” Netherlands, October 1, 1904. ” Norway and Sweden, May 6, 1905. (Suspended for Norway by a new one dated December 8, 1908.) ” Spain, May 31, 1904. ” Switzerland, August 18, 1905. ” Nicaragua, July 17, 1909. Russia-Norway and Sweden, November 26, 1904. Spain- Greece, December 3-16, 1909. ” Switzerland, May 14, 1907. United States- Spain, April 20, 1908. ” Denmark, May 18, 1908. ” Italy, March 28, 1908. ” Japan, May 5, 1908. ” Netherlands, May 2, 1908. ” Portugal, April 6, 1908. ” Sweden, May 2, 1908. ” Switzerland, February 29, 1908. ” Argentina, December 23, 1908. ” Peru, December 3, 1908. ” Salvador, December 21, 1908. ” Norway, April 4, 1908. ” Mexico, March 24, 1908. ” France, February 2, 1908. ” Ecuador, January 7, 1909. ” Bolivia, January 7, 1909. ” Haiti, January 7, 1909. ” Uruguay, January 9, 1909. ” Chile, January 13, 1909. ” Costa Rica, January 13, 1909. ” Austria-Hungary, January 15, 1909. ” Brazil, January 23, 1909. ” Paraguay, March 13, 1909. ” China, October 8, 1908.
