International Conference Held at Washington Part 3

Commander SAMPSON, Delegate of the United States, then presented the following resolution:

_Resolved_, That the Congress invite Prof. Newcomb, Superintendent of the United States Nautical Almanac; Prof.

Hildgard, Superintendent of the United States Coast and Geodetic Surveys; Professor A. Hall; Professor De Valentiner, Director of the Observatory at Karlsruhe; and Sir William Thomson, to attend the meetings of this Congress.

General STRACHEY, Delegate of England, stated that, as he understood this resolution, it would not necessarily authorize the parties invited to take any part in the discussions.

The PRESIDENT stated that the resolution seems merely to invite the gentlemen to be present.

General STRACHEY, Delegate of Great Britain, stated that he thought it necessary to clear up this matter a little; that if the gentlemen invited could not address the Conference, it seemed very little use to have them invited; that it was not for their own advantage but for that of the Conference that the invitations were extended to those scientific gentlemen, and therefore he thought it was the intention in inviting them to have the benefit of any information which they might desire from time to time to express on the subjects before the Congress. He thought that if any remarks on the part of these gentlemen were presented to the Conference, with the a.s.sent of the Congress, through the President, that would doubtless meet all the requirements of the case.

The PRESIDENT inquired whether the Delegate of Great Britain meant that the remarks should be presented in writing.

General STRACHEY, Delegate of Great Britain, replied that that would not necessarily be the case.

Prof. ABBE, Delegate of the United States, inquired whether the persons named in the resolution were the only ones to be invited.

The PRESIDENT replied that it was so, so far as the Chair was informed, but that it would be in order at any time to add new names in the same way.

Prof. ABBE, Delegate of the United States, stated that this was a matter which he had very much at heart, and he would like to observe that some of the nations which were invited to send Delegates to this Conference had failed to do so, and that it would be a courtesy to invite persons of those nations to be present.

Commander SAMPSON, Delegate of the United States, stated that after consulting with a number of the delegates he drew the resolution, and that it was suggested to him this very morning that possibly there might be a difference of opinion as to whether these gentlemen should take part in the discussion, and that that was the reason why the first resolution merely proposed to invite them to be present. He stated that he proposed subsequently to submit another resolution authorizing these gentlemen to take part in the discussion; that he thought that the original intention was to confer an honor on certain distinguished scientists, and that it would be well for the Conference to limit the invitation to gentlemen of that character.

Mr. LEFAIVRE, Delegate of France, stated that he was opposed to the proposition to admit to the deliberations of this Conference gentlemen, no matter how distinguished or eminent they might be, who were not specially delegated by their Governments as members of this body. He questioned the power of the Conference to admit to its discussions persons who were not regularly appointed to vote upon the subject at issue; that this was an international conference created for the purpose of obtaining an interchange of views from the representatives of the different Governments; that it would extend the scope of the work before this body to entertain the views and opinions of persons not authorized to speak for the Governments whose Delegates are here; that there would be a great divergence of opinion among such men, and the result would be rather to embarra.s.s than to help this Conference to an accord. He insisted that the matter was exclusively governmental, and, while he would be happy to extend any courtesy to men distinguished in science, such as the gentlemen who are proposed to be invited, he felt constrained to oppose the proposition under the circ.u.mstances.

The PRESIDENT stated that he understood that the resolution did not propose to confer a vote upon the gentlemen invited, but simply to enable them to lay any information before the Conference which they might have upon the matter at issue.

Mr. LEFAIVRE, Delegate of France, contended that the resolution was intended to authorize these gentlemen to deliberate, and he thought that the inconvenience would be very great of extending this privilege to persons not authorized to represent their Governments. He did not think it was reasonable or fair that his opinions should be questioned or opposed by the opinions of men not authorized to speak for their Governments.

Gen. STRACHEY, Delegate of Great Britain, said that as he had taken upon himself to make some remarks both as to the manner in which the gentlemen should be invited and the extent of their rights when invited, he wished to say that while he agreed with much that had been said by the Delegate of France, he held that these gentlemen should have an opportunity of expressing their views; that they were not to come here merely to listen to the proceedings, but that they should themselves be heard.

The PRESIDENT directed that the resolution be read in French, and then put it to the vote, when it was unanimously adopted.

Commander SAMPSON. Delegate of the United States, then offered the following resolution:

"_Resolved_, That the gentlemen who have just been invited to attend the meetings of the Conference be permitted to take part in the discussion of all scientific questions."

