Japan then proposed the United States, which was

other. agreed to.

2. Armistice. The first meeting of the plenipotentiaries was held on August 9, but the armistice was not concluded by them till September 1. The military armistice took effect on the 16th, and the naval armistice apparently from September 25, when the ratifications were exchanged. (Phillipson, p. 187.)

3. Preliminaries, Programme. There were no preliminaries, Japan not disclosing her demands before the first meeting of the plenipotentiaries.

4. Representation of the Powers. Russia was represented by M. Witte, Foreign Minister, and Baron Rosen, Ambassador at Washington; Japan by J. Komura, Minister for Foreign Affairs, and K. Takahira, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary at Washington.

5. Diplomatic language. The treaty was signed in duplicate in the French and English languages. In case of discrepancy the French text to prevail.

6. Procedure. At the first meeting (Aug. 8) various preliminary formalities were performed. It was agreed that secrecy should be observed; but the press managed to obtain a good deal of information, especially from the Russian side.

August 9. Exchange of full-powers. The Japanese presented a document specifying the conditions of peace demanded by the Japanese Government, twelve in number. On August 12 (next meeting) the Russian plenipotentiaries rejected four of these. Japan insisted on the cession of Sakhalin and stood out for a war indemnity, but withdrew her demands for the surrender of the Russian war-ships interned during the war, and the limitation of Russian naval forces in the Far East. Then President Roosevelt intervened and induced Russia to consent to the cession of the southern portion of Sakhalin, and persuaded Japan to abandon the demand for the war indemnity.

12. Treaty. This was signed on September 5, 1905.

It contains no amnesty clause. No date was specified for the restoration of peace, the word 'henceforth' being used in Art. 1; hence presumably it ought to have commenced from the date either of signature or of exchange of ratifications. But see above under Sect. 2, Armistice.

Russian subjects in the ceded portions of Sakhalin may sell their real property and retire to their own country, but, if they

M

elect to remain, they will be maintained and protected in the full exercise of their industries and rights of property, on condition of submitting to Japanese laws and jurisdiction. Japan to have full liberty to withdraw the right of residence or to deport from such territory any inhabitants who labour under political or administrative disability, but she is to respect fully the proprietary rights of such inhabitants.

Art. XII declares that the treaty of commerce and navigation between Japan and Russia had been annulled by the war, consequently it is agreed, pending the conclusion of a new treaty of commerce and navigation on the basis of the treaty which was in force before the war, to adopt the system of reciprocal treatment on the footing of the most favoured nation, including import and export duties, customs formalities, transit and tonnage dues, and the admission and treatment of the agents, subjects, and vessels of one country in the territories of the other.

13. Signature. All four plenipotentiaries signed.

14. Ratification. Art. XIV provided for ratification with as little delay as possible, and in any case not later than fifty days from the date of signature. The fact of ratification was to be announced to the Governments of Japan and Russia respectively through the French Minister in Tokyo and the Ambassador of the United States in Petersburg. The formal exchange of ratifications was to take place in Washington as soon as possible. They were exchanged on September 25.

15. Good offices. President Roosevelt expressly disclaimed the office of a mediator. His only object was to bring the parties together. It appears that Mr. Roosevelt had begun to offer his 'good offices' at least as early as November 1904. But it was not till June 8, 1905, that the Acting Secretary of State at Washington telegraphed to the Ambassador at Petersburg and to the Minister at Tokyo, that the time had come when, in the interest of all mankind, the President must endeavour to see whether it were not possible to bring the conflict to an end. He therefore urged both Governments to open direct negotiations for peace, and he suggested that the negotiations should be conducted directly and exclusively between Russian and Japanese plenipotentiaries without any intermediary. If the two Powers concerned felt that his services would be helpful in arranging the preliminaries as to time and place of meeting, he was willing to do what he properly could; but, if those

preliminaries could be arranged directly between the two Powers, or. in any other way, he would be glad, as his sole purpose was to bring about a meeting which the whole civilized world would pray might result in peace. Eventually the time and place of meeting for the purpose of concluding a treaty of peace were arranged through Mr. Roosevelt. An occasion on which he intervened to remove difficulties is mentioned above under par. 6 (p. 161).

XIV. Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, Dec. 1917-March 1918.

Place of meeting.—The place of meeting was the G.H.Q. of the German Commander-in-Chief on the Eastern Front--BrestLitovsk. The Russian plenipotentiaries on January 9 suggested the transfer of the negotiations to a neutral country; but the plenipotentiaries of the Central Powers objected, and the proposal was dropped.

