'The Central American Peace Congress and an Arbitration Court: A Chapter in History"

THE CENTRAL AMERICAN |
PEACE CONGRESS

AND AN

ARBITRATION COURT

A Chapter in History |

BY

BELVA A. LOCKWOOD


















THE CENTRAL AMERICAN
PEACE CONGRESS AND AN
INTERNATIONAL ARBI-
TRATION COURT FOR THE
FIVE CENTRAL AMERICAN
REPUBLICS.

Paper presented by Belva A. Lockwood
of Washington, D. C., to the 17th Inter-
national Peace Congress in Caxton Hall,
London, England, July 31, 1908, as a
Delegate of the District of Columbia,
and of the Universal Peace Union, now
dedicated to the Public Schools of
Washington, D. C.

Sept. 9, 1908.






THE CENTRAL AMERICAN PEACE CONFERENCE
AND AN INTERNATIONAL ARBITRATION
COURT FOR THE FIVE CENTRAL AMERICAN
REPUBLICS.



If the second Hague Peace Conference was half hearted
and stultified in its efforts to bring about the peace of the
world, as it seemed at the time to onlookers, and fell short
of what an expectant public hoped for, and what the first
Hague Congress was called for,

A LIMITATION OF ARMAMENTS,

Still the cause of universal peace and the settlement of inter-
national difficulties by juridical methods without resort to
war, is not dead. It is probable that we in our optimism hoped
for more from that conference than it was possible to realize
under existing conditions; and that more was really accom-
plished than we could see at a glance; or than we gave the
hard working delegates who composed that conference credit
for. They were conscientious, self-sacrificing men, but the
times seemed not to be ripe for progress. This one item
shows the advance: “In case of a conflict between two powers,
either of them, if the other hesitates, or is unwilling to refer
the matter to the Hague Court, may go directly to the Bureau
of the Court and enter its formal declaration that it desires
to have the difficulty arbitrated,” and it will be taken up.

THE CALLING OF AMBASSADORS.

But the doubt thrown out by newspaper men, and taken
up by the American public as to what the court would ac-
complish, called forth this grand and original thought from
Theodore Roosevelt, viz: That if this court failed to accom-
plish what an expectant public hoped they would, he would
in three months call a conference in Washington, of all the
foreign ambassadors in our city, by the permission of their
respective Governments, to consider the same questions. But
they did not fail. The Hague Arbitration Court, by the con-
sent of the Powers, is prepared to take up and settle inter-
national difficulties.


+
THE CENTRAL AMERICAN PEACE CONFERENCE.

Simultaneous almost with the sitting of the Hague Confer-
ence, there was inaugurated at Washington by the diplomacy
of Secretary Root, Secretary of State of the United States,
and Ambassador Creel of Mexico, the conference of Central
American Republics, which, although representing a smaller

number of states, and a smaller area of territory, and of

peoples, still presents in miniature what a peace conference
may do with republics, who, at the slightest imaginary insult
are likely to break out in a war, as these Central American
Republics have done in the past. But they are flanked on the
north by two powerful peace loving republics, the United
States and Mexico, between whom there has been no difficulty
calling for arms, since the Treaty of Guadaloupe Hidalgo in
1849, or a period of almost 60 years, and no rivalry.

THE FIRST CALL

For this conference was made in Washington, September
II, 1907, by delegates from each of the South American States.
Don Joaquin B. Calva for Costa Rica, Don Federico Mejia
- for Salvador, Don Luis Toledo Herarte for Guatemala, Don
Angel Ugarte for Honduras, and Dr. Luis Felipe Corea for
Nicaragua, there being also present Alva A. Adee, then acting
Secretary of State for the United States, and Senor Jose F.
Godoy, Chargé d’Affaires of the United Mexican States.

