International Conference Held at Washington Part 27

C. R. P. RODGERS, _President_.

R. STRACHEY, J. JANSSEN, L. CRULS, _Secretaries._

The following resolution was then adopted unanimously:

"That a copy of the resolutions pa.s.sed by this Conference shall be communicated to the Government of the United States of America, at whose instance and within whose territory the Conference has been convened."

Mr. RUTHERFURD, Delegate of the United States, then presented the following resolution:

"_Resolved_, That the Conference adjourn, to meet upon the call of the President, for the purpose of verifying the protocols."

This resolution was then unanimously carried, and the Conference adjourned at half past three, to meet upon the call of the President.

VIII.

SESSION OF NOVEMBER 1, 1884.

The Conference met at the call of the President for the approval of the protocols, as arranged at the last meeting, in the Diplomatic Hall of the Department of State, at 1 o'clock p. m.

The PRESIDENT having called the Conference to order, said: The protocols in French and English, having been examined by the Secretaries of the Conference, have been submitted to all of the delegates for perusal. If any delegate should desire to make any observation on them the opportunity is now given for his doing so.

RUSTEM EFFENDI, Delegate of Turkey, stated that he desired to change his vote on the fifth resolution of the Final Act, providing for the commencement of the universal day, from the affirmative to the negative.

No objection being made, the change was ordered to be made.

The PRESIDENT then said: No further observations having been made on the protocols, they will now be signed by the Secretaries and the President.

Mr. DE STRUVE, Delegate of Russia. Before the Conference terminates, I beg to express, in the name of my colleagues, our sincere grat.i.tude for the hospitality extended to the Conference by the Government of the United States, and I beg to express our heartiest thanks to you, Mr. President, for the able and impartial manner in which you have presided over our deliberations. When we elected you, we unanimously elected the first Delegate of the United States. If we had to begin again, the personal feelings of all the delegates would supply powerful additional reasons for making the election equally unanimous.

Mr. DE STRUVE'S observation met with the unanimous approval of the Delegates.

The PRESIDENT. Gentlemen, I am greatly honored by the kind expression of your good feeling towards me as the President of this Conference, and I thank you very heartily for it. The duty a.s.signed to us all has not been free from difficulty, but our meetings and discussions have been characterized by great courtesy and kindness, and by a conciliatory spirit.

With patience and devotion the Delegates to this Congress have sought to discharge the trust committed to them, and, as your Chairman, I beg you to receive my most cordial thanks for the courteous consideration I have received at your hands. The President of the United States and the Secretary of State desire me to renew to you their thanks for your presence here, and their best wishes for your safe and happy return each to his own home.

I shall esteem myself very happy hereafter whenever I shall have the good fortune to meet any of my colleagues of the International Meridian Conference.

Mr. RUTHERFURD, the Delegate of the United States. Mr. President and gentlemen, I am sure that you will all unite with me in pa.s.sing the resolution which I now propose to read:

"_Resolved_, That the thanks of the Conference be presented to the Secretaries for the able manner in which they have discharged their arduous duties."

The resolution was unanimously adopted.

General STRACHEY, Delegate of Great Britain. I wish, sir, as one of the Secretaries, to express my thanks for the manner in which my labors have been esteemed by the delegates present. All that I can say on the subject is, that however troublesome the duties of the Secretaries have been, I have not the least doubt that anybody else named instead of myself would equally have bestowed his best attention on the discharge of those duties.

Mr. JANSSEN, Delegate of France, then said: Before the dissolution of the Conference, Mr. CRULS and I desire specially to thank our colleagues for the honor they have done us by entrusting to us the revision of the French version of the protocols. In order that we might fully respond to that honor, we have examined with all possible care the French translations of the remarks of our colleagues. Our only regret is that, in consequence of the desire of several of them to quit Washington, we have been obliged to leave portions of the translations, particularly of the last protocols, much in the state in which we received them from the official translators, not having had the time to correct these translations as we would have desired.

Upon motion of Mr. JANSSEN, Delegate of France, the Conference pa.s.sed a vote of thanks to the delegate of Turkey for the aid he has rendered the Secretaries in the revision of the protocols.

The PRESIDENT then said: Before our final adjournment I desire to express a very high appreciation of the ability, fidelity, and zeal with which Mr. W. F. PEDDRICK, the Secretary attached by the Department of State to this Conference, has performed his difficult duties, and to thank him for his services.

The Conference expressed its cordial a.s.sent to these observations.

The PRESIDENT then declared that the business of the Conference having been concluded, it would adjourn _sine die_.

C. R. P. RODGERS, _President._

R. STRACHEY, J. JANSSEN, L. CRULS, _Secretaries._

ANNEX I.

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.

_Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress a.s.sembled_, 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 Washington, 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, and that the President be authorized to appoint delegates, not exceeding three in number, to represent the United States in such International Conference.

Approved August 3, 1882.

ANNEX II.

AN ACT making appropriations for sundry civil expenses of the Government for the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, eighteen hundred and eighty-five, and for other purposes.

_Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress a.s.sembled_, That the following sums be, and the same are hereby, appropriated for the objects hereinafter expressed for the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, eighteen hundred and eighty-five, namely:

Under the State Department:

For expenses of the International Conference for fixing a common zero of longitude and standard of time-reckoning, including cost of printing and translations, to be expended under the direction of the Secretary of State, five thousand dollars; and the President is hereby authorized to appoint two delegates to represent the United States at said International Conference, in addition to the number authorized by the act approved August third, eighteen hundred and eighty-two, and who shall serve without compensation.

Approved July 7, 1884.