Armistice. The Russian delegates crossed the lines of the German 5th Army on November 28, 1917. On November 29 the Russian proposals were accepted. On December 2 the delegates arrived at Brest-Litovsk, and held their first formal meetings on December 3. Credentials were exchanged. After discussion, it was agreed that the Conference about an armistice should be distinguished from the Peace Congress. The conditions were discussed on December 3 and 4, and on December 5, 1917 (seven days after the Russian delegates had crossed the lines of the 5th German Army), an armistice was concluded, as from noon on December 7. The terms were published on December 15. It was to last till December 17 at noon; but was subsequently extended to noon on January 7, 1918, and again to noon on January 14. Hostilities were resumed on February 18, owing to the break-up of the Conference, and continued till the signature of the Peace (March 3).

Representation of the Powers.-The Peace Conference assembled on December 22, 1917, and sat (with adjournments, see below) till March 3, 1918.

The following Powers were represented: Russia, Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, Turkey. Subsequently the Ukraine claimed (December 28) to be represented, and two Ukrainian.

delegates were admitted to the Conference on February 1, but worked with the Russian delegation.

At the opening of the Conference Germany was represented by Secretary of State von Kühlmann, Ambassador von Rosenberg, Secretary of Legation von Hösch, and two army officers; a Bavarian delegate was subsequently added on the strength of an agreement of February 14, 1871. Austria-Hungary was represented by Minister Count Czernin, Ambassador Mérey von Kapos-Mére, Envoy von Wiesner, two members of the Legation Staff, and three army officers. Bulgaria was represented by Minister Popov (subsequently replaced, February 1, by the Premier, Radoslavov), two Envoys, a Councillor, and an army officer. Turkey was represented by Minister Achmed Nessimi, Ambassador Ibrahim Hakki, a military officer, and a Secretary. Russia sent a delegation of fourteen, the two principal delegates being Trotski and Jaffe. Both the army and the navy were represented on the delegation, which also contained one woman. The Ukraine was represented by Holubovic, superseded later by Sevejul. Two delegates of the Ukrainian Soviets were admitted to the later stages of the Conference. They sat with the Russian delegation. There was considerable discussion as to the precise status of the Ukraine delegation; whether it should be treated as representing an independent state, or as a sub-commission of the Russian delegation.

Diplomatic Language.-During the armistice negotiations the Germans used German, and the Russians Russian. During the Peace negotiations Turkish and Bulgarian were used by the Turkish and Bulgarian delegates; German, Russian, and French were also used.

Powers. The delegates were furnished with full-powers, but on February 10 the Russian delegates announced that they had exhausted their powers and that all further proposals must be considered by their Government. This led to the temporary break-up of the Conference.

President.—The delegates were greeted by Prince Leopold of Bavaria, Commander-in-Chief on the Eastern Front. He invited Hakki, as senior delegate, to take the chair. Hakki agreed, took the chair, and, having made an address of welcome, proposed that von Kühlmann should preside. This was unanimously agreed to At the first meeting it was arranged that the leading plenipotentiaries of each of the five Powers then

represented at the Conference should preside in turn at the full meetings.

Committees. -Two Committees were constituted:

(i) on political and territorial questions;

(ii) on economic questions.

On the former Germany and Austria-Hungary were represented by the Presidents of their respective delegations, with one diplomatic and one military assessor, and two Secretaries each. It does not appear how Russia was represented on the committee. This committee discussed such things as repatriation of fugitives, methods of voting on self-determination, extent of territories affected, relations of Russian and Ukrainian delegates. After the signature of Peace between the Central Powers and the Ukraine a further committee was appointed to discuss the frontier line of the Ukraine.

The procedure in committee was on the same lines as that adopted at the general sittings, except that expert advisers were called in on special subjects.

Precedence among Members.-The usual alphabetical order of the Powers was adopted.

Records.--It was agreed that the official reports should be drawn up jointly. At the first few meetings protocols were laid on the table and discussed point by point. At the end of each session the texts of translations were compared by the Secretaries. At the later meetings the discussions were of a theoretical nature. No formal conclusions were arrived at, and the meetings were frequently adjourned. The result of the negotiations up to February 10 was not drafted into a formal protocol.

Adjournments. The Conference was adjourned on December 28, 1917, till January 4, 1918, in order to enable the delegates to consult their respective Governments, and to give time for the other belligerents to take part in the negotiations. The Conference met again on January 9, 1918, and sat till January 20, when another adjournment of ten days took place owing to disagreement on the question of admitting Ukrainian delegates.

It was broken off on February 10, when Trotski said that the war was at an end, but refused to sign a peace, and the Russian delegates declared that their powers were exhausted. The Conference was resumed on March 1.

There were short adjournments from January 16 to January 18 (due to the illness of Count Czernin), and from February 3 to