THE OPENING

Of the conference, November 14, 1907, at the Bureau of
American Republics, second floor, was the only one to which
the Press was admitted, and that reluctantly, and was some-
what imposing. All of the other sessions were strictly private.
Secretary Elihu Root, who had just returned from his won-
derful trip through the South American Republics, and the
Congress at Rio Janeiro, presided. He opened the session
with one of his clear-cut logical speeches, presented the ad-
vantages to civilization and commerce by peace, and did not
fail to remind the Delegates that their countries had made
promises with each other before, and had signed contracts
only to break them, but that he hoped now with the advance
of civilization, of morality, and of culture, they had progressed
far enough in popular sovereignty to keep their promises as
states, and closed by adding: “We have the United States of
America, the United States of Mexico, and why not the United

5

States of Central America?” He was followed with the
closest attention by the Delegates present. The second ad-
dress was made by Ambassador Enrique Creel, of Mexico,
and, while not so flowery as the speech of Secretary Root,
was just as full of meat and earnest good sense, with his
best wishes for the success of the conference; and his assur-

ance of the co-operation of Mexico.

THE CENTRAL AMERICAN DELEGATES.

He was followed by Senor Luis Anderson of Costa Rica
in quite an elaborate paper in the Spanish tongue. Senors
Salvador Rodriguez, of Salvador, and J. M. Madriz, of Nica-
ragua, were made permanent secretaries of this Conference,
which carried with it a great import for good. The Secre-

tary has much to do with the success of the convention. There

were thirteen accredited delegates from the five Republics,
with William J. Buchanan for the United States, and Senor
Enrique Creel of Mexico.

THE UNITED STATES AND MEXICO AN ADVI-

SORY COMMITTEE.

A's the Conference had been brought about largely by the
good offices of Secretary Root and President Roosevelt, with
the co-operation of Ambassador E. Creel of Mexico, they
also had their representatives at the Conference consisting of
W. I. Buchanan for the United States, a former delegate to
the Hague Peace Conference, and Enrique Creel for Mexico,
who has recently been elected Governor of Chihuahua.

THE SOCIAL ASPECT.

It goes without saying that dinners and banquets were
tendered the delegates by Director Barrett, the President,
Secretary Root, Enrique Creel, etc., etc., and no lack of hos-
pitality and solicitude was shown to them. The servants and
attendants at the opening session of the Congress were almost
officious, for a country where equality prevails among the
masses, and doors swung open without touching, and the
cordiality of the reception was marked.

THE CONFERENCE.

After a session of five weeks of earnest, painstaking labor,
this first Conference of Central American Republics adjourned,


6

each delegate having striven to do the best he could for his
country, and yet concede something for his neighbor, having
been in almost continuous session from November 11th to
December 20, 1907; and this is the work they accomplished ;
each treaty having been unanimously signed by every member
of the Conference, and each delegation receiving an authentic
copy of it for his own country and Government, every session
having been characterized with the utmost harmony and good
will by all of the members of the conference in spite of some
newspaper reports to the contrary. |

THE TREATIES.

1. Convention for the establishment of a Central American Court
of Justice.

>» Convention for the establishment of an international Central
American Bureau.

3. General treaty of peace and amity.

4. Convention on communications pertaining to railroads and water-
ways.

5. Convention of extradition.

6. Convention for the establishment of a Central American Peda-
gogical Institute. |

7. Convention concerning future Central American conferences.

8 Additional convention to the general treaty or convention.

Immediately upon the conclusion of their labors, December 20, 1907,
the following telegram was sent to the presidents of all the Central
American countries:

“The Central American Peace Conference, in terminating its
labors today, has agreed by acclamation to recommend to the Gov-
ernments of Central America that they grant full amnesty for
political crimes to those connected therewith.

“Tn communicating to your Excellency this generous exhortation
we rely upon your high sentiments in entertaining the hope that
our work will be crowned by a measure that will be a token of
reconciliation and fraternity, and a happy beginning of an era of
accord for our Central American family.

Luis ANDERSON,
President of the Conference.

The eight treaties were signed respectively, on Friday morning,
December 20, 1907; after which Senor Luis Anderson, President of
the Conference, Ambassador Creel of Mexico, and Secretary Root, of
the United States, addressed the conference.

Secretary Root’s Congratulations.