Mr. LEFAIVRE, Delegate for France, then stated that it was not in accordance with the object of this Conference that private individuals, not authorized by their respective Governments, should be permitted to influence the decision of this body, and that, while it was very proper to extend courtesy to such learned gentlemen as were invited, it surely was never intended that they should partic.i.p.ate in our proceedings.

Gen. STRACHEY, Delegate of Great Britain, said that it would, perhaps, save trouble if he stated his views on the point under discussion, which he apprehended were generally in accordance with those of the representative from France. He said that, if he were permitted, he would read a resolution, which he suggested might be accepted as a subst.i.tute for that pending before the Conference, and it was as follows:

"_Resolved_, That the President be authorized, with the concurrence of the Delegates, to request an expression of the opinions of the gentlemen invited to attend the Congress on any subject on which their opinion may be likely to be valuable."

The PRESIDENT inquired in what way they would express it.

Gen. STRACHEY, Delegate of Great Britain, stated that it would be orally.

The PRESIDENT replied that the resolution undoubtedly read that way.

Gen. STRACHEY, Delegate of Great Britain, stated that the language, "to take part in the discussion," employed in the resolution of Commander Sampson, would mean that the persons invited would be in a position, of their own motion, either to reply to remarks made, or to state their own views, or to take part in the discussion just as the Delegates are ent.i.tled to do.

Mr. LEFAIVRE, Delegate of France, stated that he hoped that the proposition of the Delegate of Great Britain would not be pressed until a vote was had upon the original resolution.

The PRESIDENT then put the resolution to a vote; but, being unable to determine from the _viva voce_ vote whether it was carried or not, he stated that the roll would be called.

Mr. FREY, Delegate of Switzerland, stated that he thought before the vote was taken a decision should be had upon the question, how the Delegates were to vote--whether as nations or as individuals.

The PRESIDENT announced that it had been the custom in all such conferences to vote as nations, each nation casting one vote, and that no other way seemed practicable; and that in conformity with this ruling the roll would be called and the vote taken by nations.

The roll was then called, when the following States voted in the affirmative:

Costa Rica, Guatemala, Italy, Mexico, San Domingo, Salvador, Switzerland, Venezuela.

And the following in the negative:

Austria-Hungary, Brazil, Colombia, France, Germany, Great Britain, Hawaii, j.a.pan, Paraguay, Russia, Spain, Sweden.

United States,

The PRESIDENT then announced that the ayes were 8 and the noes 13, and that the resolution was lost.

Gen. STRACHEY, Delegate of Great Britain, then renewed his resolution, which was as follows:

"_Resolved_, That the President be authorized, with the concurrence of the Delegates, to request an expression of the opinions of the gentlemen invited to attend the Congress on any subject on which their opinion may be likely to be valuable."

No discussion arose upon this resolution, and it was adopted.

Commander SAMPSON, Delegate of the United States, then offered the following resolution:

"_Resolved_, That the meetings of this Congress be open to interested visitors."

Mr. LEFAIVRE, Delegate of France, stated that he considered this a subject of grave importance; that this was an official and confidential body; scientific, it was true, but also diplomatic; that it was empowered to confer about matters with which the general public have now nothing to do; that to admit the public to the meetings would destroy their privacy and subject the Conference to the influence of an outside pressure which might prove very prejudicial to its proceedings, and that he would object to this resolution absolutely.

No further discussion being had, the PRESIDENT, after a _viva voce_ vote of doubtful result, ordered the roll to be called, when the following States voted in the affirmative:

Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Paraguay, Salvador, Spain.

Venezuela,

And the following States in the negative.

Austria-Hungary, Brazil, France, Germany, Great Britain, Hawaii, Italy, j.a.pan, Mexico, Russia, San Domingo, Sweden, Switzerland, United States.

The PRESIDENT then announced that the ayes were 7 and the noes 14, and that the resolution was therefore lost.

The PRESIDENT then said that there would doubtless be some preliminary general discussion on the subject before the Conference, and suggested that if Delegates desired to be heard upon the subject it would be expedient to give an intimation to the Secretary.

Prof. ABBE, Delegate of the United States, then said: I have been requested to present to the Conference the communication that I hold in my hand, and in doing so wish to offer the following resolution:

"Whereas several persons desire to submit to this Conference inventions, devices, and systems of universal time: therefore,