“T beg you, gentlemen, to accept my hearty and sincere con-
gratulations. The people of Central America, withdrawn to a
great distance from the scene of your labors, may not know, but I
wish that my voice might reach each one of them to tell them that,

T

during the month that has passed, their loyal representatives have
been doing for them, in sincerity and in the discharge of a patriotic
duty, a service which stands upon the highest level of the achieve-
ment of the most advanced modern civilization. You have each
one of you been faithful to your protection of the interests of
your several countries; you have, each one of you, exhibited
patience, and a willingness to meet with open mind the opinions
and wishes of your fellow countrymen; you have pursued the true
method by which law, order, peace and justice are substituted for
the unrestrained dominion of the strong over the weak, and you
have reached conclusions which I believe are wise and are well
adapted to advance the progress of each and all of the Central
American Republics toward that much to be desired consummation
in the future of the great, strong and happy Central American
Republic.

“May the poor husbandman who cultivates the fields of your
five Republics, may the miner who is wearing out his weary life
in the hard labor of your mines, may the mothers who are caring
for the infant children that are to make the peoples of Central
America in the future, may the millions whose prosperity and
happiness you have sought to advance here, may the unborn
generations of the future in your beloved countries have reason
to look back to this day with blessings upon the self-devotion and
the self-restraint with which you have endeavored to serve their
interests and to secure their prosperity and peace. With this
hope, the entire body of my countrymen will join; and, with the
expression of this hope, I declare the Peace Conference of the
Republics of Central America, convened in the city of. Washington
in this year, 1907, to be now adjourned.”

Reception by the President.

A farewell reception by President Roosevelt was tendered to the
delegates, in the East Room of the White House, after adjournment;
each one being introduced by Secretary Root. The President made no
speech but greeted each delegate personally and cordially.

Farewell Banquet.

This memorable conference was concluded by a banquet given by
the delegates, at the New Williard, at which were present, besides the
delegates, the Vice-President, the Cabinet officers, Speaker Cannon,
Mr. John Barrett, of the Bureau of American Republics, the Ministers
of the several Republics, Commissioner Macfarland, of the District of
Columbia, Senator Cullom, Andrew Carnegie, and others. The feature
of this banquet was the address by Senor Luis Anderson, President of
the Conference, who expressed the gratitude of the Central American
Stee to the United States, and to Mexico, for making the conference
possible.

The Address.

“Rive nations in the center of America—five millions of people
struggling for their lives in the midst of horrible storms, in a sea
of despair; wars and revolutions arising like gigantic waves,
weakening their strength and threatening to annihilate them and


8

end their existence forever and ever. The shipwrecked ones were
tired to death after fighting constantly for near a century in a hope-
less battle against terrible odds, and when almost ready to fall down
exhausted from the disordered elements, a generous voice was
heard calling from a port of safety, to which all the five nations
immediately directed the bows of their nearly lost vessels. That
voice came from the gallant lifesavers, Theodore Roosevelt and
Porfirio Diaz. ‘Our heartfelt thanks to them.’

Obey the Peace Summons.

“When some of our sister Republics, as if under the spell of
maledictions, were destroying themselves in acrid intestinal wars,
the genius of civilization, through the executive chiefs of the
United States and Mexico, said ‘Peace; have peace!’ and all the
Republics came at once to Washington to forget past troubles and
old wounds, and to sign and seal a treaty which should guarantee
for all time to come the peace so necessary to develop their mar-
velous natural resources, for their own good.

“This generous action, by which the Presidents have truly in-
terpreted, I am sure, the sentiments of their people, marks for the

world the true solidarity of the nations of the Western Hemi-
_ sphere—a solidarity for peace, for progress and for civilization.
This is to be demonstrated within a short time, when the nations
of America will appear before the world as a united family, for-
midably strong in their ideas of justice and liberty.

“The Peace Conference at Washington, which has just ended its
labors, will always be considered a page of glory, on which the
names of their Excellencies, Elihu Root and Ignacio Mariscal, will
be written in luminous characters, not only by us Central Ameri-
cans for the benefits derived from it, but by the whole American
Continent, which has been watching for the past month the seven
sisters of the north working together as if a single body, with a
single soul.

Supreme Ideal Realized.

“The world at large will have also cause to remember this con-
ference, where has been brought a practical realization of the
supreme ideal of right by the establishment of an International
Court of Justice, representing the national conscience of our coun-
tries, and which will not only supersede brutal force and barbarity,
with right and justice, but will put aside the old diplomatic systems
to adopt the calm and straightforward proceedings of judicial
action. |

“A new era begins for the small Central American Republics,
an era of peace, thanks to which, foreign capital will come to our
markets, rails will cross our soil in all directions, new industries
will come forth, our sources of wealth will be multiplied, and from
Guatemala to Panama, temples will be erected to all kinds of
knowledge, before which the new generations trained for well-
being, for justice and for the love of their country will sing hymns
of glory to peace and to Pan-American con-fraternity, and where
they will also learn to love with true acknowledgment of gratitude
the two great nations who in a difficult period of our countries’ his-
tory gave us their generous hands as a token of their friendship
and of their sympathy. ;





9

“We are soon to return to our homes; our hearts are full of
gratitude for Washington, that has extended to us its hospitality,
for you, Mr. Secretary of State, whose kind welcome we shall
never forget, and for you, Mr. Ambassador, whose important co-
operation, united to that of Mr. Buchanan, has been of so much
value to the happy results of our labors.

“May Heaven continue dispensing its blessings, and the benefits
of peace to the United States of America and to Mexico.”

THE COURT.

The Delegates not only voted for the Arbitration Court,
but they arranged the details of it, established it, and it is in
running order. It is located at Cartago, in Costa Rica, the
republic the least likely to be disturbed by political intrigues.
Five judges constitute the Court, which is to meet at regular
intervals, and be subject to call whenever a pressing matter
demands its attention. Cartago has been selected as the per-
manent home of the Court because it is in a cool mountainous
region, and it was desirable to have it located away from any
of the capital cities, and as free as possible from local political
influences.

_ The Court held its initial meeting on the 25th of May, 1908,
amidst great enthusiasm, the day being celebrated as a national
holiday by Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Salvador and Honduras,
and the flags were flying over their embassies in Washing-
ton. There is one regular and two sub-justices from each
country represented, who will sit for terms of five years, and
every decision must be in accord with the agreement of at
least three justices. Jose Astua Aguilar, representative from
Costa Rica, was made President of the Court, Dr. Salvador
Gallagegos of Salvador, Vice-President, and Ernesto Martin
of Costa Rica, Secretary. William I. Buchanan and Enrique
C. Creel were made high Commissioners. at this opening, from
the United States and Mexico, to this court, but without offi-
cial authority, as their participation is only as the friendly
offices of neutral states. While the Court was in session, com-
missioner Buchanan from the United States, announced a
telegram from Andrew Carnegie, offering to give $100,000
for the purpose of erecting at Cartago a peace temple for
the exclusive use of the Central American Court of Justice,
as an expression of his sympathy for the peace and progress
of Central America, and his confidence in the success of the
great humanitarian work that now has its foundation at this
Court. So, almost without the knowledge of the great out-
side world, these smaller powers and the most belligerent, have
forged to the forefront in peace work, which means not only




10

health, prosperity and happiness to them, but goes far toward
insuring the peace and neutrality of the Panama Canal, which
will mean so much in the near future to the commerce of the
world, and which owes its initiation and progress to the man-
agement of Theodore Roosevelt.

That great enterprise is now well under way, and looking
towards completion, the celebrated Culebra Cut being prac-
tically an established fact, and the peace of Panama and Co-
lumbia assured with the present election. Although it has,
and will still cost, the United States many millions of dollars,
‘+ will revolutionize the tide of trade for the States and open
ports to commerce that will make a ready market for all the
products of the Southern States.

THE PEACE TEMPLE AT WASHINGTON.

ut before the first session of this Arbitration Court at Car-
tago, the corner stone of the Peace Temple at Washington,
which is to be the diplomatic house of all of the Latin Ameri-
can States, was laid, on May 12, 1908, by Andrew Carnegie, in
the presence of Theodore Roosevelt and wife, Elihu Root
and wife, John Barrett, Director of the Bureau of American
Republics ; Ambassador Nabuco of Brazil, Cardinal Gibbons,
Ambassador Bryce of Great Britain, Mrs. Nicholas Long-
worth, and Geo. B. Cortelyou, Secretary of the U. 8. Treasury,
Henry B. F. Macfarland and others. It was a notable gath-
ering on that historic spot that will mark an era in history, and
eventually cement as one Republic the whole American Con-

tinent.

JAMES G. BLAINE.

In April, 1890, under the auspices of that noted statesman,
James G. Blaine, and only one month previous to the Second
Universal Peace Congress in London, presided over by David
Dudley Field, which I had the honor to attend and to report,
the first Pan-American Peace Congress met in Washington.
In 1907 the Third Congress met in Rio Janeiro, Brazil. It
has had one meeting—a noted one—in the City of Mexico, at
which time a resolution, drafted by the late noted President
of our Peace Bureau, Fredric Bajer, of Denmark, translated
and forwarded by the writer of this paper, and introduced by
one of the American delegates, Charles M. Pepper, was unani-
mously adopted, pledging each and every one of the South

American States to the signature of the articles of the protocol

of the first Hague Conference.





11

The Pan-American Congresses.

It is through the influence of this first Pan-American Con-.
gress that the other Pan-American Congresses have been
called, and largely through their influence and the influence
and personality of Secretary Root, and with the co-operation
and good sense of President Roosevelt, that the Central Ameri-
can Congress was called, and made a success. The expense of
this Peace Temple at Washington is also met by the munifi-
cence of Andrew Carnegie, who gives $750,000, on plans
already approved for the building, but each one of the South
American Republics will contribute its quota for the support
of the Bureau, as well as the United States and Mexico. It
is Carnegie’s “Contribution to the Brotherhood of American
Nations.” Never did benefactor give more wisely. He was
one of the delegates to the first Congress that met in Wash-
ington in 1890; and from this first Congress grew the Bureau
of American Republics which is to occupy this new temple
of Peace. It is to be the commercial clearing house of the

United States, Mexico, the Central and South American States ;

and they are being bound together, not only by their common
commercial interest, but by the great

INTERCONTINENTAL RAILWAY

That is soon to connect the three Continents, and which is now
so far under way as to be an assured success. The distance
from New York to Buenos Ayres already surveyed is 10,400
miles. From New York to the Southern Boundary of Mex-
ico, 3,770 miles, the track for which is already complete, and
trains are running, while betwen the Southern Boundary of
Mexico and Buenos Ayres, 2,500 miles of railway are in
operation, 400 miles under construction, and 300 miles in
Central America complete and running, so that already the
Intercontinental Railway is more than half completed, leaving
only 3,730 miles to be built. It is a counterpart, but will be
longer than the Great Siberian railway. We used to say
‘n the United States that the school house and the church
were the great civilizers, but today it is the steam cars and
the trolley lines that connect State with State, and the rural dis-
tricts with the cities, that bring civilization and culture from
the constant intermingling of the peoples of the various sec-
tions.

THE PAN-AMERICAN COUNTRIES.

At the Pan-American Congress in Rio de Janeiro in 1906, a
Pan-American Committee composed of thirteen members was




12

-organized ‘for the United States, made up of distinguished
men, and a similar committee organized for each of the Latin
_American Republics to consider the needs of each country and
report to their separate Governments, so that when they meet
-in a general conference, or through the Bureau of American
Republics, the needs and wishes of each will be fully under-
stood. The American Committee met for the first time at the
-eall of Secretary Root in the War Department at Washing-
ton, D. C., March 17, 1908, its purpose being to enlarge the
scope of the Bureau, encourage trarisportation facilities, and
_commerce between the countries. confer upon the building of
the Peace Temple at Washington, and arrange for holding
-the Fourth Pan-American Conference, which is now pro-
- posed to be held at Buenos Ayres in 1910. Thus the work
_of pacification and arbitration on the Western Continent dur-
ing the last two decades, has made more progress than in the
former one hundred years.

Results of the Second Hague Conference.

. he official announcement of the results of this Conference is as
- follows:

1. The peaceful regulation of international conflicts.

2. Providing for an International Prize Court,

3. Regulating the rights and duties of neutrals on land.
“4. Regulating rights and duties of neutrals at sea.

5. Covering the laying of submarine mines.

6. The bombardment of towns from the sea.

‘7 The matter of collection of contractual debts.
“8. The transformation of merchantmen into war ships.
9. The treatment of captured crews.
“to, The inviolability of fishing boats.
“tz, The inviolability of the postal service.
“12, The application of the Geneva Convention, and the Red
Cross to sea warfare, and
“13, The laws and customs regulating land warfare.”

_ The right to sign these conventions will be open till June 30, 1908.

Reserved for the Future.

This Conference was not-a:Congress; it was merely for an ex-
. change of views, and its action is not binding upon any nation unless its
Government shall hereafter sign a general treaty, pledging itself to
carry out the principles and-the policy recommended by the Conference,
-and, as stated above, signatures will be accepted until June 30, 1908,
--to the above propositions which were unanimously agreed upon. In
addition to those, the conference:adopted several other resolutions, and
_ made several other declarations of principles by a majority vote. But
~ because they were not unanimously supported, the action is not final,



13

and the subjects are referred back to the forty-four governments for

future consideration. They will certainly be revived at the next con-~

ference, and are as follows:
“1, Recommendation in favor of obligatory arbitration.
2. In favor of a Permanent Court of Arbitration.
In favor of the limitation of armaments.

6c
46

it]

explosives.
“s. The prohibition of unnecessarily cruel bullets in warfare.
“6. The co-operation of all the nations in the building of The
Palace of Peace.” 3

THE CONVOCATION OF A THIRD CONFERENCE.

It is true that what the Second Hague Conference left un-
done is more than what it did, and what it appeared to do,
seems to have carried with it no authority. Prizes and Prize
Courts should be promptly relegated to the dark ages as
legalized stealing. What right has one nation to seize the
ships and goods of another, unless they are contraband, any
more on the sea than on the land? It is an attempt to justify
a wrong by one party more powerful than another.

WHAT THE CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES:

HAS DONE.

But in the onward progress of human events the Congress:
of the United States has not been idle. Quoting from the-
opening speech of the Hon. Julius C. Burrows, of Michigan,.
at the Republican Nominating Convention at Chicago, June
16, 1908, with reference to the work of the First Session of

the 60th Congress we have the following:

Encouragement of Peace.

“The conspicuous contributions of American statesmanship to the-
great cause of International peace, so signally advocated in The

Hague Conference, are an occasion for just pride and gratification.

At the last session of the Senate of the United States, eleven:

Hague Conventions were ratified, establishing the rights of neu-
trals, laws of wars on land, restrictions of submarine mines, limit-

ing of laws for collection of contractual debts, governing the:

opening of hostilities, extending the application of Geneva princi-

ples, and in many ways lessening the evils of war and promoting-

the peaceful settlement of international controversies. At the same
session twelve arbitration conventions with great nations were con-

‘firmed, and extradition, boundary and naturalization treaties, of

supreme importance were ratified. We indorse such achievements
as the supremest duty a nation can perform, and proclaim the

obligation of further strengthening the bond of friendship and:

good will with all the nations of the world.”

4. That balloons shall not be used in war for the throwing of




14

In making these remarks Senator Burrows represented the
strongest political party in our country, and was talking about
its platform of principles; but it is very well known that the
Democratic party with William J. Bryan as its mouthpiece,
is strongly opposed to war. The cry for large and expensive
battleships by some of our Statesmen, comes from that class
who still believe that the grandeur and glory of the Nation de-
pends upon her ability to bear arms, and to make conquests in-
stead of her law-abiding, cultivated people, the development
of her farms, mines, manufactories and schools, and her jus-
tice to other nations. But this antiquated idea is losing ground.

Since leaving Washington for London, July 11, 1908, the
State Department has reached an agreement with the British
Foreign Office to extend the present modus vivendi regarding
the Newfoundland fisheries, pending a settlement of the re-
spective rights of their fishermen at The Hague, and the case
has been so referred.

“Mr. Matsui, Councillor of the Japanese Embassy, at Wash-
ington, has notified Mr. Bacon, Acting Secretary of State,
that the Emperor has ratified the Arbitration Treaty between
Japan and the United States, thus making the I2th treaty
ratified within six months, and ends forever, it is to be hoped,
the newspaper talk and jingo cry of war between the United
States and Japan, who have been on friendly terms ever since
the days of Commodore Perry, and whom the Japanese still
revere. War is legalized murder—a relic of the barbarism of
the past, and unworthy of the participation of Christian nations
in these days when judicial appliances are at hand. :

An Arbitration Treaty between the United States and Por-
tugal was ratified at Lisbon August 31, 1908. Thus the good
work of civilization goes on, and war is being banished. The
United States and Great Britain stand in the forefront of the
‘movement to settle international difficulties by the juridical
‘method without resort to arms. Our new warships can re-
‘main in the docks, or be sent out to show the barbarism of
the old regime.



15
RESOLUTIONS OF THE CONGRESS.

The following resolutions were reported from Commission
“A,” and adopted by the Congress:

The Central American Conference.

The Congress congratulates the States of Central America upon the
progressive steps taken by them in the seven treaties which they signed
with each other in the Conference held by them at Washington from
November 11 to December 20, 1907, as follows:

1. Convention for the establishment of a Central American
Court of Justice.

2. Convention for the establishment of an International Central
American Bureau.

3. General treaty of peace and amity.

4. Convention on communications pertaining to railroads and
waterways.

5. Convention of extradition.

6. Convention for the establishment of a Central American
pedagogical institute.

7. Convention concerning future Central American Conferences.

The Congress also records with great satisfaction that the Court of
Justice above referred to is already established and in operation, having
held its first session on May 25, 1908, at which time Mr. Andrew Car-
negie gave $100,000 for the purpose of erecting at Carthago a Peace
Temple for its exclusive use, as an expression of his sympathy for
the peace and progress of Central America, and his confidence in the
success of the great humanitarian work that has its foundation at this
court.

Peace Temple at Washington.

The Congress notes with high appreciation the laying of the corner-
stone of the Peace Temple at Washington—to which Mr. Carnegie has
generously contributed $750,000—to be used by the Bureau of American
Republics to promote the common interests of the Latin American
States with each other, and with the United States of America.






THE AMERICAN BRANCH PEACE BUREAU

AND NAT. ASSOCIATION FOR PROMOTION OF ARBITRATION.
619 F STREET, N. W., WASHINGTON, D, C.

November 26, 1908.

Rev. Pastor.

Dear Sir:-
The International Peace Bureau at Berne, Switzerland and the

Seventeenth International Peace Congress at London, England, have set
aside December 20th, 1908 as Peace Sunday, and have delegated to their
members the duty of inviting all the clergymen of civilized and chris-
tian countries to preach a peace sermon on that day.

The first day of the Seventeenth Peace Congress, July 27th,
1908 was given over to religious organizations,-two hundred and rizty
Societies, representing twenty-five Nations, sent in their approval
of the purposes of the Congress, and the Bishops and Archbishops of
the Lambeth Conference, fifty-three in number, sent a resolution of
approval by a special delegation of bishops.

It was asserted at this Congress that if the clergymen of the
world would use their influence and power to do away with interna-
tional conflicts they could accomplish it.

In this connection we wish to call special attention to the
building in this country of large and expensive battleships in time
of profound peace, thus influencing other nations to build large bat-
tleships, the expense of which becomes a burden on the common people,
and a menace to the peace of the world.

Yours for Christian fellowship,
BELVA A. LOCKWOOD, Secretary,
LUCY S. PATRICK, Delegate to the Congress,
EMMA §S. BRINTON, Delegate,
SUSAN P. POLLOCK, Kindergarten,
KE. MAYNICKE STILLMAN.